The industry is swinging harder towards downloadable games, but DuckTales Remastered has delivered a timely reminder of the downsides of going all-digital. Starting from 9th August at approximately 8AM PST, the revamped PlayStation 3 platformer will be removed from the PlayStation Store, meaning you’ll no longer be able to purchase it.
Don’t worry if you’ve bought it prior to that date, as it will still appear in your download list, where it will remain until the day Sony switches off its servers. The release is currently discounted by 75 per cent while it’s still available, so if you want it, grab it while you can. It goes without saying that disc copies will be completely unaffected.
[source capcom-unity.com]
Comments 39
God i'm NOT looking forward to the 'All Digital Future' games publishers have been dreaming of for years now.
Not with these games being removed from digital stores randomly like this. Its crazy.
At least they gave some warning. Most of the time things just disapear. Also, not seeing the discount.
That definitely sucks when it comes to digital. I bought this on 360, but I am somewhat tempted to get it on PS3.
One of the things I was hoping for going forward into the digital future was a library of personal favourites I could always dip in and out of. Games like Sonic 2 which I have regularly played since I was 11 or so, without having to pony up everytime it became available on the new platform I was playing on.
Who's to stop companies delisting games - waiting 12 months - then reinstating them on a new entree on the store?
Sounds crazy but I can actually see this happening.
Doom Classic Complete was just removed from PS3 store.
This version had Doom 1&2 (+ bonus episodes), and Final Doom.
This was the best version (collection) of these games and now it's gone.
Actually it does have limited physical version, but good luck with that - it's gonna skyrocket.
@shonenjump86 Can the 360 version be played on the Xbox One?
I got a taste of this when Scott Pilgrim and essentially the whole Marvel Vs Capcom series initially got delisted years ago. The former I do own, but I never got the DLC, and never will because of this. Ultimate Marvel 3 got a rerelease on PS4, thankfully, but as far as I know, Marvel Vs Capcom 2 is still gone, which sucks because physical copies of that are pricy.
@Tasuki Yes it is backwards compatible.
To all it may concern, DuckTales received a retail release on Wii U, PS3 and Xbox 360
@Tasuki yes it can. It’s backwards compatible 👍🏾
@Link41 Also it's on Steam.
@shonenjump86 Good to know I will grab it then. I have it on Wii U but my Wii U is currently packed away.
"It goes without saying that disc copies will be completely unaffected."
Umm no. Once the game is no longer around for digital sale that's gonna drive the price of the disk versions up.
This type of news makes me glad that I'm a terrible hoarder in general and still have Duck Tales downloaded on my old 360 for just in case purposes like this one. Still sucks that it's being delisted for future digital purchasing though!
@GamerDad66 like Nintendo did with the Wii, when that dreadful day comes that Sony shuts down the PS3 store- that’s gonna sting big time!! I spent thousands on PS3 downloads! And we will lose them all! It’s Terrible!! At least PS4 will carry over to PS5 thank god! 😌
THIS IS WHY PHYSICAL IS KING PEOPLE!! Man those physical copies on eBay are gonna skyrocket!! Lol 😝
The entire DRIVECLUB franchise will also be delisted at the end of this month, DLCs and all, such a shame as DRIVECLUB is the best racing game I've played. Grab it while you can.
To be fair, you can still download it whenever you want as long as you purchased it already. The same thing happened with Fallout 1 and 2 on GOG. That sort of thing isn't as big a problem with digital as the typically higher prices, limited (or zero) ability to lend, no ability to trade in, not being able to install it if you don't have an internet connection, even if you do have a connection then it might take hours to download before you can play it, and prices being out of the hands of individual retailers to discount as it's all controlled by a centralised pricing scheme.
I got my Switch purely by trading in some PS4 games I was never gonna play again. If I'd bought them digitally, that'd just be a load of lost money for games I'd never play and then I'd had to have paid about £150 for the Switch.
I suggest that PushSquare posts an article every now and then with a list of games that are being "retired", so to speak. Just in case anybody in this community wants to grab it while still available.
As for the servers, I wouldn't worry too much. Nowadays with everything in the cloud, and public data centers, and how the global economy could suffer a huge hit if these servers crashed, it gets harder to shut a platform down. I'd get really worried if they started disabling purchased games, though.
@Frigate
What message?
