GOG brings back "big box" PC games, one printable template at a time
Summary
GOG has launched a 'Printable Big Box' collection, offering downloadable 3D models and printable templates for classic PC game packaging to preserve gaming nostalgia.
<p>Those who remember PC gaming in <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/11/how-half-life-2-helped-sell-steam-to-a-skeptical-pc-gaming-market/">the days before Steam</a> may have fond memories of the "big box" packaging that made those games stand out as shelf eye candy and <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/06/inside-the-100k-forgery-scandal-thats-roiling-pc-game-collecting/">sought-after in-home collectibles</a>. Today, PC gaming platform GOG is hoping to reignite some of the nostalgia for those days by adding downloadable 3D models and printable, foldable high-res packaging scans for a handful of PC games on the platform.</p>
<p>Thus far, the "Printable Big Box" collection on GOG is limited to just five games: <em>Armikrog</em>, <em>Descent</em>, <em>Hitman: Codename 47</em>, <em>Myst</em>, and <em>Star Trek: 25th Anniversary</em>. Players browsing those games on the GOG store will now see "3D Boxes" listed among the included "Goodies" before purchase. Owners of those games on GOG can download a ZIP file containing a version of the box art as an animated 3D object file (in an easy-to-open <a href="https://vsquad.art/blog/articles/glb-file-what-it-is-how-it-works-and-why-this-3d-format-matters/">GLB format</a>) and a "flat printable template" in PDF, SVG, and Adobe Illustrator formats. Those downloads allow for what GOG calls "a proper papercraft project for anyone who misses shelves full of PC game boxes."</p>
<img width="1438" height="1134" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/hitmanbox2.png" class="fullwidth full" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/hitmanbox2.png 1438w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/hitmanbox2-640x505.png 640w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/hitmanbox2-1024x808.png 1024w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/hitmanbox2-768x606.png 768w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/hitmanbox2-980x773.png 980w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1438px) 100vw, 1438px">
The 3D model animates to show the front flap opening.
Credit:
GOG
<p>"Physical media doesn’t survive the way software can—boxes get lost, crushed, thrown out," GOG <a href="https://www.gog.com/pressroom/gog-preservation-program-brings-the-big-box-nostalgia/">writes in today's announcement</a>. "Scanning them, and letting you print your own, is preservation in a different shape: the same mission that keeps these games running on modern PCs, applied to the objects they used to come in."</p><p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/09/gog-brings-back-big-box-pc-games-one-printable-template-at-a-time/">Read full article</a></p>
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Cached at: 09/09/26, 03:48 AM
# GOG brings back "big box" PC games, one printable template at a time
Source: [https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/09/gog-brings-back-big-box-pc-games-one-printable-template-at-a-time/](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/09/gog-brings-back-big-box-pc-games-one-printable-template-at-a-time/)
Those who remember PC gaming in[the days before Steam](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/11/how-half-life-2-helped-sell-steam-to-a-skeptical-pc-gaming-market/)may have fond memories of the “big box” packaging that made those games stand out as shelf eye candy and[sought\-after in\-home collectibles](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/06/inside-the-100k-forgery-scandal-thats-roiling-pc-game-collecting/)\. Today, PC gaming platform GOG is hoping to reignite some of the nostalgia for those days by adding downloadable 3D models and printable, foldable high\-res packaging scans for a handful of PC games on the platform\.
Thus far, the “Printable Big Box” collection on GOG is limited to just five games:*Armikrog*,*Descent*,*Hitman: Codename 47*,*Myst*, and*Star Trek: 25th Anniversary*\. Players browsing those games on the GOG store will now see “3D Boxes” listed among the included “Goodies” before purchase\. Owners of those games on GOG can download a ZIP file containing a version of the box art as an animated 3D object file \(in an easy\-to\-open[GLB format](https://vsquad.art/blog/articles/glb-file-what-it-is-how-it-works-and-why-this-3d-format-matters/)\) and a “flat printable template” in PDF, SVG, and Adobe Illustrator formats\. Those downloads allow for what GOG calls “a proper papercraft project for anyone who misses shelves full of PC game boxes\.”
[](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/hitmanbox2.png)
The 3D model animates to show the front flap opening\.
Credit: GOG
The 3D model animates to show the front flap opening\.Credit: GOG
“Physical media doesn’t survive the way software can—boxes get lost, crushed, thrown out,” GOG[writes in today’s announcement](https://www.gog.com/pressroom/gog-preservation-program-brings-the-big-box-nostalgia/)\. “Scanning them, and letting you print your own, is preservation in a different shape: the same mission that keeps these games running on modern PCs, applied to the objects they used to come in\.”
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