Minecraft: Story Mode downloads might vanish on June 25th
Minecraft: Endergame
Adding one final indignity to the catastrophic fall of Telltale Games, it appears that their kid-friendly (and admittedly rather naff) Minecraft: Story Mode adventure series may be more than just delisted from stores soon. A blog post on the official Minecraft site warns that even players that own Minecraft: Story Mode, seasons one or two, may not be available to download it after June 25th. The game has already been de-listed from all PC storefronts, and the only option left for purchase now is the physical DVD version, but I'm unsure whether that version has online DRM or not. A grim situation.
The announcement from Mojang feels like it may be casting its net a little bit wide. Their announcement covers all versions of the game, from Windows to PS3, Switch and even iOS and Android. Oddly enough, they don't mention the Netflix adaptation of the game, which boiled it down into a sequence of pre-rendered videos with binary decision points, and generally reduced branching. While Minecraft: Story Mode is probably among Telltale's weakest productions, this is still a real kick in the squish for anyone who cares about game preservation.
There aren't many places to pick up Telltale games anymore. Many of their licensed games disappeared long ago, including the shockingly charming Wallace & Gromit, and another large wave of their library disappeared on May 27th. If you picked them up via Steam or GOG you should still be able to download the games for the foreseeable future. Hopefully the same applies to Minecraft: Story Mode and I'm just being excessively cautious, but when Mojang issues a warning telling people to download in advance, that's concerning. Better to err on the side of caution.
The final de-listing and discontinuation of service (wow, that's a sinister phrase these days) happens on June 25th. Make sure you've got everything activated, downloaded and backed up before then, just in case. The PC DVD version of the game appears to be still available via Amazon, but it doesn't list whether it requires Steam to activate or not. You can also find the Netflix adaptation here, though it obviously requires a subscription.