Heads up: the Ghostbusters DLC for Planet Coaster is about to be delisted

This might be short notice, but Frontier Developments just announced that, as of September 6, 2024, the Planet Coaster: Ghostbusters DLC will be delisted from storefronts. The DLC first came out in 2019. As it is licensed content from the movie, its days were always numbered, and it looks like those days amounted to (a bit over) five years. Still, a little more notice would have been appreciated.

The Ghostbusters DLC features decorations and rides based on the film franchise. The Ghostbusters Experience ride also includes a sort of interactive mini-game. There’s also a “narrative” campaign featuring the voice of Dan Aykroyd and William Atherton (Who? Oh, Peck!). It was praised as being a fairly robust expansion, whereas other licensed DLC for the game were more cosmetic.

I didn’t get it at release. I just bought it upon hearing the news because I love Ghostbusters (not the new movies; I didn’t watch them). I’m not quite as keen on Planet Coaster, but there’s always the chance I’ll find the spark that gets me into them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine game for what it is, but I like more challenge from my management games. 

I’ve played Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo, but I find that it’s way too easy to make money, and then the challenge of it disappears. I get that some people play these games to make their dream parks, but that sounds more like level design to me. I prefer Roller Coaster Tycoon where there’s some challenge to balancing the books.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the Ghostbusters DLC is getting marked down before it’s delisted. With the short notice, I wonder if it hit Frontier rather abruptly. They are saying that if you were subscribed to their subscription pass, they’ll add the DLC to your account for free so that if you built something using the items, you won’t lose access. Wait a minute… you could just subscribe to that for a month and get the DLC for a fraction of the price. Crap.

As a reminder, Planet Coaster 2 has been announced for this Fall. I’ll probably play that, too, and will likely be reminded once more that these just aren’t the types of games I’m looking for. I never learn.