Less than a month after launching their Preservation Program as a means to ensure that classic games remain playable, GOG.com announced today that two of the inaugural titles are already being delisted. Warcraft and Warcraft II will be leaving GOG.com on December 13th but the disappointing news has inspired a meaningful update to their efforts.
“Once a game joins the Program, we pledge to maintain its compatibility even if it gets delisted from the store,” the latest release from GOG.com states. Their internal staff will continue to update these delisted titles for existing owners, making sure that they remain playable on modern PCs. But this promise also raises questions over sustainability as the Preservation Program grows. As more titles join the roster, resources dedicated to their upkeep will inevitably be spread thinner. And which titles do you think will garner the most support: the ones on sale making money for GOG, or the ones that maybe a total of 100 people ever bought (and can’t ever buy again) that were delisted one, three, eight years ago?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a fan of their program and am glad to see the promise of ongoing support. I’ve just been at this for almost a decade now and I’m wired to see the worst of it I guess. The team’s full announcement follows including a discount code for anyone ready to pick up the Warcraft I & II Bundle before December 13th.
At GOG, we believe that games should live forever. This means not only preserving them but also ensuring they remain accessible, updated, and enjoyable on modern systems. We’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done on Warcraft I and Warcraft II, bringing them back to life after decades of unavailability. Through our efforts, we’ve introduced several new features to both titles, including multiplayer support over LAN and enhanced graphical options like antialiasing and anisotropic filtering.
Warcraft I and Warcraft II are scheduled to be delisted from GOG on December 13th, at the publisher’s request.
Together with this announcement, we want to reveal a new feature to our recently announced Preservation Program. Once a game joins the Program, we pledge to maintain its compatibility even if it gets delisted from the store. This means that owners of those titles can still expect a seamless experience and tech support for those titles. This also considers potential changes in Windows OS that may impact games’ playability.
If you want to grab the GOG version of Warcraft games while they’re still available on the store, you can do it now with a special discount code: MakeWarcraftLiveForever
The discount code works on 2 USD, 2 EUR, 1.5 GBP or 8 PLN off, only on the Warcraft I & II Bundle, when entered at the checkout. The code works only for the listed currencies, which – if at a different location – can be easily changed at the bottom of our page. The code is applicable until the day of delisting.
We are grateful for the opportunity to work with Blizzard on these titles. While the delisting is unfortunate, we assure you that every user who already owns these games on GOG will continue to benefit from our commitment and have access to versions that remain compatible with modern systems, preserving their experience for years to come.
We’re thankful to every Blizzard employee who contributed to these timeless games and for your ongoing partnership over the years. Game preservation is at the heart of what we do, and we hope to continue collaborating with Blizzard to keep these iconic titles accessible to future generations of gamers.
For what it’s worth, there’s a slightly more candid version of the post on the GOG.com forums. It relays the same details but feels a little more personal to me. I used the official press release wording above but wanted to link to this one as well. Thanks to everyone who pointed out the news, we’ve added the date to the Watch List calendar.