About one of my favorite racing games of all time: "The game could have been removed for a number of reasons, including the closure of developer Bizarre Creations in early 2011, but the most likely cause was expired licensing of the real-world cars featured in the game."[1]
To me this is one of the most egregious examples of how licensing massively hurts consumers. The game is fully playable offline (and online with a patch) but cannot legally be sold because of an arbitrary restriction limiting the use of likeness of virtual cars in the game.
The same is currently happening with Forza games (at least Horizon ones, not sure about original Motorsport series). You can only buy the latest game, others have been delisted. You can still get physical copies, but the DLCs have been delisted as well, so you can't get the full version, at least not officially. And more than that, the online servers have been shut down as well.
It baffles me that this is still an issue, publishers are not concerned with implementing some sort of "kill switch" for expired content to keep getting money for the games. GTA also suffered from this.
It's funny that 3 different Space Hulk games are here.
I actually thought Space Hulk (2013) was amazing but it's hard for a developer to keep up the yearly license payments on any Warhammer franchise. So it's not available for purchase anymore. It got ~75% on reviews on release but i like the board game and it was true to the board game so i personally loved it. Link on the steam store (the site should have these) https://store.steampowered.com/app/242570/Space_Hulk/
Fwiw if you have one of these games they are still in your Steam library. I still get to play the above game. I just can't easily play with others anymore nor can i suggest they purchase that game. I'm a little surprised it still runs fine given no updates but yay for backwards compatibility.
In general a theme for lists like these are licensing. If a developer has to pay a franchise licensing fee it's going to stop being worthwhile at some point. Take note if you're a developer. It's hard to get visibility without being tied to a franchise (Eg. Larian had to do it with Baldurs Gate 3) but it'll cut into profits massively. Even Larian are never doing it again.
Possibly this is a hot-take, but: Divinity Original Sin 2 was better than Baldurs Gate 3. The combat is so much better (DnD combat in a video game is always too swingy, the system relies on having a sentient DM who can make a story happen even after you critical fail). The things people like about BG3 (the story and characters) could have been done just as well Larian’s system. DnD probably hindered the actual quality of the game.
But, the DnD IP really got them a massive audience. I’m glad they got a hit, they deserve it. Looking forward to see what they do with their own system and a massive budget.
Great game, with some innovative level design involving portals and gravity manipulation. Delisted back in 2009 and impossible to acquire legally to this day on PC.
I've got this game in my steam library, and I wondered why no one ever talks about it. I never realized it was delisted and made impossible to buy so long ago.
I remember a level where I went through a portal that led to the surface of a miniature moon, encased in a glass case inside the room that I entered through. Inside the case and miniaturized, I watched the enemy aliens scatter around to look for me.
They found me and barged through that portal, so I went back out and smashed them through the case. Alien pussies on the wall, the whole artwork and design of the game was utterly unfettered.
The ending made me feel so… powerful. David and Goliath -core, heavy metal native american going through the spirit land to save the human race from aliens. I didn’t know it was delisted. What a shame.
There's a set of licensed music in the game that's likely another reason too sadly. Pretty unique game for the time and I'd redeemed it on Steam from the cd key in a used physical copy I bought dirt cheap.
Mostly seems to be games where the licensing deal expired or the company folded. I was expecting to see a few more from the adult category that got delisted because someone noticed TOS violating material and reported it.
There was a recent video about Horses, which admittedly was a pre-release, but was technically available for download and is now gone. It is not on this list.
Idk how common it is anymore, but one game (which seems to be missing from this list) I know was removed from Steam after the early access launch from a Kickstarter campaign. The developers essentially quickly ghosted the game after the EA, considering the Kickstarter complete and taking their money. It was seen as a pretty big scandal in the early days when we had some standards.
I've never purchased an adult game on steam, but I leave them on because it's quite funny sometimes to stumble across them in my discovery queue. Lots of them have excellent reviews. Not as in they always leave glowing reviews. But they leave gooner reviews that make me chuckle. From the games I've seen advertised, I'm not sure what sort of sexual content would get a game delisted from Steam. Some are "artsy" projects, but many are straight up porn simulators.
I remember when I was a kid I found a game where the goal was to sexually harass girls. It was in the times where sex crime in games was "a strange Japanese thing" rather than "a deadly sin". I distinctly remember a level where I was supposed to harass a girl in the subway but the only action I knew how to perform was clicking on the titty so I massaged the fuck out of that titty. It was funny.
