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[00:00.41] A non-profit group that studies the history of video games estimates that about 87 percent of classic games have been lost over time.

[00:15.55] The estimate was recently published in a study by the Video Game History Foundation.

[00:25.64] The foundation aims to “preserve, celebrate and teach” the history of video games.

[00:32.02] It also leads public events to raise awareness about historical classic games.

[00:40.25] The study suggests most classic video games are currently completely unavailable to people who want to buy them.

[00:51.40] This makes such games “critically endangered,” the organization said.

[00:58.31] Other areas of pop culture – such as films, books and music – faced similar problems.

[01:07.61] But it is still easy to find those products in stores or on the internet.

[01:15.04] For example, there are many online video services that show classic movies.

[01:22.22] And major music services like Apple Music, Google Play, Pandora and Spotify offer huge collections of old music favorites.

[01:35.50] It is much harder, however, to find places that sell classic video games.

[01:42.67] For the study, the Video Game History Foundation examined the availability of all video games released before 2010.

[01:54.89] That is around the time game makers began to sell their products digitally.

[02:01.53] Earlier than 2010, game makers usually sold physical copies of games.

[02:09.77] The non-profit group says it used a list of 1,500 video games provided by the online information website MobyGames.

[02:24.10] The research showed that just 13 percent of those games are currently available to buy in the marketplace.

[02:33.94] The foundation noted that the only classic games currently widely available are ones that have been re-released.

[02:44.56] This means fans of popular classic video games like Super Mario Bros., Pac-Man and Donkey Kong – which were popular in the 1980s – can still be purchased. But hundreds of others cannot.

[03:03.69] Researchers involved in the study identified the ways fans can currently get classic games.

[03:11.66] These include searching for and buying collectible games and old hardware, called consoles.

[03:20.95] People can also travel to libraries that might lend classic games.

[03:26.53] In addition, some classic games can be downloaded online, but this method might violate copyright laws.

[03:35.82] In a statement, the Video Game History Foundation states that “anyone should be able to easily explore, research and play classic video games” in the same way they can enjoy classic books, music and movies.