> Isn't emulation a much better approach for that purpose? It's always been unrealistic keeping functional native systems around forever, whether that's game consoles or computer platforms including OSes and drivers etc.
This is an opinion I used to hold, so I definitely understand where this comes from. As I've learned more however, I now understand why this is not always a reasonable ask. Depending on the state of the emulator, the level of accuracy to the underlying hardware is pretty broad. Accuracy's not an outright killer of playability - most popular emulators for every console do some trade of accuracy for efficiency. A lack of accuracy however leads to a lack of compatibility. This might mean some titles might run with graphical or audio glitches, some might run with game breaking bugs that make a title unplayable. For the casual game enjoyer though, the bar for "good enough" is pretty low that people thoroughly enjoyed the "Classic" reproduction consoles that were all the rage back in the late 2010's despite them being far from perfect. However, this doesn't solve the key problem that will come with this change, which is availability.
In order to have a title to emulate or otherwise shim into running, you need to be able to download it. While plenty of titles have drifted into abandonware collections or various other sites for you to access, it's certainly gray area territory. Digital archivists will need to get access to the software to preserve it. In the days of classic cartridge based consoles, this meant buying every game you could get your hands on and getting it in the hands of someone with the ability to dump the ROM. With storefronts like Steam though, there is no secondary market to do that on the cheap, and no physical media many games that released exclusively through this Steam, or even the App Store, to be archived outside of this fashion.
You do make a good point though regarding keeping old hardware running. While sometimes you can still find boxes of old components to replace, the amount of supply will dwindle to inexistence. The Super Nintendo speedrunning community is desperate to find replacement components for the ceramic oscillator used for audio timing on the console, as the cheaper component in the BOM is degrading over use and time, causing inaccurate RNG generation and instability.
All this to say, it's reasonably hard to maintain compatibility and playability of old software, and the quality of that compatible experience isn't consistent. I'd love it if game platform developers put more effort into preservation efforts, whether that be first-part production of compatibility shims for newer consoles to play older titles, or an openness to publish technical documentation for platforms to make preservation more feasible by communities. And most importantly, a willingness to offer access to titles from libraries and collections digitally after their money making days are done.