With the release of BioShock 1/2 Remasters and Darksiders Remaster, PC gamers expected the upcoming release of the Bulletstorm Remaster to be available for free. However, that won’t be the case here. According to Gearbox, Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition will be a full-priced game on the PC, and Randy Pitchford explained why.
As Pitchford claimed, it is impossible to offer this remastered version of Bulletstorm for free to all existing owners of Bulletstorm as the games are being released by different publishers for different platforms. Not only that, but Gearbox does not own the rights for Bulletstorm, something that – according to Pitchford – prevents them for giving it away for free.
@Rob_Dagg Not possible – completely different publisher, era, platform (they were Games for Windows only), product/sku, etc.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) December 2, 2016
Naturally, some gamers mentioned Darksiders’ remaster to Pitchford, who then explained that THQ Nordic was able to offer it for free because it had already acquired the rights of Darksiders. Gearbox, on the other hand, is simply publishing Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition, and does not own the rights of the franchise.
@rahzadan @Rob_Dagg Nordic bought entire rights past-future from a defunct publisher. This is a very different situation.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) December 3, 2016
@Gigaguy777 @Rob_Dagg Different situation. Nordic bought all past-future rights of that. We don't own any of this – just helping PCF.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) December 3, 2016
In case you’re wondering, People Can Fly owns the rights of Bulletstorm.
@thelastdisciple People Can Fly own Bulletstorm. We are excited to help them reach their audience through publishing.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) December 3, 2016