Grand Theft Auto IV was recently delisted from Steam and this led to some speculation among fans. Rockstar Games has now clarified why it was delisted.
Grand Theft Auto IV launched during the last generation and during that time, Microsoft had its own Games for Windows Live service used by many PC ports at that time. This was subsequently discontinued but still used somewhat in some of the older PC ports.
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When Grand Theft Auto IV went missing on Steam, it was quickly discovered by fans. It was a big surprise to find such a game missing from steam due to the popularity of it.
Rockstar Games has now explained why the game was removed in the first place citing Games for Windows Live as the primary culprit for it. They gave the following statement to USGamer.
“Grand Theft Auto 4 was originally created for the Games For Windows Live platform,” reads the statement. “With Microsoft no longer supporting Games For Windows Live, it is no longer possible to generate the additional keys needed to continue selling the current version of the game. We are looking at other options for distributing GTA4 for PC and will share more information as soon as we can.”
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This statement confirms that the game will be delisted until Rockstar Games can find a way to release a version of it that doesn’t use Games for Windows Live. It might take a while but knowing how important this is for the developer, it can eventually get back up without an ancient service tied to it.
