It is indeed unfortunate. Whatever the reason behind EA's final decision was, I think the design bible should have made a good number of strong and convincing arguments to sell it to them as well as potential Patreon- or Kickstarter backers.

Again, the bundled original game in the complete edition was NOT the same build as the one released in 2000. Compatibility with modern systems was implemented. Widescreen was implemented. High resolution options were implemented. Controller support was implemented. If they can support the sequel, they can support the remastered original.

Additionally, this way of thinking by companies angers me a lot! I'd much rather that companies sold their games "as is" without providing any support, other than refunds within a certain period of time, than provide "proper support" and remove games from sale the moment they find support financially-unjustifiable.

This is especially annoying on mobile platforms where separation of store and user library does not exist. Once they delist a game, it is gone, even if you had bought it. Pray that you device, which still has that game installed, never dies or try to find it on some apk hosting site, if said game was released on Android.

EA could always just dump Alice 1 on stores like GOG and the Not-VC-App, with the condition that those stores will handle all support for said games. Not-VC-App is especially good at that these days. They even managed to bring console-exclusive DLCs to PC version of Race Driver: Grid, before EA ultimately decided to delist all of their games from there. GOG used to be good at that too, but the people involved have seemingly split off into SNEG.

In short, I dislike the "Support costs" argument and dismiss it completely. If EA cared, they'd delegate support to old game preservation stores. Additionally selling a game without support is far better than not selling it at all and you will never convince me of the opposite.

Which supports the theory that they faced legal problems.

If really so many people would buy it (I would have), then the support costs would be more than covered.

Has this bundled Origin version made it to "not completely official" sites? I only saw uploads of a patched original version, still buggy.

While it's hard to think of an exact reason why it would be a legal issue, I do agree that it may still be the most reasonable explanation. Fans would be less angry if EA provided a real reason for the delisting, instead of keeping it quiet.

The original CD version has greater mod compatibility from what I hear, but the updated original has absolutely made its way to mysterious places, but obviously I cannot provide any links. Steam page for the sequel is full of guides, often with download links, on how to restore the updated original though. Valve is seemingly not interested in taking them down. This updated version can also work on its own without the need for the sequel to be installed, but it does need to be launched with a specific launch parameter in such a case. I will refrain from going into details though. Everything exists on Steam and plenty of other places, including the PC Gaming Wiki for the sequel.

It would have been nice if this update was offered as a patch for the original CD owners, like ourselves, but it's not like EA ever cared...

In times of GOG and Steam I had to pay again for a lot og my previous CD and DVD versions again, EA is not alone with that behaviour.

Old CD EA keys often were not redeamable when Origin was launched, only those from a certain year upwards worked.
An update from the original to the CD version might have been possible, but granting the complete game to every owner would require that they know who owns it. An alternative would have been to make it available as DLC like on Xbox and PS.
There's always a lot of could have beens around when it comes to gaming, alls publishers basically act the same.

It didn't have to be the full game. It could have been delivered as a patch. Majority of the data would still be the same.

Nope. You already said that one version was more mod friendly than the other. That means significant differences, including different binary code and data structure, most likely also recompiled shaders and maybe textures in a modern format. Therefore a patch won't do the trick. It's a different game, or at least a different program.

And besides that: Who ever does that? Create a patch for a old CD version (namingly: early 2000s era) so people can get something for free that they want to sell in the store? I don't know of any such example, do you have one?
There might have been one or two publishers who did that once or twice in history, but it certainly is not something common. I can perfectly understand why they didn't do it. Again: A lot of could have beens. EA is not evil, they are just a company, who at the end of the day needs to make profit to pay their employees and investors.

Not necessarily different enough for patching or even unpatching for that matter. Look at something like the classic GTA trilogy. They all have different mod compatibility based on version. San Andreas is the most affected and it has elaborate "downgrade" mods. Same for something, like the Witcher 3. The GOG-exclusive all-in-one GOTY is less compatible with mods than the one with separate DLCs. There are mods for the GOTY to compartmentalise it again.

Also while both versions may not support all mods, both still support some of the mods, meaning it's not that different. Certainly all the model, texture and audio file structures are the same. Those take up most of the space and they wouldn't need changing, other than adding a few controller images.
This is a PC game, not a console, so all shaders would be compiled in real time. It also predates DX11 or Vulkan, so nobody would have done pre-compilation on the menu either. Real-time mid-game only.

As for how they could have handled the patching in a more realistic manner, they could have decided to accept Alice 1 Serial Keys on Origin, as they did for some games at the Launch of Origin and then redeemed the updated version. Many Studios often replace or add remasters for free to owners of original games, so that is not outrageous by any means... you have to care though.

Anyway, whatever, I tire of these excuses for EA. They could have kept the bundle on sale, they could have done a patch, they could have done an origin redemption, if they really wanted, they could have sold the updated version as a stand-alone, etc. They just didn't want to, because money is the only thing that concerns them, not art, nor preservation of said art. All companies need to make money, but some care far more than others and you cannot deny that.

