Xbox gamers have noticed that a function of2K Gamesoriginally released on the Xbox 360 is inaccessible. This unusual restriction seems intentional on the publisher’s part and does not seem to apply to any otherXbox 360 games on the Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S.
A subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive,2K Gamesis known for popular franchises likeBioShock,Borderlands,Civilization,XCOM,Mafia, and its various sports titles. The publisher’s Xbox 360 games also include some of the above, along with games likeSpec-Ops:The Line,The Darknessseries, andDuke Nukem Forever.
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Fans have discovered they can’t take screenshots of any 2K Games that originally released on the Xbox 360. It’s unclear when or why 2K stopped allowing players to take screenshots of backward-compatible Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. However, the strange restriction went viral after gaming blogger OKthanksgames observed that players can’t take screenshots of the2007 gameThe Darkness. Reddit users initially attributed this restriction to copyright issues caused by an in-game TV playing the entirety of the 1962 filmTo Kill a Mockingbird. However, Twitch streamer and YouTuber SaneIntolerant soon discovered that players couldn’t take screenshots of any 2K Xbox 360 games.
He shared images of screenshot error messages onMafia 2,Duke Nukem Forever,Spec-Ops: The Line, andThe Darkness 2. The restriction also appears to be unique to Xbox 360 games published by 2K. Players get a similar error message when taking screenshots of Konami games, but that restriction only applies to sharing the screenshots over Xbox Live.
While this odd restriction only recently garnered attention online, it’s not a new policy from 2K Games. A 2016 Reddit post describes players having the same problem with backward-compatibleBioshockgames on the Xbox One, indicating this has been 2K Games’ official policy for several years. The rule may go as far back as when the Xbox One launched, but it simply never gained mass attention until now. Unfortunately, 2K does not appear to have ever explained the rationale behind restricting screenshots on backward-compatible games. It also seems unlikely that the publisher will change its mind after enforcing the policy for so many years.
However, this also seems to be the first time the issue has received significant media attention. If fans are lucky, this sudden scrutiny could push 2K Games to re-examine this strange policy. Even if that doesn’t happen, gamers can hope for a proper explanation from either2K Games or Take-Two interactive. Then again, one would have expected the company to have done so when it first established this policy.
