For the most part, having a digital library of games at your fingertips is a much more organized and convenient way to play. Instead of having to rummage through piles of physical game boxes, or even just trying to remember where they last left off, players can simply scroll through an alphabetical list of everything they own and go from there. The problem is that they often don’t actually own these games.
If someone owns a physical copy of a game that ends up being withdrawn for sale due to copyright or licensing issues, they’ll still be able to keep and play it; there is nothing companies can do about it. However, if a player only has a digital copy, there is nothing to prevent the storefront from not only delisting it and preventing future sales, but removing the ability to play it all together. Because of this, there are many highly entertaining games that gamers will never be able to get their hands on again.
10 The Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition Was Only Available For A Short Time
For the legend of Zelda 25th anniversary, a Game Boy Advance game remaster four swords was made, titled Four Swords: Anniversary Edition. It was available to download for free, both on the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo 3DS eShops.
charmingly, Four Swords: Anniversary Edition retained the four-player cooperative element of the original, making it a cute and fun way to enjoy Zelda with friends. Unfortunately, when the 25th anniversary ended, this title was removed from both eStores and has not been available for download since.
9 Super Mario Bros. 35 was only available for six months
On October 1, 2020, Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. 35 for Nintendo Switch as a way to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. for SNES. anyone familiar with tetris 99, another free-to-play Switch title, you’ll instantly recognize the game’s core layout, with the player’s screen in the middle, while all of their opponents race in smaller boxes to the side.
Unlike tetristhough, Super Mario Bros. 35 maintains the original game formula of Super Mario Bros. and turns it into a competition to see who can survive the longest. A fan-made server was created to try and preserve the game even after it was delisted, but it appears to have no active players anymore, making this a sadly forgotten title.
8 Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth died along with the WiiWare online market
Castlevania: Adventure Reborn was a remake of the 1989 Game Boy title, Castlevania: The Adventure. Although critics would go on to say that Renaissance The difficulty felt ruthless at times, the game garnered generally positive reviews and was seen as a very welcome improvement over its predecessor.
Unfortunately, Renaissance it was only released as a WiiWare title for the Wii and Wii U. So unless players have access to a Wii that already has Renaissance installed, there is no longer any way to gain access to this new version.
7 Poker Night and Poker Night 2 suffer the fate of expired licenses
Inventory Poker Night Y Inventory Poker Night 2 combine the high-stakes stakes of poker games with the many licenses Telltale Games had access to at the time. For players who have ever wanted to bet against Claptrap since borderlands 2 or have Glados of Gate 2 judge each of your decisions, poker night 1 and 2 where dreams came true.
However, all dreams must come to an end. The closure of Telltale Games in 2018 inevitably meant the loss of the many licenses that made the poker night possible games, and both were removed from the Steam Marketplace.
6 Kojima Productions PT had to be pulled due to cancellation
In August 2014, a never-before-heard publisher called 7780s Studio released a free-to-play horror game titled pt, either “Playable Teaser”. It was later revealed that Kojima Productions had actually created the game and partnered with Konami to publish it, using an alias for the studio to add to the mystery surrounding the title.
it turned out that PT was a playable preview for a new, upcoming Silent Hill play. However, due to Kojima’s vision of a single Silent Hill game being scrapped, the decision was made to withdraw PT of digital shop windows, too. Many attempts have been made by fans to preserve the game, but Konami is quick to work to block them.
5 City Of Heroes was closed along with his studio
city of heroes was a superhero-focused MMORPG released by Paragon Studios, and was believed by many fans to be one of the only good superhero MMOs at the time. Players could create their own superheroes, and the game was so successful that later on the ability to create villains was also added.
city of heroes it would go on to win nearly two dozen awards at the time, showing how much the game was loved by players and critics alike. Unfortunately, in 2012, NCSoft terminated its Paragon Studios production team, which means city of heroes she had no choice but to close next to him.
4 Losing The Legend Of Korra License Means The Loss Of A Great Avatar Game
Despite the overwhelming popularity of the avatar the last airbender series, few games have been made based on it, and even fewer manage to impress. This made PlatinumGame the legend of korra, published by Activision, a welcome sight for fans of the series.
The gameplay was simple but fun, with players controlling Korra and pummeling hordes of enemies. Since Activision lost the license in 2017, and no physical copies have ever been made, meaning new players will never be able to get their hands on it. legend of korra beat-em-up.
3 Gigantic’s closure was announced less than a year after launch
Gigantic was a strategic third-person shooter that pitted players against each other in fast-paced 5v5 combat. Players would be tasked with locating and destroying the enemy’s Guardian, while protecting their own at the same time.
Receiving mostly positive reviews, Gigantic successfully combined the third-person shooter and MOBA genres to create a truly unique experience. Sadly, just six months after launch it was announced that the game would no longer be updated, and six months later it would mark the official shutdown of gigantic servers.
two Eden Eternal couldn’t survive a tough last few years
Originally released in 2011, eternal eden was an MMORPG that existed for a whole decade before its publisher, Aeria Games, decided to pull the plug on it. While it was a pretty dated MMO at the time, gamers still praised the art style, visuals, and overall quality of its unique and cute game systems.
Many players remember eternal eden quite fondly and felt like they were losing one of their virtual homes after the game closed. There is still a private server to this day, but it is run by fans, and with a player count never exceeding a thousand, there is not a large enough community for even the most die-hard fans of the game to return.
1 Evolve was only building when its servers were shut down
Evolve, Developed by Turtle Rock Studios and published by 2K Games, it was released in February 2015. The game initially received mostly positive reviews, but its player base began to decline due to the game itself being expensive and having too much DLC.
Sometime in 2018, Evolve it was made free-to-play, which actually managed to attract an active player base to the game. Just when things started to look up Evolve, however, the decision was made to shut down the servers and remove the game. As of August 2022, the servers are mysteriously backed up on PC right now, but the game is still dead, meaning no new players can get in on the action.
