That’s as per XboxEra co-founder Nick Baker, who recently claimed on the XboxEra Podcast that Microsoft is attempting to get the licenses renewed for the Xbox One ports of Deadpool and Marvel Ultimate Alliance, both of which were originally published by Activision.

Both titles have, of course, become exceedingly difficult to find in recent years, having been delisted following expired licenses, though given the popularity of the characters in those games, it would make sense that Microsoft may try and bring them them back. 

Whether or not this actually leads to something that remains to be seen, but both of those games are fan favourites, to say the very least, so there’s going to be no shortage of demand for both of them to see the light of day again.

When it launched originally, Deadpool wasn’t particularly well received, and for many, it was another game in an endless line of hastily cobbled together licensed products (something that was, of course, much more prevalent back then than it is now). Neither its original release nor its remaster have what you would call a good Metacritic score (falling in the low 60s or high 50s), and admittedly, the game wasn’t without its issues by any stretch of the imagination. With time, however, opinion on the Deadpool game has seemed much less sour, to the point where the game seems to have its fair share of legitimate fans. And in spite of its aforementioned issues, the game does deserve its fair share of praise as well.

Let’s start, however, with those issues, because we’re not going to be foolish and deny that Deadpool had any flaws whatsoever. No, it was a decidedly flawed game, and in more ways than one. From simplistic and repetitive design to straightforward combat, the game was criticized for plenty of things, and though you may disagree on how significantly it was impacted by those problems, that it was a largely simple and straightforward game is also undeniable. Sure, there’s an argument to be made that that was by design, but it’s not hard to understand why those looking for a more nuanced and mechanically complex action game may have felt let down by how straightforward Deadpool was in those areas.

But just as the game had its undeniable flaws, it also had plenty of strengths that deserve credit and recognition. Chief among them is the plain and simple fact that the game is hilarious. Self referential humour, irreverent jokes, meta gags, and the like are all Deadpool the character and IP’s bread and butter, to say the very least, and the 2013 game did an incredible job honing in on that and making it central to its identity.

It’s fair to say that something as subjective as humour is never going to universally appeal to everyone, especially not when it is as inherently brash, in your face, and purposefully obnoxious as Deadpool humour tends to be more often than not, so it wouldn’t be shocking if the game’s jokes and writing may not have landed for some who played it. Chances are, however, that if the Deadpool brand of humour is something you generally enjoy, you’re very likely to have gotten a kick out of the game as well. Some of the best superhero games we’ve seen over the years have seen the success they’ve seen because they exhibited a keen understanding for the biggest strengths and characteristics of the characters that they were telling stories about, and while it would be an exaggeration to out 2013’s Deadpool game on that same level (or anywhere close), it does deserve credit for doing a damn fine job of identifying what makes Deadpool, Deadpool.

From a narrative perspective, Deadpool wasn’t a special game by any means. It told a solid, original story, one with plenty to like and enjoy for fans of the property and the X-Men universe in general, but that story was ultimately little more than a a stage on which the titular superhero protagonist could shine. A ton of credit also goes, of course, to the excellent portrayal of the Merc by veteran actor Nolan North- who, incidentally, also appeared as himself in the early portions of the game, as part of a typically self referential gag that saw Deadpool hiring him to play him in a video game about himself.

Beyond that, on the gameplay front, though Deadpool was – as I touched on earlier – a fairly straightforward hack and slash game, it was also fairly fun more often than not. No, criticisms of repetitive design were not completely unfounded, and thanks to the simplicity of the game, that repetition could admittedly set in with the combat encounters- but the core mechanics themselves were fun. Deadpool was the textbook definition of a competent hack and slash game- it delivered the kind of action that dead next to nothing that could be described as imaginative or new, and while that made criticism of the game easy to understand, that action was also undeniably fun quite often, especially since the thing that the game hinged on most was not its gameplay or combat, but its writing and humour.

So no, Deadpool is not exactly a masterpiece- to call it anymore than a fun game with its fair share of edges would be a bit silly. But it was a damn fun game, and for fans of the IP it was based on, there was plenty to love about it. It is not the sort of gem that will make you wonder why it has the critics that it has – even the game’s biggest defenders will admit that it is a flawed experience – but thanks to how perfectly it captures the essence of the character that it is dedicated to, it’s also a game that has some genuine, undeniable merits.

The shame here is that going back to this game is a real pain, because thanks to expired licenses, it’s delisted on pretty much every platform. Its original console versions, the PS4 and Xbox One remasters, the Steam release- none of them is available, thanks to the fact that Activision’s Marvel license expired quite long ago now.

The question now is- is there hope for a new Deadpool game at any point in the not too distant future? To say that superhero games and games based on licensed properties in general are popular right now would be an understatement. We have seen a deluge of major, AAA licensed games in the last few years, and looking ahead, it doesn’t look like that is going to stop anytime soon. Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, Marvel’s Blade, EA’s Black Panther and Iron Man games, Insomniac’s Wolverine and Spider-Man titles- the list of major Marvel games currently in development across the industry is a long one, and it wouldn’t be surprising in the slightest to see it growing longer still.

