Earlier today, Xbox LIVE Director of Programming Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb revealed that the following games would no longer be available to purchase on the service: Cyberball, Defender, Paperboy, Rootbeer Tapper, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Robotron, Joust, Gauntlet, and Smash TV.
Notice anything in common between these titles? That’s right, they were all games published by Midway, who was ultimately acquired by Warner Bros. last year. Hryb says that the reason the games were pulled was “due to publisher evolving rights and permissions.”
Fortunately, if you did download the games previously, he says you’ll still be able to play them, or if necessary, re-download them. And unless we’re mistaken, the same holds for the demos, except you’ll no longer be able to purchase the full versions.
Some have speculated that the reason for the pull is related to the upcoming Game Room, but Hryb says that is not the case.
If I had to guess, it probably has something to do with WB’s acquisition of Midway itself, and that– hopefully– we’ll see these games, or some version thereof, returned to normal status on Xbox LIVE Arcade in the future. But as further details go, Hryb plans to address it on his show later this week.
If anything substantial comes out of that, we will update you.
