Removed from store?

[Division]

As of typing this post, I saw the game not purchasable anymore, what is happening?

[Epsilon]

Delisted due to politics, not due to expiring licenses. If Alpha Protocol can be relisted with all licensed content intact, then there is no reason why Spec Ops: The Line cannot be brought back as well. I believe it is because of the certain levels in the game where the player kills civilians was the real reason why the game was delisted. It would reflect badly on 2K for having a game with the player killing civilians when there is a war going on where civilians are being killed, so rather than catch hell like MW2 did for the No Russian level, 2K delisted Spec Ops: The Line to prevent any unwanted publicity.

[Highball Simulation]

Originally posted by Epsilon:

Delisted due to politics, not due to expiring licenses. If Alpha Protocol can be relisted with all licensed content intact, then there is no reason why Spec Ops: The Line cannot be brought back as well. I believe it is because of the certain levels in the game where the player kills civilians was the real reason why the game was delisted. It would reflect badly on 2K for having a game with the player killing civilians when there is a war going on where civilians are being killed, so rather than catch hell like MW2 did for the No Russian level, 2K delisted Spec Ops: The Line to prevent any unwanted publicity.

Weirdly the old MW2 is still available.

[billyhatcher643]

Originally posted by Epsilon:

Delisted due to politics, not due to expiring licenses. If Alpha Protocol can be relisted with all licensed content intact, then there is no reason why Spec Ops: The Line cannot be brought back as well. I believe it is because of the certain levels in the game where the player kills civilians was the real reason why the game was delisted. It would reflect badly on 2K for having a game with the player killing civilians when there is a war going on where civilians are being killed, so rather than catch hell like MW2 did for the No Russian level, 2K delisted Spec Ops: The Line to prevent any unwanted publicity.

Thankfully we got physical media that they can't take away from us

[billyhatcher643]

Originally posted by Highball Simulation:

Originally posted by Epsilon:

Delisted due to politics, not due to expiring licenses. If Alpha Protocol can be relisted with all licensed content intact, then there is no reason why Spec Ops: The Line cannot be brought back as well. I believe it is because of the certain levels in the game where the player kills civilians was the real reason why the game was delisted. It would reflect badly on 2K for having a game with the player killing civilians when there is a war going on where civilians are being killed, so rather than catch hell like MW2 did for the No Russian level, 2K delisted Spec Ops: The Line to prevent any unwanted publicity.

Weirdly the old MW2 is still available.

Usually they tend to delist og games when they remaster surprisingly they haven't

[tyl0413]

Originally posted by Epsilon:

Delisted due to politics, not due to expiring licenses. If Alpha Protocol can be relisted with all licensed content intact, then there is no reason why Spec Ops: The Line cannot be brought back as well. I believe it is because of the certain levels in the game where the player kills civilians was the real reason why the game was delisted. It would reflect badly on 2K for having a game with the player killing civilians when there is a war going on where civilians are being killed, so rather than catch hell like MW2 did for the No Russian level, 2K delisted Spec Ops: The Line to prevent any unwanted publicity.

Nah I think its licensing, AP was gone for years until GOG bothered to bring it back, same with that, probably doable 2K just doesn't care, lets hope for GOG.

Originally posted by billyhatcher643:

Thankfully we got physical media that they can't take away from us

Both MW2 and Spec Ops physical is a Steam copy not a real disc.

Originally posted by billyhatcher643:

Originally posted by Highball Simulation:

Weirdly the old MW2 is still available.

Usually they tend to delist og games when they remaster surprisingly they haven't

Acti doesn't, og still sells well and Remaster doesn't have multiplayer, both versions of COD4 are up too as they should.

[Zeokage]

Originally posted by Epsilon:

Delisted due to politics, not due to expiring licenses.

Is there an official statement from the developer or publisher about this?

