-PSN Games Removed Forever- You Own Nothing!

[ACSeraph]

Fuck you Sony. Fuck. You.

Apparently this happened a few months ago but I had heard nothing about it and just found out in the worst possible way. Went to download Project Diva Extend to my Vita TV (one of my top favorite PSP games) only to see that Sony had erased its existence from the store. Now this isn't so uncommon, as long as you bought whatever it was you can always just go and download it from your downloads list. Hell I can still download Gran Turismo HD Concept on my PS3.

But not this time, it was erased from my download list. I paid like 4,500 yen for that thing! What the fuck Sony!? No warning, no re-compensation. Apparently it was possible to hack your Vita using the game (along with a few others like Patapon 2) so Sony decided to use the salt the Earth method. Take this as a warning heavy users of the PSN. Sony doesn't even have the common courtesy to warn you that they are planning to steal back games you legitimately bought.

This shouldn't even be legal. I guess I may as well just pirate fucking everything on my old PSP then? Why the fuck not? Clearly I'm wasting my hard earned cash by legitimately supporting content.

Go eat a bag of dicks Sony.

Edit: (Oh and for the record I still have that game downloaded on my primary Vita, so I guess I'm about to go hack that shit and you can say goodbye to any future Vita purchases on my end too. That shits free now.)

[soprano1]

I guess I may as well just pirate fucking everything on my old PSP then? Why the fuck not? Clearly I'm wasting my hard earned cash by legitimately supporting content.

Might as well, they don't seem to like your money. What a nasty situation, no wonder most people here hate digital content.

[cave hermit]

This is one of the many reasons I'm very uncomfortable with the all digital no physical future the game industry is headed towards.

Have you considered calling up customer support and asking for compensation?

[Pretas]

Go enlighten the Sony Defense Force neckbeards over at NeoGAF about this. It should be fun to see how well they take it.

[ryu]

Well, it was only a matter of time.

[brentsg]

Have you considered calling up customer support and asking for compensation?

LOL, Sony Customer Support...

[cave hermit]

Yeah, I'm not exactly optimistic about customer service, but hey you gotta at least try, right?

[Pretas]

LOL, Sony Customer Support...

Probably better in Japan.

[evil_ash_xero]

Well, that's one of the many reasons I love modding.

At some point, using a modded system will be the only way you can have access to games of the past.

[broken harbour]

This is why I only buy digital if it's my only choice, and even then, it's rare. I've bought a few PsOne classics if the physical game is just too pricey (Adventures of Little Ralph anyone?), and many great Telltale games are digital only, but it sucks that if I want to play it in 10 years, I likely won't be able to.

Don't get me started about always online DRM either, that crap made me so nuts I stopped playing PC games... thanks EA & Ubisoft. When I first got Mass Effect 3 for PC, the only way to play it was via Origin, and I don't know about the rest of the world, but in Canada, at the time, Origin had to be always online, you dropped a single packet and it would boot you from a single player game with no option to save.

Ultimately, with the exception of some indie developers that don't have the cash to do physical, digital is all about control. Sony doesn't want you to have a game you already paid for? All they have to do is de-list it and mission accomplished on their end.

[Blackbird]

I tried to stay physical copies only, but it's just not really feasible anymore. Only a fraction of the PC games that are released ever see a physical release, and those that do are expensive. I'd be ignoring a huge portion of the PC gaming library by never getting digital games. Unfortunately, crap like this can happen. Where possible, I stick to companies like GOG that let you download the entire program and back it up on your own hardware.

[broken harbour]

I tried to stay physical copies only, but it's just not really feasible anymore. Only a fraction of the PC games that are released ever see a physical release, and those that do are expensive. I'd be ignoring a huge portion of the PC gaming library by never getting digital games. Unfortunately, crap like this can happen. Where possible, I stick to companies like GOG that let you download the entire program and back it up on your own hardware.

Absolutely, I love how GOG also re-codes games to work on modern OS's and hardware.

