Cognition Dissemination: How About Companies Tell Us When Games Are Delisted?

With the new year came the discovery of more titles delisted from digital video game storefronts, thanks to license expirations. The key titles this time were Lego Lord of the Rings: The Video Game and Lego The Hobbit, discovered to have disappeared from Steam, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live, and the eShop last week. Unfortunately, no one knew this would happen in advance, so anyone who intended to purchase these (or wasn’t aware of them and suddenly wants them) can no longer do so unless they can find physical copies. This will be much harder for the former game, considering it was only released on last-generation platforms.

Publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment confirmed that both were delisted, and said they would remain in the libraries and purchase histories of those who bought them. They also didn’t say why this occurred, but the best theory is that the rights to use the music and performances in the games expired, both of which are from the movies they’re based on. This explains why Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and sequel Shadow of War are untouched, since neither of them feature those.

But here’s a good question: Why weren’t we told in advance?

Too many gaming companies are terrible at informing the audience of when games are going to be delisted. Nothing describes the feeling of waiting to get a game because you feel it could be there for a while longer, and you’re holding off until that potentially perfect sale price — if the game goes on sale at all, which remains an issue with digital games on console storefronts. No one received that benefit here, and this is hardly the only example of this phenomenon even in recent memory. Heck, it’s also not the most egregious one.

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth for PS4 and Vita were delisted in North America a little over two weeks ago, and not only did Bandai Namco not inform anyone about this in advance, they also haven’t commented on it since it happened. While the game had been discounted several times, it’s only been on the market since February 2015, making this a quick disappearance. Worse, the Vita version was only available digitally in America, and both versions received downloadable content that no one will be able to obtain now.

It’s good that the PS4 version was released physically, and it’s still available for a good price at some retailers. (It still goes for a hilarious $59.99 at Amazon proper, though is considerably cheaper at their dubiously-named affiliates.) If you want it, get a copy as soon as possible. You also may want to pick up the standalone expansion, Hacker’s Memory, while you can.

Activision, meanwhile, is inconsistent about this. They did inform players when the remaster of Deadpool was being delisted a whole three days in advance. But the remasters of the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games were delisted in July last year with no warning, despite both being popular enough to warrant one. They also slighted the licensed titles developed by PlatinumGames, specifically The Legend of Korra, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, and Transformers: Devastation. The Mutants in Manhattan case was bad due to being available for less than a year. But Transformers Devastation will be missed the most since it’s the best of the three, though it’s also fortunately the one that received a physical release.

There is a solution to this problem: How about companies let their consumer base know when games will be delisted? It’s not hard! All they need to do is send a short press release, or simply post an update on their social media accounts informing everyone, which the press will also report on. I’m trying to wrap my head around why this isn’t the case, and I’m probably overthinking this.

If companies can’t tell us due to some kind of unforeseen restrictions we aren’t aware of, they should tell us about that instead. Video game companies can be cryptic about too many matters, especially pertaining to game development, which is enough for some gamers to let their imaginations run wild. In this case, it could lead to assumptions that they have contempt for the audience, the license, or the original developer. Given how some companies actually do inform everyone of this, like Capcom and Sega, this could actually be the result of not caring enough.

If there’s a licensed game you’ve had your eye on but have held off from purchasing, consider getting it sooner rather than later. This also applies to games that contain licensed tracks, like several racing and music games. Also, hope the company that published it is nice enough to put the game on sale and warn the audience before a delisting, which happens in even rarer instances.

But I just want companies to simply let us know when this happens in the future, so we can avoid the concern altogether. That’s not too much to ask, right? It damn well shouldn’t be.