‘Mixtape’ studio reassures players game won’t be shut down over music rights

The soundtrack features Smashing Pumpkins, DEVO and The Cure

Mixtape publishers Annapurna Interactive have reassured fans the game won’t ever be shut down over expiring music rights.

• READ MORE: How ‘Life Is Strange’s main character became its charming indie rock soundtrack

Mixtape is a coming-of-age story, inspired by the films of John Hughes and the nostalgic power of music. “On their last night of high school, three friends embark on one more adventure together. Play through a mixtape of memories, set to the soundtrack of a generation,” reads the official description of the game. “Skate. Party. Avoid the law. Make out. Sneak out. Hang out.”

The game launched earlier this month but creators Beethoven and Dinosaur have refused to release a streaming-friendly version of the game that avoids the licensed soundtrack, because the 28 songs are too important to the Mixtape experience. “Mixtape is about music. It’s about DEVO. It’s about the Smashing Pumpkins, Lush and Alice Coltrane. It’s about how you feel when you listen to Iggy Pop,” the game’s developers explained on X. “The characters talk about the songs. The levels are designed around the songs. We couldn’t change the songs. We couldn’t replace them. We just couldn’t.”

Following this, some fans started to speculate that Mixtape could be taken offline in the future due to the game developer’s rights to the songs expiring. “We heard some people say Mixtape would be delisted due to music licenses expiring. That was a lie,” Annapurna Interactive wrote on X. “Have a great weekend, everyone.”

The cost of song licensing is usually kept secret but last year, Heaven 17 vocalist Martyn Ware told Rockstar Games to “fuck off” when they offered him $7,500 to use the band’s hit ‘Temptation’ in Grand Theft Auto 6 and any remasters or rereleases that might follow. 

The news that Annapurna Interactive have paid out to keep the songs part of Mixtape’s soundtrack forever has added fuel to the debate around the game’s indie status. 

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“Not really trying to engage into some kind of outrage, controversy, or conspiracy, but at what point do we keep calling a game ‘indie’ when it gets better (and more expensive) licensing rights than some actual AAA companies,” asked one Reddit user. “You can’t help but wonder if they got special licensing or special pricing just due to how music is handled in the game,” wrote another. 

Mixtape has also faced backlash for the length of the game, which can be completed in around three hours, the lack of branching storylines and the sheer amount of cutscenes that play out. Despite this, it remains one of the best-reviewed games of 2026 so far.

In other news, the iconic soundtrack to Doom has been added to the US Library Of Congress’ National Recording Registry alongside records by Weezer, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé