The Steam store is known for becoming increasingly cluttered with an estimated 52,115 games available at the time that I’m writing this article. However, it’s interesting to note that not all games continue to exist indefinitely on the platform. Occasionally, games will be removed from the Steam store, although they typically continue to exist in the libraries of players who bought them, for a variety of intriguing reasons and I thought it might be worth looking at a few of these reasons as well as the games that have been affected.
First off, one of the more common reasons you will see a game removed from Steam is the expiration of a license. A pretty popular example would be the removal of the 2010 game, released on Steam in 2012, Alan Wake. In 2017, it was announced that Alan Wake would be removed from both Steam and the Xbox store due to expiring music licenses. It wasn’t until over a year later that Alan Wake returned to storefronts as the music rights were renegotiated. This also happened more recently to Alpha Protocol in 2019 when it was removed due to expired music rights and has yet to to be made available again on Steam.
An interesting case of a game being removed from Steam occurred in January of last year when it was announced that Grand Theft Auto IV was being removed. The reason proved to be quite unusual. When GTA IV was released on PC back in 2008, it was released as part of Games for Windows – Live which was eventually discontinued. Apparently, Rockstar, the developers of Grand Theft Auto, ran out of Games for Windows – Live keys to sell Grand Theft Auto IV. Because of that, they had to remove Grand Theft Auto IV from Steam and, later on, release a version of the game without any multiplayer!
Another unusual cause for the removal of games from Steam is when they abuse the Steamworks tools. Near the end of 2019, it was announced that nearly 1000 games had been removed after it had been discovered that Dagestan Technology, based in Russia, had been acting in bad faith. While Valve declined to provide the specifics of what Dagestan Technology had done, it may have had something to do with bundle sales and the Steam marketplace.
A particularly frustrating reason lies behind the removal of Rocket League from Steam. I’ve spoken before about the Epic Games Store and their frustrating exclusives policy. Epic Games acquired Psyonix, the developer of Rocket League, in 2019 and soon decided to remove the game from Steam, making the game an Epic Games Store exclusive. While those who already bought Rocket League on Steam are still able to continue to play it on the platform, this is, understandably, a frustrating reason to remove a game from Steam.
Finally, the previous incarnation of a game may be removed when a remastered version is released on Steam. This was confirmed for Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition when Dark Souls Remastered was released on the platform. I also noticed this to be the case when Square Enix released Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition on Steam which saw the previous Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age removed. While understandable for marketing purposes, there can be frustrations associated with this such as the loss of many of the mods made for Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition or the slightly better graphics of the original Dragon Quest XI.
Ultimately, there are numerous reasons why a game might be removed from Steam and while some such as the expiration of music licenses and the lack of keys to sell a game are understandable, it can also be frustrating when a game is removed for marketing purposes such as Epic Games Store exclusivity or an updated edition. Let me know your thoughts on these intriguing reasons why games are removed from Steam, what other reasons you’ve come across that might cause a game to be removed from the store, your thoughts on games being removed for Epic Games Store exclusivity or marketing purposes and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.