(Updated) Banned Removed Games now NOT visible on Profile, Games Count, Steam Web API

[Taoito]

Quick Summary

252 Removed Games[steam.madjoki.com] have been hidden from your profile, games count. They are no longer visible via the Steam Web API. They're still in your library.

These games were removed when Valve ended their business relationship with the developers & banned them from Steamworks. Many cases are due to developers posting fake reviews with fraudulent purchases, many others are from Digital Homicide after they tried to sue Steam users, and the rest are from the infamous asset-flipper publisher Zonitron due to their abuse & manipulation of the Steam Store tools.
Therefore we can probably call these 'Banned Removed Games'

Updates

Nov 9th: All games from the publisher Elusive Team were banned: Strongmind[steamdb.info], SmashZombies[steamdb.info] and these four games[steamdb.info]

Nov 9th: Twin Brothers[steamdb.info] from the dev T3AZ was banned.

Nov 3rd: Both Blood of Old[steamdb.info] and Blood of Old - The Rise to Greatness![steamdb.info] from the dev AndrewWatt96, have been banned.

October 31st - Halloween Banhammer!:
13 games[i.imgur.com] by the developer bcInteractive / berdyev have been banned.
(Full list[steam.madjoki.com] + Radioactive)
Edit: Fidget Spinner Simulator was only removed, not banned for some reasons.

Oct 12th:
All 9 games by the publisher ILLUMICORP have been banned.
UPDATE: Aaaand they're all back! unbanned and restored.

Sep 26th:
1) Crazy Flying Squirrel[steamdb.info] was just banned. This is the exact same game as a previously removed / banned game Rapid Squirrel from Rai Studio Games.
2) All 3 games from the developer Unusualsoft were banned for review manipulation. The developer solicited user reviews in exchange for in-game currency.

Sep 25th:
The Zonitropocalypse has finally happened!
All Zonitron / Silicon Echo (and bunch of other names belong to them) games have been removed & banned from the Steam Store.
At least 171 games in total, including 136 released games + 35 unreleased games.
Here is a more complete list of Zonitron games[steam.madjoki.com]
Statement from Valve

Sep 21st:
7 more games were banned. They are all made by the developer 'ryuvscloud'.

August 31st: One game Chicka Wars | Chicken Meat[steamdb.info] from BUG-Studio actually came back and is now for sale in store again. The rest are still banned.

August 15th: 12 more games have just been hidden from the Steam Web API. This includes all games from these two publishers: BUG-Studio and GuardianSuperbGameInc.

July 19th: Both Abrams Tank & Keen Dreams are not visible via Steam Web API. These 2 games are by the same dev, who is currently community banned, who also changed his developer name recently to: Gayben's flatulent asshole https://steamdb.info/app/518160/history/?changeid=3192462
It seems that the dev made the game private themselves by hiding the Community Hub instead.

July 11th: After the weekly server maintenance on Tuesday, 53 removed games are now visible through the Steam Web API again, this actually matches the reported increases in Games count last week!
Current list of games not visible through API
So at the moment, as we can see, these are all games removed due to Valve ending the business relationship with their developers & banning them from Steamworks. Let's call them Banned Removed Games.

July 8th: Everyone is reporting that they suddenly received a boost in games count again, but by a smaller amount than what they had lost. Up to +50 for some people. However, none of the affected removed games are officially 'back' yet (all games in the pastebin list below are still NOT visible by the Steam Web API). So we have no idea what actually +1 again to the games count, and as far as we're concerned, nothing came back!

July 7th: One correction: the most recently removed game due to DMCA Takedown request (InfiniMath) still +1, still visible through Steam Web API. No idea what Valve is doing, or if they themselves have any clue what they're doing.

July 7th: Seven games from the publisher Dev4play were just removed: Fallen Mage, Frozen Drift Race, Mankind Defender, MTB Downhill Simulator, Rage of the Battlemage, Tower Defense Ultimate, War Truck Simulator.
They have the same problem: not visible via the Steam Web API. It looks like from now on, any new removal will have the same fate?



Please use this thread for further discussion on this topic, I've moved everyone's posts from the Public thread over to here.

Original post - July 6th

Something strange, terrible & confusing just happened!

Just check your Steam Profile games count, you may have lost anywhere up to 109 games (Edit: just to be clear, all these games are still in your Steam library, you can still install and play them)
They are all removed / purchase disabled games! https://pastebin.com/TKtECBv5
(thanks to Cae for the list)

Valve made some change, now all these games are not visible via the Steam Web API. If you own any of these games, you will not see it on your profile's Games List, it no longer +1 to your Games Count, and you cannot feature that game on your Showcases. More importantly, this also means none of the websites can detect whether you own that removed game or not.

