Back in 2010, before Consumerist’s Raiders of the Lost Walmart had a name and a mission, we shared a fascinating bit of retail archaeology: a copy of the multiplayer game Tabula Rasa, released in 2007 and shut down in 2009. We thought it was bad when a reader spotted a copy on the shelf in 2010, but a Joystiq blogger visited Walmart and found a copy just a few days ago.

An old game on the shelves at too high a price is funny; an obsolete game still on the shelves with no warning to consumers is unconscionable. Do you know what’s even worse? That’s full price. At least the store we featured three years ago had knocked four bucks off the price.

Unfamiliar with retail archaeology, the discoverer of this ancient multiplayer game asked Joystiq readers: what should a person do when they find something like this on store shelves? Commenters reported having notified store staff, but with no tangible results.

One person lamented:

Each time I tell them “hey this game is no longer avialable to play. And its services discontinued. Meaning your effectively selling a pretty disk thats completely useless.” Every singel time I come back those same boxes are sitting on the shelves…..

Indeed. Sometimes years later. The game does have some collectible value, but not much, and if you have an Internet connection to learn that it’s been offline since 2009, you have the ability to order collectible discontinued games at much, much lower prices.

The Daily Grind: How do you handle a closed MMO still on the shelf? [Joystiq] (Thanks, Kevin!)

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