It has been announced that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD will be leaving Steam on July 17 for unknown reasons. The title is a compilation re-release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 with HD graphics and support, as well as having DLC featuring several maps of the third game. It does not have the full games, instead featuring key levels and sections from both.
To help give people one final chance to acquire the game, Steam has put Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD on an 80% weekly sale, making it just a $2 pick up right now, although the DLC of the third game levels is notably not on sale.
While there is no official reason given for the game leaving store shelves, two significant parts come to mind positing alternate theories for the reason. The first is that, like Alan Wake, the game has licensed music, and it is possible the licenses to use those tunes have expired, necessitating that the game either be taken down, or they remove the songs, possibly impacting former owners as well like Grand Theft Auto San Andreas did back in 2014. The other major possibility is an expiring right to sell games with the Tony Hawk brand on them, as they already had lost the rights to create new ones back in 2015 when their license that they signed in 2002 appears to have expired. That didn't require them to remove it for sale but we do not have all the terms of that contract of course, and we've seen other licensed properties like Castle of Illusion leave stores due to licenses.
If it is the music that is the issue, it is possible that part of the reason the DLC isn't on sale is that, much like Alan Wake, the DLC could continue to be available for purchase. Despite the removal of the main Alan Wake game, you can still buy DLC for it if you own the game.
Regardless of the reason, the final result is that this is the last week you'll be able to get Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD on Steam. We have reached out to Activision for more details on the matter, including if it will impact that Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game. If they get back to us, we'll be sure to update this post.
What do you think of games being retired from digital storefronts? Do you think developers need to negotiate licenses to last for the life of the product? Will you be picking up Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD? Share your thoughts in the comments below!