Spec Ops: The Line, the extreme and grim 2012 shooter, will not be out there on digital storefronts, a 2K spokesperson confirmed in an announcement.
The spokesperson advised Polygon that the sport will not be out there on-line “as a number of partnership licenses associated to the sport are expiring.” Individuals who at the moment personal the sport can proceed to play it.
“2K want to thank our neighborhood of gamers who’ve supported the sport, and we sit up for bringing you extra choices from our label all through this yr and past,” the spokesperson stated.
The information was first noticed by Wario64, who seen that Spec Ops: The Line had disappeared from digital storefronts like Steam and Fanatical. The shop itemizing doesn’t come up in Steam search, and in the event you head to the shop web page, a word says that “Spec Ops: The Line is not out there on the Steam retailer.”
Proper now, you’ll be able to solely buy the sport digitally by the Xbox Retailer for the Xbox One and Xbox Sequence X, and third-party shops like GOG. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for touch upon whether or not that itemizing will stay up going ahead.
The sport’s director and designer, Cory Davis, posted on X (previously Twitter) that the transfer made no sense.
“Is not sensible — particularly as a result of the themes portrayed in Spec Ops: The Line are extra related now than ever,” he posted. “Why has this occurred?”
Video games being delisted from shops attributable to licensing agreements is pretty widespread, particularly for older titles. For instance, the unique Alan Wake was delisted in 2017 attributable to expired music licenses, however it was in a position to get reinstated. Treatment Leisure stated on its X account that this was thanks partly to Microsoft companions, who renegotiated the agreements.
Equally, Spec Ops: The Line featured music from a number of well-liked artists, together with Alice in Chains and Deep Purple. It even utilized a recording of Jimi Hendrix taking part in “The Star-Spangled Banner” over the primary menu.
Spec Ops: The Line was developed by Yager Improvement, and was initially launched for PlayStation 3, Home windows PC, and Xbox 360, and was out there by digital storefronts on these platforms. Sadly, the information that it gained’t be out there digitally is a big blow to the sport’s availability. Whereas the essential reception was constructive, Spec Ops: The Line didn’t promote nicely initially however has since turn into a cult basic in the way it subverted the violence gamers noticed in video games like Name of Obligation on the time. Nonetheless, its poor gross sales meant the Spec Ops franchise didn’t transfer ahead.