All Delisted Steam Games

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Licensing and main causes of delisting

  • Many examples (Blur, racing sims, Warhammer titles, Transformers, Prey 2006) highlight expiring licenses for cars, music, brands, or IP as the dominant reason for removal.
  • Other recurring causes mentioned: server shutdowns for online/live-service games, breakdowns between devs and publishers, and studios folding.
  • Some cases involve TOS/content violations, especially NSFW titles and payment-processor pressure.

Impact on owners and access

  • Delisted generally means: no new purchases, but existing owners can still download and play via Steam, often indefinitely.
  • Users report successfully reinstalling long-delisted titles (e.g., Blur, Transformers, old 3DS eShop games).
  • Steam updates can silently remove licensed music from all copies; downgrading officially isn’t supported, though tools/“beta” branches sometimes allow older builds.

Preservation, piracy, and “gaming history”

  • Several commenters see delisted but fully functional games (Blur, older Forza, GTA with full soundtracks) as evidence that licensing hurts consumers.
  • Some argue piracy becomes morally acceptable or even a “moral imperative” for preservation when rights-holders refuse to sell historically significant games.
  • Concern that non-transferable, expiring licenses will erase large chunks of gaming history long before copyright expiry.

Remasters, replacements, and altered versions

  • Common pattern: original games delisted when “Definitive,” “Redux,” or remastered editions launch (Death Stranding, Metro, Mafia III, Lumines, GTA).
  • Debate over whether this is acceptable: fine if the new edition is strictly better, problematic when content (especially music) is removed or gameplay changes.

IP control and fan communities

  • Warhammer/Game Workshop is cited as an example of a beloved universe with a widely disliked rights-holder (fan C&Ds, tight creator-network rules).
  • Devotion and other politically sensitive or licensed-content cases show how external pressure and IP control can abruptly erase games.

Platforms, data, and definitions

  • Clarification that this site isn’t comprehensive; all lists rely on scraping. Some titles were too small or short-lived to be captured.
  • Distinctions between “delisted,” “purchase disabled,” and “unlisted” are noted; tools like Steam-tracker provide broader coverage.