Spec Ops: The Line permanently removed from Steam and other digital stores
Spec Ops: The Line permanently removed from Steam and other digital stores
End of the (Spec Ops) line.
Something something digital ownership
Note: Delisted from storefront. It remains in people's libraries for play and (re)download if they have bought it already.
And if you really want it, some steam key resellers probably have some keys left. I really wanted alpha protocol since I played it so much in college, and was able to find a steam key from a reseller after sega pulled it from steam
I hate to say it, but games should stop using licensed music. Or at least if it has an expiry date, which they all seem to. Every game that licenses a song becomes a ticking time bomb before it is either pulled from sale or all of the music gets patched out, even if you purchased it before then.
I don't understand why a company would even want to use the music if it means they can only sell the game for so long. Obviously, it's not the current reality, but I would outright refuse any deal that involves a limited amount of time to use material that goes into a video game, movie, any form of media except maybe live services that are constantly changing anyways (which is a separate issue).
At the very least, people should be made aware of a game's sale period, though I'm sure that's kept under NDA.
It makes sense financially if the game is expected to have a big spike of sales initially, and after a while have very few sales, so the expected additional lifetime revenue is less than the cost difference between a temporary and perpetual license.
I bought it on gog, yay for DRM free purchases.
So its due to sync rights. Oof. I wonder if some of the song licenses (looking at you, Experience Hendrix) are the culprit.
The Line really is an example of a painfully average game held up by its narrative, and hot damn, how well it held up. I adore some of the moments of this game, especially for their vicissitude.
It gets really murky and there is a question of intent but... I think it is truly elevated by how painfully average it is. That is the game that everyone was making and playing, right down to the overhead camera explosives shot with the mortars.
And what made The Line "work" is that... it pointed out how fucked up it is that this is so normalized. We had been trained, arguably indoctrinated, by so many Call of Duty style games that there was zero question about how fucked up what we were doing was.
Of course, because Gamers, everyone instead lost their shit and got angry that there was a false choice because they were being told they should walk away but weren't given a button prompt and a special ending to do so. Rather than understanding that "walking away" is... maybe not buying the annual, rather mid, "shoot brown people in the middle east' simulator.
I believe that the game being mid was an intentional thing done to make you dislike the gameplay.
Of course, because Gamers, everyone instead lost their shit and got angry that there was a false choice because they were being told they should walk away but weren’t given a button prompt and a special ending to do so.
F
The licenses referenced likely have to do with the game’s music. During the The Line’s menu screen, Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” can be heard while the game’s soundtrack includes Martha and The Vandellas’ “Nowhere to Run.”
The same thing happened to the first Alan Wake before they worked something out to get it back (even though it took almost a decade). Consequently, that's also one of the reasons they wrote original songs for the sequel. It's very much a gamble these days to license music for games. More or less puts it on a timeline to be removed at some point.
Ooh a new word
That's a bit innacurate, it's been delisted so anyone who already owns it can still play it.
What the fuck!! This is for me personally one of the best military shooters ever released. This is a fucking tragedy. If you can get it on gog or pirate it, it's a seriously phenomenal game I can't recommend it enough and it breaks my heart to see this. It starts out as a generic bland 3rd person mil shooter, but ends with an entirely different feeling.
"You're a good person."
Edit: Hendrix must be rolling in his grave to know that his anti war music in an anti war game was used to stop the anti war game from basically existing at this point in stores.
Removal from the Steam storefront doesn't mean previously purchased licenses cannot be downloaded and played.
It's the military industrial complex and the war economy that is to blame.
I didn't even think about that, but the timing is pretty suspicious...
I guess someone doesn't feel like a hero yet and got butt hurt that genocide isn't as fun as call of duty made it seem.
Something something digital ownership
Games can still be downloaded by everyone who has it, but this is really puzzling, after so many video essays made about it.
Thanks for the heads up. HumbleBundle still has keys available.
Geez glad I played it when it came out.