I'm not even attracted to women. It was just enticing to play "the forbidden game".
I initially assumed this was related to the delisting of NSFW related games on Steam due to payment processor pressure as a result of the Australian group Collective Shout.
It's all gaming history and a sadly-overlooked part of "Stop Killing Games".
The worst part is the licenses that do exist are non-transferrable, so by the end of this century there will be zero licenses left for these games. They'll just be expunged until they become public domain perhaps in the middle of the next century - if any copies survive.
And what's sad about that is we know for a fact games can survive and be enjoyed for decades, because we have seen this occur for the entire lineage of game-playing machines.
At least the GTA games and metro 2033 are still available for purchase on steam, just the remastered versions. When they released those, the older versions were delisted
Ahh, there seems to be a distinction between "delisted" and "purchase disabled". This is a list of all games which are no longer available on steam along with the reason: https://steam-tracker.com/
Oh, it includes the Abuse-like HL2 platformer that I played while waiting for HL2 to install, apparently named "Codename: Gordon". https://delistedgames.com/codename-gordon/
I'm glad I found this, as it includes a steam:/ URL that lets me re-install it if I'd like to play it again.
This can’t be all of them. My business partner and I delisted our tiny (unsuccessful) indie game after we wound up our company and our game doesn’t show up here.
Ultimately, all the datasets on Steam are scraped one way or another, since Steam themselves don't seem to publish it. I could be that they simply never came across your project before you delisted it, and of course after delisiting it I don't think they'll ever come across it.
The nice move in this scenario would have been to make the game free instead of delisting. Gamers can still enjoy it, and you don't have to worry about income once the company is closed.
I was surprised to see that StarForge wasn't on this list, and after looking into it I think it's because after it was delisted someone else published another game named StarForge. I wonder how common that is.
What are the uniqueness requirements for titles, For the most part people are reasonable and don't want to stomp on each others names. however there are bad actors and this is usually where trademark law comes into play to help protect the name, but does steam impose additional uniqueness constraints on top of this?
That might be a fun list, games with the same name.
I bought my 2 yo a copy of Rocket League when they announced it would only be available through Epic (no Linux support) once it went F2P, just in case he was going to get into it. Best game in the world, but I'm not subjecting myself, or my kid, to Windows and the Epic store just to get at it.
I'm quite surprised Epic hasn't done something to kill off the Steam version yet, but I expect the recent bot problem is going to give them the "justification" they need to put EAC in it. Even if it "works" on Linux after that, I'll be in constant fear that my account, with hundreds of dollars into the game, will get banned without recourse.
> Best game in the world, but I'm not subjecting myself, or my kid, to Windows and the Epic store just to get at it.
Quite right! I really don't blame you, given the direction that Windows has taken in the last decade, and especially the last few years. The LLM integration is bad enough (Kids and LLMs should not mix, IMHO), but he adverts in the start menu could be anything. I've had some very explicit 18+ adverts on a social media platform twice this week, despite not engaging with that kind of thing at all, and the best I could do was report them.
> I'm quite surprised Epic hasn't done something to kill off the Steam version yet, but I expect the recent bot problem is going to give them the "justification" they need to put EAC in it. Even if it "works" on Linux after that, I'll be in constant fear that my account, with hundreds of dollars into the game, will get banned without recourse.
For what it's worth, Easy Anti-Cheat is supported and doesn't ban you for using Linux.
subjecting myself, or my kid, to Windows and the Epic store just to get at it.
Subjecting is a weird word choice here considering most of us rely on using Windows in some fashion in our education or work. Which OS or store you use is not your identity and EGS takes a significantly smaller cut from developers, so I prefer to buy there when I can as I don't care for social features from Steam aside from the workshop on some games.
I loved Blacklight Retribution. It's been so long delisted that my most unique achievements from it disappeared from my profile. One was 0.01% of all players.
It's surprising that it doesn't seem like the X-ray mechanic (which is the main thing I remember from that game) was really picked up by any other game. There were way fewer cheating accusations than in other games, because what would normally be a "cheat" was a core game mechanic, and IMO that made it really enjoyable. It's a shame that game died.