The Removed Games Scanner cannot check if your Steam account actually own these games, so this will be a major impact to our Application process. Steam-Tracker also cannot see if you've activated them, and removed games owner ranking & other stats are no longer correct. SteamGifts may show that you haven't activated a won giveaway of these games, etc. You also cannot access these games achievement / stats pages, they will just redirect back to your profile.

At the moment, we do not know the exact reason why. We do not know why these certain removed games are affected and not other older ones. They seem to be all relatively recent removed games (some from 2016, many are from 2017). But not all 2017 removed games are impacted.

Some games there were removed because Valve ended their business relationship with the developers (due to them posting fake reviews with fraudulent purchases, or developers shutting down their companies), but there are quite many other games whose developers / publishers are still active on Steam. Some have achievements, some don't.

Are ALL removed games going to be impacted and this change is being rolled out iteratively? Or is it just a temporary change / bug that will be reverted later? Is this a step towards a bigger change in the Steam Web API and Valve is currently testing them? Will there be a separate category for removed games / expired licenses? No idea!

Luchaos from completionist.me provided a possible theory on this change:

i think what happened is that valve changed their handling of expired licenses through the permission layer. so the ownedGames endpoint in the web api as well as achievement pages aren't accessible anymore - web api always was a "public" mirror of active licenses

i really hope they do that for a purpose
if the ownedgames api endpoint would allow to add a parameter to show all previously owned apps as well - and have their stats/achievements available we could finally get a full list of ever owned licenses and theoretically available stats

so that change actually isn't too bad if that extended filter comes as well - currently the owned games list already has such a parameter for free games

mind that the counter on steam profiles never actually matched the list of games on steamcommunity .com - so that might as well be just an internal streamlining of their implementation towards their licensing servers

Other discussions on this topic:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/6li55u/changes_in_steam_api_a_dozen_removed_games_no/
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/50siD/recent-change-with-steam-and-cut-business-relationship-developer-games-and-steam-api-detection

[Taoito]

Originally posted by Notabene:

This is called theft. Per digital, consumer and mercantile laws this is illegal. That's like going to your house and forcibly taking back the games no longer being edited without telling you. Steam as the platform you get the licence of use to access a game you bought through their server has the responsibility of providing with with access to what you paid for.

Originally posted by Corvo:

Originally posted by Notabene:

This is called theft...

They didn't removed the games, they just removed the ''ids'', you still can download and play all them.

Originally posted by TaD:

I'm not sure if you read the text you copied to your answer, Notabene...?!

Originally posted by Notabene:

Originally posted by Corvo:

They didn't removed the games, they just removed the ''ids'', you still can download and play all them.

I can't actually, there's no play/download button on these. Also lots of DLCs disappeared which I have no info on. And my profile is not a reflection and accurate information of my Steam library. It also impacted Steamgift, and lots of other apis. In other terms fuck that in every way.

Originally posted by Screaming Cantaloupe:

Originally posted by Notabene:

I can't actually...

1. You can still play them if you own them.
2. You can still activate keys of the removed games. (As long as they aren't DMCA'd)
3. The games were already removed before the ids were delisted.

Originally posted by Si-Fi | mobile:

I don't think it is much to worry about, but hope its temporary.
At least i can count up how many games are actually missing from the count thanks to Cae.

[Taoito]

Originally posted by sklavounos_k:

Just had the 3k achievement yesterday and now I need another 39 games (lost 45 in total)... First the gifting system, now that! Fuckin Gabe, seriously now?

Originally posted by hideo 'kojima:

I had 667+ I can't remember the exact number.

But now I'm down to 666. Hm...

Originally posted by kocyuba19880606:

It was the hour of the night was the difference 1,245 1,210 35 MM client 1256 1348 there https://steamdb.info/calculator/76561198028821337/?cc=ru

AAAAAAAAA(((! SHO - SHO - SHO!? Gabe - Valve - Steam?! Why!? Shame on you! How nice! What!? Stole 35 experience THIEVES! ...

Originally posted by Steven Cojo:

Originally posted by MisterXYZ:

This will be a general discussion thread designed for non-members to post valid information related to removed content on steam. This should allow the soon-to-be members to post relevant information to give them a chance to contribute before they meet the actual requirement. If you believe you have information worth sharing, feel free to post here.

Well, this is just great, and just when I was 1 game away from joining (without having the scanner updated post-sale), this happened. Things on steam seem to be on a downard spiral.

