Nintendo of America is hiring a specialist to preserve and organise its extensive archive of classic games, hardware, software and historical development materials.
Nintendo of America is looking to preserve its vast gaming legacy by hiring a specialist to organise and archive information relating to its older games, hardware and platforms.
The company has opened a 12-month contract position for a Digital Archivist, Historical Systems at its Redmond, Washington, location, with the successful candidate tasked with supporting the “preservation, organization, and accessibility of historical hardware and software information”.
According to the job description, the role will involve creating a “structured framework for organizing technical records, engineering documentation, source materials, and institutional knowledge related to legacy systems and platforms”.
The position is essentially a librarian role for Nintendo’s video game history, with the successful applicant expected to organise and document information relating to older games, consoles and platforms, as well as the technical and institutional material connected to them.
Nintendo is looking for someone with expertise in “archives, metadata management, information architecture, and research”. The archivist will also work with teams across engineering, product development, legal and business to establish standards ensuring historical information remains accessible and preserved for future generations.
A Bachelor’s degree in library and information science, Archives, Museum Studies, Information Management, History, Technical Communication or a related subject is preferred, although equivalent professional experience may also be considered.
The position pays between $35 and $55 per hour and could appeal to video game history enthusiasts interested in the preservation of the medium.
Nintendo’s move comes as video game preservation continues to become an increasingly important issue.
The Video Game History Foundation, established in 2016, has been working to preserve video games and their source code while developing a dedicated library for researching the history of the medium.
Nintendo has released thousands of games during its history, making the organisation of its archives a significant undertaking.
The company’s work could potentially lead to discoveries surrounding previously undocumented or unreleased material.
Earlier this year, a collector discovered 97 copies of an unreleased version of Super Mario Bros. Duck Hunt in a Wisconsin warehouse, including five cartridges that received perfect 10 grades from PSA.
Nintendo’s new archivist could therefore find themselves dealing with everything from engineering documents and development materials to long-forgotten games and hardware as the company works to ensure its history is not lost.
Nintendo hires archivist to preserve its gaming history