There is a fan project that has revived the servers. It’s hard to get full matches but can still be played at least. It’s called BLRevive, there’s a Discord for it. IMO the only bad thing is it’s based on the post-PS4 update where the devs console-fied the game.
I'm sad that Platine Dispositif pulled their games. Chelsea Has to Beat the Seven Devils to Death (known more widely in English as Bunny Must Die) was a lot of fun and one day I'd like to play some of their others, but they mostly seem to just release on Switch and Playstation stores in recent years. Their site[1] is getting pretty bitrotted, and their blog has an entry from a month ago[2] talking about their next game displayed in Digital Games Expo 2025. I don't immediately see any mention of Steam or intent to return anywhere.
Lost Planet 2 was delisted in 2021 because it can't be played without patching out Games for Windows Live.
The delisting was supposed to be temporary until Capcom removed the dependency, like they did with other titles on the same engine, but so far they haven't bothered restoring this one.
The older Metro games are of note, while they're available as the Redux versions there are a surprising number of non-graphical differences between the original THQ published versions and the graphical updates.
"This is a place for those who have a moderately large collection of removed games (games no longer available for purchase on steam) to gather. For most, this group will just be about the name, showing off that you own what others no longer can. For others, it can be a resource to find what you once believed could no longer be found."
Jesus I thought it'd be obscure games but I randomly scrolled down and saw Duke Nukem games, a bunch of the F1 series, Jet Set Radio, Lumines, Mafia III, MultiVersus (don't care about this I just remember _so many_ people being paid to stream this, there was a lot of money behind it) and Wolfenstein (2009). I had no idea this was so prevalent
Seems to have delisted but not unlisted games (e.g. https://store.steampowered.com/app/302850/Team_Indie/ "At the request of the publisher, Team Indie is unlisted on the Steam store and will not appear in search.")
Transformers: War For Cybertron, Fall of Cybertron, and (especially) Devastation.
Three games I will cherish in my Steam Library (and my physical PS3 copy of War for Cybertron). Anything Transformers based since these have been mediocre at best.
No, the games just disappear from the shop and can no longer be bought via Steam. When you are already own them, you keep them. Third party seller might sometimes also still sell remaining Steam Key inventory and thus offer a way to activate a delisted game on Steam.
One area where content can disappear is music licenses, those often don't result in a complete delisting of the game, but just the music getting patched out of the game. In those cases, the music would be gone for everybody, as Steam game updates are mandatory and you can't downgrade the game to a previous version either. Unofficial mods will sometimes address this issue and add the music back in.
The are delisted for purchase but still available to download from Steam’s CDN for the Steam client. I own 3 delisted Transformers games but was able to reinstall them recently.
Tangentially related but even though the Nintendo 3DS e-shop has been shutdown for years you can still download your purchased games through your download history.
I was very happy just last week I was able to redownload Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for my 3DS despite the store being down.
It gives me at least a little bit of confidence that having some games as part of a digital library on the Switch and Switch 2 will be easily available for the foreseeable future.
We should just setup a review portal at the Dept of State, Visa, MasterCard, maybe moms against drunk driving, a few others, and devs can sanity check their game idea before submitting to steam
When you bought a game and it becomes unavailable, due to delisting, you care.
It shows a general problem we have with online license's for movies, series and games. You buy the product and at some point later in time you loose access because something changed outside of your control. This is different from VHS/CD/DVD/BluRays where I can use the product even years after purchasing, despite a company loosing the license or simply not existing anymore.
0xC0ncord|2 months ago
To me this is one of the most egregious examples of how licensing massively hurts consumers. The game is fully playable offline (and online with a patch) but cannot legally be sold because of an arbitrary restriction limiting the use of likeness of virtual cars in the game.
[1] https://delistedgames.com/blur/
captn3m0|2 months ago
[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EbkSMPbj_I
reddalo|2 months ago
Too bad the only way to get it is by pirating it. But in these situations, doesn't piracy become morally acceptable?
wilg|2 months ago
godzillabrennus|2 months ago
skotobaza|2 months ago
It baffles me that this is still an issue, publishers are not concerned with implementing some sort of "kill switch" for expired content to keep getting money for the games. GTA also suffered from this.
