Acclaimed Arcade Racer 'Horizon Chase Turbo' Being Delisted From Switch eShop

UUUUUUUGH… Epic Games, why must you ruin everything you touch?

I don't really understand exactly why the layoffs are causing it to be de-listed?

Hmmm, it's almost like having physical copies of games would solve this issue.

Already have them both. Really good racing games. Pick them up while you can.

Suppose I might take a look before they're gone. They've never really been on my radar before.

And since Aquiris was acquired by Epic, the game has never been on sale again on the eShop.

I had fun with this back when I played it.....don't remember if I own the dlc or what it adds to the game, will have to check into that before they go away.

One reason why an all digital future is never good. Digital should always be optional, never a replacement to physical.

On the sole upside, the heads-up is decent and the game's 10 bucks less than next week's incumbent Jurassic Park Collection (or 6.6 less if you grab the package with the DLC). The latter all the more topical for last stretch purchases because both aforesaid options have maintained the full price since September 2023.😅 Mind that there's apparently a freebie among the DLC items as well.

Horrible news. I absolutely loved this game. My favorite game of 2018!

Also, there is a physical edition, for everybody commenting on the digital thing.

I didn’t know Epic purchased them. Crazy to see these studios getting churned out in a matter of a few years.

That's a shame; Horizon Chase is one of the better arcade racers out there.

Never play it but have it on my og Switch. Pretty lame but I enjoyed the Senna add on

Horizon Chase is such a fantastic game and the developers continued to pour love into it long after release. The sequel seemed to get abandoned almost right away, as it dropped around the same time Epic acquired Aquiris. And now we have reached the inevitable end of the story.

@Hordak physical games also go out of production and are no longer available to buy from stores. They aren't deleting the game off your console if you bought it 😭

@Serpenterror
Agreed big time. I mean at this point I'd pay more for a physical copy of a game if it means owning it. I'm just old school that way.

Clearly digital games are the future !

epic sucks at preservation, just look at them delisting unreal tournament

A game been dilisted is a pity, but the real sad thing is over a thousand people have lost their jobs.

Where is the physical copy of Horizon Chase 2?!

I hate hate hate Epic so ***** much. They're rotting this industry from the inside out.

It was bad enough when they unceremoniously shut down the online component of the game (which i think required very little maintenance, it was just record and ghost sharing and some asynchronous challenge races) without any announcement to relegate Aquiris to fortnite cosmetic development duty.

Aquiris was a studio that made actual passion projects, and was celebrated in its home country of Brazil. This development is crass and infuriating.

Why though? Other devs have died and their games are still available

@JackieCMarlow Same, doesn't make a lick of sense to me. The game is fully patched by now. What support does it need to remain available for purchase?

Sad, but also makes no sense, does it cost something to keep a game there and just not update it?? Plenty of developers never update their apps, and Horizon Chase Turbo actually received a lot of updates and DLC over the years, but nothing lately and runs great on Switch 2, esp in Boost Mode!

@HingryHuppo it's true, though. At least for now. A game being delisted doesn't mean you can't still download it, it just means they aren't continuing to sell it to new people.

Thank god for the physical version. It will never go away!

@Hordak It's the same effect as having a digital version, given that you can still download a game you purchased even if it's been delisted.

I don't understand why the game is being delisted. Do publishers have to pay a fee or something to keep their games on the eShop? If not, why can't they just leave the game as is?

@Hordak Well, physical games also can go out of print and stop working.

But I agree with you, I prefer physical copies, but I have lots of floppy disks with games that I can not even use anymore.

@bransby

I don't understand why the game is being delisted.

Perhaps something about licensed music? I know that the game has some Ayrton Senna license.

@Tasuki
I see what you're saying but I just still like the idea of the games coming fully playable on a cartridge vs filling up my memory card with games that once I delete or my save goes corrupt I can never download again

This game was sold as the spiritual successor to Top Gear, I bought it, played it and was disappointed, it doesn't play by the same rules as the Kemco franchise.

The game being delisted absolutely sucks but I think the real news here is that OVER ONE THOUSAND PEOPLE LOST THEIR JOBS for NO REAL REASON

"From the 1st June 2026, both the original game's release and the enhanced Turbo version — which is the one you can snap up on Switch — will no longer be available to purchase from the eShop and other digital storefront, the developer on social media (thanks, Wario64!)." What kind of sentence is this? Is NintendoLife using AI to write things...?

