[UPDATE] 'Tis the Season to be Delisted: More Xbox Games Removed from the Store

EddieM1974 said:Dam I actually wanted to buy this.

Nothing that I truly wanted, but I may pick up GRiD and Dirt 3 DLC soon (I probably won't try to pay full price however). The digital-only games look to be subpar as well, so I'm not truly stressing.

ChewieOnIce said:The article has been edited, it specifically said that fast & furious was GOD only, Hence my post

Sucks was waiting for battle LA to go on sale :(:(

EddieM1974 said:Jeez, what is this, mass delistings at the start of 2017 ?

This is ridiculous. What is the point in a digital store if games are going to get delisted ?

TurtleHermit0 said:I'm fairly sure the Wipeout games, at least, were delisted at the start of December.

One main reason why it's stupid to buy digital games on xbox... after so many years it's still no real alternative. sadly

I bought tmnt: turtles in manhattan digitally. Which achievements are online? I need to get those right away...

Activision, fuck you... Never buying an Activision game ever again!!

Ostrowidzki1989 said:How does the delisting affects you? You will buy an Activision game some day for sure.

I am guessing since a few other Spider-Man titles have been delisted on Steam and the PSN, that Activisions rights to the web-slinger are finally gone.

No more Spidey for the Xbox for a loooong time...

a Fi1thy Casual said:I don't think so as Spiderman Dimensions and Ultimate Alliance games are up at least for now!

a Fi1thy Casual said:Or, maybe, future rights will go to a non-shit developer. Always a chance we get a new Rocksteady. (I know it won't happen, but wouldn't a Spider-Man game in the model of the Arkham series be pretty sweet?)

DeadlyName007 said:MUA and MUA2 are an exception due to the fact that Spider-Man is considered a supporting character.

Other than that, Spider-Man titles will be Sony exclusive for the unforeseen future.

punkyliar said:Or use:
Watchlist for Potential Discontinued Achievements

Shutdowns are fairly rare, same as delistings. I do note in the thread when relistings or delistings occur when they effect online achievements. The thread focuses on giving advanced notice of shutdowns i.e. WWE, NBA 2K, PES, Forza and so forth.

There is no way unfortunately to accurately work out what will be delisted but anything with a licence Wipeout, TMNT, Battle LA, Marvel, DC, Porsche and so forth can be delisted if the licence is not renewed. Most companies have currently zero problems with this like EA while others like Turn 10 and Playground Games have a habit of delisting and shutting down services.

a Fi1thy Casual said:I don't think Sony's deals have to do anything to do with the deals have been already closed between Marvel and Activision! It's just that the licenses were ending on 2016, or maybe it isn't Activision's fault and Marvel playing games with us, who knows behind closed doors, we may see them back, same as Deadpool.

The Globalizer said:Had to fix that - Beenox actually made two really good games. The movie tie-ins were garbage, but SD and EoT were a breath of fresh air for the web-slinger (IMO).

That being said, since Sony now holds the video game rights even if they go to someone like Rocksteady, it will not change the fact that their exclusivity will stand...which sucks balls....

a Fi1thy Casual said:The same Spider-Man games have been delisted from PSN as well. Curious on where you got your "supporting character" information...the rights to a character cover it in all circumstances....

a Fi1thy Casual said:That's not necessarily true, unless I missed some announcement. I know that the Spidey game being developed by Insomniac is PS4 exclusive, but that doesn't mean that there couldnt be a multiplat game coming after that.

ThreeHaddock62 said:Strictly speaking, the rights to use a character are as agreed upon between the licensor and licensee, under whatever conditions and for whatever duration established in the licensing agreement. There's nothing preventing Marvel from licensing Spider-Man to one or multiple companies non-exclusively, or semi-exclusively, exclusively, or whatever. The rights can be revocable or irrevocable, and so on, and on, and on.

Delisting a game may mean that they don't have the right to sell the game anymore due to a license expiration for an IP within the game. Or it could mean nothing at all from a licensing perspective. Also, in theory, a company could continue to have the right to sell a game within the licensed material in it, even after the license to create new games/content expires.

tl;dr: None of us know who holds what rights to anything. We can only guess.

ThreeHaddock62 said:That's not even close to being true. Contracts can be insanely specific and things can be cut up and sold piecemeal very easily. If I were Marvel I could take Spider-Man and do the following:

* Sell the rights to Rocksteady to make an open world game where the webhead can travel around using his webs and acrobatics.
* Sell the rights to Platinum Games to make a Spider-Man based beat 'em up that follows linear levels and uses lots of combo based antics.
* Sell the rights to Raven Software to use Spider-Man as a character in MUA3.
* Sell the rights to Capcom to use him in a fighting game.

It all depends on how it was done, the language used and all the other small details that crop up.

As for console exclusivity it makes sense for it to happen. Sony owns the movies rights for Spider-Man and now that Activision's deal with Marvel is at an end it makes sense for Sony to try snapping up the game rights too. Sony has been throwing around a shit ton of money to buy lots of exclusives, timed or otherwise, so I wouldn't be too surprised if this was still the case.