Even if you back it up on your own hardware tho, it's no guarantee it'll "just work" like it does on my SNES. But I hear you.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

It's not like physical copies of games are immune to this either. Yeah, you'll still be able to play the physical copies after support for them is dropped. But all the updated and fixes for the games won't be available.

[Ed Oscuro]

Not a very friendly move from Sony, this.

[antares]

It's the same on XBox Live, they say you can still download your owned games even if they have been removed from sale but it doesn't work with everything. I got a new HDD for my 360 some time ago and it's impossible to download Smash TV, a game I bought.

[pegboy]

This is exactly why I'm done with video games and refuse to buy anything that's digital only. I've already amassed enough stuff to play for a lifetime anyway, no need to waste money on stuff you don't actually own and can be shut down on a whim.

[LEGENOARYNINLIA]

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=48433&

[JBC]

I'm pretty much done with them. I buy old games all the time but the newest thing I own is probably Dark Souls or maybe Dead Space 3.

That said, I'm still getting a PS4 & a few titles. Alien Isolation, Dark Souls II, & Mortal Kombat X all seem like worthy purchases. I don't think I'll ever reach the whole 'game a week' level I was at during the PS2/GC era. I've mostly lost interest due to a lack of innovation & the mandatory internet connections. Can't update a broken game without a service provider in my area.

Maybe when VR hits, if there are physical copies to buy & if it's as revolutionary as I hope.

[broken harbour]

I've often wondered if shipping broken games that launch borderline unplayable and then patching them via software updates is really just a way to force making current games unplayable in the future.
Think about it, a decade from now, if someone wants to play Assassins Creed or whatever on their PS3, unless they somehow have the update on a USB stick or something, it'll be buggy as hell... but they'll have an Ultra-HD re-release or something on the PS5 for thirty bucks you can buy that has the bugs fixed.

Right now, you could buy a re-release of Street Fighter 2 for your current gen console, or just plug in your SNES, Genesis, Saturn, etc... copy and it just works, and you don't have to pay extra, so the publisher/developer doesn't get any more of your money.

[ZellSF]

They usually reupload games again after they've released a patched firmware. It's how they've always dealt with exploited games. Well it's how any platform holder deals with exploited games. Considering how quick people are to justify piracy, I really don't blame them.

It's far from the first time this has happened and it's not going to be the last. If you have anything important purchased on any digital store, I suggest always keeping a local copy on your devices.

Shipping broken games is mostly a myth. 99% of games play fine out of the box. More worried about Microsoft not shipping firmware updates required to play games on disc and how PC gaming retail is mostly just download codes now.

[Obiwanshinobi]

This is exactly why I'm done with video games and refuse to buy anything that's digital only. I've already amassed enough stuff to play for a lifetime anyway, no need to waste money on stuff you don't actually own and can be shut down on a whim.

In all fairness, that's the way coin-op games used to be.

[Shepardus]

At least with coin-op you only pay for each time you play it.

[Austin]

It's the same on XBox Live, they say you can still download your owned games even if they have been removed from sale but it doesn't work with everything. I got a new HDD for my 360 some time ago and it's impossible to download Smash TV, a game I bought.

You might not have bought it then, because I downloaded it again just fine about a month ago.

[NeoStrayCat]

Well, ACS, shit happens, and this is why an all digital future is kinda dull anyways.

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=48433&

Out of that thread, for some odd reason, Outlaws of the Lost Dynasty (Suiko Enbu), just came back out of nowhere, not sure to remember when it happened, but it did, and still back on the US and JP PS Stores. The other Data East titles are still gone though.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

I lucked out on when Marvel vs Capcom 1 got pulled from Xbox live. I hadn't bought it yet but I had been meaning to because my DC disc of it got scratched up really bad somehow. I still had the Xbox demo downloaded. I was still able to buy it through the demo well after it was pulled.

[antares]

You might not have bought it then, because I downloaded it again just fine about a month ago.

Nope, it's in my purchase history and I know of other people who have the same problem.
Maybe it was pulled off the european xbl and not the american.