For those of us that support buying legal game ROMs — and I buy more games than most gamers do — SEGA is warning us they are about to remove 60 of their classic games everywhere online: consoles, Steam/PC, you name it. Get them while they are still live or, well, you will have to own the original physical media to play them or, arrr, you know.
“But the real reason to buy these games is that once you install them, you can just browse to that install filter and find a ROM file to use any way you like – no encrypted files to datamine or DRM to bypass. Just raw ROM files that you’ve legally purchased. That means you can drop those ROMs into your emulator of choice and play them however you want, totally legally. Short of getting hold of a USB cartridge reader and dumping games yourself, it’s almost impossible to get ahold of raw ROMs without pirating them, which makes this collection particularly notable among retro rereleases on PC” – Out of nowhere after 14 years, Sega’s killing off one of the only sources of legal ROMs on the entire internet as it delists 60 classic games | GamesRadar+
Hat tip to PGM member Sonic321Master (https://www.twitch.tv/sonic321master) for being the first in our Discord to let the group know SEGA is pulling these 60 games., but this harkens back to a previous PGM article: SEGA announces plans to mine old IPs: Golden Axe, Shinobi, Streets of Rage, Crazy Taxi and more.
Still, I just purchased the Dreamcast collection (https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/14082/Dreamcast_Collection/) and the SEGA Mega Drive & Genesis Classics collection (https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/10143/SEGA_Mega_Drive_and_Genesis_Classics/), despite owning several of these already in physical format on my working Dreamcast. I want to play them on my Steam Deck and PC. I want to support being able to buy the ROMs legally.
Why is SEGA doing this? The article linked above also ponders this, perhaps, bigger question. I hope it’s what they pontificate on, that maybe SEGA is going to release an even bigger, better collection and they don’t want these 60 games packaged with a somewhat subpar emulator muddying up the waters. That’s what SEGA admitted they wanted to do in that previous PGM article, in fact.
The pessimist gamers reading will say they are going the Nintendo route: where they re-release and re-release their classic games, pushing for rebuying the same games again, again and again. Or this could be part of their patent “treatment” see: Thumbs Down For This Sega Game Monetization Patent. Or, yeah, maybe they will package them with extras and minor differences and upgrades, but ultimately selling us the same game again.
Again. Again. Again.
This has been the way of music and movies, so why not games? I’ll say it: because it’s BS. None of us should have to buy the same thing over and over again. I’ve probably bought AC DC Back in Black more than 10 times. Sure, different physical media — well, except the time I bought the CD twice, because the first one was damaged. But I just keep buying that same thing. Sure, I could have just gone with the MP3 I ripped, but those versions, well, you store them to a hard disk or burn to CD, sometimes the archival copies also get damaged.
Buy once. Own for life.
I want a world where we buy music, movies and games one freaking time. Just once and then I never have to buy it in my life again. Unless I want to buy it, of course. All these companies sitting on arcade ROMS that are 20,30,40+ years old? Give me and others a way to buy your ROM at a reasonable price legally and own it for good so we can use whatever emulator we want. No, not so we can copy and give it to friends, so we can play the game when/where we want.
These companies are all so afraid of piracy, but the reality is they drive consumers to the dark side of piracy with their own greed. Yes, avarice, I’ve said it. To blame your customers, to threaten and sue and even see some of them imprisoned, yeah, that’s the way good companies behave.
Some clever smaller companies encourage pirating their games, if cost is an issue: “Pirate…” Slay The Princess game, “if $ is an issue,” says Developer. That’s not going to happen with the big companies, but it’s a humorous take on the situation.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condoning stealing here and taking out some bad actors (and some have definitely done that), I’m asking, no, begging game companies to make their ROMs for sale legally. All of them. Yes, even you, Nintendo. Don’t tease us with difficult to find, hard to buy games you might bring out of your archives again … someday.
