ROM distribution site and self-described “video game preservation service” Myrient is set to close down at the end of March, with its operator citing the current rise in RAM prices amid the tech being hoovered up for AI datacenters as part of the the reason they’re reaching for the shutters.
As spotted by Kotaku, Myrient operator Alexey announced the impending shutdown via Discord and Telegram late last week. “I have decided to shut down Myrient on March 31st 2026,” they wrote. “Until then, the site will continue to remain available in its current state. Please download any content you find important, as you have around one month to do so.”
They then went on to outline three reasons they’ve opted to go this route. First off, a simple lack of funding: “As traffic continued to increase last year, the amount of funding from donations remained the same. I have been paying more than $6000 out of pocket every month in order to cover the difference which is not sustainable.”
Alexey continued that this trend has coincided with a rise in the site’s hosting expenses fuelled by the ongoing AI datacenter-driven hike in RAM, SSD, and HDD prices that we’ve dubbed RAMnarök. “Necessary upgrades to the storage and caching infrastructure only exacerbated the problem,” the operator added. “With a large number of servers and the aforementioned existing monthly deficit in excess of $6000 out of pocket, there is no way to pay for the increased hosting and hardware upgrade costs.”
Finally, the post directly cited a recent rise in “specialized download managers” which bypass Myrient and its donation messages, plus “many other smaller reasons” as having contributed to the state of affairs. Myrient’s been around since 2022. While it’s worth noting that ROM-sharing websites like it can disappear for a multitude of reasons, especially given the murky waters they often operate in in terms of copyright, it’s noteworthy that RAMnarök’s effects at this point can include increasing the strain of hosting to a point of being etched into the shutdown gravestone of a site like this one.
Usually the threat of a DMCA takedown’s the big existential boogeyman for sites like Myrient, but if the RAM shortage is also now making it harder for such things to exist, all we can do is continue to hope the less legally questionable preservation efforts of publishers and storefronts like GOG keep finding ways to bring back old games.