Episode
The VGBees Interview: Phil Salvador, Library Director at Video Game History Foundation
- Podcast
- The VGBees Podcast
- Published
- Jul 10, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 5282
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Summary
Hey! It's a brand new show here on The VGBees Podcast feed. We'll be taking the time every once in a while to sit down and go deep with interesting figures around the games industry and beyond. Our very first guest is Phil Salvador, Library Director of the Video Game History Foundation. 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:05 What is the Video Game History Foundation? 00:03:45 What has surprised Phil the most about the work of games preservation since joining? 00:05:37 What in Phil's life created this fascination with historical preservation? 00:08:11 What's the last thing Phil pulled out of the archive that surprised or delighted him? 00:11:20 How does Phil feel about the end of physical game discs? 00:20:32 Do major games corporations show signs of meeting preservationists halfway? 00:23:04 Notes about the 2023 study Phil wrote about pre-2010 game availability 00:28:50 Is there a notable distinction between preservation and accessibility? 00:32:27 What is piracy's role in game preservation? 00:39:44 What kind of legal team does VGHF engage? 00:42:53 Phil digs into one of his favorite collections added since the 2025 launch of the digital archive 00:49:55 Does the VGHF and its digital archive care about growing its audience? 00:54:58 What is the path from collection acquisition to availability online in the digital archive? 00:59:45 What kind of backend does the digital archive use to organize the collection? 01:02:15 What's the most technically harrowing preservation project VGHF has taken on? 01:09:00 How does the archive decide what is worthy of inclusion? 01:13:15 How is the archive's magazine collection shaping up? 01:17:24 Where does Phil see the foundation and the archive in five years? 01:20:10 John looks up Shenmue in the digital archive 01:22:14 How can you help the Video G…