Speaking of Nintendo, yeah, they are suing live streamers now, too. Given, this one is a bad example. I’m not a fan of what this particular live streamer was doing: he was streaming pre-release N games and telling others how they can get the pirated games before they were made for sale. Yeah, that’s poking the Nintendo bear straight in the eyes. Not smart. Definitely illegal.
“Nintendo said Keighin, who goes by Every Game Guru across streaming and social media platforms, has streamed 10 then-unreleased Nintendo games over the past 10 years, with titles as recent as Mario & Luigi Brothership, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and Super Mario Party Jamboree. He also instructed his limited number of viewers on how to get these games early, too, per the lawsuit, something Nintendo alleged is “trafficking” in illegal “circumvention devices,” like emulators and keys to access the games.” – via Nintendo suing gamer for streaming Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and other games early | Polygon
At the same time, this guy was promoting Nintendo. And most advertising ultimately Nintendo is going to get on this is negative in the end: that a pirate streamer was taken down by a 3+ billion dollar company and that even streaming pirated games could be a very risky proposition …
The latter should chill the bones. What if you want to stream an arcade game that hasn’t been available for years to buy and play for 30+ years? What if you can’t find and buy the arcade game hardware or physical game media. What if you want to promote a game that’s amazing but extremely hard, if not impossible, to find? Should that gaming history be lost or should you be in the crosshairs legally for sharing something that is a footnote in history?
Public domain is where all this stuff should go eventually. When it becomes that hard to find forget about all the reasons somebody should make money from it and just make it free to the world. Unshackle that copyright and open it far and wide.
If you’d like more somewhat related PGM discussion, here are a few past articles for reference:
- OPINION: Is the Megacade a Pirate’s Haven, Retrogaming Mecca or …?
- OPINION: Sony reminds us that the illusion of “owning” Digital Movies and TV Series are lessons in Hollywood Thievery
- TIME SENSITIVE: Bill & Ted’s Retro Collection on Nintendo Switch being delisted less than 1 year after launch – PlayGamesMore
Wow, we’ve squirreled away from the SEGA story, haven’t we? Bottom line: buy the ROMs of these games while you still legally can. I did. No idea what happens with them after December 6. Actually, we almost certainly will have the chance to buy them again.
Again. Again. Again.
I’ve been doing some digging, and I’m not seeing any explanation as to why these collections are being delisted. I did search for the game in the Nintendo shop and surprisingly the Sega compilation doesn’t have a delisting notice. It will be interesting to see if it remains in the shop after Dec 6th. Perhaps Nintendo has extended rights with Sega games? I know the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack lets you play Sega emulated games that they have license for. Some of the games available are in the collection, and maybe that is why there isn’t a delisting notice? I also know the Sega collection is available physically as well on some systems. So even if you miss out there is other opportunities to play these games.
I think the Dreamcast collection is a must pick up if you are a fan of those games. I haven’t see that collection in many places. I know Crazy Taxi is one of my favorites on the Dreamcast!
I think the answer to why they are doing this is as simple as: promotion. Look at all the free press SEGA is getting for simply saying they are delisting these games. I don’t think ultimately they won’t do anything with these games again. It’s more likely they will come back available to purchase a different way, maybe not with the actual ROMs like they are doing here, however. Lots of people want to buy games legally and be able to own them one time for their lives, not keep buying them over and over again. If SEGA wants to go the Nintendo route and just keep putting out their stuff again and again, it’s going to have diminishing returns for them. They do have some IPs they can do what Nintendo is already doing this and I think somebody in the accounting/finance department has pointed this out.
Hi Todd! I believe in your mantra buy one and own for life. I’ve head the Sega Genesis Collection for years and there were just awesome homebrew versions of the games you could download as well. I forgot there was a Dreamcast Collection and hope it drops in price during Nov. Sales. I hope they are coming out with bigger, better “remastered” collections. Why hasn’t Sega come out with Arcade Collection with online leaderboards and coop? It would sell like hotcakes on PC and consoles!