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Gametap drastically reducing library of free games photo

If you're the kind of person who likes to play videogames and not have to pay for the priviledge, I have some bad news. In an announcement on Wednesday, Gametap revealed that they will be scaling back the size of their free offerings in an effort to encourage more users to sign up for their pay service.

While it has long been commonplace for the company to cycle games into and out of the subscriber-only section of the site, the number of titles available to be played for free has generally hovered around a hundred. With the new changes, that number will drop closer to forty. 

With Gametap changing hands from Time-Warner to Metaboli, it was certain that some changes were going to be coming down the pipe. This is a disappointing one, however, and I would not be surprised to discover if it alienates people who had been considering a Gold membership. Not to mention that there are a lot of really great games being dragged away.

If you've been playing games for free on GameTap, you're running out of time. The free games in question are being locked up on January 22 so you might want to get cracking. Hit the jump for a complete list of titles which will no longer be gratis at that time.

1942
1st Division Manager
3 Count Bout
Art of Fighting
Astrosmash
Bagh Chal
Ball 7 Deluxe
Baseball Stars Professional
Battle of Europe
Bee 52
Black Tiger
Blast Miner
BloodRayne
Brian Lara Cricket 2007
Bust-A-Move Again
Cannon Fodder
Captain Commando
Captain Dynamo
CJ in the USA
Colin McRae Rally 2005
Commandos 3: Destination Berlin
D.N.A.
Daikatana
DarkStalkers®: The Night Warriors®
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
Disciples II: Rise of the Elves Gold
DJ Puff’s Volcanic Capers
Dracula Twins
Fallout
Fast Lanes Bowling
Fastlane Pinball
Fatal Fury
Flip Words 2
Football Frenzy
Ghosts’N Goblins
Ghouls’N Ghosts
Grand Prix Simulator
Grell & Falla
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Ikari Warriors
Jewelcraft
Kamikaze
King of the Monsters
King of the Monsters 2
Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle
Knights of the Round
Lara Croft Tomb Raider®: Legend
Lazer Force
Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
Little Puff in Dragonland
Marine Park Empire
Mean Machine
Mega Man®: The Power Battle
Mercs
Metal Slug
Metal Slug 2
Miami Chase
Mig-29 Soviet Fighter
Morning’s Wrath
Motocross
Mr. Robot
Murray Mouse - Supercop
Mutation Nation
Nemesis of the Roman Empire
Olli & Lissa 3
Poltergeist
Pop-A-Tronic
Prehistoric Isle in 1930
Prince Clumsy
Pro Boxing Simulator
Pro Skateboard Simulator
Psychonauts
Puzzled
Qix
Rainbow Islands The Story of Bubble Bobble 2
Rally Cross Simulator
Rampage
Rastan
Restaurant Empire
Rogue Trooper
Sacred Gold
Samurai Shodown
Second Sight
Sensible Soccer 2 006
Shark! Shark!
Shock Troopers
Slightly Magic
Street Fighter® II’: Champion Edition
Stuntman Seymour
Super Qix
Texas Hold ‘Em Poker
The King of Fighters ‘95
Thief: Deadly Shadows
Tilt
Tube-It
Twinkle Star Sprites
Warlords Battlecry III

Continue: More Gametap stories





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29 comments | showing # 1 to 29

Josh Tolentino's Avatar
Josh Tolentino at 01/18/2009 01:12
Feh, I can get Fallout at GoG.com.
A New Challenger's Avatar
A New Challenger at 01/18/2009 01:31
Ah well, all good things must end. They originally had about 50 free games that would rotate monthly or so, but shortly after that they just kept adding games without taking older ones off.

Looks like Bubble Bobble will be on there, at least. That's great news even though I personally have Taito Legends on PC.
grafkhun's Avatar
grafkhun at 01/18/2009 01:54
maybe I should go on a Deus Ex marathon right now? never played that game, but I sure want to.
A New Challenger's Avatar
A New Challenger at 01/18/2009 01:55
Wait, fuck! Twinkle Star Sprites! Shit! I hope that hits the Wii some time.
T-rav's Avatar
T-rav at 01/18/2009 01:57
There is no such thing as a free lunch?
Krow-Kupo's Avatar
Krow-Kupo at 01/18/2009 02:11
No! Pyschonauts! Fallout! Twinkle Star Sprites!
TewDee's Avatar
TewDee at 01/18/2009 02:12
Why would anyone want to play Daikatana anyway?

