It has been confirmed that the UK’s first official National Videogame Archive is to be launched at a cost of £22bn, with the aim of preserving the history of the now global games industry.

The scheme has been formed by academics at Nottingham Trent University, and will be housed at Bradford’s National Media Museum. It pledges to offer the “best levels of care and stewardship” for the collection which will include the likes of consoles, games cartridges and all manner of gaming-associated items.

“The National Videogame Archive is an important resource for preserving elements of our national cultural heritage,” Dr James Newman from Nottingham Trent University’s Centre for Contemporary Play stated. “We don’t just want to create a virtual museum full of code or screenshots that you could see online. The archive will really get to grips with what is a very creative, social and productive culture.

“It will not only be a vital academic resource to support growing disciplines in videogame studies but will also be something that the general public can fully engage with.”

The Archive will be launched at this year’s GameCity 3 festival in Nottingham.

Paul Goodman, head of collections and knowledge at the National Media Museum, said: “The archiving of these important artefacts presents us with some real challenges, not least in the area of preservation. We must balance the necessary conservation requirements of these materials, with the need to allow the public to understand and interact with them both now and in the future, which is really the cornerstone of what we are trying to do.”