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Copyright, cost, and ageing code: why some games disappear from SteamDevs with delisted games talk about the process
Devs with delisted games talk about the process
But removed isn’t always the same as gone, and exploring Steam’s deleted items is an adventure through modern gaming history. I spoke to some developers of delisted games to find out more.
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You can see every game ever delisted from Steam atSteam Trackerwhich, at the time of writing, has over 3,800 entries, also including retail-only Steam keys and pre-order exclusives. That’s not including the games that have been banned from Steam, some 4,200 of which you can see using madjoki’sSteam Tools.
Just a small sample of the full list of deleted games on Steam Tracker
Many removals are for prosaic reasons: a re-release, new edition, remaster, or change of publisher. Generally, they’ll pop up again with a new AppID, although some remasters have seen the original taken off sale, sometimes to the ire of long-time fans. Other times, it can become practically or financially unviable to maintain support for a game; this affects multiplayer games, and those whose single-player experience depends on an always-online authentication service, whether they need it or not.
For some developers, the reasons for a game’s removal are more personal. Indie dev Mia Blaise-Coté’s assessment of the market for her visual novels is frank: “The games were not profitable financially, and I feel like they were never ‘good enough’ for the customers and as commercial products.”
She removed all her games from Steam and wiped her name from the developer records of most of them. “At the time, I wanted to leave them behind and not have them associated with me,” she tells me. Later, she’d put her entire games catalogue online atItch: “At first, I thought about selling them there, but almost nobody was buying copies, so I switched them all for free.”
Quentin Lengles Blade Runner 9732
The removal of the game has had little impact on L’Engle’s career - he’s a lead technical artist working on AAA car games at EA, as well as a successful freelance creative director working in 3D animation. But his beautifully crafted VR work, a four-year passion project, has been largely wiped from the public record - though interested parties can stilldownload the buildfrom his personal website.
“The aftermath of the art asset incident brought an immense impact on both Red Candle and our partners,” says Red Candle producer Mr. Yang. “But against all odds, our team managed to re-release Devotion last yearon our own storefront. As a result, we felt relieved, as if a heavy weight was lifted from our shoulders. After all, it was a game we worked on for more than two years, with every member devoted to its creation. Having the game re-released on our storefront not only gives many players a chance to experience the game but helps us, the Red Candle team, to move forward as an indie studio.”
Small as it is, sales on the the Red Candle E-Shop have been significantly lower than the game’s original Steam launch sales, but an independent sales platform has expanded the team’s options. It was home to a successful crowdfunding campaign for Red Candle’s next game, souls-like metroidvaniaNine Sols. Despite the furore surrounding Devotion, Nine Sols’demois going great guns on Steam ahead of a scheduled Spring 2023 release date.
A totally cool and normal birthday party in Red Candle’s Devotion
Like most areas of software preservation, deleted game collecting is a fascinating rabbit hole to delve into. There are subreddits and Steam groups for dedicated collectors of delisted games, some only allowing full membership to those who’ve managed to acquire a sufficient number. Collectors devote themselves to tracking down Steam keys for these rarities, which can be costly. While you might be able to grab aFable IIIkey for £25, Clive Barker’s Jericho is priced as high as £190 on key-selling sites, and someone’s currently trying to flog Sumo Digital’s Doctor Who: The Adventure Games collection for £300.
If collecting delisted games on a Steam account that, per terms & conditions, is only good for the lifetime of its owner (or Steam itself) feels more precarious than hoarding the cardboard game boxes of yesteryear, it’s at least a way of ensuring that, in the immediate term, Steam’s delisted games are not forgotten.