CasperH2O|2 months ago
dom96|2 months ago
AnotherGoodName|2 months ago
I actually thought Space Hulk (2013) was amazing but it's hard for a developer to keep up the yearly license payments on any Warhammer franchise. So it's not available for purchase anymore. It got ~75% on reviews on release but i like the board game and it was true to the board game so i personally loved it. Link on the steam store (the site should have these) https://store.steampowered.com/app/242570/Space_Hulk/
Fwiw if you have one of these games they are still in your Steam library. I still get to play the above game. I just can't easily play with others anymore nor can i suggest they purchase that game. I'm a little surprised it still runs fine given no updates but yay for backwards compatibility.
In general a theme for lists like these are licensing. If a developer has to pay a franchise licensing fee it's going to stop being worthwhile at some point. Take note if you're a developer. It's hard to get visibility without being tied to a franchise (Eg. Larian had to do it with Baldurs Gate 3) but it'll cut into profits massively. Even Larian are never doing it again.
bee_rider|2 months ago
But, the DnD IP really got them a massive audience. I’m glad they got a hit, they deserve it. Looking forward to see what they do with their own system and a massive budget.
NooneAtAll3|2 months ago
everything I've heard since only confirms that that universe would be better dead and never be talked about
shantara|2 months ago
Great game, with some innovative level design involving portals and gravity manipulation. Delisted back in 2009 and impossible to acquire legally to this day on PC.
Apes|2 months ago
Kiboneu|2 months ago
I remember a level where I went through a portal that led to the surface of a miniature moon, encased in a glass case inside the room that I entered through. Inside the case and miniaturized, I watched the enemy aliens scatter around to look for me. They found me and barged through that portal, so I went back out and smashed them through the case. Alien pussies on the wall, the whole artwork and design of the game was utterly unfettered.
The ending made me feel so… powerful. David and Goliath -core, heavy metal native american going through the spirit land to save the human race from aliens. I didn’t know it was delisted. What a shame.
jordand|2 months ago
rjh29|2 months ago
chocochunks|2 months ago
blumenkraft|2 months ago
jandrese|2 months ago
There was a recent video about Horses, which admittedly was a pre-release, but was technically available for download and is now gone. It is not on this list.
duskwuff|2 months ago
1) Server shutdowns for multiplayer or live service games
2) Breakdowns of developer/publisher relations
3) A remastered version of the game was released
TechSquidTV|2 months ago
tstrimple|2 months ago
anal_reactor|2 months ago
I'm not even attracted to women. It was just enticing to play "the forbidden game".
wk_end|2 months ago
https://delistedgames.com/devotion/
Taken down because a background poster depicted "Xi Jinping Winnie-the-Pooh moron".
vunderba|2 months ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_Shout#2025_Steam_an...
Shorel|2 months ago
-- Back to the Future: The Game
-- Blur
-- Crysis
-- Dark Souls
-- Dirt 2
-- Dirt 3
-- Dirt Showdown
-- F1 2010 - 2015
-- F1 Race Stars
-- Grand Theft Auto 1, 2, 3, San Andreas, Vice City
-- Grid (2019)
-- Metro 2033
-- Prey (2006)
-- Project CARS
-- ToCA Race Driver 3
-- Transformers: War for Cybertron
-- Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
In most cases the games were delisted because of expiring licenses for cars, tracks, music, or studios being purchased by another studio.
It's a bit sad as I consider Crysis and GTA to be an important part of gaming history.
benoau|2 months ago
The worst part is the licenses that do exist are non-transferrable, so by the end of this century there will be zero licenses left for these games. They'll just be expunged until they become public domain perhaps in the middle of the next century - if any copies survive.
And what's sad about that is we know for a fact games can survive and be enjoyed for decades, because we have seen this occur for the entire lineage of game-playing machines.
TitaRusell|2 months ago
If you use real brands in your videogame you as a developer need to know that it's on a death clock.
breakin2|2 months ago
Is Steam obligated to continue to support old games until they no longer exist to support them, or can they stop supporting them at any time?
jaapz|2 months ago
bananaboy|2 months ago
syncsynchalt|2 months ago
I'm glad I found this, as it includes a steam:/ URL that lets me re-install it if I'd like to play it again.
