Dark Crystal possibly getting delisted September 15th 2021

[mcnichoj]

This game was made by the developers BonusXP, It's also tied to a Netflix series and is scheduled to be leaving Xbox GamePass on the date listed above.

-Same devs as Stranger Things 3 The Game which was recently delisted

-Netflix just started their gaming service

-No longer an obligation to keep it up for sale on the Xbox platform

 

ST3 was removed from all platforms it was on. So safe to assume Dark Crystal will go from PS4 too.

Game is digital only, so buy it soon if you want to play it in the future.

Don't forget if you like stacking that it has an NA and EU list:

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics Trophies • PSNProfiles.com (NA)

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics Trophies • PSNProfiles.com (EU)

 

Edit:

Actually the game isn't digital only. Limited Run Games did a physical release for PS4/Switch. At least the NA version will still be available although it's super pricey and it isn't even delisted yet. EU list is digital only.

Edited September 5, 2021 by mcnichoj

[Lordguwa]

i'll have to make a mental note to pick this up when i buy some soon to be delisted vita games someday.

it's only 20$.

Edited September 5, 2021 by kingdrake2

[Pumpkin Head Cthulhu]

I grabbed a Limited Run copy, fun game despite the fact I am not a fan of that type of game.

[tony_snake_24]

51 minutes ago, kingdrake2 said:

i'll have to make a mental note to pick this up when i buy some soon to be delisted vita games someday.

it's only 20$.

What vita games are soon to be delisted?

[Crispy_Oglop]

Side note that might have relevance to the de-listing - Netflix also cancelled the show a few months after Season 1 dropped and will not be making any of the originally planned future seasons or movies.

[ExHaseo]

It's highly unlikely it's getting delisted just because it's leaving gamepass. Games come and go from gamepass all the time.

 

The game was released February 4, 2020. These licensing contracts generally aren't valid for only 19 months, and Feb 4 was the only release date I could find, so it should be the earliest. They're generally in years. If it's going to get delisted, it would be because the licensing contract expired. They've clearly signed an agreement for more than a year. If they signed an agreement for 2 years, it should be delisted around February 2022.

 

Using Stranger Things 3 as an example, the last place it was listed was on the Switch store at the start of September 2019, and it was delisted at the end of August 2021 and beginning of September 2021 on all platforms (https://delistedgames.com/stranger-things-3-the-game/). Which shows it had a 2 year contract from the date it was last listed. There's generally a little bit of wiggle room here to give time for the game to be removed, which is why the game didn't leave stores on the exact date two years later. Dark Crystal more than likely has the same contract, since it was the same developer using a license owned by the same company. They likely just copied the contract to Dark Crystal.

 

They didn't give much announcement when delisting ST3, so it's still a good idea to get the game as soon as you can if you're worried about it being delisted. But that's true of every digital game. Unless you're following it closely and have an idea of what kind of contract they signed, they could be delisted at seemingly anytime. However, this game is unlikely to be getting delisted anytime soon.

[EqualityEarth]

Honestly I think posts like these should just go straight to everyone’s notifications (I intentionally only get emails related to Sessions but see everything else when entering forum). Regardless of how speculative the claim is, and whether it’ll go on discount before leaving the store, even if this isn’t sourced from an official post like on Twitter, this is important. More people would get the chance to choose whether to grab the game now or leave it before it possibly disappears.

 

I only saw this because it was in the recent posts section ?‍♂️ I sure happened upon and read the similar thread on Skylar and Plux way too late >.>

Edited September 5, 2021 by EqualityEarth

[mcnichoj]

10 hours ago, ExHaseo said:

They didn't give much announcement when delisting ST3, so it's still a good idea to get the game as soon as you can if you're worried about it being delisted. But that's true of every digital game. Unless you're following it closely and have an idea of what kind of contract they signed, they could be delisted at seemingly anytime. However, this game is unlikely to be getting delisted anytime soon.

They actually did give an announcement for Stranger Things. BonusXP did an official one on Steam and a GOG staffer put one up on their platform at the request of the publisher.

This is generally not the case. Most games get removed with no warning. This is what's wrong with everything you said, because publishers have no obligations to the platforms they put their games on. GOG knows every time a game is going to get removed but are only allowed to give people a warning if the publisher allows it.

If a publisher wants to put their game on the PlayStation Store, they pay an initial listing fee and then Sony is the ones that have to keep up the game for however long the publisher wanted the game to be up. The publisher can go and take their game down at any time they want with no repercussions. Certain conditions have to happen for Sony to be allowed to prematurely remove someone's game. I can only think of two times that happened, with that "5 Star rated" or whatever it was called easy Platinum puzzle game and Cyberpunk. They both probably violated some super general "quality assurance" stipulation.

 

So if Netflix doesn't want their game to be up on Sony's platform anymore, they can take it off. They paid Sony to have it up. It's like if you wanted to get lessons to learn something, you show up for some of them but then you decided you don't want to go anymore. They can't force you to show up for all the other lessons you were entitled to. The publisher is entitled to have their game up for however long the contract says but Sony isn't entitled to actually have the game be up for that full amount of time.

 

Now this is where the GamePass situation is important. What most people know about GP is that it's a rental subscription service. What most people don't know is that you can still buy the games available on GP with a small discount. In order for a game to be on GP it has to remain for sale on Xbox and/or Windows Microsoft Store. All games that are on GP MS paid a fee for their game to be on the service. Only when a service, an exclusivity deal or an external IP are involved do publishers have obligations to outside companies. So without their game being on GamePass they have no obligations to keep selling their game on Microsofts platforms. That's the perfect time to wipe their game from all platforms. Netflix just launched its game beta app that only contains two games. One is a brand new game and the other is the removed Stranger Things 3, just days after it was removed. Dark Crystal is probably already ported over and they're waiting. They weren't going to launch the service with just two games so expect some other games with Netflix ties to get taken down and show up on their new platform.

[Lordguwa]

on vita there's nothing to worry about. i'm worried about missing out on dark crystal purchasing that right now just in case (rather play it safe rather than sorry)

Edited September 12, 2021 by kingdrake2

[mcnichoj]

On 9/11/2021 at 11:44 PM, kingdrake2 said:

i'm worried about missing out on dark crystal purchasing that right now just in case (rather play it safe rather than sorry)

Same, worse case can just do a refund. Been a fan of turn based strategy games since the PSX with titles like Final Fantasy Tactics and Vandal Hearts.

 

Game will be up on GamePass for three more hours, so we'll see if it's getting removed today or not. Could still get yanked soon if Netflix wants.