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Activision's Deadpool, Spider-Man, and X-Men games disappear from digital stores

jello44

Chie is the worst waifu
I dont care if it was worse than regular Doug, I still wanted to see all the episodes at least once to have closure of the damn series. But I cant have that because /disneyvault101.

Doug bangs Patty at 17 and she gets pregnant, she drops out of school to take care of their bastard child and Doug gets a job at the Honker Burger to support them.

THE END.
 
D

Deleted member 13876

Unconfirmed Member
Marvel licenses are really expensive and the term starts when development starts, not when the game comes out.

Assuming two years of dev, which isn't that long and a year on shelf, you're at a 3 year term. If the game performed well enough, they could have negotiated an amendment to the original term though that probably wasn't possible. I don't believe the game's sales set the world on fire.

What the hell, that's really weird. Don't they still get royalties per copies sold? Seems like shooting themselves in the foot somewhat.
 

Ban Puncher

Member
Gamefly wont let me add it to my cart because of 'region restrictions'.

Edit: Amazon tells me to bugger off too.

Edit Harder: Quick change of address to a US based one on Amazon sorted me out. Thanks to JaseC for the tip.
 
Grabbed this the other day when it was on sale. Not sure if I'll like it or not but at least I'll have the chance to play it either way.

Bought for my collection of rare games on Steam.

idCcgJzCgCItx.png

Just curious but when was Indigo Prophecy ever on steam?
 

Imbarkus

As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Looks like it was added sometime in 2010 and removed January 2011

You can buy the uncensored Fahrenheit DRM free on gog.com for like $2.99.

Thanks guys. You just made me buy Deadpool. Awesome.
 
Deadpool was a very average game. It's the license that people cared about not the gameplay. But I never thought the license was only for this year lol.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
It was on sale a few days ago.. Wow.

And was supposed to be on sale as a repeat vote today, but got ate and replaced by CoDoge.

Should've bought it at $10 but I didn't have the cashflow and still don't. Goddamn it, Activision. I did really want to play it despite it being really bad gameplay wise for Deadpool. :/
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
If this is a Disney thing, how come it's not affecting the Spider-man game on Steam? That's still up there.
I'm assuming because Sony owns the movie IP and related merchandising.

And was supposed to be on sale as a repeat vote today, but got ate and replaced by CoDoge.

Should've bought it at $10 but I didn't have the cashflow and still don't. Goddamn it, Activision. I did really want to play it despite it being really bad gameplay wise for Deadpool. :/
Still available at Amazon and Gamefly for 10 and 8 dollars respectively.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Well, I hope JaseC managed to get it.

Yep. ;) Licensed games are ticking time bombs in general but in particular you can't trust that Acti will keep a licence as it heads into the new financial year (Acti's follows the calendar year). I'm honestly surprised the Ice Age game hasn't been executed on the chopping block.
 

OmahaG8

Member
Doug bangs Patty at 17 and she gets pregnant, she drops out of school to take care of their bastard child and Doug gets a job at the Honker Burger to support them.

THE END.

Jesus, did they eat Porkchop for food in this dystopian future?

Doug knew better to not use a condom
 

Eusis

Member
Yep. ;) Licensed games are ticking time bombs in general but in particular you can't trust that Acti will keep a licence as it heads into the new financial year (Acti's follows the calendar year). I'm honestly surprised the Ice Age game hasn't been executed on the chopping block.
They were probably more favorable with the terms, I imagine Marvel knows that Deadpool's popular amongst the same people that seriously play games, and that it could be a potential gold mine if done well. And really, I imagine this game probably could've sold WAY better had it been of higher quality like the Transformers games. Shame that Marvel doesn't know shit about licensing out for games it seems, and Activision is just brutal as hell in this regard.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
They were probably more favorable with the terms, I imagine Marvel knows that Deadpool's popular amongst the same people that seriously play games, and that it could be a potential gold mine if done well. And really, I imagine this game probably could've sold WAY better had it been of higher quality like the Transformers games. Shame that Marvel doesn't know shit about licensing out for games it seems, and Activision is just brutal as hell in this regard.

If Act presumes the game is going to sell poorly going forward then it'll ditch the associated licence/s; for instance, Acti ditched James Bond last January even though the contract still had three years remaining. What I wonder, though, is why doesn't Acti just cease producing retail copies and maintain the game digitally? Since there are no inherent costs involved with the latter (at least on the PC), there's no harm in reaping the monetary rewards from the occasional sale, even if the units moved are only a few thousand or so. "Something is better than nothing" and all that.
 

