Night School Studio sent out an email to owners of Oxenfree on itch.io, to notify that it's going to be completely removed from the store on October 1st.
It's already been delisted and so the store page only shows up if you own it, which is what usually happens when developers / publishers properly move on, something we've seen a few times on Steam with various licensing issues. Usually though, it stays up for existing owners to download it.
Here, Night School Studio are completely removing it, so you won't be able to even download it from October 1st.
A few people sent this in but I've also been shared the email that was sent too (thanks, retrogunner):
No reason has actually been given as to why. Most likely, this is coming from Netflix, who actually acquired Night School Studio back in 2021. Probably as they're trying to pull in more people to play games under their umbrella directly on Netflix.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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hardpenguin Sep 9
There is no reason why wouldn't they keep the downloads available for the existing purchasers. This is bad PR for them. PC games are very rarely removed completely from a platform this way.
16 Likes, Who?
And once again i have to differ to people that use GOG.
I use Steam for convenience and proton but stories like these make me realize that when push comes to shove its best to have a backup copy of your game.
I use Steam for convenience and proton but stories like these make me realize that when push comes to shove its best to have a backup copy of your game.
10 Likes, Who?
Even if we disregard the possible legal aspects, that is a pretty giant breach of trust. Both for the publisher for doing it and itch.io for allowing it.
6 Likes, Who?
Micromegas Sep 9
As a customer I don't know who is responsible for this breach of trust. The only thing I know is: I won't buy ANY games anymore from Itch.io. I'm serious. Itch.io is dead for me from this moment onwards.
3 Likes, Who?
StalePopcorn Sep 9
Quoting: MicromegasAs a customer I don't know who is responsible for this breach of trust. The only thing I know is: I won't buy ANY games anymore from Itch.io. I'm serious. Itch.io is dead for me from this moment onwards.Are we so sure it was itch.io's call? As noted in the article, it's likely Netflix's call, even if indirectly.
11 Likes, Who?
Linux_Rocks Sep 9
Quoting: tfkI'm going to burn all of my game installers to blu-ray.I like this. Physical backups are still important. 👍
3 Likes, Who?
Fester_Mudd Sep 9
Quoting: razing32And once again i have to differ to people that use GOG.
I use Steam for convenience and proton but stories like these make me realize that when push comes to shove its best to have a backup copy of your game.
This is why torrent sites are also kind of like an internet backup archive for games you have once purchased, taken away from you, or lost and you can still get them. And why shouldn't you? You have purcahsed! It belongs to you even though these types of removes happen.
Hey, Night School Studio! You are making absolutely NO SENSE whatsoever. What is the matter with you
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Quoting: MicromegasAs a customer I don't know who is responsible for this breach of trust. The only thing I know is: I won't buy ANY games anymore from Itch.io. I'm serious. Itch.io is dead for me from this moment onwards.
I think Itch.io doesn't get much of a say in this. Distributing a specific game can become illegal if some licenses expire (most commonly for music or car brand likeness used in the game), therefore Itch.io requires a method for the game uploader to remove the game from the platform. And it makes sense that the uploader is responsible for doing it rather than Itch.io themselves trying to keep track of the licenses in the many many games uploaded. If a publisher uses this system for something like retroactive platform exclusivity, Itch.io can't easily filter that out and limit it.
Itch.io also isn't important enough in the gaming space to leverage significant political power and be able to pressure the uploader to follow Itch.io views (even if they aligned perfectly with your views) on game conservation or customer expectations.
So personally, I wouldn't blame Itch.io really. But I do understand how this can be very unpleasant.
Last edited by chr on 9 September 2024 at 12:53 pm UTC
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IrisNebula Sep 9
Folks, if you are dissing on itch, you're overreacting. This is certainly bad PR for Netflix/Night School Studio since they had no reason to do this, but itch isn't breaching any trust nor contract. You bought your game, you got your game. It has given you a DRM-Free installer that you can use whenever you want, as many times as you want. Even if new downloads are pulled, this shouldn't affect anyone much. Imagine going to a store and demanding a new copy of your game because you lost the game CD you bought there last year and being angry they won't service you. Infinite downloads for DRM-Free stuff is a courtesy and honestly they aren't even always provided by some software shops.
If it was on a platform like Steam, that by design makes you re-download to re-install which would mean you'd be locked out of new installations, then yeah, that would have been a big deal, but that's another beast entirely.
Last edited by IrisNebula on 9 September 2024 at 1:00 pm UTC
If it was on a platform like Steam, that by design makes you re-download to re-install which would mean you'd be locked out of new installations, then yeah, that would have been a big deal, but that's another beast entirely.
Last edited by IrisNebula on 9 September 2024 at 1:00 pm UTC
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