One of the best arcade racers is about to disappear

I haven't read Brendan Keogh's book The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist, but I believe I can make a water tight counter-argument in my new book proposal, If The Videogame Industry Doesn't Exist, How Come I Hate It So Much?.

From June 1st, Horizon Chase Turbo, its predecessor and all DLC will be delisted from all storefronts, preventing people from buying one of the best arcade racers of the past decade.

We're used to racing games being delisted because they often contain licensed cars and those licenses expire. The Horizon games do not contain any licensed cars, however.

We're also sadly used to racing games becoming unplayable, because they were 'always online' in some nebulous way and their servers are switched off. Horizon Chase Turbo's only online component was leaderboards, however, which were already disabled back in 2023. What's happening now wouldn't fall afoul of the Stop Killing Games movement, because owners will still be able to play the game.

In short, Horizon Chase Turbo remaining available to purchase via digital storefronts wouldn't cost its developers anything.

The announcement that the games would be delisted didn't contain any explanation of why the decision was made. Or no explicit explanation, I guess. "The original version of Horizon Chase and Horizon Chase Turbo will no longer be available to download, starting on June 1st," said a tweet from the series' official Twitter account in March. "The race continues in Horizon Chase 2, which is available on iOS, PC through the Epic Games Store and consoles."

There's no mention of the imminent delisting in the news section on Steam (where it presumably would have attracted even more angry replies than that tweet, and probably some review bombing), but the announcement was made the same day Epic announced they were laying off another 1000 people. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'd pin my red string to the wall in the same pattern as everyone else: Epic Games, who own Horizon developers Aquiris Game Studio, presumably want more people to flow towards the Epic Games Store platform, on which Horizon Chase 2 is exclusive but its predecessors were not. Even if you play Horizon Chase 2 on console and are only interested in offline singleplayer, it'll make you link and sign-in to an Epic Games account. Removing the older games from sale means any player interested in the series needs to go through Epic.

Realistically, I'd bet not that many people are still buying the earlier Horizon Chase games eight years or more after release. Yet in a business where the Sword Of Damnsweeneys hangs permanently over your head, diverting even an extra trickle of sales towards the mother platform is tempting, because you need to show you're doing everything in your power to hit your studio's KPIs.

Horizon Chase Turbo is most easily described as an arcade racer, but its influences are Gremlin Interactive racing games for home computers rather than actual arcade series like OutRun or Ridge Racer. It is a modern successor to Top Gear for the SNES or the Lotus series for the Amiga, from the car handling, to the fuel pickups, all the way to Barry Leitch on the soundtrack. I've played a lot of retro racers over the past ten years, and none feel as good as Horizon Chase Turbo does, and none are as perfect to play on the Steam Deck.

Horizon Chase 2 is a similar but not identical game, which ditches the fuel pickups, changes how progression works for car upgrades, and which is harder to play on the Steam Deck due to its Epic exclusivity. It's not the same.

Come June 1st, I'll still be able to play Horizon Chase Turbo. I've bought it, so I own it, and Epic aren't bold enough to render it unplayable for paying customers, despite the announcement sloppily saying the games would "no longer be available to download".

I don't think that continued playability makes delisting okay, though. I don't like that a great game is becoming harder to attain. I don't like that a small part of videogame history is becoming less available. I don't like that a sequel is being proffered as a straightforward replacement, when many people dislike that sequel for all its design differences. I don't like that this is only happening as a tactic to get more people to spend time on yet another platform. 

It also erodes my trust in the series and in Epic. Horizon Chase Turbo's online leaderboards were turned off in 2023, five years after release. Horizon Chase 2 has more robust online multiplayer features in which you can race against other people and first launched in 2022. If you buy it now, how long until those features are turned off? How long until Horizon Chase 2 is erased from storefronts because Horizon Chase 3 is available as a Fortnite mode? 

I don't want to sound too dramatic. I'm of the opinion that developers don't owe me much more than the game I've paid for.

But I like studios that act as custodians of their own work and of the wider medium, and keep that work available and playable. To do so shows care for the games, respect for the staff who made it, and supports the audience that wants to continue sharing it. I championed Horizon Chase Turbo when I played it and advocated for our own Brendan Caldwell to include it in Rock Paper Shotgun's list of the best racing games on PC. That recommendation is now meaningless to an audience that can't easily go buy the game. (RPS have since removed it from the list and directly replaced it with... Horizon Chase 2. Cool. You win this round, Epic Games.)

Delisting a game for no good reason? Look! That's the videogame industry, Mr. Keogh! There it is!