They make so much money from their FIFA garbage that they could use that income to fund some art. Instead they they choose continue squeezing every penny, as if they were a struggling indie studio. All they care about is filling the pockets of their executives, who do not care about games. They need to either allow American to make that prequel/sequel, or they need to sell of the IP. They won't though, 'cause they're like a selfish little kid on the playground. They don't want their toy, but they won't let anyone else play with it either. Then fast forward a few decades when they'll become at risk of losing the IP and we'll get a soulless remake by someone that don't care, instead of the prequel/sequel that we want. Hoorday?

You described new game versions that didn't get patched.

The new Witcher 3 version is not a pathed version of the old one.
The San Andreas downgrade didn't change the game as much as you described the changes in Alice. It just removed some stuff, that's all (same with Mafia Classic btw, licenced music is gone).

The Alice 1 keys are from an era when games could be unlocked offline with key generators. They were never registered at EA. They simply didn't have a list of valid Alice keys.



And you said it again: could have, could have been. They didn't. Just like most others don't. There is no point in mourning.

"The new Witcher 3 version is not a pathed version of the old one" Yes, that is exactly the point. It is completely separate and yet the community made a "Depatch" anyway.

Now due to the presence of the so called "next-gen update", I feel the need to clarify about what Witcher versions I am talking about. I am NOT talking about the next gen "update" (its not an update either). The presence of the next gen update is irrelevant for this conversation, because regardless of whether we talk about Witcher 3 with or without it, the fact remains that there are still two versions of Witcher 3 on GOG an only one on Steam. You may think that the Complete Edition on GOG is the same as on Steam, but it is not. I own all 3.

Steam has a base game with optional (thus separate) DLCs. Steam also has a bundle called "Complete Edition", but it is still the same base game with separate DLCs included as part of said bundle.

On GOG, there is also a Witcher 3 base game with separate DLCs and also a "Complete Edition". HOWEVER the "Complete Edition" on GOG, is NOT a bundle. It is actually a completely separate game, with a separate library entry and separate achievements. Both of these separate versions actually got the next gen treatment.

The base version with separate DLCs is equivalent to Steam, while the "Complete Edition" is GOG-exclusive. As a result the latter is incompatible with some mods, as mods expect the DLCs to be separate, rather than integrated. To deal with this compatibility issue, the community made separation mods, that changes the structure of the game, so that DLCs would be perceived as separate and thus restore compatibility with mods. The Complete edition on GOG is certainly not a patch over the base version, it is a separate build, yet the community "depatched" it anyway.

And this now brings us back to Alice. yes, the Complete Edition build of Alice 1 is not a patch to the original 2000 version. It is indeed a separate game. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that it couldn't have been a patch. If the community can issue a "depatch" for an independent build of Witcher 3, then so can EA patch the 2000 version into the new build. Once again, most of the assets would remain the same, so it's not like you would be overwriting all of the data. All they did was include modern resolution support (That means rasterisation, not higher textures, the textures remain the same), widescreen support, controller support. All of this could be easily stored inside of a patch. This is not a technical limitation, this is a willpower limitation.

Where there is a will, there is a way. EA has no will, other than their will to maximise profits at all costs with the least amount of risk and effort.

I would not be mourning the lack of an upgrade path if they were still selling the original slightly-remastered game in some way. They are not though and I will always complain about that, especially on their forums.

Yep, but only those who owned a registered online version. I was specifically asking about not online registered CD versions from the early 2000s, like Alice.

Actually now that I think of it ... it was EA and Ubisoft where I got most games for free which I previously owned on CD and DVD. While old keys like the one for Alice didn't work, a couple of keys did, yay!
No other publisher did that for me, not even CDPR or Rockstar.

Yes, the only reason I even brought up an option of a CD key redemption was precisely because EA actually did that when Origin was launched. This was a long time ago, so I don't remember the exact games that were valid, but I did redeem Mass Effect 1 and probably Dragon Age. If they really wanted to, they could have expanded the list of supported games, but they would have had to have existed on Origin, while Alice 1 never did.

CDPR's equivalent was probably the now-retired GOG Connect service, that allowed importing of some games from Steam to GOG.

Anyway, whatever. The slightly-remastered version can be acquired by other means. If EA doesn't want my money, by preserving old Alice games, or financing new ones, then that's their loss. I will certainly not pay a dollar to reload in some multiplayer FPS, or whatever other nonsense their executives are fantasising about now.

In the meantime, while it is certainly not Alice, if anyone is having an itch for a fairytale-inspired game with a dark tone, then I would recommend Blacktail.

I registered my Witcher Physical edition in GOG using my CDKey from the dsc long years ago. Probably it is stil possible.

OMG, a bad decision from EA???? Who would imagine it!

2007 ... not quite what I was hoping for, but close enough.
(And yes, I registerd my collector's edition of Witcher 1 too)

It's not about how old the game is but when it was released. All that online stuff in the early 2000s was not yet in place. A lot changed in these early years. Before online registration was a thing, keys were handled very differently from what we know today.