William Hepburn and Jackson Armstrong are co-authors of a new journal article entitled ‘Source Material and the Problem of Authenticity in Historical Game Development’.

This article examines the ways in which history can feature in games, or the ways in which a game can be historical. In particular it engages with the debate around ‘authenticity’ in historical games. Reflecting especially on their experience with Strange Sickness, the authors argue that the apparent gulf in objectives between game developers and historians can be bridged to their mutual benefit by embracing the authored, contingent nature of historical interpretation of primary sources, which reflects historical practice while offering a form of authenticity with appeal to game playing audiences.

The article is part of a special issue of the journal edited by Eduardo Luersen and James Wilson, entitled ‘Digital Games through Muddles Pasts and Modded History’. This collection arises from a workshop hosted by the editors in April 2024 held at the University of Konstanz. The special issue was published online on 24 December 2025.

The article may be found at:

William Hepburn, Jackson W. Armstrong (2025) ‘Source Material and the Problem of Authenticity in Historical Game Development’, Digital Culture & Society 11:1 https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.14361/dcs-2025-0103/html