Blizzard’s pulling of Warcraft I & II tests GOG’s new Preservation Program

When an updated, remastered, or otherwise spiffed-up version of a game is released, nobody—not long-time fans, not archivists, not anybody, really—ever asks for the original version of that game to be taken down. Does this seem to stop game studios from committing this unforced public relations error? Absolutely not.

Blizzard, a company that has recently released remastered versions of Warcraft and Warcraft II for $10 and $15, respectively (or in a bundle with III for $40) on its Battle.net storefront, has asked GOG to remove its non-remastered, DRM-free $15 bundle of those games from its store on December 13.

GOG (aka Good Old Games), which recently included Warcraft I and II in its Preservation Program, with a “Make Games Live Forever” tagline, suddenly finds itself with a new policy to figure out. So GOG is putting the Warcraft I & II Bundle on sale (discount code “MakeWarcraftLiveForever” for $2 off) and is letting folks know that if they buy it before December 13, they will keep access to it after the delisting, complete with offline installers.

That is also how it will work from now on, the team writes on its blog.

“Going forward, even if a game is no longer available for sale on GOG, as part of the GOG Preservation Program, it will continue to be maintained and updated by us, ensuring it remains compatible with modern and future systems,” GOG’s post states.

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