Highlights
- Recent delistings of popular Tales of games from the PlayStation Store in North America, Europe, and Japan have upset fans of the franchise.
- Game preservation issues in the industry continue as beloved titles like Spec Ops: The Line vanish from online stores without warning.
- The delisting trend extends beyond Bandai Namco games, with Capcom's Age of Booty and Sony's Gran Turismo Sport disappearing recently.
Tales of Hearts R, Tales of Xillia 2, and Tales of Symphonia Chronicles were recently delisted from the PlayStation Store in North America without any previous warning from Bandai Namco. The sudden delisting also affected Bandai Namco games from the Tales of series in other areas such as Europe and Japan.
Issues with game preservation have been a consistent problem in the gaming industry for years, and the situation does not seem to be improving recently. Recent examples include the 2012 FPS Spec Ops: The Line being delisted from Steam back in January, but lesser-known titles disappear from online stores essentially every month.
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Now, Tales of Hearts R, Tales of Xillia 2, and Tales of Symphonia Chronicles are no longer purchasable for PlayStation 3 and PS Vita, as they have been delisted from the PlayStation Store. The information was originally spotted by Noisy Pixel, which confirmed that all three games are no longer being sold. However, it seems that both Tales of Symphonia games that were a part of the Chronicles bundle can still be purchased separately. Fortunately, anyone who already bought these titles will be able to download them at any moment and continue playing them.
What Bandai Namco Games Are Leaving the PlayStation Store In North America?
- Tales of Hearts R
- Tales of Symphonia Chronicles
- Tales of Xillia 2
The reports also indicate that the European version of the PlayStation Store lost Tales of Hearts R, Tales of Graces f, and Tales of Zestiria. At the same time, Japanese gamers can no longer purchase Tales of Innocence R. Overall, this is a huge loss for fans of the franchise, as some of the best Tales of games are no longer accessible to many gamers.
These are not the only games to be recently delisted from online stores by Japanese publishers, though. Back on March 28, Capcom’s strategy pirate game Age of Booty was delisted from the Xbox Store, for example. While Capcom put the game on sale for $0.99 just before removing it from the stores, the company did not provide an official reason for the delisting.
Cases when games are delisted out of the blue are not uncommon, either. For instance, the PS4-exclusive racing game Gran Turismo Sport was delisted from the PlayStation Store without any kind of prior announcement back in January. Unfortunately, it’s likely that even more old games may be removed from online stores before the end of the year, and there’s not much gamers can do about it when companies do not warn them in advance.
