It's because Activision sucks.

The unfortunate timing of the release right before the Bethesda id sale made that happen. Being by Raven (a very activision studio by that point) also hurt its chances

Other games? You mean like Prey? Hmm....

Limbo of the Lost perhaps? D:

Discrete_BOB_058 wrote on 2020-10-31, 13:44:

Is it common for a gamd this new to be not available for sale? Are there more such games?

Not common at all. That particular iteration of Wolfenstein is a prominent exception.

The Deadpool game was removed from the Steam store a while ago. I thought they brought it back again – but if they did, it's not there at the moment. You would expect that one to be tied up in wacky licensing issues too.

Have you checked Mobygames?

Grand Theft Auto 2 is available in Steam, but there is no option to buy or download.

That's because it's part of a special franchise bundle. It's always been that way for the first two GTAs on Steam.

That reminds me: GTA London 1969 will probably never see another official release, apparently due to its use of licensed music. But that pre-dates Steam, so I don't think it qualifies here.

It also occurs to me there are a bunch of Popcap's old games that vanished mysteriously from the Steam catalog. It's strange that many of them are still there, but Bookworm and Bookworm Adventures are missing, for starters. They don't even seem to be available on EA Origin.

dnewhous wrote on 2020-10-31, 20:48:

Have you checked Mobygames?

Mobygames is a fine site, but are you saying there is a list of things on Mobygames for recent games that ceased to be available?

On that note, a bit of Googling suggests there are already sites like https://delistedgames.com/ for tracking these games.

I don't exactly understand how this thread defines "lost" games. If it's just about games that currently are not actively sold as "new" by anyone - that's one thing. If it's about games which are not actively sold, but for which there are still copies circulating around in the used games market - that's another. Games for which all known copies have vanished and are impossible to find even on so-called "abandonware" sites / unlicensed sharing systems - are yet another.

Discrete_BOB_058 wrote on 2020-11-01, 04:46:

Grand Theft Auto 2 is available in Steam, but there is no option to buy or download.

leileilol wrote on 2020-11-01, 05:06:

That's because it's part of a special franchise bundle. It's always been that way for the first two GTAs on Steam.

Steam and GoG usually don't forget about the games you own, so even if it's not being sold at a time you can see the game on your list.

A "truly" delisted game won't show on the store, nor you'll be able to find it using the "Store page" on the game description on your library. In this special case, GTA1 and 2 were sold as part as the "Grand Theft Auto Complete Pack" (that it's not sold anymore). A search using may reveal other packs that included this game... but I guess they're delisted.

Note that some games may be removed from your library... even as Star Wars Galaxies was closed years ago, I was surprised to find that it was silently removed from my library.

If you can get Wolfenstein 2009 from anywhere, then you should, as it's a great game, and my favourite of all the Wolfenstein games.

The reviews were terrible. It's the only id game I've never played.

"Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason" is an interesting game that is also not being sold on Steam anymore.

If we're also talking about the GTA games, didn't they cut the music from some of them due to licensing issues?
So essentially some of the digital GTA games are inferior versions now.

Here is a list of games that have been removed from the Steam store:
https://steam-tracker.com/apps/delisted

Quite a lenghty one. Chrome and Chrome: Specforce are two of the ones I remember.
They were not...particularly great games back in the day, but I still remember them being more like a tech-demo with bad gameplay added on top.

Some of the Ford Racing and Duke Nukem games are also gone.

Kerr Avon wrote on 2020-11-01, 14:45:

If you can get Wolfenstein 2009 from anywhere, then you should, as it's a great game, and my favourite of all the Wolfenstein games.

I found a copy of Wolfenstein on Amazon, DVD version. The game won't ship to my country as it's the US site. Also some concerns about DLC, it probably used SecuROM.

Pirated version looks like the only option.

Games like Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem 2 are also removed

Errius wrote on 2020-11-01, 14:53:

The reviews were terrible. It's the only id game I've never played.

According to Metacritic, the PC version averages 74 percent for critic reviews, and 7.3 out of 10 for player reviews, which hardly spells 'terrible' to me. Those might be worse reviews than the other popular Wolfenstein games, such as Return to Castle Wolfenstein, New Order, Old Blood, and New Colossus (I don't know, I didn't check), but I think it's a very enjoyable game.

Source: https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/wolfenstein

dr_st wrote on 2020-11-01, 09:36:

I don't exactly understand how this thread defines "lost" games. If it's just about games that currently are not actively sold as "new" by anyone - that's one thing. If it's about games which are not actively sold, but for which there are still copies circulating around in the used games market - that's another.

I think Mr. Discrete_BOB was specifically wondering about relatively-recent games that were specifically available through digital distribution at the time of their release and that subsequently ceased to be purchasable.

Looks like NFS Most Wanted 2005 is also no longer available to purchase.

Discrete_BOB_058 wrote on 2020-11-01, 17:40:

I found a copy of Wolfenstein on Amazon, DVD version. The game won't ship to my country as it's the US site. Also some concerns about DLC, it probably used SecuROM.

Pirated version looks like the only option.

Check this out.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wolfenstein-for-th … 1oAAOSwhBNfsRMm

^^^
Good advice. Ebay UK often has very good prices on games, and shipping from UK to rest of Europe / world is sometimes (not always) reasonable. Some sellers will agree to ship outside the UK if you ask them, even if by default they don't.