At a recent session during the Game Developers Conference, Sony unveiled its PlayStation Studios Vault, an extensive initiative aimed at preserving games, which includes hundreds of millions of files dating back over three decades. This invaluable archive is stored in a secure location described as a “mineshaft” of data tapes, a place even the highest-ranking executives at Sony are unable to access.
“PlayStation Studios Vault represents our effort to consolidate the entire 30-year history of PlayStation into a singular repository,” said senior build engineer Garrett Fredley during the presentation. “It’s not limited to backups or source code; we are collecting everything related to a project, including documentation, audio assets, and prototype information—essentially, anything that pertains to our games.”
While many gamers interpret “game preservation” as the ability to play older titles on modern platforms, the focus of historians and studios working in this space lies more in safeguarding the intricate developmental processes that narrate the story behind a game’s creation and its historical context. This archival work also aids in making classic games more accessible to current players, facilitating the development of remasters and remakes, although this is not its primary focus.
The preservation team utilizes two “staging vaults”—one located in Las Vegas and the other in Liverpool—featuring fast SSD storage. This enables developers to swiftly upload their files for archiving, after which the data is transferred to the main “PlayStation Studios Vault,” a “cold storage” solution that relies on data tapes for preservation.
“Our tape backups hold the complete 30-year history,” Fredley remarked. “And for anyone familiar with tape backups, that might be a bit unsettling. Unfortunately, they are still a part of our process and are unlikely to disappear anytime soon.”
When queried about the physical housing of these tapes, Fredley quipped, “They are stored in a mineshaft in some remote location. This is not a joke; it can take considerable time to retrieve them.”
Access to this sensitive material is highly regulated. “Only the IP preservation team and a select few IT personnel have clearance to these resources,” Fredley explained. “Being an executive does not grant you access. If a developer needs to use the material, they must go through the preservation team to obtain it.”
“The earliest file we have archived is from an Arc the Lad build dated 1994,” Fredley stated, adding that fresh material is continually being integrated. This includes “every PS5 build produced by PlayStation Studios that has been available to consumers,” along with every significant release, featuring alphas, betas, debug, and test builds. Altogether, the vault contains around 200 million files.
Much of the discussion revolved around the technical aspects of managing such a vast storage system. However, a common question arises regarding the intended use of this extensive data. Will it ever be made public once copyright periods expire?
“Unfortunately, it’s likely that it will remain an internal archive,” Fredley answered during a Q&A session after the panel. “Ultimately, we’re not in a position to make those decisions. Our role is to preserve this material; what happens next is beyond our control.”
Nonetheless, there is hope that some of the preserved content could eventually be utilized in remastered versions of games or in authorized documentaries. Fredley’s role largely involves collection, so he could not provide specific insights into future uses. He expressed enthusiasm for the project, humorously noting, “There are probably people who don’t even know who Gex is, and that personally wounds me.”
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