SAN FRANCISCO, June 18 ― Those that already own the Minecraft choice and consequence adventure Minecraft: Story Mode have one week left to download it before it's completely withdrawn on June 25, 2019. For everyone else, the two-season run is still available for sale on Xbox 360, but at the intentionally prohibitive price of US$1,099 (RM4,592), so don't buy it.
Games studio Telltale shut down in November 2018 and, as a result, many of its releases ― including Minecraft: Story Mode ― began disappearing from download stores around six months later.
But what would happen to people that had bought Minecraft: Story Mode at some point in the past?
On May 31, a Minecraft.net news update confirmed that Seasons 1 and 2 would be completely removed from digital storefronts on June 25, 2019.
Owners would have until June 25 to download it, if it was not already installed on their computers, consoles, or mobile devices. After that, further downloads would not be possible.
One rather odd exception to the rule is for the game's Xbox 360 edition.
Due to the way the Xbox 360 store functions, Minecraft: Story Mode can't be made unavailable for sale without making it unavailable to download for existing owners.
“The only solution to this situation is to re-list the downloadable content for purchase [until June 25],” the Minecraft: Story Mode Facebook page now explains.
“So, to assist existing customers, all the downloadable Episodes for the two Minecraft: Story Mode titles are temporarily re-listed but, to deter new purchases, they will be re-listed at a very high price!”
“The price shown is a real list price, please do not buy the content, if you do, you will be charged the amount shown,” the Facebook post advises.
Given that each season's debut episode is free, purchasing all 11 remaining parts would run to a US$1,099 total, as each is priced at US$99.99.
One of the other tie-in Telltale adventures, The Walking Dead, was previously transferred to Skybound Games, the franchise owner's games division, which also hired a selection of previous Telltale staff to help finish the final season.
Somewhat similarly, Borderlands publisher 2K Games has expressed interest in restoring Tales from the Borderlands to digital storefronts; Borderlands 3, which features some of the same characters, is releasing towards the end of 2019. ― AFP-Relaxnews
