jediyoshi
Member
What other type of freely accessible marketplace that sells any other type of good would have people that freely use it also be entitled to an advanced notification of an item's delisting?
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Activision's Deadpool, Spider-Man, and X-Men games disappear from digital stores
- Thread starter Delusibeta
- Start date
What other type of freely accessible marketplace that sells any other type of good would have people that freely use it also be entitled to an advanced notification of an item's delisting?
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Even old retail licensed Activision releases are useless. Try to play a copy of Star Trek: Armada.
emiranda061288
Banned
how do you explain activision dropping the 007 license?
It appears to me that activision doesn't like to hold on non profitable licenses, nothing wrong with that.
furthermore digital goods can't be lost, people would be able to play all these games on way or another.
emiranda061288
Banned
delete this please
CambriaRising
Member
Absence is not evidence that something should be absent.
ATVI may not want to hold on to non-profitable licenses (look at the Ultimate Alliance license getting dropped and its DLC coming down off the store a couple of years back), but it is not a coincidence that every Marvel video game contract that can be terminated is being terminated at the same time. I'd imagine that if it had been up to ATVI, Deadpool probably would have stuck around for another year to recoup as a previous-gen budget title before being cut loose.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
Disney smells blood in the water around nintendo and microsoft and is gearing up to release a next gen console.
Fox Mulder
Member
I liked that game. The online multiplayer was pure fun, as treyarch actually made a great fps cover mechanic. I wish it made it into CoD, but would change the popular ganeplay too much.
I can still walk down to gamestop and buy it, yay physical discs.
AcceptableGhost
Member
In the context of archival and preservation of media, secondary markets do have a shit ton to do with this conversation though.
Deadpool for PC has effectively been wiped off of the earth for anyone down the road outside of pirating the game (and it was only released 6 months ago!). Whereas anyone can trivially pick up Super Mario Bros for the NES, a game that came out in 1985 on eBay in a matter of seconds. I don't think a lot of people here really give a shit about Deadpool the game, it is the fact that when you delist a digital-only game - it is permanently gone outside of piracy (when possible) for everyone who did not pick it up during its arbitrary up time. It is almost like the game never existed.
You don't see a problem with that? It is like we have regressed into a weird dark age where companies can control whether their product/creation exists or not post release.
I address more of that post later on, but to the bolded bit: this has happened to some extent with Digital River frequently not allowing redownloads without buying "insurance" (that's only good for something like a year anyway), and fronts like GameFly HAVE pulled games from redownload. It's one of the biggest reasons I bought NWN2 on GOG, I got it via Direct2Drive but it wasn't immediately readded on GameFly, popped back up, then got pulled anyway due to it not being sold from them anymore. It's one of the biggest reasons I can't call Nintendo THE worst period, even if they are on the console front specifically.
And no, you can't just go "Secondary markets have nothing to do with this conversation": they are the god damn elephant in the room.
Laws are extreme, but the digital front IS fundamentally different from selling physical goods, the closest equivalent there is a recall and usually that's due to legal or health reasons. MAYBE having laws for it is going overkill, but you can't just keep pointing to manufacturing stopping or whatever as being the same damn thing, with digital it's just GONE, no used copies or left over stock on store shelves to go for. At a minimum I think it's a really shitty mindset to go "oh that's just the way it is" about stuff like this happening as if it's not something that SHOULD be better in some form. Ideally none of this would ever get pulled, but requiring some notification in advance is probably the most reasonable compromise we can have.
Possibilities:
- Disney is sunsetting all their videogame licensing deals intentionally, and simply not allowing them to be renewed.
- Disney wants too much to relicense Marvel, and everybody is "fuck that"
- Someone else signed an exclusivity deal with Disney for Marvel videogames. Or Disney properties in general.
Using your logic, considering the fact that Deadpool in film is currently under the auspices of Fox as part of the X-Men film package, I presume it'll take a very long while before this game is pulled out from the Disney vault...
Given the Star Wars license with EA... well, that'd figure, though in regards to Marvel specifically you'd think they'd see how people actually CARE about Marvel vs Capcom, whereas no one remembers that Marvel EA fighting game. What was it called again?
Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
I've been tracking an XBLA game that recently got delisted, again, a licensed property. War of the Worlds, the sidescrolling one with the Patrick Stewart narration. I went to buy it two weeks after it was delisted.
I'm not up on the XBLA pirate scene but if a game exclusive to one of these walled gardens gets axed, what becomes of it? Is it gone once the last 360 with it installed bites the dust? I went to look at the wikipedia entry for the game the other day and it had been deleted. WTF?
Perhaps. MvC:O was part of the same license though. It's all crazy.
McBradders
NeoGAF: my new HOME
No. No problem at all. Just because it's pulled from the marketplace doesn't magically make it no longer exist. In this case there are physical copies out there on PS3 and Xbox and of course there are certain corners of the internet making sure that these things are properly "archived" at least.
Yeah, it kinda sucks that there isn't an avenue to instant gratification. Can anyone actually name some games that are simply no longer available via any means any more?
jediyoshi
Member
Shitty? From a legal perspective, it's pretty pragmatic. There's not even any similar precedent for other digital markets. There's tons of discontinued foods I wish were still available, but I'm just going to have to live with the fact that there will be no more dunkaroos.
Foods have always been a consumable for obvious reasons, games haven't.
That said, it's part and parcel of the bigger issue of giving up resale.
That terrible Yaris XBLA game.
Which got me thinking, any XBLA/PSN exclusive that'll remain exclusive can become a prime candidate to fit your bill.
AcceptableGhost
Member
Deadpool's versions on 360/PS3 are irrelevant. I am saying that the PC version of Deadpool is effectively dead outside of piracy. Go try to buy War of the Worlds for XBLA (or games off of this list http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=74900279&postcount=6) and get back to me with your results. How about the original Xbox's DLC stuff? Also once Microsoft/Sony pull the plug on content servers for PS3/360 the amount of stuff that will be gone forever will be enormous (including a ton of DLC).
It is true that SOME very small fraction of consoles will still have that content on their hard drives but in the larger context of preserving work that doesn't mean a whole lot.
Cheshire_Buddha
Member
That sucks.
The game itself was average at best, and pretty short to boot. (Steam has me at four hours) But I did enjoy myself the entire time.
The game itself was average at best, and pretty short to boot. (Steam has me at four hours) But I did enjoy myself the entire time.
McBradders
NeoGAF: my new HOME
Isn't the important part that the game still exists in some playable form, though? Not the PC version in particular? Unless it's drastically different, of course.
And yes the 360/PS3 shit is harder to archive and replay but emulation will catch up eventually and preserve that stuff. Nature finds a way.
Stephen_drewz
Member
This sucks. I beat this only a few weeks ago after picking it up for $7.50 in the Steam sale last month. The gameplay wasn't award winning by any means but I went in knowing that and not expecting a top tier game. I went in expecting a game that didn't take itself too seriously and to have a good laugh and that is exactly what happened. I finished the game in two sittings which was a total of just under 6 hours, it has been a very long time since I have stuck with one game for that long(a problem I am currently trying to fix). The game had me amused and entertained the whole time. Easily worth more then the $7.50 I paid IMO.
Go in just hoping to be entertained and not hoping for the most amazing game play and you'll come out fine.
Go in just hoping to be entertained and not hoping for the most amazing game play and you'll come out fine.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Now there's a fucking tragedy. All those Trek games lost to the wind.
Miles Quaritch
Member
Gameplay isn't great, but the humour is fantastic. Shame it's been removed, but it can still be bought at retail right?
Digital's young enough that perhaps not enough people are fully thinking out how different it is. For, say, a food you have to keep manufacturing it, keeping in mind how long it stays good, etc. With digital it's pretty much just a flag to allow you to keep purchasing it and some data kept on a server, so long as bandwidth is taken care of and all relevant legalities are clear than it can keep being sold, but once they either can't keep running the servers or the legalties become a problem then it needs to get pulled. That's easier to see and alert people to, so those paying attention know to get in on it. I wouldn't be surprised if there were stories about production ceasing on Dunkaroos for instance, and even if not reports could show up that it's not showing back up in stores or they don't plan to restock so someone reasonably attentive can snap them up. Hell, that's exactly what happened when Hostess went under initially.