Anyway, never heard of this game myself. Sucks about layoffs though.

Wow, what a coincidence… I literally bought the Senna Together DLC just last week and was planning on picking up the Summer Vibes once I was done..

Part of me wonders if most (or all) of *Aquiris’ staff were laid off during this round of layoffs where they might reform as their old team, and this delisting might be a transfer back of ownership once that process is complete… I doubt it because that would be the best case scenario out of this…

All of this really sucks.

@Hordak you know that you can still purchase it before it's delisted and download any time you please.

This is a crying shame. Some people believed the Epic deal would bring Acquiris opportunities beyond developing stuff for Fortnite. Let it be a lesson for indies when it comes to future offers of that kind.

This absolutely sucks for Aquiris. Wishing all the best to the people who were laid off. The industry as a whole has made the practice of mass-layoffs far too common.

I was ticked off when I first learned that Aquiris was acquired by Epic games, as Epic's less-scrupulous tactics were already known. Aquiris as a team seemed to be passionate about racing, especially its connection to Brazilian culture (Senna Forever was an educational kickstart to exploring that rabbit hole), and HC2 just doesn't feel like it has quite that same passion.

The prompt to sign in to an Epic Games account, after launching HC2, leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time. I'd love to pick up the game on PC, but I'm not giving Epic one cent, and I know they'd never publish it on Steam.

As for HC1, I've had a blast with it - both solo, and with friends - and I've finished it on my Switch, DLC and all. Guess I'll finish my Steam copy playthrough in honor of the team's legacy.

As an indirect reply to the talk on ownership: this is why we must advocate for DRM-free digital games (as a reminder, "DRM" stands for "digital rights management"; copy protection). You don't "own" digital content these days; you merely pay for a "license" to access and use it, and usually the EULA states that the license can be revoked under specific circumstances.

Furthermore, at least in the United States, the DMCA law forbids (with some exceptions) the tampering with or removal of DRM by the user, regardless of other rights, even if they legitimately paid for the product.

A California law caused Steam and other companies to place more prominent wording on their store/purchase pages, clarifying that when you "Buy" a digital product, you're only buying that license.

Some Steam games opt to not use any DRM, not even Steam's built-in DRM scheme, so they can be copied legally and freely, and still run on other computers/accounts. GOG's entire catalog of games for sale are all provided with no DRM, giving the buyer complete freedom to copy the game and install it on any compatible computer without barriers. It's this freedom that we - as customers, as video game enjoyers, and as people who care about preservation of history and good software - must advocate for, if not insist upon.

And for a tangent: Nintendo will never agree to selling games without DRM, because their entire business is based around lock-in. Besides the genuine physical and technical limitations of consoles (games built for a single hardware configuration, different CPU architectures, and the technical complexity of emulation), Nintendo would rather that we never be able to carry our "purchases" elsewhere and find another platform more welcoming. Nintendo (and Sony, and Microsoft) wants us to keep sticking with them, keep paying, keep being loyal consumers. They've made it more plain than ever with their recent business decisions.

(Also, for goodness' sake, don't feed the troll.)

@saanaito Just advocate for physical. It's so much easier.

@JackieCMarlow @jorel262 (foreword: I work in the games industry). This can happen if the development team behind a game/entity is acquired, but the rights to the IP are not. This is done often to avoid companies buying dev teams and immediately letting them go as a way to get the IP. Most likely the persons/entities who actually own the IP of the game were laid off, and chose to disallow Epic to continue publishing the game.

I have this on PS4, but i might have to double dip for old time's sake. Its THAT good.

On the ownership of digital software discussion, besides the excellent explanation of DRM by @saanaito there's also the fact that: just because you can currently redownload a digital game you purchased in the past, I'm not sure that says much about your ownership of that product.

If Sony shuts down their servers that let you redownload PSP games you purchased in 2007, does that mean you suddenly no longer own those games? Is your ownership dictated by the continued availability of the hosted game files by the original distributor? I don't think that makes a whole lot of sense.

What if my Wii catches on fire and I can't redownload the WiiWare games I purchased anymore since the ability to redownload purchased Wii Shop Channel games is tied to the console itself? Did I own the digital games before it caught on fire and then no longer owned them after it went ablaze?

