The Marvel game Deadpool has been removed from digital sales lists everywhere. The title was only six months old, and it’s now sharing the same fate as all of the Marvel Vs Capcom and Spider-Man games. Is something happening behind the scenes at Marvel?
Capcom has been removing a lot of its Marvel super hero titles recently, and even took part in a special Christmas deal to sell what they could of the DLC and digital copies before taking them off the market. The most surprising of the removals included Deadpool , a game only released six months ago.
Even though the reviews on Deadpool showed that it was not one of the best Marvel games made, it was good enough for fans of the character to enjoy a witty and insane romp through Wade Wilson’s life. The story involved the “merc with the mouth” breaking the fourth wall like usual as he acted like the game was his idea. The meta humor continued when he was given a contract and sent on an action-packed mission laced with his usual irreverent banter and off the wall jokes.
Deadpool is now gone from all of the digital retailers like Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Steam. It seems it was removed before the services were given time to compensate because the links to what should be the game now give different results. Steam’s listing redirects you to Lego Marvel Super Heroes , PSN sends you to a costume page for LittleBigPlanet games, and XBLA simply gives you an error message.
Deadpool Video Game License Expired, No longer for sale.: http://t.co/9fO7aHvXNL via @YouTube
— John CandyFortyFive (@John_Candy45) January 1, 2014
Could it be that Activision and Capcom are losing their licenses to develop and sell Marvel games over the lack of quality?
Whatever the reasons, this can’t be good for Capcom. In spite of being one of the most recognized game developers in the world, the company is financially even worse off than Nintendo . Between this and Capcom showing no desire to work with Keiji Inafune to create Mighty No. 9 , we could be seeing Capcom go the way of THQ and finally give up. This would be a shame because it would mean that if we ever see Street Fighter 5 , it will be under a different publisher.
The most likely explanation seems to be that Marvel is seeing a lack of quality in games made with its licenses. With Marvel properties at their hottest in history, it could be that they aren’t putting up with games that don’t measure up. Could this mean we’ll actually see more video games based on movies that are worth owning?
Will you miss the vanishing Marvel games like Deadpool ?