Myrient, a self-described "video game preservation service" which houses over 390 terabytes of "organised collections publicly available for download", is closing down on March 26th, it has been announced.
Aimed at retro gamers and emulation fans, Myrient's USP is that it offers fast download speeds and properly curated ROM collections – and it doesn't rely on advertisements to pay its server fees.
However, a combination of insufficient funds, the use of paywalled download managers by certain users, and the rising cost of PC hardware, such as RAM and SSDs, has forced the site to close its doors.
Myrient webmaster even revealed that the monthly cost of running the site was leaving him over $6000 out of pocket each month.
The irony of blaming AI – a technology that is famously built on the widescale theft of human-made content – for the closure won't be lost on those who take a dim view of ROM-sharing websites, but there's a solid argument that Myrient is doing an important job for video game preservation.
While its many collections will have hosting titles which are legally available on modern-day systems or via platforms like Evercade and Polymega, sites like Myrient play an important role in the realm of preservation due to the fact that many IP holders no longer exist, and their games would be at risk of being lost forever were it not for ROM-sharing portals.
Many titles are also unlikely to be re-released due to the expiration of decades-old licensing deals.
Did you use Myrient to build out your ROM collection? How do you feel about the site's closure? Let us know with a comment below.