It's not a simple situation to remedy, but I'm not content just pointing at what happens with physical good that need to take into account manufacturing and resources, I'd rather look at why that applies to them and if that's actually relevant to digital or not. And so far the fact digital can just happen out of the blue is both its greatest strength and weakness.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
I like how nobody gives a shit about the game until it gets pulled.
Then it has to be an ill portent of the state of the industry or whatever.
Then it has to be an ill portent of the state of the industry or whatever.
McBradders
NeoGAF: my new HOME
That's a fresh deal, though. Surely it won't be under the same restrictions.
mcfishstick
Member
I actually just finished playing this after getting it for like £7 in the steam sale and thought it was quite funny. Narrative-wise it was funny and I think 4th-wall breaking Deadpool is refreshing and makes the game worth a playthrough on at least easy.
I wonder how long until the Lego Marvel license expires. I would hate to see that game pulled from sale after all the care taken to create the characters' animations.
I wonder how long until the Lego Marvel license expires. I would hate to see that game pulled from sale after all the care taken to create the characters' animations.
That's probably not a smart thing to gamble on. Deadpool isn't an old game. Neither is MVC3.
McBradders
NeoGAF: my new HOME
MVC 3 is a weird one, I grant you, but Activision have had the X-Men stuff on lock for a super long time. I wonder if Deadpool got shipped as a last hurrah before the deal ended?
That's pretty much my impression of the game. I enjoyed it and would recommend it at the current sale price on Amazon/Gamefly.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
SMB had an unfathomably large print run. Of course you can find it for cheap now.
And you'll be able to buy Deadpool PC years from now. It just won't be cheap. But I wouldn't be surprised if the number of unused keys on the day it's truly discontinued is larger than the entire print run of say, Panzer Dragoon Saga. And sure you can still transfer licenses of that via the used market, but at $350 it might as well be gone.
Ban Puncher
Member
PC version just went up to $40 on Amazon.
DIGITAL FUTURE
DIGITAL FUTURE
Thomas_Daly
Banned
I know but extremely funny which was the reason I bought it 20 euro not bad on disc
Yeah, for the time being.
TwiztidElf
Member
I had been very curious about this game all last year.
Pulled the trigger for $7.50 on a Steam sale a few days ago, then had a marathon session (by my standards) and played half way through it in one sitting.
If you like character action games, it's a lot of fun.
Glad I grabbed it before it disappeared.
Pulled the trigger for $7.50 on a Steam sale a few days ago, then had a marathon session (by my standards) and played half way through it in one sitting.
If you like character action games, it's a lot of fun.
Glad I grabbed it before it disappeared.
The game play was alright but nothing worth writing home about. I had fun using some of the weapons. The humor was very hit or miss; in standard Way fashion (or as I like to call it, Family Guy humor) where the characters are so ridiculous that it can easily switch between being absolute brilliance or complete cringe-worthy nonsense.
The industry needs more comedy games and Deadpool was kind of a decent effort in that. It's a shame it's just a fundamentally "meh" game. And also much like a typical comedy game, it steps into pitfalls of repeating dialogue during game play.
The industry needs more comedy games and Deadpool was kind of a decent effort in that. It's a shame it's just a fundamentally "meh" game. And also much like a typical comedy game, it steps into pitfalls of repeating dialogue during game play.
Disney brokered a sweet-heart exclusivity deal with Star Wars, why wouldn't they do the same with Marvel - especially with Marvel currently being the biggest thing in film?
Expect to hear some kind of agreement with Electronic Arts in the near future. I'd bet anything.
jediyoshi
Member
I don't get why you keep pointing out that the crux of anything I'm saying or from this mindset is reliant on a comparison between actual, tangible goods. I'm not even arguing the idea that it's a shitty situation when things get pulled, it's just an obvious given. But the actual implications of what they mean to a medium are completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Where is the onus actually supposed to go when things disappear? The publishers? The platform holders?
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