In a devastating blow to players' ability to play retro games, SEGA has announced that they will over 70 of their classic titles will soon be delisted from various virtual storefronts.
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Announced via November 6th update to the company's official online support site, the eventual enforcement of this decision will see "select games and bundles will be delisted from virtual stores, becoming unavailable for new purchases."
Set to commence on "December 6th at 11:59pm PST", the specific titles set to be delisted vary by platform.
However, the worst affected will be Steam players, as Sega is set to remove a total of will remove 62 titles from Valve's digital storefront, including:
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Luckily, not everything is bleak, as SEGA's website promises that while the games will become unavailable for new purchases, "All SEGA Classics games and bundles you own will remain in your library, ready to be downloaded and played at any time."
Moreover, those with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription will still be able to play "select individual classic titles" through the services' included virtual console.
At current, SEGA has yet to provide a specific reason behind their mass delisting.
However, speculation suggests a few possible explanations.
The first is the fact that certain series like Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, Shinobi, Streets of Rage, and Virtua Fighter are on track to receive new entries in the relatively near future. As such, it's possible that a misguided Sega may want to clean up their digital offerings in order to avoid confusion between the old and new games.
Furthermore, there's also a chance that SEGA may be preparing a new collection for these games and want new players to be presented with that as the main option to play their classics instead of individual releases or the decade-and-a-half-old SEGA Classics Collection.
Ultimately, whatever the reason, retro fans should be sure to get their hands on these iconic titles before they're gone.