An Uptake in games being removed from Steam

[Ronin X]

In the last couple months, I've been noticing several games on my wish list have been showing up as not longer available on steam. some of them still have a steam page, but others have completely disappeared leaving only a blank slot where it used to be. has this been going on for years and I just didn't noticed or has something changed on steam to facilitate this exodus of games?

[Start_Running]

Could be regional restrictions.

[Thiesen]

You don't own anything... you only have the rights to use things...

[Takohashi]

Originally posted by Ronin X:

has this been going on for years and I just didn't noticed or has something changed on steam to facilitate this exodus of games?

Previously, games that were not available for purchase were hidden from the wishlist. Recently, such games are now shown in the wishlist (so that you can remove them manually).

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by Thiesen:

You don't own anything... you only have the rights to use things...

And that has nothing to do with what the OP is talking about.

OP, there are too many reasons for why games could be showing up like that. Such as if you're in Germany, distribution rights for the publisher might have expired, distribution rights might have transferred to another publisher that doesn't wish to sell on Steam, the publisher / developer may have gone out of business and chosen to remove their library from sale, and so on.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Right click the words "Unavailable Item" and copy the address.

Google Steamdb appID# from the URL you copied.

[RPG Gamer Man]

Last year a government change on germany forced many games to put ages on them. It could be something to do with that. Maybe others were found to be scam games, or incomplete games.

https://www.heise.de/en/news/Steam-Why-some-of-the-best-indie-games-will-soon-be-hidden-in-Germany-9960810.html

[Nebgama]

Originally posted by Thiesen:

You don't own anything... you only have the rights to use things...

Someone didn't read the opening post properly

[Nebgama]

https://steamdb.info the appid by rightclink copy link address to gain the app id.

The reason games get removed vary, often its due to copyright on IP but lately as the other person mentioned many are to do with new laws in Germany and the developers not updating their game store to suit.

[Ronin X]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Right click the words "Unavailable Item" and copy the address.

Google Steamdb appID# from the URL you copied.

:nkCool:

Thanks! the next time one pops up I'll try that

[Ronin X]

Originally posted by RPG Gamer Man:

Last year a government change on germany forced many games to put ages on them. It could be something to do with that. Maybe others were found to be scam games, or incomplete games.

https://www.heise.de/en/news/Steam-Why-some-of-the-best-indie-games-will-soon-be-hidden-in-Germany-9960810.html

That would definitely explain the blank ones appearing on my list. thanks!

[Ronin X]

Originally posted by Nebgama:

https://steamdb.info the appid by rightclink copy link address to gain the app id.

The reason games get removed vary, often its due to copyright on IP but lately as the other person mentioned many are to do with new laws in Germany and the developers not updating their game store to suit.

Thanks for the link and further insight!

[Ronin X]

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

Originally posted by Thiesen:

You don't own anything... you only have the rights to use things...

And that has nothing to do with what the OP is talking about.

OP, there are too many reasons for why games could be showing up like that. Such as if you're in Germany, distribution rights for the publisher might have expired, distribution rights might have transferred to another publisher that doesn't wish to sell on Steam, the publisher / developer may have gone out of business and chosen to remove their library from sale, and so on.

Thanks for the insight!

[veracsthane]

Originally posted by Thiesen:

You don't own anything... you only have the rights to use things...

this. you dont own anything and on top of the removal of games youll also see an uptick in games demanding you make third party accounts after 5-10 years of not needing it. ive lost 2 such games already.

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by veracsthane:

Originally posted by Thiesen:

You don't own anything... you only have the rights to use things...

this. you dont own anything and on top of the removal of games youll also see an uptick in games demanding you make third party accounts after 5-10 years of not needing it. ive lost 2 such games already.

Still nothing to do with the OP's question.

You didn't lose access to any games due to regional restrictions unless those games imposed their own IP block on their end. And that only tends to happen with MMOs sold out of region -- at which point, you inform Steam support and they will remove the game from sale in affected regions. And if you've owned such a game for less than 2 weeks with less than 2 hours played, you can get a refund.

The only other reason you've "lost" games at no fault of your own is because their servers shut down. That's been a thing since the dawn of MMOs. If a game without an online requirement is removed from sale, previous owners will still retain access.

The requirement for potential different launchers has also always been a possibility (read the licensing for once!) and will not cause you to "lose" your game, unless you've messed something up on your end.