After 42 years of existing as a form of electronic entertainment, a vast collection of video games will now be on display in Texas as part of the nation’s first museum entirely devoted to video games.
Frisco’s Community Development Corp. voted unanimously on Thursday to devote $1 million to hosting the National Video Game Museum.
“We’ll make sure every visitor that comes in has a great experience and learns all about video games past, present and future,” National Video Game Museum director of development Una McKeen said before the vote.
The organization will show as much of their collection, totaling over 10,000 pieces, within a 10,400 square foot space.
Their first museum, dubbed “The National Video Game Museum 1.0,” will share the city-owned Frisco Discovery Center with four other attractions.
Eventually, as part of the agreement, a capital campaign will be launched to create a bigger stand-alone facility for the museum called “2.0.” This version is required to also be located in Frisco, a city within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
In addition to displaying original video games, consoles, and other memorabilia, the organization has plans to incorporate gaming development and music as part of the experience.
Before the agreement, the National Video Game Museum was a non-profit organization without any physical location to display their items. If their collection was seen by the public, their artifacts were showcased at expos.
“We’re glad to finally have a home,” museum co-founder Sean Kelly said.
Construction of The National Video Game Museum 1.0 is set to begin Jan 2015, with a tentative completion date of April 2015.
