Disney have removed several games from sale including a couple of classic Star Wars games. This has angered some fans as no explanation has been given nor was there any warning ahead of time. This is a bad move for game preservation.
BlueSky user Wario64 spotted 15 classic games being removed from Steam on Tuesday. As mentioned above, there was absolutely no acknowledgement from The Walt Disney Company before their sudden delisting. Disney also did this back in January to a dozen other of their titles without warning.
The affected Star Wars games in this list are Star Wars: Rebellion and the original version of Star Wars: Dark Forces. Whilst these are very old games and there has even been a recent, incredible remaster of Dark Forces, it is frustrating to see all of these games unable to be purchased anymore. Star Wars: Rebellion still offers a strategy experience that has not been replicated since for some fans. They were both very cheap as well.
Going, GOG, Gone.
We were curious to see if the game was also removed from GOG and that is sadly the case. Both titles are gone. Gamers who already own these titles on Steam or GOG can continue to download and play the titles. You just can’t purchase them anymore and on GOG, the store page has being completely removed.
To make matters worse, GOG patched both games last year removing DRM and making them run on modern PC hardware. This made the titles join their Preservation Program. Other Star Wars games part of the program are Star Wars Battlefront (2004), X-Wing Special Edition, TIE Fighter Special Edition plus Rebel Assault 1 & 2. Funnily enough, Star Wars: Rebellion was offered for free on GOG to Amazon Prime members just last year too.
Why Has This Happened?
There are many different theories as to why these games have been removed by Disney. Some claim it is to do with Disney’s investment in Epic Games which we find hard to believe. The games aren’t available on the Epic Games Store.
The most likely reason is licensing issues. These are can be resolved in due time. Other games from various studios and publishers have dealt with a similar situation in the past. Although the titles removed back in January still have not come back. Perhaps as they are very old games that had a small amount of people purchasing them there is just no rush. Or they may never be back at all andne of the richest corporations in the world does not see value in spending some money on licences for game preservation.
At the time of writing though there is no official reason for their removal. Disney have not made a statement. If the situation changes, we will be sure to cover it in a new article.
In related news, the fantastic Star Wars Dark Forces Remaster got a widely available physical release recently. For more information check out our article here.
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