De-listed downloadable SEGA games

Virtua Tennis 4 will be removed from Steam on April 23rd, until then it's on sale for 80% off: http://steamcommunity.com/games/71390/announcements/detail/159091947276853924

 

Curious! Are they planning perhaps to put the Taxman versions instead?

 

Don't hold your breath

 

Because they totally made an version for said platforms in secret >_>

 

Well Sonic Lost World PC comes to mind. Who saw that coming a month ago? A 2013 game randomly resurrected on another platform.

 

If they do, I doubt it will be for the XBLA and VC on the 360 / Wii, since they're now father/legacy consoles. TaxStealth versions showing up on the XBLA for the XB1 and Wii U VC sounds more plausible.

Also find it interesting that while Sonic 1 MS is being delisted, Sonic 2 MS and Sonic Chaos won't be. Maybe they won't be removed until later down the line? (Though it helps that both Sonic 1 MS and Sonic 2 MS are already on the 3DS VC.)

And surprise, surprise, Sonics 1 and 2 are being pulled, but Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles aren't...

 

It's precisely the fact that Sonic 1 & 2 were removed and not 3 & K that made me think about the Taxman ports possibility.
Both games were already ported on the Retro Engine for the phones anyway so that's why I'm not ruling it out.

 

You proooobably shouldn't expect them to be replaced with the Taxman/Stealth remasters.

 

Nothing wrong with wishful thinking. I REALLY want those remasters on PC...
Although, given that they haven't pulled them on Steam, that seems unlikely.

 

Taxman, please tell us this is true. Please.

 

That may be, however this is probably the most plausible "proof" of it happening so far.

 

Can't wait for them to release those remasters on last gen consoles then. And also Wii.

 

Oh last gen? No (well maybe 360 and PS3, Wii though absolutely not they're gone). But since the Wii's e-shop is still accessible if you have a Wii U, it makes sense that they might remove an inferior version of the same game to avoid confusion. Plus a lot of people have moved on now, so similar logic might apply to the Xbox One and PS4 (I'm not sure if those types of arcade games are still playable on newer consoles though, like can you play Daytona USA from the PS3 on the PS4 for example)?

Unlikely, ya absolutely. But I don't think it's out of the question.

 

Since Sonic 1, 2 and 1 MS all use music done by Masato Nakamura (and he is usually credited as the copyright holder of those songs, see Smash 4 and Brawl) could it be linked to this?

 

Well, that would make some sense.

 

I'd love for this to be because of incoming Taxman/Stealth remasters but whilst possible I'd also say it's unlikely. Hopefully Taxman/Stealth can chime in here and let us know.

 

You'd think after all these years they'd try to make some arrangement to have permanent rights over the songs in Sonic 1 and 2 to prevent this stuff from happening.

 

Hopefully we find out exactly what is going on here soon. I can't for the life of me work out why they'd remove Sonic from XBLA and the Wii - but mysteriously leave PSN alone. Unless the delisting announcement is coming soon for PSN too. Just can't work out why Sega would do this unless they plan to replace the releases with something else - echoing their previous statements to focus on quality and protect their legacy with recent comments specifically referring to Sonic. The Taxman/Stealth ports might be unrealistic but there's just no way Sega is not going to have their most loved and bought games ever unavailable on digital services. There has to be solid and constructive reasoning behind this - and that reasoning should be that they're planning to release updated ports with or without Taxman/Stealth.

Regarding the music issue everyone on NeoGAF is saying that's not the reason at all which would make sense - Sega have re-released Sonic 1 and 2 over and over again for two decades on every platform under the sun and the music has never been an issue before.