Summary
Xboxsubscription service Antstream Arcade has dropped 27 games from its catalog after failing to negotiate a new licensing deal with their publisher, Warner Bros. While its users can hardly be thrilled with this turn of events, the development itself won’t put a significant dent inAntstream Arcade’s massive library of retro games.
TheXbox version of Antstream Arcade launchedin July, bringing more than 1,300 retro games to the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Access to its sizable content catalog starts at $29.99 for an annual subscription. Alternatively, users of the last two generations of Microsoft’s consoles can also opt for the lifetime access option, which comes with a one-time fee of $79.99.
Lifetime membership aside, the actual contents of the service are still subject to everyday change, as underlined byAntstream Arcade’s recent public farewell to Warner Brothers, which saw it reveal it dropped 27 games from its catalog. Elaborating on that decision in a YouTube video update, Antstream Arcade Studio Head Mike Rouse said “it is a sad fact that sometimes games do need to leave our platform.” Rouse insisted that the Antstream Arcade team enjoyed working with Warner Bros. over the last three years, but was unfortunately unable to extend its licensing agreement with the publisher despite working “extremely hard” to do so.
Warner Bros. Games That Left Antstream Arcade in November 2023
Antstream Arcade said the decision to drop WB games will allow it to bring over 100 additional titles to its library in the near future. That expansion also includes a new Namco collection for Xbox, which is set to be released “very soon.” Catalog updates of this sort are a fairly regular occurrence for Antstream Arcade, which recentlybrought a bunch of PS1 games to Xboxas part of a similar move.
BesidesXboxconsoles, Antstream Arcade is also available on mobile, Samsung TVs, and PC. The platform’s official website offers the same $39.99 annual membership available on Microsoft’s consoles, as well as a $3.99 monthly subscription. Epic Games Store users have been able to purchase its yearly subscription since late 2021. Antstream Arcade also has a Steam page, where it’s been listed as “coming soon” since October 2022.
