Activision Purging Licensed Titles From Digital Services

Over the last few days Activision has been quietly pulling down all their licensed titles from digital retailers like Steam, PSN, and Xbox Live. Games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhatten, and The Amazing Spiderman 1 and 2 have all turned up missing across the web.

[XXanderXX]

Activision Access coming soon for console and PC for 5.99 a month or 40.00 a year plus 6hour trails, 15% discount on DLC , New games .
So it begins ,next up Ubisoft .
Mad Awesome I can't wait for it.

@fist4achina if they do , steam has no one to blame but themselves and not having their own games doesn't help them either. Like in life all things must come to an end .

@Nitrowolf am speculating cause its Activision, Yeahokwhatever is the one upset with companies looking out for themselves.

[Razzer]

This has nothing to do with a subscription service. You are just making shit up.

[XXanderXX]

Well not like article has stated otherwise or even gave real reason behind the move other than what is happening.

[jmc8888]

It's likely about provable cash flow when tapping the credit markets.

In other words, they want a consistent revenue stream to show the creditors when they take on debts, so they can get lower rates to make their games and distribute their profit back to their shareholders in the form of dividends/buybacks.

Cash flow, the #1 thing in business. Why do you think Sony/MS actually charge for yearly online access.

[Yodagamer]

Do they even have anything they could put on a service like that? All their licenses are apparently expiring and other than call of duty they really only have skylanders. They really haven't put out much this gen it seems

[ShiranaiJittai]

@XXanderXX
I hope you are being sarcastic about this being "Awesome and that you can't wait for it." Because this is terrible for the gaming industry as a whole.

Companies don't need to look out for themselves they need to look out for their employees. They make millions off of their games but the developers get very little of that. There are various unions getting started and different groups of people plan to strike. Voice actors just went on strike against the videogame industry and people gave them crap for it. They pay next to nothing though for the jobs in that profession. A programmer on a videogame might be lucky to make about 20k or so. That same programmer working for a bank or large retail chain might make high 5 figures to low six figures. They can shortchange every branch of game development because people "love to make games and be a part of it." This occurs in the film and television industry but they have unions. The Videogame industry doesn't. Producers not to worry less about adding more and more ways to nickel and dime consumers and more about taking care of their employees properly.

Have you seen how many big name developers have left their companies in the last 5 years or so to start their own? It's not because they are sufficient enough in their abilities to start on their own. They were already more then qualified. They got sick of the low pay and the insanely strenuous demanding goals producers impose on them. This is NOT good. They need to protect their employees not nickel and dime. The fact that you think this is good is absolutely disgusting to me. It shows how their PR (which usually does a terrible job) can convince you this is a "great deal" for you. This money won't go to developers it will just line producers pockets even further.

@Gangsta_Red
I love it when someone tries to correct another person and act like the big dog on campus for knowing more than them. Like that one fact they know and someone else doesn't somehow makes them more intelligent.
Especially when they are wrong and I can correct the corrector
Try the Dreamcast or Sega Genesis. I believe both of those predate PSN by quite some time. How's that egg on your face taste? or how about Ultima? I think that is the first game to do so with visuals.

[AbleAmazing]

You're painting with a broad brush. I'm a programmer working in the games industry. I made far more than 20k last year and I consider my salary comfortable for my lifestyle. Among my network of colleagues, there's no one bringing home a salary in that range.

I do not mean to say that compensation is great throughout the industry. Or that crunch isn't a problem at many companies. It is. I'm saying there's a large variance in compensation well beyond what your assertion indicates. Looking at the aggregate, programmers working in game development are not poor, not by a long shot. And I would not consider the role underpaid throughout the industry. Disciplines at the low end of the value spectrum such as designers, animators, or artists have far more issues to deal with in terms of compensation and job security. Those roles are largely viewed as interchangeable--a notion that I don't agree with

[gangsta_red]

Huh? Not really sure what you're on about in your response to me, but PSNow, as of this moment is more similar to EA Access than any of the examples you brought up.

Hmmmm, maybe in your haste to be the bigger dog on the block you missed the extreme sarcasm in my comment. Forgive me, i thought actually writing *cough cough* it would be more than apparent.

