A game from Rockstar's biggest franchise has just been suddenly delisted from Steam, with no explanation or reasoning. Grand Theft Auto IV has been removed without warning from Steam, leaving fans guessing as to what happened to the game. The most likely cause for this is due to music licenses, which were an issue for GTAIV in 2018, where a patch went out to remove songs from the game, however, it would be questionable that instead of issuing an update again, that Rockstar would just remove the game entirely from sale. Another outlying cause could be linked to Games for Windows Live, but even then, most titles that still use GFWL are still sold, such as Fallout 3, or Lost Planet 2. If you're one of the many people who already owned Grand Theft Auto IV, you'll still be able to download and play it, but if you don't own it, there's no way to get your hands on it through the Steam storefront at this time.

Source

 

[rsx]

yeah, just like everyone stopped playing gta:sa when iv was released.

SA was the best. I would love to see Manhunt 3.

 

[FAST6191]

As do I, but that doesn't make my previous statement any less true. We're just now beginning to see the flaws with disc-based media as a long-term storage solution, for music in particular, and people are again favoring vinyl records for that reason.


Which works the same way for digital activation keys, though that market tends to favor buyers more than sellers, where physical media is the opposite. So much so that a lot of revered games in physical format become prohibitively expensive at one point or another, even if in poor condition.

Are people favouring vinyl for long term storage reasons or because they are tarts or have heard that it sounds better or degradation is an interesting concept (granted things like https://www.fact.co.uk/event/we-buy-white-albums are fascinating)?
That said this delisting lark is not a new and unpredicted consequence as much as one both obvious and seen prior to even things like Steam being a thing (various music services appeared and died off fairly quickly, taking their customer's purchases with them).

I can easily buy and sell codes now? Theoretically the law has allowed for it in some places (others seemingly not so much) but I don't see the option to even generate a key to send to another party to have them take ownership of a copy -- I don't need Steam or someone to code a robust automated ebay clone in their program (even if that would be welcomed) but something would be nice.
I am familiar with the rare game becomes expensive dance in physical media but I am not particularly sure what that has to do with this discussion, other than this digital lark theoretically being a workaround of sorts for it if transfer were allowed.

 

[607jfxd]

I mean GTA 4 on steam is EXTREMELY broken. My PC won't even run it right with drunk camera and no textures.

 

[jDSX]

Piracy is the only way to preserve gaming.

 

[DJPlace]

that is an odd for it to be delisted for no reason... some game company's these days.

 

[Xzi]

Are people favouring vinyl for long term storage reasons or because they are tarts or have heard that it sounds better or degradation is an interesting concept (granted things like https://www.fact.co.uk/event/we-buy-white-albums are fascinating)?

All of the above essentially. Even without any scratches or cracks, discs can randomly decide to stop working after 15ish years or so.

I can easily buy and sell codes now?

Yes, there are a number of third-party sites which have been established specifically for that purpose. Of course, codes can only be redeemed the one time, but that's exactly what keeps prices low and the market favorable to buyers. There is no such thing as "used" digital software, so I'm of the opinion that introducing resale to game keys can only possibly skew the market toward being more favorable to sellers; a lane that physical media already occupies.

 

[codezer0]

4 is infamous, for a lot of horrible reasons. The PC version, especially. Did everyone forget the catastrophic video memory leak of the day? Literally nobody could run it for more than 5 minutes at a time, unless you had the rarified gtx 570 that had 4gb of vram. It couldn't hope to do 60fps steadily, but it was the only card of the time that didn't crash so quickly.

Nevermind how, like Bethesda, fans had to patch gta 4 to get it to work at all, and then the Houser brothers are found to be some sadistic bastards that torment everyone not in their "boys club/inner circle". Never mind their actual audacity to try and have modding groups *arrested* for gta 5, and suing ex employees.

 

[Pipistrele]

SA was the best. I would love to see Manhunt 3.

But then everyone will stop playing Manhunt 2 =(

 

[Viri]

Quit being mean to Rockstar! A small indy company like Rockstar couldn't afford to pay music license to keep the games up for their fans!

 

[Paulsar99]

The game is still on steam here in my country but I do wish they will finally patch this game and finally remove gfwl.

 

[DANTENDO]

The game is still on steam here in my country but I do wish they will finally patch this game and finally remove gfwl.

Quck grab it you've got a 2 minute countdown - ff7 train escape alarm playing

 

[K3Nv2]

Maybe if game devs just worked out some sort of system where you could link your own spotify account within game music then maybe people would complain less about it

 

[sj33]

I wouldn't be surprised to see this go back up on their own Rockstar Launcher.

 

[StrayGuitarist]

Yare yare daze.. GTA 4 is probably my favorite game in the series, partially for nostalgia reasons, partially because it's got a fun story. I'm glad I've got an Xbox 360 copy of it still, that game introduced me to Глюкоза, which happened to be one of my favorite bands.

 

[zergoven]

That's really sad. But at the same time, have we lost anything? Steam versions of Grand Theft Auto were always shit and needed patching. Thankfully, I still have my Retail copy of GTA IV for PC.

 

[Paulsar99]

Quck grab it you've got a 2 minute countdown - ff7 train escape alarm playing

I already have every gta game on steam but this one is still sitting in my library barely played for years because of how badly optimized the game was.

 

[BlastedGuy9905]

Coming soon EXCLUSIVELY!! to an Epic Games™ Store near you!

 

[TechProYT]

Steam IS Gonna die soon

 

[FAST6191]

Lol A handful of games- saying you hate them yr acting like they hav infected yr 1000 quid pc and it's unrepairable

One of the massive perks of the PC is being able to play essentially any game from the last however many decades. This sort of thing prevents that for no technical reason. Several of those games are also defining games of a generation, or at least very very good.
To that end seems like a good reason to raise the middle finger in the direction of those responsible for it.

All of the above essentially. Even without any scratches or cracks, discs can randomly decide to stop working after 15ish years or so.


Yes, there are a number of third-party sites which have been established specifically for that purpose. Of course, codes can only be redeemed the one time, but that's exactly what keeps prices low and the market favorable to buyers. There is no such thing as "used" digital software, so I'm of the opinion that introducing resale to game keys can only possibly skew the market toward being more favorable to sellers; a lane that physical media already occupies.

I honestly I have not see that for vinyl. I have seen people do it because it is cool, because they mistake the flaws for something good (you usually get phrases like warmth) or that can't be trivially replicated

Only one time sell on codes. Fuck that. Just fuck that -- if I have something I can resell it. Nobody takes that away lightly from me. Also I fail to see how it keeps prices low.

 

[zergoven]

Steam IS Gonna die soon

I doubt it. There are so many games on Steam and there are many users on Steam playing games. Steam is with us since 2003, over the time it got many games, gained many users, and got many Steam exclusives. Steam has market and trading, meanwhile for example Epic Games Store doesen't have trading and market and community profiles. Steam is too powerful in the gaming market.