Gaming: Uk Games Collector Raided By Police After Purchasing £10,000 Worth...

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Preserving videogame history is no easy feat. Besides the ephemeral nature of digital downloads these days, a significant obstacle over the decades has been the interests of corporate entities as they seek to protect their intellectual property. For example, a London-based collector was raided by the police last year after he purchased dev kits reportedly marked for disposal during a Sega UK office clear out.

The collector, Darius Khan, purchased a hardware lot from an e-waste subcontractor for £10,000. This included dev kits, controllers, autographed copies of games, and even prototype cartridges. Some time after listing parts of the find for sale online, UK police then raided Khan's property, alleging that the Sega dev kits had been stolen.

YouTube channel Gamers Nexus travelled to the UK to investigate, sharing an hour-long documentary on the case.

Darius Khan recounted the raid to Gamers Nexus, saying, "Seven o'clock in the morning—approximately—bang, bang, bang on the door. [...] I look through the peephole and I see a bunch of police, probably four or five police officers. I open the door [and I'm told], 'Mr. Khan, you're under arrest for money laundering. We're here to seize dev kits.'"

Even though Khan has yet to be charged with a criminal offence, this case is both strange and concerning. So, let's rewind a bit.

When Sega moved its UK head office from Brentford to Chiswick, London last year, it hired a e-waste company, Waste To Wonder, to dispose of hardware that was left behind in the old office building. This company hired a subcontractor that then took the lot, which contained dev kits and more besides, to an export yard that processes waste to then be sold to various buyers across Africa.

Darius Khan negotiated a deal with the e-waste subcontractor to buy the discarded hardware before it could be processed. Darius began listing parts of the find on both eBay and Facebook marketplace, which included Sony PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, as well as Nintendo DSI and Wii U dev kits. The Video Game Preservation Museum also started an online fundraising campaign to purchase the lot. Though not yet confirmed, it's likely these online listings and the fundraiser are what drew legal attention.

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

Darius was also contacted by a man using the name Paul, who cl

Source: PC Gamer