Look, I think that 2013’s Deadpool by High Moon Studios is a lovely game, but is it worth $900? I don’t think so.
Recent reporting by tech4gamers has highlighted that the release of Deadpool & Wolverine has gone hand in hand with a massive price hike on the used game market for copies of Deadpool. Famously, Deadpool sat on store shelves for less than a year before it was delisted due to expiring contracts between Activision and Marvel, and the used game market became the only place Deadpool could be purchased. The game would then flirt with numerous re-releases and ports before being removed seemingly once and for all on November 16, 2017.
It should not be a surprise that the success of Deadpool & Wolverine has led to renewed interest in 2013’s Deadpool, and unfortunately the only place to turn is the used games market, for the low, low price of $248.52. Kotaku reports that eBay is flooded with listings for Deadpool at exorbitant prices, all the way past $2,000. There is no doubt this is the fault of a handful of scalpers looking to monetize a pop cultural moment, but it represents a lingering problem.
Driver: San Francisco was similarly delisted due to licensing issues, and it regularly lists at over $40. This may pale in comparison to Deadpool, but it is a lot for an Xbox 360 game, when you consider that the console-defining Halo 3 can be purchased for less than $8. This equally affects games that are never made available outside their original systems. Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD can only be played on the Wii U, and a cursory glance at listing prices for used copies is liable to cause one to break out into a sweat. A collector exploring the listing prices for the much maligned The Legend of Zelda CD-i titles is prone to nightmares, with Zelda’s Adventure not just listing, but selling for well over $500. That price will only ever increase, as the chance of the CD-i games ever being ported is practically non-existent.
This is why it is important to advocate for publishers to show more responsibility, and frankly, respect, in keeping the games they release accessible to the public. It is insane that the only legal way to experience the best version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess requires one to shell out an average of $100. As the hype for Deadpool & Wolverine dies down, the ludicrous prices for the High Moon Studios game will likely disappear as well, but this is not the case with every overpriced game. It doesn’t bother me that a loose copy of Chrono Trigger costs an arm and a leg because it is easily accessible elsewhere. It does bother me that if somebody wants to play Sega’s Panzer Dragoon Saga through legitimate means, their only choice is to pay upwards of $500 for loose disks.
More likely, they will make peace with not playing the game at all.
I do acknowledge, of course, that it is not always quite so simple for a publisher to make their games accessible for the long haul. Deadpool after all was delisted as a result of legal issues. In fact, there is an entire category of games that are inaccessible as a result of legal questions and ownership disputes, such as the ill-fated No One Lives Forever series. Partial ownership is shared by Activision Blizzard, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and 20th Century Fox. None of the companies are entirely clear exactly how the division of ownership falls, and they seem to be uninterested in cooperating to determine it, as Nightdive Studios discovered during their doomed attempt to bring the franchise to the modern day.
In other cases, such as the aforementioned Panzer Dragoon Saga, source code may have been lost resulting in a port becoming significantly more difficult. There is no doubt that reasonable excuses do exist for not making every game available in the modern day. However theses excused games are in the minority, and the majority of titles are simply delisted or kept out of the modern age as a cost-saving measure, a perceived lack of interest, or whatever bizarre justification Nintendo has to halt the money printers that Nintendo Switch ports of the Wii U The Legend of Zelda remasters would become.
The majority of reasons are not justifiable. It is important to try and hold publishers accountable for maintaining access to the titles they have released. Whether it means pressuring Nintendo to be better about making their older games easily accessible, advocating for companies like Activision into signing better contracts, or even taking part in ongoing movements to preserve server-based games from being taken offline, there is a lot we can do to try and make sure that we still have access to these video games in the decades following their release.
Whether these companies have the respect to listen, is a different story entirely.
If you’ve listened however, be sure to let us know what you think! Come stop by the Discord channel and speak your truth!
Featured Image: Activision (Via Dexterto)
The Boss Rush Podcast – A Podcast About Video Games
The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and The Boss Rush Network. Each week, Corey Dirrig, LeRon Dawkins, Stephanie Klimov, and Pat Klein, as well as their friends, fellow content creators, developers, and industry veterans come together to discuss their week in gaming, including what they’ve been playing, a randomly chosen rotating weekly segment, the Boss Rush Banter of the week, answer community write-ins, and more. Members of The Boss Rush Network’s Patreon will receive the exclusive Pre-Show at any tier along with other perks.
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