OptionOfT|1 month ago
https://www.nuclearvision.de/ (the link in the game) now redirects to his Youtube video.
bananaboy|2 months ago
embedding-shape|2 months ago
LorenDB|2 months ago
FloorEgg|2 months ago
somat|2 months ago
That might be a fun list, games with the same name.
kgwxd|2 months ago
I'm quite surprised Epic hasn't done something to kill off the Steam version yet, but I expect the recent bot problem is going to give them the "justification" they need to put EAC in it. Even if it "works" on Linux after that, I'll be in constant fear that my account, with hundreds of dollars into the game, will get banned without recourse.
fao_|2 months ago
Quite right! I really don't blame you, given the direction that Windows has taken in the last decade, and especially the last few years. The LLM integration is bad enough (Kids and LLMs should not mix, IMHO), but he adverts in the start menu could be anything. I've had some very explicit 18+ adverts on a social media platform twice this week, despite not engaging with that kind of thing at all, and the best I could do was report them.
> I'm quite surprised Epic hasn't done something to kill off the Steam version yet, but I expect the recent bot problem is going to give them the "justification" they need to put EAC in it. Even if it "works" on Linux after that, I'll be in constant fear that my account, with hundreds of dollars into the game, will get banned without recourse.
For what it's worth, Easy Anti-Cheat is supported and doesn't ban you for using Linux.
b40d-48b2-979e|2 months ago
ivolimmen|2 months ago
Zambyte|2 months ago
variadix|2 months ago
ekipan|2 months ago
These are in Japanese of course.
[1]: https://www.platinedispositif.net/
[2]: https://murasame.hatenablog.jp/entry/20251130/1764507793
debugnik|2 months ago
The delisting was supposed to be temporary until Capcom removed the dependency, like they did with other titles on the same engine, but so far they haven't bothered restoring this one.
some_random|2 months ago
markx2|2 months ago
"This is a place for those who have a moderately large collection of removed games (games no longer available for purchase on steam) to gather. For most, this group will just be about the name, showing off that you own what others no longer can. For others, it can be a resource to find what you once believed could no longer be found."
lurker_jMckQT99|2 months ago
- are they preventing new purchases?
- are they preventing the players who purchased the game prior to the delisting to play them at all?
- both? something else?
oceansky|2 months ago
smcl|2 months ago
kgeist|2 months ago
>Lumines was delisted from Steam on June 22nd, 2018. The delisting coincides with the release of Lumines Remastered just a few days later
So there's a tactic of delisting a game to promote a remastered version.
amiga386|2 months ago
RobRivera|2 months ago
bombcar|2 months ago
yq|2 months ago
While the game was upgraded to the 'Director's Cut,' the original version (without the Director's Cut content) is no longer available."
Rzor|2 months ago
gegtik|2 months ago
throwatdem12311|2 months ago
Three games I will cherish in my Steam Library (and my physical PS3 copy of War for Cybertron). Anything Transformers based since these have been mediocre at best.
Y_Y|2 months ago
jokoon|2 months ago
I remember that many games I had in my wishlist became "blank" or removed, and I was unable to know what games were those
haunter|2 months ago
That’s actually a case with a lot of games on the list that got a remake, director’s cut, upgraded edition etc.
skotobaza|2 months ago
You can check by copying the url of the blank game and pasting it into SteamDB's search field.
agentifysh|2 months ago
if i delete it i lose the game right?
grumbel|2 months ago
One area where content can disappear is music licenses, those often don't result in a complete delisting of the game, but just the music getting patched out of the game. In those cases, the music would be gone for everybody, as Steam game updates are mandatory and you can't downgrade the game to a previous version either. Unofficial mods will sometimes address this issue and add the music back in.
AnotherGoodName|2 months ago
throwatdem12311|2 months ago
Tangentially related but even though the Nintendo 3DS e-shop has been shutdown for years you can still download your purchased games through your download history.
I was very happy just last week I was able to redownload Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for my 3DS despite the store being down.
It gives me at least a little bit of confidence that having some games as part of a digital library on the Switch and Switch 2 will be easily available for the foreseeable future.
unknown|2 months ago
[deleted]
user3939382|2 months ago
TechSquidTV|2 months ago
Andrew987|2 months ago
[deleted]
pedrohlc|2 months ago
cwmoore|2 months ago
[deleted]
Skyy93|2 months ago
It shows a general problem we have with online license's for movies, series and games. You buy the product and at some point later in time you loose access because something changed outside of your control. This is different from VHS/CD/DVD/BluRays where I can use the product even years after purchasing, despite a company loosing the license or simply not existing anymore.
0_gravitas|2 months ago