Nothing lasts forever, and that definitely includes games available online. Overnight, their rights holders can order a delisting, eliminating any chance of purchase. That is exactly the decision Sega made in recent days: at 11:59 PM PST on December 6, a total of 62 games under the Sega Classics banner will be removed from Steam. The company assures that all copies purchased in the past will remain unrestricted in players' personal libraries, but the real question is: why?
Some games are particularly difficult to obtain online, while others shine by their absence. Without going too far, the Alice saga is not complete on Steam (we can buy Madness Returns, but not the first game), and you need a real miracle to get Need for Speed: Underground without ending up with a patch over your eye.
These so-called "classics" often fall into that black hole, but Sega has offered its "Sega Classics" on Steam for over a decade, providing one of the few legal ways to acquire ROMs. Personally, I would be celebrating that possibility... if it weren't for the fact that it will disappear in less than a month.
Sega removes a good part of its classics from Steam
The official Sega Classics FAQ confirms that a long list of games and packs will be removed from all virtual stores. In the case of PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, this affects the pack Sega Genesis Classics, while on Xbox the pruning reaches a dozen titles, but it is much deeper on Steam, with 62 games in total. Among them, Altered Beast, Comix Zone, Crazy Taxi, the Ecco series, Eternal Champions, the Golden Axe saga, the original Street of Rage trilogy, and Virtua Fighter 2 stand out.
The availability deadline is December 6 at 11:59 PM PST. Sega assures that previous purchases will be honored, and each user will be able to keep copies in their personal library. So why does Sega decide to interrupt access to these classics on Steam? All arrows point to a new collection and different revivals of old franchises, but until that happens... you better hurry.
Sources: Sega, GamesRadar.
