Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has been removed from Steam as of earlier this morning. The removal rose from a conflict between Rockstar Games and Sony Music Entertainment pertaining to a licensing issue for Michael Jackson’s "Wanna Be Startin’ Something". Users that have already purchased the game on Steam can still download and play it, but if you want to buy it you're going to need to wait until the two companies resolve their problems.
Needless to say, we'll keep you updated on this story.
What do you think of the situation? Did the RIAA go too far here? Are they in the right doing this? Let us know in the forums.
You don't HAVE to use steam on PS3, do you? (genuine question)
Also it's not actually Gabe's fault, I'm guessing it's probably to do with the fact it's a digital distributor in general and I wouldn't be surprised if Sony were forcing this upon other digital retailers, since boxed copies offer a different kind of protection. IMO, Sony are being totally short-sighted here (along with just about every other mass media producer there is); I'd have never *intheorycoughcough* bought songs from the VC soundtrack had the game not exposed me to them.
Did the RIAA go too far here?
Definitely yes. They've been like that for a very long time - sticking to that old, outdated copyright model when it's clear that their bullying and DRM won't work at all.
Comments