Sega did the world a huge favor when he released Sega Genesis Classics on PC and consoles. It’s brought together some of its best classic games into a collection for a relatively affordable price and made them fully playable on modern hardware. It was a great day for fans and those interested in preserving the games.
The collection was released in 2018, and since then, gamers have been enjoying some truly underrated Sega Genesis games in a much more convenient format. However, it appears that Sega has changed its mind by bundling the collection with a number of other incredibly popular games. Although the change upset fans, is also massively negatively impacting the hard work of game preservationists.
Sega is retiring its Genesis Collection
Many Dreamcast games are also being delisted
Sega decided out of nowhere to pull Sega Genesis Classics from Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xboxas well as a collection of classic Dreamcast games from Steam. No reason was given as to why it was doing this, only that as of December 6th, none of the games listed on the official website SEGA website will be available for purchase. This includes some of the best Dreamcast games ever made, as well as those already mentioned Sega Genesis Classicswhich brings together some of the best games on this console.
Some of the removed games include Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventures 2, Comix Zone, Golden Ax, Fantasy Star II, Shining Force IIand Streets of Fury 1-3. Of course, among some of the best Genesis games, there are some obscure titles that are being delisted. However, Sega removing all of this from various digital stores on PCs and consoles is bad for the consumer and for the preservation of the game as a whole.
Publishers Need to Stop Making Their Old Games Hard to Play
It’s terrible for the preservation of the game
Completely removing an entire collection of classic games from storefronts is a complete blow to gaming preservation as it makes it more difficult to acquire and play these games on modern hardware. He’s also seen the costs of physical copies of these games skyrocket, just as they did when Nintendo made the poor decision to withdraw Super Mario 3D All-Stars. It’s a frustrating ordeal, one that hurts die-hard fans of these franchises, as well as those hoping to get into these classic series and games.
Of course, it’s possible that Sega will bring them back eventually. However, as no reason was given for the deletions, it is impossible to know if this will happen or when. All this accomplishes is instilling FOMO in people, which forces them to run out and buy them before they disappear forever. It’s not good business practice and it also means a lot of players will miss out on some amazing games. Hopefully, Sega will allow players to purchase these games again in the future, otherwise many truly iconic titles could be lost on modern hardware.
Source: SEGA