[QUAKETALLICA]

Originally posted by Epsilon:

Delisted due to politics, not due to expiring licenses. If Alpha Protocol can be relisted with all licensed content intact, then there is no reason why Spec Ops: The Line cannot be brought back as well. I believe it is because of the certain levels in the game where the player kills civilians was the real reason why the game was delisted. It would reflect badly on 2K for having a game with the player killing civilians when there is a war going on where civilians are being killed, so rather than catch hell like MW2 did for the No Russian level, 2K delisted Spec Ops: The Line to prevent any unwanted publicity.

This is the exact opposite. I was just reading an interview with one of the lead devs, and he was impressed with the guys at 2K because they were interested in a more mature, adult exploration of complex themes of war. They wanted to liken their brand to an "HBO" of games, which is exactly why they greenlit and funded this more avant-garde, unique title.

The producers and publishers have themselves come out and said it's due to expired licenses, which is not at all uncommon, however unfortunate. Same thing happened to Mortal Kombat 9 because of the Freddy Kreuger DLC character license expiring. We can only hope they pull a GTA IV and bring the game back with replacement music (and then leave it to fans/modders to add back the original trakcs).

[Tony]

Why has they taken it off

Why is this no longer available to buy on Steam.

[BigDestiny]

Collectors Item on here now huh? pretty dope to bad you can't trade games like trading cards tho

[Vecchio_Rhosod85]

This is why abandonware needs to be public domain and open source. Trust me, Spec Ops: The Line is still out there. I wish I could say more about it, I know where to find it, but I can't share that info. Gotta play nice with the moderators.

[Aerooooooo]

Originally posted by DOOM of Judgment:

You Will Never See This on Steam Again.

In my opinion, this was one of the last bad-ass military shooters out there, it had a story that wasn't the same boring ♥♥♥♥ COD puts out every year, It's shooting wasn't groundbreaking or anything but it did the job well just like any other shooter out there, It actually made you feel like you were apart of a squad and not just a "squad of one" again like COD made you feel like you were just one. I only compare to COD because that what was dominating the FPS Shooting Era of 2010-2016 and unfortunately they are back at it with there so called "Amazing Battle Royal Experience" This was released in 2012 and had a better story then most shooters to ever come out in the last 12-13 years. Stuff was actually F.U.B.A.R. (look it up if you don't know what it means kids) it actually had signs of being a real war with actual insane ♥♥♥♥ going on that was pretty scary at the time for a young me to be playing but I always thought "Why couldn't anyone else who made military shooters make great stories like this?" But of course due to a "Licensing Issues" people will never know of this games existence, and never get a chance to experience it unless the can find it on Disc for PS3 or Xbox 360 and THANKFULLY does have Backwards Compatibility so for those of you who have Xbones and the Series X/S you can play it on there with higher frame rates. If you haven't ever played it before and if you can either get a copy on disc for consoles, or alternatively a key off of certain websites that sell them, This really is an amazing shooter and I believe has one of the most underrated campaigns of all time.

Dude, it's just an Apocalypse Now ripoff. It's not as great a story as you're making it out to be. But your overall point that it was a refreshing change from the generic slop we had been getting is true, nonetheless. The story being derivative didn't ruin the game for me. I played it, beat it, and thought it was pretty decent. Nothing I would put on an altar and venerate profusely, but decent all the same. FPS/military shooter isn't my cup of tea, overall.

It's too bad 2K waited until the last minute to tell people, in particular. But at least Spec Ops fans got told at all - Super Mega Baseball 2 got pulled with no statement, period.

It's why I still treasure my physical game collection. Nobody can come into my house and take away those games.

[Sabaithal]

Why is this no longer available?

title

[DICK NUTS]

I STILL HAVE THE GAME BABY!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[Sigma Female]

Can you still legally purchase the game online? If so, where?

Really unfortunate that they removed the game from steam. From the whom the whole game preservation perspective it is very worrisome. Yes I'm aware about the sailing the seas activity that Steam doesn't like being mentioned, but I'm specifically asking about legal ways.

[Dark Jaguar]

There IS one place. You can still find pretty cheap still-wrapped copies of the physical edition on the eBay, and those codes can still be redeemed on Steam, or "Resteamed" as the kids have never once said.