Maybe Steam knows something we don't?

I never said to send a "buy it now" email. Just a notice that "A game that you have wishlisted has encountered some potential licensing issues. It is possible that we may not be able to sell this title in the near future, though this does not preclude the possibility that the title may be available again if this issue is resolved."

As for the legal issues, I can't speak to that. I've never read through the licensing agreements for digital distribution of software.

Edit: for some reason, after writing the above notice language example, this movie quote came to me: Link

Not if you include it in the e-mail as a reminder that the game could come back if the publisher fix their license issues. :)

@Bluetexts: to me, it's quite easy. Everytime a company compels you to remove a game, the person who hits the "remove" button should take a few minutes after that, and start an official thread in the General forum with the text

"We have been asked by <insert company> to remove <insert game> from the catalogue. Those who purchased the game should still be able to download the content from their shelves. If any of you have troubles regarding this game in the future, please contact support. We apologize for any inconvinience, and we'll try to take <insert game> back to our catalogue."

or something like that.

Personally I'm kinda surprised you made an official blue text in the first place. I can think of a few potential scenarios where this could bite you in the behind. It all depends on who gets the rights, what they think of GOG and how much they want to gamble.

(Oh, and yes that E-Mail would be legally a really terrible idea.)

Yeah, that Second Sight came with Starforce...

How come? False advertising? It's a warning and if they include as a potential reminder the game isn't off for good it shouldn't trick people into buying (hence avoiding law suit).

Just delete this thread already and no one get's hurt!

Na, you need to think the other way around. Usually, if a licensing issue arises, that means the person who gave GOG the permission to sell the game either no longer has the permission or never had it. That means GOG is potentially selling the game illegally. That is why most companies take it down as soon as they sniff legal trouble.

Problems with this can amount to (but not limited to)

- Shelving over all profits made by the sales from the moment they knew it was legally challenged to the new license holder. (Usually the claim would go against the current license holder, who recives a cut from GOG. But they can also make demands against GOG for their share). Courts could even go as far an see this as an "harmful exploitation" of said license, as GOG cuts into a potential buyers market for the next "licensed reseller" and hurt the original license holders business position.

- Removing the game from the customers who bought it during the "time of knowledge". As you cannot obtain licenses "on good believe" like physical goods, every license now sold could be void. Therefore GOG would actually need to remove it from the catalogue.

While it has been established by courts (German law) that removing the "middle man" from an legal chain should not retroactively affect the end users. This is based on the "protective worthiness" of the said end user. With this announcement the end user is losing quite some "protective worthiness".

Remember, IT law is still to a huge degree based on court decisions as the law doesn't keep up. And this behaviour isn't really something judges like.

Edit:

Oh, if the license simply "runs out" and a new deal can't be made, this all is irrelevant. What I typed only goes for a contested license. Which should be fairly rare in the first place.

Legally, making a big "Buy this because we legally probably will no longer be allowed to sell it!" just sounds like a terrible idea. Officially saying, "Hey guys! We probably shouldn't be doing this!" on the front page... really?

The fact that they're giving SOME kind of notice is a lot more than other distributors do.

Had it on my wishlist, may as well get it now (this is why saving money helps).

The fact that distributors are being forced to pull it in general seems like a bit of a hasty thing on whoever was checking documentations part (not GOG/distributor). Just calm down, stuff like this happens.

Is there a possibility of losing other Codemasters titles in the near term? Should I buy their other games just in case?

GOG without Codemasters would be like... having Interplay promos every weekend instead of every second weekend!

Or is that just my registration date showing?

Steam is putting them on sale, so something weird might be up...

Well crap. I want this but don't want to pay ten bucks. :(

Why do you hate your customers so much, Codemasters? WHAT DID WE DO TO YOU