Bill & Ted's Excellent Retro Collection Will Be Removed from PS5, PS4 Very Soon | Push Square

31.12.2023 - 00:13 / pushsquare.com / Will

Limited Run Games has been working tirelessly to re-release a bunch of retro classics, both in physical and digital format. Unfortunately, it seems even the preservation specialist’s efforts have a shelf life. Writing on Twitter earlier this week, CEO Josh Fairhurst revealed that Bill & Ted’s Excellent Retro Collection will be removed from the PS Store on 1st January – despite it launching less than a year ago!

Responding to some pretty robust criticism from fans, Fairhurst explained that his company was only able to acquire a two-year license to the Bill & Ted intellectual property, and development on the compilation had taken longer than expected. Obviously, this is still bitterly disappointing, though, and may cast doubt over the longevity of some of Limited Run Games’ other re-releases.

If you purchase the digital version now, you’ll still be able to re-download it after it’s been delisted. Moreover, there are still some physical editions available on the firm’s website. Still, while we understand the complicated licensing dynamics at play here, this is undoubtedly a bad look for Limited Run Games – a company which has built its entire corporate purpose around preservation.

A true PlayStation veteran, Sammy's covered the world of PS gaming for years, with an enormous Trophy count to prove it. He also likes tennis games way more than you.

Physical copies stay winning.

Does it cost the developers money on a monthly basis to have the games on the online servers like PSN, Xbox and Nintendo. Because then I can understand that they might remove their titles, if not then it's just a way to boost the prices of the physical copies.

@Martijn87 Their license for the IP has expired so they can no longer sell it after the 1st January.

The game will still be on the servers. So if you’ve already bought it, you will still be able to play or redownload it.

This game itself is no loss as its pretty terrible but it doesn't paint a good picture for the potential future of their other games such as Jurassic Park, though without them we wouldn't have the opportunity to buy them again anyway

Do the IP owners stipulate that rights must be exclusive, or do publishers who want to avoid confusion and/or competition? I just can’t understand why an IP owner would want to remove a product from sale which effectively works as free advertising for their brand. That is unless they want to sell the rights to the IP to another publisher who will pay more, but then why sell exclusive rights in the first place? I suspect it’s most likely the game publishers who demand it, which kind of puts responsibility on them.

I'm pretty sure if it was selling bucketloads they'd be able to extend the license.

@SoulChimera then i understand why