Fade wrote:It's not dicey unless the publisher is a banana split (Warner Bros)
Plenty of game services have shown it's possible to let users play and download delisted games. There's no reason Warner couldn't do the same with their content.
They're just out of touch suits who don't realise people will just pirate content in the future because they've shown it to be the safer option.
I wonder if you're thinking about this from a PC angle, Fade? I'm not aware of any console platforms allowing consumers to download and play delisted games; and we have seen cases such as Nintendo turning off digital stores and Sony trying similar things (closing down the Vita digital store and delaying closure of the PS3 store).
I feel more it likely that we will see publishers being banana splits, tbh. In the case of the Warner incident, I personally place equal blame upon Sony as they are the platform owner and were happy to take circa 30% of the purchases costs without being clear that the purchases were, effectively, temporary rentals. Even though they have now "extended the loan" by a year or two, the purchases will still be lost after that point. In the mind of the consumer, trust is lost by these incidents.