A new release on the Xbox Series X|S consoles this week has been yanked from sale, after it appeared to infringe on Sony’s software.
The shameless Anti-Gravity Racing WipEout seemed to include slightly edited emulated versions of the original WipEout and its successor WipEout 3: Special Edition, with minor texture changes and button prompt alterations.
But after being exposed in a Digital Foundry video – where it’s also revealed that developer LLS Games pinched a fan-made CGI reimagining of the original game’s intro from YouTube – it’s no longer available for sale.
This isn’t the first time PlayStation’s intellectual property has been infringed upon on the Xbox store – many of you may remember the hilarious God of War knock-off, War Gods: Zeus of Child. This example is a little more obnoxious, though, as it appears to be leveraging Sony’s own code.
It’s unclear exactly how these titles are slipping through the cracks, because while the PS Store is flooded with AI art atrocities, we don’t think we’ve ever seen unlicensed emulation appear on PlayStation marketplace – at least not to our knowledge.
Either way, this is a reminder that Sony’s own PS Plus Premium tier still has room to grow. Obviously, we understand there are issues with WipEout’s soundtracks – which were included in their entirety in this aforementioned Xbox release – but it’d be great if the platform holder could find a way to reproduce these all-time classics on modern hardware.