All is not rosy in the world of GameTap; Some players recently found out that many titles from EA Games and Interplay will be leaving the service come December 11th. Now, normally this wouldn’t cause much of a stir… as long as some communication was provided. The problem is, that the user found out by just browsing games in his library – he actually paid attention to the info cards and was shocked to see that quite a few games were going to go bye bye come Dec. 11th – no announcement by GameTap preceded this discovery, and the post on the forums was met only with speculation and ‘marketing talk’ by Moderators and a few GameTap staff as well.
This smacks of just plain bad communication and Customer Service.. I mean a ton of games (many childrens games included.. in fact a large chunk of the childrens games category) are just going bye bye, and this not long after GameTap made a huge fuss over its 1,000th game. Sure, it might be that GameTap was caught unawares…. or at least the GameTap members that work with the community [Contract negotiations rarely just flop overnight, this has been going on for a while most likely]. Speculation ranges from the companies wanting more money and not being given it, to the companies wanting to expand profits by limiting themselves to.. well.. profitable systems [Lets be honest, the meager money they get back from GameTap subscriptions is outstripped by selling the games via download and whatnot]. Heck, some companies may have just given up (Atari anyone?). This sort of thing needs to be dealt with up front and honestly, this sort of crap where the customer finds out by chance is just not the way to go.
In all about 7-10% of the GameTap library will be leaving the system come December 11th; Some GT Staff have said that there is always the possibility they will come back.. but come on. It is understood (by people with half a brain) that contracts expire and have to be renegotiated.. what isn’t understood is the complete lack of giving a damn about the customer; Come on GameTap.. return some of the dedication your fans have shown you and keep them in the bloody loop will ya? I was a GameTap subscriber since right after launch, I only stopped due to personal reasons but would have continued on otherwise – the lack of communication stings worse than the loss of the games and would seriously make me reconsider paying money to a company that doesn’t keep its customers up to date. Its not like anyone is asking for trade secrets or negotiation details.. just let us know when things go south like this! Don’t make us find out for our selves!
To date, no official word has come down the pipe from GameTap.
Here is a partial list of the games being removed:
- American Deer Hunting™ 2000
Rating: 4.2 Action Simulation Sports | Windows
- Arthur’s® 1st Grade: Bionic Bunny’s Good Deeds Contest
Rating: 5.4 Family | Windows
- Arthur’s® Computer Adventure
Rating: 3.9 Family | Windows
- Arthur’s® Kindergarten: Trouble in Arthur’s Treehouse
Rating: 6.1 Family | Windows
- Arthur’s® Pet Chase
Rating: 3.2 Family | Windows
- Arthur’s® Preschool: Arthur’s Afternoon Adventure
Rating: 5.3 Family | Windows
- Arthur’s® Sand Castle Contest
Rating: 6.6 Family | Windows
- Arthur’s® Teacher Trouble
Rating: 6.2 Family | Windows
- Arthur’s® Wilderness Rescue™
Rating: 5.2 Family | Windows
- Astro Chase®
Rating: 3.1 Action | Commodore 64
- Battle Chess
Rating: 3.6 Board & Card | Windows
- Championship Wrestling
Rating: 3.5 Sports | Commodore 64
- Chip’s Challenge
Rating: 5.9 Puzzle | Commodore 64
- Command & Conquer™
Rating: 8.7 Strategy | Windows
- Command & Conquer Red Alert
Rating: 8.6 Strategy | Windows
A full list of known games is being maintained by a subscriber here: http://www.gametap.com/home/profile/playlist?plid=7253506
Hopefully GameTap will see the error of their ways and come to the intelligent side by at least communicating more directly.. otherwise who knows.
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Notice: I am not affiliated with GameTap™, Turner Broadcasting Systems, or any of its affiliates. The views I express in this post are the views of myself and are not subject to your opinions, concerns, or biases.