Like 'we strongly advise to buy the physical version of a copy you will own and that you can keep forever but if you really want, this time limited digital version is accessible as of now'?
The Ouya already proved that an all digital future will not do so well, seems like a lot of publishers still doesn't get the memo.
@RenanKJ That HD digital only version of Soul Calibur II with both Heihachi and Spawn will never be seen again if it ever got delisted from the PS3 PSN or Xbox 360 Xbox Live Arcade. I'm still puzzled why this gen never got to see that ported to modern platforms with a physical release.
Worth noting that this was on ps plus in jan 2014 so many of you may already have it
If I remember right this was given away with Plus a long time ago so you may already have it!
I don't see the "dangers" here. Whether it was delisted or not doesn't change anything. If you bought it, you can still download it.
If you didn't buy it, then what danger are you in exactly?
@JoeBlogs That wasn't a game, though. So with games you've paid for, there is nothing to worry about (so far).
This seems a bit overblown to me. It's not like retail games were available on shelves on an indefinite basis. In general, they had a limited shelf life of about 12 months at best unless they were best sellers or re-released. Beyond that, you had to rely on 2nd hand copies. Of course, this aspect of things has changed with the advent of e-commerce but let's not pretend that the system of physical releases is infinitely better than digital.
@naruball - you can download it, for now, that's not a guarantee it'll be available indefinitely.
only a couple of months ago Microsoft de-listed all e-books from the microsoft store, and removed consumers' access to their libraries. there was some kind of compensation program i think, but scant consolation if you'd bought a sizeable collection.
Is this also a yellow flag for the «Afternoon Collection»?
Stories like this make me wonder why people are so eager to give up their ability to actually own a game for the sake of “convenience.” In the end, it’s really only convenient for the companies selling them, not the consumer. Physical releases aren’t perfect either (nothing is, after all), but I’d rather take my chances with those.
I take no issue with this. It was there and we could have bought it. If you did buy it, its yours until Sony shuts off its servers.... and when that does eventually happen you probably don't care about a game you bought 15 years ago and played. If you haven't bought it yet, you probably just didn't want it in the first place.
Where I could see some unscrupulous action is to present an all digital game at a certain price point only then to spur the slow adopters, perhaps waiting for a Black Friday sale, by telling us if not bought at XX price point, its gone forever... only then to return it to the store later with some attached tweet, "we changed our minds after some serious internal discussion... gamer backlash... etc.".
This is pretty extreme and a serious loss of future revenue by the company, but the potential exists for this "into the vault, out of the vault" sort of BS.
@joey302 why is it going to sting? It's not like you won't still be able to download them, as the article stated. And it's not like you can't back up digital downloads. How's that any more risky than accidentally scratching a disc or your disc oxidising with age? Physical discs do have a limited lifespan.
Yeah...this...I am so mad I didn't buy Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1 and 2 in time now it's gone, maybe forever!
Yay for the all digital future! /s
To anybody worried about the servers being taken down eventually: BACKUP EVERYTHING. If you don't have a backup of something, you don't have it at all.
Here's a list of compatible external hard drives I found:
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2019/03/guide_best_ps4_external_hard_drive_upgrades_in_2019
@vrtualinsanity It was a few years ago.
"Discounted most platforms"....and why am I not surprised the EU/AU store ISN'T one of them?! Like a lot of ps3 digital stuff,it'd need a decent discount given the lack of options to replay once my ps3 dies...its such a shame that Sony treats the EU storefront as an afterthought.
@naruball
That's only the tip of the iceberg you will see when we are fully into the all digital age. No need to worry if you have faith of course
I got my diving suit ready.
Makes me think of 'is it safe?' From Marathon man too
@Eldritch that’s a fair point but even though even discs have a limited life span, compared to digital it’s a no brainer. As far as discs oxidizing over time all I can say is I myself haven’t experienced this yet and my 27 year old Sega CD discs work just fine today.
We will see what happens when Sony shuts down the PS3 store/servers one day- and they will. Only then will we see the real results. And while you can argue that the digital purchases you made are yours to keep, what if your PS3 dies? Then what? Consoles get harder and harder to replace as the years roll on and someday Sony will no longer honor service and repairs either. Yes you obviously wouldn’t be able to run your PS3 discs anymore either and that’s why backwards compatibility when done right is a beautiful thing!! In short, owning physical games is far less risky though than digital ownership imo. 😊
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