Oxenfree is being completely removed from itch.io in October
Oxenfree is being completely removed from itch.io in October
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.
Luckily it's DRM-free. Back up your installers. I wanted to call attention to this, because in a very unusual move, it's being removed even for people who own a copy, whereas usually stores will only remove a game from sale and still host the files for existing owners to download.
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.
It's sad that digital subscription services reserve the right to remove your subscription. If you are in EU, consider signing the Stop Killing Games Petition
This is the way
Someone should challenge this legally. I'm pretty sure this is illegal in EU, no matter what the ToS says.
Sounds like something I'll have to look into before the takedown.
Edit:
Sounds like something I might have to "demo" in the future.
It's still available via GOG if you want the game DRM-free.
Definitely gonna start looking there.
Is it only getting removed from itch.io? Because the game is also available on Steam and GOG...
I only own the game through itch.io, which I got through one of those charity bundles, and they contacted me by e-mail. Then people contacted GamingOnLinux about it, and at least right now, it seems to only be limited to itch.io.
EDIT: I actually do have the game via GOG as well, which is news to me, and I did not receive a similar notification about it.
Anyone know if it will be staying on gog for the foreseeable future?
No announcement or confirmation from Night School Studio regarding GOG, Steam, the Playstation Store, or the Nintendo eShop as of yet. My guess is they would give a decent warning announcement if it were to leave those outlets as well, but regardless I did download my copy from GOG to my backup drive just in case.
I sent email to oxenfree@nightschoolstudio.com and told them in no uncertain words that what they are doing is illegal, and asked how they are going to fix the situation.
If I can find time to, I'll see about contacting the local consumer protection organisation.
What law does this break?