An amazing John Wick video game you’ve never heard of will be delisted this week

John Wick: Chapter 2 poster
I’m thinking he’s not coming back (Lionsgate)

One of the best turn-based tactics games of all-time, that also happens to be a John Wick tie-in, is going to be removed from sale on Thursday.

If this was the 90s you would’ve been drowning in John Wick video games by this point. They all would’ve been 2D action platformers, and probably not very good, but in the old days any movie with even a hint of action invariably got turned into a video game tie-in.

Those days are long gone and movie tie-ins are relatively rare now, especially ones based on specific films and not the universe in general. The licence to make them is often too expensive and by the time the game is finished the movie risks being old news.

Even so, it does seem bizarre that there have only ever been two John Wick games, one of which is a very brief VR ‘experience’, and the other of which you’ll no longer be able to buy after this week.

Apart from a pinball game and the aforementioned VR title, called John Wick Chronicles, the only hint at a big budget tie-in was back in 2022, but nothing’s been heard of that since. So that means that the only proper video game ever released for the franchise is 2019’s John Wick Hex.

It wasn’t well promoted and only had middling reviews, but we loved it. Not because we particularly like John Wick but because it’s a highly original turn-based tactics game, where you have very fine control over John’s movements and actions, carefully choreographing his attacks and dodges like a sort of slow-motion action game.

We discussed it at length in an interview with creator Mike Bithell, back in 2019, who discussed what it was like to work with Hollywood producers, something he’s become quite adapt at given his most recent game is Tron: Catalyst.

Expert, exclusive gaming analysis

Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.

Although we love the game, the fact that it wasn’t an action title and had very ugly graphics, with no involvement from Keanu Reeves, led to it being almost entirely ignored – despite the fact that it’s only £16.

It was eventually released on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC but will be delisted this week, on Thursday, July 17 on all online stores.

That’s presumably because the movie licence has run out, which is something that often happens and means that other high quality games, like Activision’s two War For Cyberton Transformers games, are no longer available to buy. It’s also why racing games, like Forza Horizon 4, always get delisted after a few years.

If you already own the game as a digital download then you’ll still be free to download it whenever you want, but if you don’t own it by Thursday then you’ll never be able to.

‘After July 17th, 2025, existing owners of John Wick Hex will still be able to access the game via their digital libraries (PC/console) and/or physical copies (console), however new purchases of John Wick Hex will not be possible, regardless of platform or storefront,’ confirms publisher Big Fan Games.

After that your only option is to buy someone’s console or Steam account that has it, but no one’s likely to go to that much effort for John Wick Hex.

They did for the P.T. demo though, for what would’ve become Silent Hills, but then Konami went the extra step of completely erasing the demo, so that it can’t even be re-downloaded.

That’s made consoles with it on the hard drive something of a collector’s edition – we just checked and there’s currently one on eBay going for over £700.

John Wick Hex screenshot
Sadly, John Wick Hex was not a looker (Bithell Games)

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *