Video game association aims to open a dedicated museum in Bucharest
The Association of Archives and Video Game Conservation Projects, or AAPCJV, aims to create a museum dedicated to video games in Bucharest.
The Video Games Museum is set to be realized with the support of the Romanian Video Game Developers Association and sustained by private donations. It aims to preserve and highlight the heritage of both Romanian and universal video games as a cultural phenomenon that has influenced generations since its inception.
The official opening of the Video Games Museum is planned for the last quarter of 2024, with the museum's location to be announced soon, according to the press release.
The Association has enlisted Andreas Lange, curator of the ComputerSpieleMuseum in Berlin, the largest video game museum in Europe, to oversee the museum's universal wing.
The Video Games Museum will offer visitors a journey through the history of video games, showcasing their evolution from simple pixels to complex universes that captivate the imagination. Exhibitions will include a wide range of artifacts, including gaming consoles, original software, concept art, and interviews with developers, creating an immersive and educational experience for all ages.
"Interactive games are what set us apart from primates. Since the beginning of homo sapiens, humans have played analogically. In the last 50 years, we have started playing digitally, and our realities alternate from virtual to real. We have both the new Flappy Bird and the eternal Princess Peach on our phones. It's perfectly normal to be nostalgic, and it's okay to think you're a video game character. Imagine a journey from Pong to Mario, an Xbox next to a Tetris, which is opposite Solitaire, where two moves to the left lead to Quake, and above it is Prince of Persia seen through the new Apple Vision," declared Miloš Jovanović, creative director, co-founder of AAPCJV, and a gamer since the '70s.
The museum will also highlight the significant contributions of Romanian developers to the global video game industry, through a wing dedicated to games created in Romania. Among the games featured in the museum, visitors will be able to interact with the first game developed in Romania, Astro 64, in 1978 by Viorel Darie for the Felix C-256 computer.
"Globally, the gaming industry is continuously expanding. In fact, it is expected to approach USD 200 billion in 2024, surpassing the combined music and film industry. Romania deserves to be on the international map of countries that already have a museum dedicated to gaming. Not only through the legacy left by Romanian gaming and hardware enthusiasts and developers but especially because there is a growing interest from brands and companies to actively get involved in the gaming world to access new audiences," stated Vlad Popovici, a gaming industry expert, a veteran of the advertising industry, and co-founder of the Association.
(Photo source: Video Games Museum)
