Don't just preserve games and hardware, but server side software is also very important.
Reverse-engineered implementations of server software (eg, https://wiibrew.org/wiki/Wiimmfi) can only go so far.
Reverse-engineered implementations of server software (eg, https://wiibrew.org/wiki/Wiimmfi) can only go so far.
A game is rarely just the binary execution itself, but often depends on an interconnected mesh of services and downstream partners - most of which are rarely set-up/committed to multi-decade durability, especially as the surface area of problem domain, and actors/threats have grown. For example, who’d willingly port a service that only worked on Centos 5, with SHA1 hashed TLS, or the CDN service that your game update assets were delivered from in 2007.
The techniques to isolate a game from its gradually crumbling ecosystem are an after-thought when priorities are survive to shipping. I’m not inferring this is right or wrong, just indicating that it is not even in the calculus on the path to shipping.
Hardcore fans of the game. Instead of making the game abandonware, one solution is to open source the whole server-side shebang and let the community sort it out themselves. If it's too difficult, at least there will be some sample source code that is known to interface with the game, so alternative server-side implementations can be built.
The problem with this is that it goes directly against the business incentives of the companies in control of the franchises.
Just look at this: https://dontfeedthegamers.com/ea-battlefield-cease-desist/