The Biggest Repository of Retro Video Games Is Shutting Down

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A major online collection of classic video games is closing, and that’s bad news for keeping these games available for future generations. I’ve previously discussed why preserving video games is so important – both as someone who enjoys playing them and as a historian. It’s crucial to save older games, especially those made for outdated systems, so they aren’t lost forever. If we don’t, we risk losing a significant part of a major entertainment industry that has greatly influenced our culture since the mid-1900s. This closure is a serious setback for those working to preserve gaming history.

Myrient announced on March 5, 2026, that its website will close on March 31, 2026. The announcement simply stated that the site would be shutting down and encouraged users to download any content they wanted to keep. If you’re not familiar with Myrient, it’s likely because you don’t know much about preserving older video games. A common way people try to save these games is by creating files called ROMs, which can then be played using emulators. While using ROMs isn’t legally permitted, it’s considered a good way to keep these games accessible.

Myrient’s Shutdown Is a Blow to Preservationists

Myrient has built, or is finishing building, a massive online collection of game files – totaling 390 terabytes! This means they have a huge number of games, covering virtually every title ever released on platforms from the old Atari 2600 and Nintendo Entertainment System, to countless arcade and PlayStation 2 games. It’s important to remember that playing these games through emulators without owning the original is illegal, and we don’t support that. My focus is on preserving these games – as companies like Konami have shown, many older titles can become lost to time.

Myrient, an online archive of older games, is shutting down because it cost $6,000 each month to maintain its 390TB collection. This raises the question of whether the video game industry should take greater responsibility for preserving classic titles. #Myrient #VideoGamePreservation #ShutDown

— GamerBraves (@GamerBraves) March 3, 2026

Konami famously lost the original computer code for the Silent Hill games. This meant that when they created the Silent Hill HD Collection, they had to rebuild them in a different way, and unfortunately, the result wasn’t as good as the originals. While the code itself is legally owned by whoever controls the game, it’s not always securely stored. That’s why Myrient spent years collecting data – to help prevent games from being lost forever. Considering how many games have been released over the decades, and that preserving older titles wasn’t always a focus, many have already been lost. This isn’t just a problem for games, either; it affects movies, TV shows like Doctor Who, books, and pretty much every art form.

Myrient is closing down, and the future of its data is uncertain. It’s currently stored on servers as a massive 390TB file – too large to easily download or store on physical drives. Users are encouraged to save what they can before the site shuts down, but some information will likely be lost. Whether that lost data can ever be recovered is unknown. While there’s hope that data preservation groups will step in, Myrient’s closure is a significant setback for these kinds of efforts.

What are your thoughts on Myrient shutting down and losing 390TB of game data? Share your opinions and discuss it with others in the ComicBook Forum!

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2026-03-06 00:48