I'm also glad I bought Fallout from GOG and not followed everyone else by playing it on Gametap, else I'd be really pissed right now.
atastysammich's Avatar
atastysammich at 01/18/2009 02:30


WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE TAKING TWINKLE STAR SPRITES OFF THE FREE LIST
Vyruz's Avatar
Vyruz at 01/18/2009 02:42
Damn.
but as long as the Grimm episodes are free, I'm good.
I wanted to get a year-subscription for gametap, but then I discovered that they don't serve outside the US of A *facepalm*
Tanukitsune's Avatar
Tanukitsune at 01/18/2009 05:19
@Vyruz I'm from Europe and I was able to subscribe, I hope it wasn't a glitch or anything, because I'd hate to not be able to subscribe for a whole new year!
XanderSan's Avatar
XanderSan at 01/18/2009 06:22
Kind of sucks, but Metaboli are the guys who run the one from Eurogamer (I think they're italian?) so hopefully european support will be a hell of a lot better.
Freefall's Avatar
Freefall at 01/18/2009 06:59
So basically they decided to take off all the decent games? Well that sucks bull horse shit.
loquax's Avatar
loquax at 01/18/2009 07:20
No other reason to have it. Gametap: uninstalled.
Weev's Avatar
Weev at 01/18/2009 09:29
I've been a GameTap subscriber for almost a year now and I still think it's one of the best subscriptions I have. I played the free games for a month or two before I decided there was enough in the paid set to be worth subscribing.

(I wanted to go into more detail about why I love GameTap, but every time I tried, it sounded like a bad advertisement, so I chose not to)

For me, I just want them to stay in business, so I'm OK with shrinking the free games selection if that helps... But I think I'm biased.
Velt's Avatar
Velt at 01/18/2009 09:37
one word: steam.
danthemagnum's Avatar
danthemagnum at 01/18/2009 10:03
@Velt

Steam is irrelevant in this scenario. GameTap lets you pay one price for every game on the service, so really its cheaper. Basically, it's the price of buying a cheaper game on Steam every month.

(Not that I don't love Steam, because I do. $5 Bioshock was an awesome deal.)
stevesan's Avatar
stevesan at 01/18/2009 10:25
yep, tanstaafl - there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. "the moon is a harsh mistress" by robert heinlein.
stevesan's Avatar
stevesan at 01/18/2009 10:29
wow, that is quite a list of games. fallout, deus ex, metal slug, psychonauts, thief...some true gems there.
DynamicDonut's Avatar
DynamicDonut at 01/18/2009 10:39
Wait, are they talking of taking it off their catalog permanently, or just of the free list?

Cause if it's the first, THEN I can see the anger. If not, this only makes me consider getting a subscription more.
Psy-Phi's Avatar
Psy-Phi at 01/18/2009 11:09
Well, I know at least a couple hundred people would like to pay but their delivery system won't work with the Windows games on their service on 64-bit systems....they still said there's no need for it. People have to go out of their way to buy a 32-bit OS now, so I can't understand it.

But if they want to get more subscribers...that could help a bit.
Milhouse's Avatar
Milhouse at 01/18/2009 11:51
DynamicDonut, they are making it so that only paying subscribers (which I am and really appreciate) can play them.
NihonTiger90's Avatar
NihonTiger90 at 01/18/2009 12:00
I can understand removing a few since the economy is bad, but this won't help their bottom line.
MaxDemage's Avatar
MaxDemage at 01/18/2009 12:23
... 1942 and Metal Slug? Why the *%&$*$ #&*&$ those #$*$&$ #$&@*($)4.
..
But wait a moment. I have those game on hard drive. Yep. And I need to connect to Gametap to play them. Yep. So will I be able to play them, or will only the new ones not get the download option? Or is there written about this and I have not seen it?
the Golden Avatar's Avatar
the Golden Avatar at 01/18/2009 12:41
What's a "priviledge?"
Mxyzptlk's Avatar
Mxyzptlk at 01/18/2009 12:48
I've been a subscriber since the only free games on the service were Atari 2600 titles.
Shoop's Avatar
Shoop at 01/18/2009 15:11
Wouldn't it be better to just make a list of the crap that's left?

... Is there anything good left?
Shirley Temple's Avatar
Shirley Temple at 01/18/2009 16:52
Gold is only $60 for the whole year, you cheap bastards. That's only $10 more than you pay for Live just so you can actually play the games you ALREADY payed $60 for.
Eschatos's Avatar
Eschatos at 01/18/2009 17:58
Fuck, they're taking Thief? Ah well all of these games are old enough that I see nothing wrong with pirating them.
Holyetheline's Avatar
Holyetheline at 01/19/2009 13:39
Sucks for people who use gametap for free.
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