i bought Dirt 2 a few weeks ago when it was on sale. Has it now been removed? I can't find it. If it has been removed, what does this mean for me?
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OS X Has Dirt 2 just been removed from the App Store?
- Thread starter MartinAppleGuy
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Quite possible. I'd guess one or the other licensing deal of Codemasters with the car manufacturers expired and the game no longer may be sold (except for some left-over stock in retail stores). The same happened with a couple of other racing games before.
For you, it shouldn't mean much. The game should still be available for download under the "Purchases" tab. You cannot expect any patches in the future anymore, though.
I have a few more questions.
1. If it is not compatible with OSX 10.10, is it game over?
2. When I search the game in the App Store, it does not appear (nor when looking through Top Charts), but when I use the link from apples in browser app store to the Mac App Store, it still shows. Could this mean it is nit really gone?
3. Just to confirm, it is still downloadable if I were to ever need to redownload it?
I wouldn't count on that. The game has been pulled from Steam as well. I think it's mostly due to the fact that it used Games for Windows Live as its DRM, and it's unknown whether it will make the shift to Steamworks. I realize this shouldn't affect the MAS version, but I'm willing to bet Codemasters mad a request to Apple that it be removed.
Perhaps Edwin from Feral can chime in here with any news.
Very very unlikely it won't run. I would expect it to run fine perhaps a little faster than 10.9.
Edwin
Interesting. The timing is strange considering that the game is gone from Steam completely.
What I said. Probably due to an expiring license contract between Codemasters and a car manufacturer. The very same reason why you cannot buy any other older Colin McRae game anymore or one of Sega's OutRun games.
It isn't compatible with 10.9.3. Today i wanted to play but it crashes at the first screen with the Dirt logo. I had no problems with 10.9.2.
I think they want to avoid bad reviews in the App Store so they removed it. I hope they are working on an update...
UPDATE: Hm, now it works...
I think they want to avoid bad reviews in the App Store so they removed it. I hope they are working on an update...
UPDATE: Hm, now it works...
Last edited:
The game works fine with 10.9.3 and we have no major issues reported on any supported Feral games.
As we mentioned and a few people have commented on the game was removed due to the license on the title running out meaning we could no longer sell the game. It has nothing to do with OS updates.
Edwin
Does this whole licensing issue happen to just ports of games, or does it happen to games made by the original devs and publishers need to be pulled also (as in will the PS3 digital versions ever be removed...)?
Licensing can effect any game on any platform, what happens to the game depends on the license(s) the game has and which one(s) might have run out.
I cannot comment further myself on specifics but this thread has some good posts and information that should help answer your specific question.
Edwin
Yes, this in fact also happens to the original developers. I haven't checked yet, but I guess Dirt 2 will also no longer available in the PSN store. It's definitely no longer available for purchase on Steam.
A quite prominent example are the OutRun games by Sega. After they lost the license to use Ferrari's trademarks, all these games had to be pulled from all digital stores. In the upcoming OutRun for 3DS they have changed the Ferrari to a generic red fantasy brand car:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04Jyh3w3kgY
Ah yes, Outrun. I remember that "problem"
Quite a shame really (about Dirt 2), really enjoying it on my Mac and I would not like to think that when I install OSX 10.10, it no longer works...
Ah yes, Outrun. I remember that "problem"
Seems that Dirt 2 was released supporting 10.6.8 and has worked on every OS since then I would safely assume it breaking under 10.10 is very unlikely (although possible).
In general we haven't had any major breakages on our games with new OS's for a very long time. Even the small ones tend to be fixed in the first x.x.1 update.
Edwin
Well that's good to hear! I have been put off some apps on the app store due to them not being being updated after a software update with many people in the reviews saying it crashes on startup (GTA...). Is this to do with how well written the app is in the first place?
Crashes on new OS's are partially down to how the game is written as you suspect but it's also somewhat down to experience of knowing what to do and what to avoid. We have been through every OS X update since 10.0 so we know what to expect so when we make a Mac game we try and make the Mac code as robust as possible against possible changes in the OS. Some games that break have only been developed on a few machines with a very specific OS version which increases the risk of something breaking if the OS changes.
It's not always easy to pull off but if you use all the official ways of doing things and have a flexible system in your game engine you can usually keep selling the same version without patching across OS releases.
Once 10.10 gets into developer hands at WWDC we will of course log bugs for any issues we see before it gets released to the public.
Edwin
Well, Dirt 2 has survived all OS X updates so far without problems. If anything, it runs better than ever under 10.9.
Sorry to bother you again, am I right in thinking Dirt 2 is only a 32 bit application?
Yep, it's rare to see a 64 bit game, they are just starting to exist but most of them are still 32bit. Unless you need more than 4GB of RAM or super precision maths 32/64 doesn't make a huge difference in games.
Things are starting to change with Next Gen consoles however 32/64 bit does not have any compatibility issues (on OS X) if that's your worry.
Edwin
So if a license has expired there will be no future updates?
(and it will lose compatibility with news OS?)
Is there a way to know when a license expires?
(maybe you can discount on the app store and TELL something about license/expiring soon)
Yes but as I mentioned that is highly unlikely to happen for many many years to come.
We dropped the price all the way down to under $5 in the weeks before the the game was removed from sale.
Edwin