Eusis

Member
If Act presumes the game is going to sell poorly going forward then it'll ditch the associated licence/s; for instance, Acti ditched James Bond last January even though the contract still had three years remaining. What I wonder, though, is why doesn't Acti just cease producing retail copies and maintain the game digitally? Since there are no inherent costs involved with the latter (at least on the PC), there's no harm in reaping the monetary rewards from the occasional sale, even if the units moved are only a few thousand or so. "Something is better than nothing" and all that.
In that case I wonder if it's possible they HAD to actively develop games to hold it. It'd make sense to have a clause like that, wouldn't want there to be a prolonged period with no games and nothing to do about it. Though it'd be like them to just pull it all but keep anyone else from having the license anyway.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
In that case I wonder if it's possible they HAD to actively develop games to hold it. It'd make sense to have a clause like that, wouldn't want there to be a prolonged period with no games and nothing to do about it. Though it'd be like them to just pull it all but keep anyone else from having the license anyway.

Possibly, but even so I don't think that was the case with James Bond seeing as the licence was dropped just three months after the release of 007 Legends -- I'd imagine there would be some sort of grace period that affords Acti the right to continue selling the associated games for a certain amount of time in the event that there's nothing in the pipeline. Forcing the forfeiture of the licence just several weeks after a release would strike me as heavy-handed and, frankly, strange.
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
Marvel needs to speak up on this now. What kind of contracts are they negotiating? Are these time dependent?

What the fuck.

As a Marvel fan I'm scared for the future of Marvel games, especially now that post-launch support is 10x easier on next gen consoles. What if MvC4 suffers the same fate as all of these games when they become unavailable half a year after they come out?

If it's not time dependent (but even still) what possible reason could there be for the delisting?
 
Hrm I snagged up a key on amazon and the game and the DLC code registered fine on steam but under "DLC" for the game it says I don't own any (it does show up under account history). I'd download the game now and check to make sure everything is fine but I won't have access to my windows desktop for a while (stuck on a macbook till I get the funds to upgrade and repair my desktop).
 

AwShucks

Member
Shocked to see all the negative opinions about the gameplay. I'm almost done with the game myself and it can be super frustrating but I wouldn't consider it anything less than average. But the Deadpool factor (dialogue, wackiness, etc) makes up for the average gameplay.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Acti abandoning the licence, as it did with James Bond last January.
So, chances of their James Bond game getting GFW Live patched out is probably nil then. lol

Or what was their other shooting game made by Bizarre... that had GFWL in it too.
 

Lijik

Member
Its not a particularly good game which becomes increasingly apparent the further you get into it and more and more time passes between the funny joke setpieces.

Theres novel moments like Deadpool leaving the frame on his own accord, and you control the camera to keep up with him but you have to slog through wave after wave of mundane combat against boring as fuck enemies to get to them.
 

antitrop

Member
It's really not that bad.

It's really not that good.

I guess that's why it has a 61 on Metacritic. It's a completely forgettable, mediocre, average, unremarkable video game. Like I said, the fact that it will now no longer be on Steam has caused more people to care about it then when it was actually relevant earlier in the year. That's pretty sad.

Buy it for your collections if you want, but there really isn't any reason to play this game unless you're desperate.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Hmm, I wonder what's the case for Capcom then when they've pulled MvC2 and MvC3 but MvC:O is still up.

Could be that Marvel licenses out its characters on a per-game basis and the former two contracts expired.

So, chances of their James Bond game getting GFW Live patched out is probably nil then. lol

Or what was their other shooting game made by Bizarre... that had GFWL in it too.

Acti removing GFWL from Quantum of Solace and making retail keys Steam-redeemable would be amazing, but, yeah, I don't hold much hope, haha. I missed the boat on the James Bond games, sadly, but I did import a retail copy of 007 Legends (which uses Steamworks, fortunately) a while back. It comes with Skyfall DLC these days:

007sfv3si2.jpg


It was nice of Acti to give it to existing owners for free. Pity this didn't extend to the rest of the DLC released prior.
 

antitrop

Member
Acti removing GFWL from Quantum of Solace and making retail keys Steam-redeemable would be amazing, but, yeah, I don't hold much hope, haha. I missed the boat on the James Bond games
It felt like a cheap knockoff of Call of Duty 4 (same engine), so it was pretty decent.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
The Club?
Oh god, yeah, that was it. I still have my box somewhere, but I guess it will be a coaster in a few months.

Acti removing GFWL from Quantum of Solace and making retail keys Steam-redeemable would be amazing, but, yeah, I don't hold much hope, haha. I missed the boat on the James Bond games, sadly, but I did import a retail copy of 007 Legends (which uses Steamworks, fortunately) a while back. It comes with Skyfall DLC these days.
Probably for the best, since that's also going to be a coaster for me soon. lol
It felt like a cheap knockoff of Call of Duty 4, so it was pretty decent.
Yeah, Treyarch did it before they moved to CoD full time, I think?
 

daman824

Member
so wait, if I buy a game digitally off of psn, xbl, or steam, have to uninstall the game for some reason, and it gets taken off the marketplace, can I still download it since I bought it? I'm going all digital this gen and dont want to lose a game if I have to delete it to free up space.
 

Tohsaka

Member
so wait, if I buy a game digitally off of psn, xbl, or steam, have to uninstall the game for some reason, and it gets taken off the marketplace, can I still download it since I bought it? I'm going all digital this gen and dont want to lose a game if I have to delete it to free up space.

