Games That Weren’t (GTW) is a long-running video game preservation archive dedicated to documenting lost, unreleased and cancelled video games across a wide range of platforms.
Since 1999 online, and many years prior offline, the project has focused on uncovering forgotten titles, preserving prototypes, and sharing developer stories before they are lost to time. This work is backed by over 25 years of research, recoveries and collaboration with developers worldwide.
What we do
Games That Weren’t documents cancelled and unreleased games, preserves prototypes and development material, and works with developers and the community to recover lost software. Spanning multiple platforms from early 8-bit systems through to modern consoles, it serves as a central resource for video game preservation.
The site is a non-profit, labour of love project with no financial backing. We preserve lost materials and video game history purely out of passion for long-term digital preservation. If you would like to support us, please spread the word about the project and share posts that you find interesting or that may help us recover missing titles. Each page includes social media share links, helping to widen the net and improve the chances of uncovering more lost games.
How it started
Games That Weren’t was first inspired by a Commodore 64 magazine article by Ian Osborne in a late issue of Commodore Force in 1993. Entitled, “That Was the Game That Wasn’t“, the feature was of great interest to a young 11 year old Frank Gasking, who is writing this page now, and shed light on titles that had never been released.
I wondered what it would be like to actually play some of these games and began contacting friends in the C64 scene to try and obtain copies of those mentioned in the article. After managing to get hold of a few that had leaked out, I researched through many old magazines and started uncovering even more unreleased or incomplete games, collating my own list of titles to investigate and recover.
It was clear that Ian’s article had only scratched the surface, and so began a long search and investigation that has now spanned around 30 years. By around 1997, enough information had been gathered to create a regular feature for the now sadly defunct Commodore Zone magazine, named “Games That Weren’t“.
Growth of GTW64
The popularity of the feature encouraged me to create a dedicated website covering unreleased Commodore 64 games. Launched in 1999, GTW64 was born and grew rapidly as games began to surface through the internet and new connections with developers coming online. We were one of the first dedicated archives focusing on unreleased and lost video games. Here is an early glimpse from Web Archive.
It became a place where you could download many lost or unfinished Commodore 64 games, as well as learn more about titles and help build a clearer picture of those still missing.
Expansion to all platforms
Building upon what was once just a C64 archive, eventually gamesthatwerent.com was created as the primary website, expanding coverage to all platforms. Alongside GTW64, we also support an Amiga GTW archive run by Adrian Simpson. Occasionally we share news from other preservation projects, but most updates and discoveries are shared via our social media channels, including Twitter.
We need you!
Preserving gaming history has never been the work of one person or group, it is a collective effort. For decades, passionate individuals and communities have worked together to uncover lost games and ensure that history is not forgotten, and it remains the only way we can preserve as much as possible.
Collaboration is at the heart of what we do, and many discoveries are only possible through community contributions. Every contribution helps, whether it is a small detail, a memory, a screenshot or a full recovery. Each one can make the difference between a game being lost forever or preserved for future generations.
Sharing our work and research
We are always happy for our research to be used in articles and features, as it helps spread awareness and increases the chances of further discoveries. All we ask is that Games That Weren’t is credited as the source where appropriate.