Any digital product you purchase on a Nintendo console is (for the most part) a revocable, non-transferable license to access that piece of software under certain terms.

@Tasuki Trying to prove a point isn't any better, Tasuki. I would think we all would know that by now...

Plus, I'm not really buying the whole thing anyways. Good luck telling everyone else otherwise though.

@charliecarrot I believe Nintendo can transfer purchases to a new Wii console if you get in touch with customer service if your Wii caught fire. I recall other stories of people getting their purchases restored after theft or destruction.

@Tasuki
Even if it's taken off the eshop? Well that's cool. I did not know that

@TyGuy yes. Even if it’s removed from the eShop, even if your “saves corrupt”, even if you change consoles or sell the console used for the purchase. You can still redownload any delisted game/dlc and play them on new Nintendo Switch 1 and 2 systems. Lots of misinformation as usual.

@jsty3105 That's cool! Doesn't really change my point though. Imagine they no longer offer that service - the same question remains

Got thia with the senna dlc on the ps4. Really liked that dlc so get it while you can

@charliecarrot fears like this are overblown. The service exists, it works, and you can think of a great deal other negative things that COULD happen and it'll be never ending. Just like when others fear servers will cease. You can still redownload Wii games and it's been almost 20 years since launch. There's no good reason to think server infrastructure hasn't improved on Nintendo's side ever since their first attempt

This is desperately sad. It's such a special game, made by people who care. Removing the online leaderboards killed much of the experience for me. Otherwise I could easily have sank 100s of hours into it by now. Hope those laid off find new roles asap. If you can stomach forking money over to Epic, there's a real gem of an experience to be had.

@HingryHuppo ah, the ol multi billion dollar company argument. I grew up in the 80s and if I'm not completely off case you never owned the game, just a license to play the game on the medium it was stored on. It's legalese that's meant for things other than companies to remove your access willy nilly. Even if they've removed it from the storefront you still own it - you're suggesting that removing from the storefront is the same as removing it from your account. They aren't the same thing.

Above, you've arguing semantics about ownership and possession. You've never owned a game but you do own the medium it's stored on.

I also don't understand why you chose to add this line in an earlier comment:

“ Risk of loss or damage for digital Products will transfer to you upon electronic transmission of the Product to you.”

You appear to be using this as an example of you not owning a video game.

The thing that physical-only advocates never seem to mention is that buying a physical copy is no more “owning” a game than buying a download. Even a DRM-free download. In both cases, you are buying a license from the platform-holder to play that game on their platform. In both cases it can, legally, be revoked - the only difference is that revocation (incredibly rare - not sure if it’s ever happened on a Nintendo console?) can be enforced more easily with digital downloads. But it could still be enforced on physical copies with a system update.

And in both cases, there will be situations where data, whether stored on a cartridge or the internal memory or a micro SD card, can be lost or damaged. In fact, a digital game downloaded to a micro SD card can be backed up much easier and without specialist equipment compared to a physical cartridge.

It’s not like the difference between a physical book and a DRM’d ebook at all - in that sense you do physically own a copy without any reference to a platform holder at all.

@HingryHuppo just on that last point, I'm confused about what personal swipe I used? I took pains to avoid language that attacked rather than challenged

@antonvaltaz That's a great point that adds a lot to the discussion. I wanted to get into that a bit too. I'm not on one side or the other. I think everyone should take a step back and think about what "ownership" even refers to when it comes to software created by someone else. True ownership is really only the IP holder's in my mind, no matter how much I disagree with a lot of copyright law. I know there's a lot more nuance, but software in general is so relatively new that I'm sure many things are still up in the air.

The thing is why are they delisting it but VGP are taking preorders of physical versions.

By the way, how does it perform on Switch? I own it digitally on Xbox One, but if I want it physically I have to choose between Switch and PS4.

@Moroboshi876
The physical card for Switch had random frame hitches that made it unpleasant for me to play. Though this might have been patched since then. This gives me an excuse to try again.

I just now tried playing the first course on a digital copy (installed to micro SD) on a non-OLED, launch Switch and it plays nice and smooth. I also popped my card into a Switch 2, and the first course runs smooth as butter.

YMMV, but I think it runs great now.

@cyxceven Thanks for the info, I'll try to get it then, because it would be worth it to double dip if I can take it with me.