Emulation is a difficult subject to discuss amongst the video game community, despite being an established pillar since the popularization of the Internet. But as the video game industry pushes toward cloud gaming and full digitization, the importance of emulation grows stronger, no matter how much the leading games companies fight against it.
Emulation, within the video game industry, is the use of modern software to imitate a different device or program. In the case of video games, this can mean running old games from PlayStation or GameCube on a computer or Android device.
While the act of emulation itself isn’t illegal, downloading and using copyrighted game files (ROMs) is. For game companies, emulation hurts the revenue gained from new releases and reselling old games, alongside their control over intellectual property. While the case against emulation for new games and systems is sound for many, when it comes to older titles, the sentiment has changed greatly.
Emulation in recent years has evolved from just a regular act of piracy within the video game space to an important element of video game preservation. Video games are difficult to preserve due to either deteriorating physical media or the lack of necessary hardware. Additionally, the increased reliance on servers and live-service games can easily lead to games becoming unplayable when these servers shut down.
For many people, emulation has been one of the only ways to access certain games. Lack of access and reliable ways to play these games is one of the main draws to emulation. Unfortunately, with the increasing prices due to the current AI-caused RAM shortage and tariffs, emulation is likely to increase.
