It’s a sad day for video game preservation, and video games in general, as it seems that CDromance has been cleared out. For those that don’t know, CDromance was a ROM hosting site that featured emulations of older titles such as games for the PSX as well as fan translations for older games that never made it to the west, as well as for fans that wanted a more source-accurate translation of various titles that did get translated. It seems that legal action have forced CDromance to stop hosting any files on its site.
While details about the legal action are murky at best at time of writing, it’s stated on Cdromance’s site that they will comply with any DMCA action taken against them, which is likely the reason for this move.
We will respond to legitimate requests under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), and we retain the right to remove user content on cdromance that we deem to be infringing the copyright of others.
So this was always something that CDromance themselves knew could possibly happen, and it looks like it finally came to pass.
Some fans are claiming that this is going to cause every piece of work that was available on CDromance to become “lost media” though those claims are a bit exaggerated. The nature of the internet is to preserve forever, and there will always be ways to find something that has been lost on the internet. Still, the fact that CDromance had to take down all the files on their site is worrying for many, especially during a time when physical media and media preservation in general is such a huge concern for those worried about archiving past works.
Only time will tell if this situation sticks or if something can be worked out legally. Many similar sites, such as emuparadise, have had such actions taken against them in the past. Though in all those cases, there were always work arounds that those determined to preserve their digital media created. Still, the need for such hoops to jump through is worrying, digital preservation is a legitimate concern in the modern age, both fan-made and professionally made content, and the constant attacks on said preservation is alarming to say the least.