Originally posted by Sneakablez:

I had 3250 games on my steam profile yesterday and woke up today to see down to 3211 so definitely some were gone or out of count from steam api since my library still counts them as 3250 games. So I guess just the bugged api or something...

Originally posted by MoZiz_Kong:

Yesterday I had 426 games, today 408.

Originally posted by 𝒮𝒪𝐿𝑅𝒜𝒞:

I had 1217 games now i have 1123 (94 games lost)
https://steamdb.info/calculator/76561198056868899/?cc=eu

I just have one word "thief's"

Originally posted by svenevil:

It was just Gabe's nephew working in his first holiday job and noone dared to tell him not to touch the database!

[Taoito]

Originally posted by beather4N:

I do not want to make any panic here but in my point of view, if this gonna be final state of handling removed games, I will stop to "collect" those cheap games... IMHO it's useless because of upcomming Steam curators change, which would allow to vote, if the game is worth or not and the reviewers could mark the game for removal. According to few speculations, VALVE would allow Steam users to become reviewer as well in the future.

In the end it could result to removal of many of those cheap games with "red reviews" which would lead to a big loss for my collection, plus this proccess could lead to some kind of loop and "game" between developers and reviewers. Hope this won't happen.

Originally posted by Boero:

Originally posted by svenevil:

It was just Gabe's nephew working in his first holiday job and noone dared to tell him not to touch the database!

Best reply so far :xp:

Originally posted by jHn:

had 4114 with 1014 DLC, now 4071 and 1013 DLC, so 43 games and 1 DLC "lost".

Originally posted by ♫ Rawphoric as fuck:

Used to own like 69 removed games now 27. Also like 50 games "lost". GG Volvo again?

https://www.reddit.com/r/FreeGamesOnSteam/comments/6ljdr6/did_anyone_notice_an_abrupt_falldown_of_steam/

They also don't appear on my game count anymore. And if I play any of them and then exit and scroll down it shows last 2 played games but not the removed one. Rip removed games collectors?

Edit: I am not sure if you can even idle them anymore even if you have card drops remaining..

Originally posted by jHn:

According to a Steam-friend of mine, even the cards and community-market items from these games are gone.

Originally posted by ℙ𝕊𝕐𝔻𝔼𝕏:

Originally posted by svenevil:

It was just Gabe's nephew working in his first holiday job and noone dared to tell him not to touch the database!

This actually makes more sense than every other reply :emofdr:

Originally posted by TacticaL:

Originally posted by jHn:

According to a Steam-friend of mine, even the cards and community-market items from these games are gone.

These have been unmarketable for a while now. I still have all of mine in my inventory and I still have drops remaining for the removed games.

[Taoito]

Originally posted by TacticaL:

Removed games (the ones Valve ended business relations with) are also no longer eligible for booster drops. My guess is that those countless bot accounts filled with garbage games still generate money by collecting boosters, crafting the banned game badges during the Summer/Winter sale and then selling the card generated from crafting the set. All those pennies probably add up and Valve is trying to completely cut off their way of generating money through cards. It looks like the boosters can still be created with gems but that wouldn't be profitable for anyone so they will probably leave it.

Originally posted by TaD:

Originally posted by TacticaL:

Removed games (the ones Valve ended business relations with) are also no longer eligible for booster drops. My guess is ...

Probably the most logical thought to this issue! :good:

Originally posted by tnka彡:

i lost about 100 games :I

Originally posted by ♫ Rawphoric as fuck:

Originally posted by tnka彡:

i lost about 100 games :I

I know a friend who lost 100 games as well and is probably going to quit Steam now or soon at least... gg Volvo

Originally posted by Valko:

Originally posted by ♫ Rawphoric as fuck:

I know a friend who lost 100 games as well and is probably going to quit Steam now or soon at least... gg Volvo

He lost 100 to his game counter, his games are in order anyway now
Nothing catastrophic

Originally posted by MrWoodenSheep:

Originally posted by ♫ Rawphoric as fuck:

I know a friend who lost 100 games as well and is probably going to quit Steam now or soon at least... gg Volvo

I'm not sure if you're joking or not, but why would they quit steam over that?

We've established that you keep the games, just the +1 doesn't count anymore. So your friend will stop buying and playing games because a few games don't add to their game count?

Originally posted by ♫ Rawphoric as fuck:

Originally posted by MrWoodenSheep:

I'm not sure if you're joking or not...

First, few? 100 games are few?
Second, they collect removed games. So quoting "Steam is just another console now".

It's like that time when "devs" started adding 10 000 achievements to their games. I am not really an achievement hunter anymore and I am top in my country. So yea, I understand them very well.

