Xbox 360 owners browsing the Xbox Live Marketplace might notice that a number of the very popular retro arcade titles previously available in the Xbox Live Marketplace have disappeared. Nope, your eyes are not deceiving you, as a thinning of the herd (so to speak) has taken place with all of the Midway titles being removed.

Classics such as Cyberball 2072, Defender, Gauntlet, Joust, Root Beer Tapper, Smash TV, Paperboy, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat have been pulled, with the Midway bankruptcy being the likely reason as to why the titles have to stop being sold for the time being. As of today, the same game titles are still around for purchase in the PlayStation Network.

Our sources suggest that at least some of the titles will return once a few things are changed and things are set up to make sure that the new owners of the IP are getting paid for sales from the title. It is likely that at least some of the titles may not return for purchase at all.

As for those that have already purchased these titles, you are able to re-download them, if necessary, by going into your account history and selecting the title and then selecting the download option again. So, the news is good for those that have already purchased the title, as they will continue to be able to enjoy the title.

What is a bit unclear is who now owns these titles. Our sources tell us that the majority of these titles listed above have been acquired by Warner Bros. Interactive. It is possible that they want to make sure that they get their name and copyright messages on the title before they are again made available for download. The bigger question that still remains unanswered, though, is whether Warner Bros. Interactive will use any of the Midway branding on these titles. We have to think that it would be a lot of work to remove it, and it just might not be worth the time to do so.