Forza Motorsport 5 Retired From Xbox Store

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

Forza Motorsport 5 Retired From Xbox Store

This article was published by Kyle Patrick (@SlipZtrEm) on October 7th, 2017 in the Forza Series category.

 

[Lain]

Can't say I'm a big fan of them "retiring" slightly older games from the storefront just because there's a hot new sequel coming out. It's not so bad now, since physical distribution is still a thing... but what if that wasn't the case?

 

[wallpaper42]

Really makes you wonder how games are going to be preserved when they eventually go digital only.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

Can't say I'm a big fan of them "retiring" slightly older games from the storefront just because there's a hot new sequel coming out. It's not so bad now, since physical distribution is still a thing... but what if that wasn't the case?

I agree in a way — I think the ideal move would've been to announce the intention of removing FM5 from the store alongside it's Games With Gold status leading into September.

At this point, it's four years old: going by market standards, it's very unlikely to make any significant number of sales this long into its lifecycle. That's especially true when we consider that it's a series that actually does have regularly scheduled sequels.

Really makes you wonder how games are going to be preserved when they eventually go digital only.

Racing games are stuck in a unique pickle, though: the high number of licenses is what causes most of them to have limited digital shelf lives. That's likely the main reason we've never seen a PS1-era GT game re-released on modern consoles; hunting down all the necessary licenses was probably deemed too much of an issue.

 

[Cosbuster]

Unless it's a licencing agreement thing, I don't get it. Sure, with the newest Forza this one would barely get any sales, but it's not like they have anything to lose from a digital game. Whatever little it would have gotten would still be pure gain.

 

[Imari]

Unless it's a licencing agreement thing, I don't get it. Sure, with the newest Forza this one would barely get any sales, but it's not like they have anything to lose from a digital game. Whatever little it would have gotten would still be pure gain.

By removing it they can drive customers to the newer games, and ensure that people who are new to the series and starting with the cheapest option aren't turned off by the four year old tech.

There are valid commercial reasons for not keeping older games that don't have significant sentimental or historical value on sale. Something like FF7 continues to be sold on just about every single piece of hardware under the sun, but there isn't anyone that's going to pine for the good ole days of FM5. It was not exactly a high point of the series.

I think it's a good choice on their part to recognise that the Forza games are largely interchangeable, and that leaving FM5 around forever has a far larger likelihood of producing harm to the brand than anything else.

 

[Odyofil]

Believe it or not, Forza 5 had better graphics than Forza 6 and both Forza 7.
The 3rd Chase cam angle, the car's real time lightning, i mean everything lookd better on this game.

They just polished the game in Forza 6 and 7, but graphics got down.

 

[Lain]

By removing it they can drive customers to the newer games, and ensure that people who are new to the series and starting with the cheapest option aren't turned off by the four year old tech.

There are valid commercial reasons for not keeping older games that don't have significant sentimental or historical value on sale. Something like FF7 continues to be sold on just about every single piece of hardware under the sun, but there isn't anyone that's going to pine for the good ole days of FM5. It was not exactly a high point of the series.

I think it's a good choice on their part to recognise that the Forza games are largely interchangeable, and that leaving FM5 around forever has a far larger likelihood of producing harm to the brand than anything else.

I think it's a bit of a stretch to think that somebody would buy Forza 5 and be turned off by the tech, unless they for some reason thought that Forza 5 was the latest entry in the series and somehow payed full price for it.

I'll agree with you that there are valid commercial reasons for not keeping it on the market though, or at least one... they don't want people hearing about Forza because of Forza 7, then jumping into the series by settling for a cheaper, older version. They want them to pay full price for the newest one, not because the tech's newer and more impressive but because it's full price.

I mean hell, Forza 5 as a Games With Gold title was basically meant to serve as advertising for Forza 7... they wouldn't be handing it out to people for free if they were concerned that it might tarnish their perception of the brand. And while doing so also runs the risk of people just settling for the free Forza 5, it generates goodwill and I imagine would make a fair amount of people more willing to spring for the latest release.

 

[Boxout]

Glad I got the car pass and VIP just in time

 

[KiroKai]

By removing it they can drive customers to the newer games, and ensure that people who are new to the series and starting with the cheapest option aren't turned off by the four year old tech.

Yet as Lain points out, they made it free for everyone with Gold.

There are valid commercial reasons for not keeping older games that don't have significant sentimental or historical value on sale. Something like FF7 continues to be sold on just about every single piece of hardware under the sun, but there isn't anyone that's going to pine for the good ole days of FM5. It was not exactly a high point of the series.

FM4 and FH1 were, yet they've also been killed off. How do you determine historical and especially sentimental value of games?

Besides, this mainly makes a difference for DLC. All these games can still be bought on disk, but everything locked behind DLC you didn't buy in time before they took it down without warning is locked forever. What reasons apply to taking DLC off sale?

I think it's a good choice on their part to recognise that the Forza games are largely interchangeable, and that leaving FM5 around forever has a far larger likelihood of producing harm to the brand than anything else.

Harm to the brand? More like harm to new titles with little innovation

 

[urmie]

I don't see the point of removing it, but it was the last Motorsport title with the "SS" cars/badges.

 

[Imari]

More like harm to new titles with little innovation

Right. Perhaps they should remove the career and customisation, slash the car and track list, and add a sport mode. That'd be innovative.

The racing genre as a whole has little innovation because as a game type it's really rather simplistic. Instead what we tend to see is incremental improvements, and developers trying to find new techniques that will allow them to run time, weather, complex physics, competent AI and large fields of cars on current hardware. There's plenty of room for growth without significant innovation simply by combining the best of many current games into one.

 

[Dresden]

The reason is obvious- Turn 10 do not want people to notice the massive drop off in track detail (grass, foliage, 2D trees).

Remove the evidence and keep people in the dark.

 

[Northstar]

The reason is obvious- Turn 10 do not want people to notice the massive drop off in track detail (grass, foliage, 2D trees).

Remove the evidence and keep people in the dark.

That explains why they were giving it away for free for the last month. Those sneaky devils!

 

[nyrmetros]

Just keep it in the store and sell it for $10.

 

[Nielsen]

Really makes you wonder how games are going to be preserved when they eventually go digital only.

Yes, but only to some extent. On the other end we are also seeing remasters and classics made compatible for current generation systems. Games that seem to have an immortal relevance usually get this treatment.

Racing games are stuck in a unique pickle, though: the high number of licenses is what causes most of them to have limited digital shelf lives. That's likely the main reason we've never seen a PS1-era GT game re-released on modern consoles; hunting down all the necessary licenses was probably deemed too much of an issue.

Related to my point above, we can probably also factor in the fact that a game like FM5 is surrounded by a fair degree of redundancy when there are sequels available surpassing it on nearly every relevant parameter.

 

[FT-1]

Just keep it in the store and sell it for $10.

Chances are many licenses would have to be renewed in order for FM5 to be sold again. Even if MS was able to renew them, the cost probably wouldn't be worth it due to the low volumes sold. Then there is also the factor @Nielsen brought up about how the sequels out-perform the game in almost every way, so there is no point re-investing in an older title.

 

[nyrmetros]

Chances are many licenses would have to be renewed in order for FM5 to be sold again. Even if MS was able to renew them, the cost probably wouldn't be worth it due to the low volumes sold. Then there is also the factor @Nielsen brought up about how the sequels out-perform the game in almost every way, so there is no point re-investing in an older title.

Except sequels like Forza don't have historical IndyCars.... Otherwise I would not care so much.