Too many exploits on Steam and Volvo f*cked up yet again.

Originally posted by bac4rdi ♛:

also lost 100+ games

[Uzuiha]

That must be illegal... i was like wtf this morning when i saw almost 80 games less.. Nice Steam, each day worse.

[Taoito]

Originally posted by Mrs. uLLeticaL™-L- | Soaphy:

Originally posted by MrWoodenSheep:

I'm not sure if you're joking or not, but why would they quit steam over that?

We've established that you keep the games, just the +1 doesn't count anymore. So your friend will stop buying and playing games because a few games don't add to their game count?

I can totally understand why people would quit steam over this.
Because this isn't the only thing they took away from us just like that.
Where does this end?
Trade offers on hold for ages, Gifting, Shitty sales, No events, Still no themes (cuz they are lazy)
Steam Support is horrible, No new features for your profile (Highest steam level is now 1941),
The updates of their own games such as CS:GO. Barely any communication.

And now this! Taking away your XP, Badges, Lower your game count, not being able to earn or show certain achievements etc etc.
This is horrible for removed game collectors! People such as myself wanted to be part of this group.
It kept so many people busy everyday! I personally was so close to become part of the group, it was something i was looking forward too...
Valve ruined something AGAIN for thousands of people.

Originally posted by ♫ Rawphoric as fuck:

Originally posted by Mrs. uLLeticaL™-L- | Soaphy:

I can totally understand why people would quit steam over this...

Basically what is on my mind... :scorepoint: Couldn't have said it better myself.

Originally posted by Si-Fi | mobile:

Valve didn't and hasn't removed anything. I can emphasis by how you all react to this situation but take into consideration that it was done simply to get rid of the garbage, yet at the same time Valve decided to maintain its presence in your library so all in all, there is no loss.

I may be a tad pee'd off because there hasn't been a damn official announcement, yet, we have been informed right here and we should be thankful.

Originally posted by Mrs. uLLeticaL™-L- | Soaphy:

Originally posted by Si-Fi | mobile:

Valve didn't and hasn't removed anything...

There is no loss? there is MUCH loss! Because maybe i wanted to showcase one of the achievements of that removed game. Or where did my XP suddenly go to? Yea it's gone!
The XP i got for buying those 73 games is all gone. And they took it just like that...
They didn't inform anyone.
Some people were glad to finally have a badge like 500+ games 1K+ games 2K+ games. Suddenly they didn't have that achievement anymore.
How is that fair? To give something and suddenly take it away without you knowing?
And the list goes on and on and on like i said here above.

Originally posted by Stuntman PixelJudge.com:

I still think that its a bug. But if not and Vavle start messing with the community side of Steam its all over for them. Steam is Steam because of communities, of the social aspects, profiles, badges, discussions and trades. If that is gone then why stick to Steam? Why not get games cheaper, DRM free, GOG/Galaxy, Origin or Uplay?

Originally posted by Boero:

Stop feeding the troll, not even a rgc member..

Originally posted by Shoppa:

Originally posted by Stuntman PixelJudge.com:

I still think that its a bug.

Nah Steam will be fine

Originally posted by Mrs. uLLeticaL™-L- | Soaphy:

Originally posted by Boero:

Stop feeding the troll, not even a rgc member..

Who? Me?

[Taoito]

Originally posted by Howl at the Moon:

Originally posted by Mrs. uLLeticaL™-L- | Soaphy:

maybe i wanted to showcase one of the achievements of that removed game.

You can do it

Originally posted by Mrs. uLLeticaL™-L- | Soaphy:

The XP i got for buying those 73 games is all gone.

73 XP is not much.:summermoon:
Craft one badge - and you got 100 XP.

Originally posted by svenevil:

Originally posted by Si-Fi | mobile:

Valve didn't and hasn't removed anything.

We have been informed???? What did I miss??

Originally posted by svenevil:

Originally posted by Stuntman PixelJudge.com:

I still think that its a bug.

Because most publishers just sell via Steam and DRM-free is mostly dead.

Originally posted by Botan ):

I think we should move this to another thread as this whole shenanigan thing gonna keep going on & on. People like me are only interested in recent game delistings.

Either way I wouldn't lose sleep over it as by the time when Steam killed inventory gifting, I got bored of collecting removed games.

Btw, it stucks you can't at least show off the achievements that were effected by this shenanigan.

I'm surprised Art Of Stealth isnt effected by this since I find that, the biggest threat & still is to Valve.

Originally posted by taytothief:

My profile says I own 8774 games. This is not true. I own, and more importantly, I purchased 8,845 games.