Yeah, if you bought the game you can still download it. They can't sell it to any new customers, though.
 

Clawww

Member
so wait, if I buy a game digitally off of psn, xbl, or steam, have to uninstall the game for some reason, and it gets taken off the marketplace, can I still download it since I bought it? I'm going all digital this gen and dont want to lose a game if I have to delete it to free up space.

you still own it and can re-download it, yeah
 
Activision should really think about leaking rumors about removal of titles whenever they run a sale, seems to spur quite a few sales from people on the fence.
 

Eusis

Member
Activision didn't even have the decency to inform people that it will be taken down? What a soulless and pathetic company.
Unfortunately there's about a 50/50 chance we'll even be notified. As much as I rail against delistings as one of the biggest issues with going all digital what I think is actually most important is to have some sort of regulation, either by platform holders or by law makers if need be, that notification must be made if a foreseeable removal of content will happen and at what point. I understand that sometimes complications come up IE court orders and things need to be pulled FAST, but it's bullshit that we pretty much have to depend on a company actually giving a shit to know if we'll miss our chance or not.
 

McBradders

NeoGAF: my new HOME
Unfortunately there's about a 50/50 chance we'll even be notified. As much as I rail against delistings as one of the biggest issues with going all digital what I think is actually most important is to have some sort of regulation, either by platform holders or by law makers if need be, that notification must be made if a foreseeable removal of content will happen and at what point. I understand that sometimes complications come up IE court orders and things need to be pulled FAST, but it's bullshit that we pretty much have to depend on a company actually giving a shit to know if we'll miss our chance or not.

I don't think product de-listing is as huge a deal for the consumer as you seem to be making out here (laws, really?). If those who have already purchased it are suddenly getting dicked over because they can't get access to their content then you have a really big problem. De-listed titles are really no different than something going out of print, you missed your chance oh well. Secondary markets have nothing to do with this conversation.
 

tombstone

Member
I realize that I have no way of providing independent corroboration for most of what I'm about to tell you, so feel free to take this with a grain of salt. Regardless, this is my understanding of the larger issues behind this, derived from the opinions of people in the entertainment and licensing industries.

Background: I graduated law school this year from a school with very strong IP and entertainment law programs. One of my classmates worked for Marvel on the West Coast in licensing and media before coming to law school, one of my teachers did extensive work for Marvel in the 70s and 80s, and other classmates and teachers have worked and continued to work with Marvel licensees past and present.

The consensus is that Disney has asserted full control over Marvel's licensing, in contrast to pre-Disney and the immediate post-takeover period when Marvel was allow to largely dictate its own licensing strategy. The line of thinking is that Disney doesn't want to mess with the creative and editorial process when it comes to the comics themselves: comics revenue is a virtual drop in the bucket of Disney's bottom line, Marvel management and editorial have proven themselves capable of protecting the essential marketability of the characters (the Clooney/Nick Fury fiasco notwithstanding), and because the comics are essentially subsidized test marketing for film and television storylines.

However, Disney is not going to be nearly as hands-off when it comes to properties that reach a broader and deeper (and therefore far more profitable) market: video games, television, toys and assorted merchandising. That's all stuff that Disney sees extensive value in vertically integrating into the empire. If you think back to the early and mid-00s, Disney used to be a lot freer when it came to licensing out properties it didn't see much value in; Tron 2.0 and the related comics are the examples that first leap to mind. Current Disney management doesn't share that philosophy though, preferring to keep properties out of sight completely in the belief that this "builds demand."

So where Marvel would have licensed out a cult, limited-appeal character like Deadpool for a rate it found reasonable, Disney will say no and keep it off the market for as many years as it takes for Deadpool to be featured in a film or television show before blowing the doors off with a multi-level, carefully coordinated licensing blitz that is owned by Disney at every point, from ship to stern.

This presents a specific and real problem from a video game perspective. Normally Disney would just license Marvel characters to Disney development studios exclusively. Bad enough, right? No more Marvel vs Capcom, no more Raven X-Men/Marvel games. What makes it even worse is that Disney's efforts at cultivating AAA development studios have failed. I mean, FAILED. They've shut down Black Rock, Propaganda, and Junction Point for underperformance. Avalanche and Wideload do cash-ins and mobile games only. If they're not going to license and they can't develop, how exactly are Marvel video games going to come to market?

From what I understand, this hasn't been addressed at all. Maybe in a year or two some exec will notice that licensing revenue and royalties has dropped off and see the value in licensing again, but for right now? The future is grim.

Like I said, most of this is secondhand stuff I've pieced together from multiple people. Marvel isn't too concerned about it because they've never cared much about licensing apart from how it added black to the budget, so you won't hear complaints from that end. The licensees aren't happy at all, but what can they do? They're not going to sour relations with a monster like Disney over something like this.

Hope this helps explain some of the behind the scenes motivation.
 
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