Combine that with the fact that Deadpool is a massively popular character – now more than ever, in fact – and you could easily imagine a scenario where a talented studio develops a AAA game based on the property and is actually able to enjoy critical and commercial success. Whether that does actually happen is anyone’s guess, but we desperately hope it does- not least because the one, genuinely solid Deadpool game that we did have to fall back on is impossible to get access to on modern platforms.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

BATMAN: ARKHAM SERIES

Gotham’s villains have been trying to kill the Batman for as long as he has been around, and the Arkham series has some fun with the moments where, for whatever reason, you do send the Caped Crusader to an early grave. Whatever villain it is that you’re going up against will show up on a black screen, look down at your corpse, and hurl insults at you. Some, like the Joker’s are funny in a twisted sort of way, while others, like Killer Croc’s, just seem a little excessive. Either way, it’s a cool spin on the classic “game over” screen.

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct – Group Hug

Also known as that other game starring Norman Reedus, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct can be excruciatingly annoying to play. Should you find yourself saddled with it, you can at least unlock one of its easiest Trophies/Achievements. Basically, get close to a group of at least four zombies. A grapple sequence will start, which involves moving the right thumbstick and then stabbing them when the R2/RT prompt comes up. Do this with four zombies, one after the other, and you get the Group Hug Trophy/Achievement.

SPLINTER CELL: CHAOS THEORY

Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid are the old guard of stealth games in our industry (both are, sadly, off on a break for now), and both these franchises are well aware of that fact. For instance, Metal Gear Solid 2 allowed players to hold enemies at gunpoint, at which point they’d goofily shake their bodies and drop some ammo. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory poked fun at this mechanics, with Sam holding a guard in his grips in one scene and demanding ammo, to which the guard glibly tells him that it’s not like he can just make him shake and drop some ammo.

If you haven’t already bought some licensed games by Activision on PSN or other digital platforms, time has run out for you. Without any warning, a dozen Activision games, including Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, have been delisted from the PSN Store, presumably because Activision’s license has run out, as noticed by the astute folks on ResetEra.

Other games in this batch include Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, Deadpool, Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Transformers Devastation, and The Legend of Korra. The good news? If you purchased the games already, you can re-download them at any time. If you have them downloaded, you can play them without issue.

Sadly this is the kind of thing that happens with licensed games all too often. If the games were still in print, Activision would have been forced to recall any copies still in inventory; that said, these games are too old for that to be a consideration.

At least for Marvel fans, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 is due out exclusively on the Nintendo Switch later this year. You can see the full list of delisted games below:

• Angry Birds Star Wars
• Chivalry: Medieval Warfare
• Deadpool
• Ghostbusters
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan
• The Amazing Spider-Man 2
• The Legend of Korra
• Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5
• Transformers Devastation
• Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
• Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark
• White Night

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to GamingBolt as an organization.

Trevor – Grand Theft Auto V

While later entries on this list might make him seem like a teletubby, Trevor from GTAV is still quite a reprehensible person. A product of circumstances and environment that make Trevor the sociopath he is becomes a huge part of the commentary of the game, and make Trevor one of the more sympathetic examples here, even if we still wouldn’t have him over for dinner.

Activision announced today that Deadpool, the game based on the classic Marvel character will be making the jump to current generation systems when it launches for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November. Both versions will sell for a reduced $49.99 price.

Deadpool represents Activision’s second go at remastering an existing game for the current generation consoles- their last attempt was the Prototype series, where the remasters were blasted for being just repackaged versions of previous games, with minimal improvements (if any).

The game will also include the Wolverine DLC in the package, as well as all other DLC that was released for the game.

Deadpool was considered to be a reasonably good adaptation of the character back when it launched originally; while it’s definitely not all that the character can offer, now is as good a time as any to bring the game back to the limelight, what with the movie coming up.

Stay tuned for more coverage.

Activision’s Deadpool, which was based on the popular Marvel character, wasn’t necessarily the best game in the world, though it still managed to garner a cult following. So it did come as a bit of a bummer when, following the expiration of Activision’s license with Marvel, the company had to remove the game from all channels of sales and distribution, including retail, as well as digital sales over Xbox Live, PSN, and Steam.

So it does come as a bit of a surprise that the game seems to be back on sale- at the very least on Steam. As of right now, Deadpool does not seem to be available on Xbox Live or PlayStation Network.

As to why the game is suddenly mysteriously available for sale again, if only on Steam, your guess is as good as mine. Maybe Marvel and Activision are using the game to further push the Deadpool hype coming out of Comic Con; conversely, Activision may have just extended the license, and be planning on resuming sales of the game on all platforms again, with PC just having gotten it first.

We don’t know yet. But if you were interested in the title, now would be a good time to go ahead and pick it up.

The Deadpool “Merc with a Map Pack” DLC is available for 240 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live, with the game being available on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.