For the apologists, why not get rid of your game count altogether? As though we don't actually all fucking use it as a metric, as though we don't all look at other people's game counts. All of a sudden the amount of games people own doesn't fucking matter around here apparently.

The worst part of this is no comment from Steam. Dick move after dick move. Bored of it.

Originally posted by ☉ DustiestCaliber ☉:

I think the biggest loss here is for people selling games to people that only collect for the sake of this group. The ones that missed out and want to actually play the game will still be buying, but demand may have dropped a good bit for the other groups.

Originally posted by ☉ DustiestCaliber ☉:

Originally posted by Mrs. uLLeticaL™-L- | Soaphy:

I can totally understand why people would quit steam over this.
Because this isn't the only thing they took away from us just like that.

I hit 130 and turned application in just hours before this went down. FML.

Originally posted by TaD:

If you show the Games Collector badge on your profile, your exact game-count is shown under your badge: Every game you have in the library is 1 XP...

Originally posted by ☉ DustiestCaliber ☉:

Originally posted by Si-Fi | mobile:

... yet at the same time Valve decided to maintain its presence in your library so all in all, there is no loss.

I think valve knows there is enough fear of not actually owning anything you buy in most digital collectors. If they start removing games routinely their sales will likely take a hit. I know I wouldn't buy anything I don't plan on playing immediately and I would assume anyone with a backlog would do the same.

Originally posted by ♫ Rawphoric as fuck:

Originally posted by TaD:

If you show the Games Collector badge on your profile, your exact game-count is shown under your badge: Every game you have in the library is 1 XP...

Library - 2139
Badge - 2092

Your point is?

Originally posted by ☉ DustiestCaliber ☉:

As far as game count, my games tab in the client (top left of screen) is always different, even before this, to what shows on my profile. Has anyone an idea on the reason for this?

Originally posted by ♫ Rawphoric as fuck:

Originally posted by ☉ DustiestCaliber ☉:

As far as game count, my games tab in the client (top left of screen) is always different, even before this, to what shows on my profile. Has anyone an idea on the reason for this?

Yes, mine was also different. Then I removed all free to play games and demos that I've played and it was the same. Now it's 50 games off...

Originally posted by Si-Fi | mobile:

Originally posted by svenevil:

We have been informed???? What did I miss??

Where is your head, read Taoito's post.

Originally posted by TaD:

Originally posted by ♫ Rawphoric as fuck:

Library - 2139
Badge - 2092

Your point is?

free games makes the + in your library! That's my point!

[Taoito]

Originally posted by svenevil:

Originally posted by Si-Fi | mobile:

Where is your head, read Taoito's post.

Thats what i mean - this is not an official announcement by Valve, but just an information by one of its involved users (Thanks, Taoito!).

Valve is even too high above to communicate with its customers!!!

Originally posted by Shoppa:

Originally posted by svenevil:

Thats what i mean - this is not an official announcement by Valve, but just an information by one of its involved users (Thanks, Taoito!).

Valve is even too high above to communicate with its customers!!!

https://steamcommunity.com/app/593110/allnews/

Are they?

Originally posted by Si-Fi | mobile:

And i already stated that we have not been "officially" informed yet. Eventually and hopefully, Valve will get around to that.

I apologise for that wall of text.

Originally posted by svenevil:

Originally posted by Shoppa:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/593110/allnews/
Are they?

Last post is 3 weeks old, and nothing regarding the current changes discussed here...

Originally posted by Shoppa:

Originally posted by svenevil:

Last post is 3 weeks old, and nothing regarding the current changes discussed here...

Cause this happened yesterday and its unknown if its a bug or not..

[Clunt Feastwood]

I knew I wasn't being paranoid when I logged in this morning confused about what appeard to be 30+ games removed from my library haha!

[Valkor]

Is there any discussions with Valve officials on Steam forums anywhere?

[K1ng]

Can someone give me a list of games that got removed? Can I still play them?

[K1ng]

Luckily its games I dont play

[bierbaron]

What does it matter if you play them or not, they're still on your account either way.

[K1ng]

Yes, and adding to xp :/ And the 100+ badge looks trash whilst 250+ looks awesome

[Ves]

Originally posted by Tiger 360:

Can someone give me a list of games that got removed? Can I still play them?

https://pastebin.com/TKtECBv5
-----------------------------------------------

So what these changes mean for this group? I mean getting 130 games before was hard but now it will be close to impossible unless you want to pay thousands of euro/dollars/w.e. On the other hand checking manually for 130+ games every time will be a pain.