Victims of Digital Distribution – Games You Can't Buy Anymore
When a game released exclusively digitally disappears from distribution, it becomes impossible to play it legally. Actually, quite a few gems have disappeared in this manner, with the legendary P.T. being just the beginning of the story.
Table of Contents
- Victims of Digital Distribution – Games You Can't Buy Anymore
- P. T.
- Selected games from Telltale
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD
- OutRun Online Arcade
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game
- GTI Club+: Rally Cote D’Azur
- WiiWare
- Flappy Bird
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game
First, there were the comic books by Canadian writer Bryan Lee O’Malley, published between 2004 and 2010. There, we met Scott Pilgrim, who had to face seven bad ex-boyfriends of his crush, Ramona Flowers, to win the right to date the girl. The series was funny and full of pop-culture references, and it sparked interest from filmmakers, producing successful movie in 2010 with Michael Cera in the lead. From there, it was a simple path to a video game adaptation.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game was made just in time for the movie's release and available for sale on PS3 and Xbox 360, exclusively for digital distribution. Interestingly, Ubisoft developed the game and, unlike the vast majority of such cinema-driven projects, it wasn't a disaster. On the contrary, the French company prepared a very successful co-op walking brawler, not only successfully recreating the atmosphere of the original, but also holding ground in terms of the mechanics.
The production "lasted" just over four years. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game was removed from digital distribution in late 2014. In this case, however, hope is not entirely lost. In May 2020, the film's director Edgar Wright and comic book creator Bryan O'Malley publicly asked Ubisoft via Twitter if the corporation would like to bring the game back for distribution in connection with the film's 10th anniversary and re-release. Fingers crossed something will come out of this.