[rainslacker]

20K for a video game programmer? Not sure where you pulled that number from, but the average is 70-90K a year with 3 years of experience. Starting salary with a fresh engineering degree....assuming it's not an internship, is around 50-60K, in line with what they'd make doing a normal programming job. Those with more experience, can make significantly more. Those with specialized skills can make even more significantly more. I'm a tools programmer, specializing in API conversion and pipeline management, and make around $140K a year, and I don't even work directly on games. Before that, I was a general game programmer making $110.

Activision isn't a terrible company to work for. They take care of their employees well enough. Problem is, if you want to move up, it's not as easy. If you want to make something different, it can be exceedingly hard, because the production schedules are pretty rigid within the company.

There are some companies that can work you to death to get the job done...quite a few really, where the annual salary may not make it worth it compared to a normal programming job, but game programmers are generally paid pretty well. The reason people leave is because they either want to do their own thing, get better offers at other studios, or through the normal attrition that comes from people wanting more time to have a life when they work at studios prone to crunch time.

[JasonKCK]

Spoken like someone who doesn't have EA Access

[Fist4achin]

Do you think this could spell the end of steam if all these huge developers pull their titles off and go with their own servers for their games and streaming?!

[AbleAmazing]

No.

[FalloutWanderer2077]

Highly doubtful. It would need to be a large majority of companies and at that, IMO, it would be a stupid move on their part. Steam isn't going anywhere.

[yeahokwhatever]

steam would be OK as just an indie hub

[Tetsujin]

Tranlsation - We want people to only buy/play CoD since the sales were lower than expected. So we're pulling all games off services until further notice.

[mzupeman]

This only seems to be affecting licensed products. It's probably a distribution rights issue.

[NapalmSanctuary]

Not agreeing with your comment but since you bring it up, CoD is the only thing they know how to make anymore. It sucks too cause we used to get quite a few good games/franchises cause of them.

[NohansenBoy]

I think it's safe to say, from the PC community, don't let the door hit you on the way out Activision.

[OldGuyStillGaming]

Aww damn
I was just about to purchase the Ninja Turtles game

[MetroidFREAK21]

Don't... The game is crap

[jeromeface]

All reviews on it say its shit. Which sux.. cuz platinum games are usually good.

[BlackTar187]

It's not a good game. It's fun for a couple hrs but then the grind is real and the content isn't

Stay away unless it's 4.99-6.99 on sale.

[Perjoss]

Welcome to the digital future!

[jmc8888]

They aren't taking away people's games. If you bought it, you're free to re-download it at any time.

If you haven't bought it, you'll have to wait for one of two things.
#1 They renegotiate the terms of these games selling on these services
#2 They launch their own digital store like Steam/Uplay/Origin.

[JackBNimble]

People are so scared of digital it's laughable.

[JackBNimble]

When the console no longer works you simply re-download, that is if and when you get a new console

[slavish0]

If it's installed on your hard drive how is it any different then a disc? It's not like they are deleting from peoples hdd you should think 1st. What happens when u lose the disc or it brakes or is damaged?

[ShaunCameron]

Or what happens when the console no longer works?

[Tumaras]

Not necessarily just for Marvel, but ever since Disney bought Marvel it's seemed like the licensing has been way tighter. Meaning Disney being much tougher on licensing, and pickier about what they let the Marvel brand go on.

[Notwithrocksteady]

I hope Activision and Ubisoft follow EA's lead.

[XXanderXX]

It's happening just give it time , personally I can't wait for it.

@BlackTar187 you only charged if ur a subscriber and those that do more than likely decided to pay the fee no matter what.

[BlackTar187]

being charged yearly fees by every major publisher isn't a good thing.

Here's something to think about show me a subscription service that lowers its price as time goes on. once they get the control they will raise the price and every company will raise the price with them.

[JasonKCK]

BlackTar187 I have played and have access to most of EA's current gen games and a bunch of last gen games for half the price of a full game.

[Ashlen]

The comments here show how little people understand how this industry works. I can explain whats happening with 90+% certainty. These games are all licensed properties which means in order to sell them Activision has to pay royalties to use the logo's art characters ect. So either Activision simply did not want to pay anymore and voluntarily stopped paying or these license holders revoked their rights and Activision contractually had to remove them. The same thing happened when Disney gained ownership of Marvel and Capcom contractually had to stop selling Marvel vs Capcom.

[ShaunCameron]

It's probably because the license for the titles expired.

[Nathan_Hale53]

Another paid service. Oh boy...

[Warshade]

GOG for life!