Why your digital games could vanish in a heartbeat

News that GOG.com has delisted 29 games this month is a sobering reminder that at any moment the games you own could vanish from your PC game libraries at any time and there’s not much you can do about it.

Admittedly, GOG’s games include titles that many gamers may not have heard about. But history has shown that this happens to well-known titles too and on platforms with millions of users like Steam and Origin.

So how is it that something you’ve legitimately bought can be whipped away in a heartbeat? Don’t we have consumer protection laws against that?

How is it that my games can just vanish?

The laws around your digital assets will differ depending on where in the world you live, but in most jurisdictions there are no clear laws stating that you unequivocally own and have the right to your digital games in perpetuity.

In the U.S. the Federal Trade Commission outlines some of the reasons why this is the case. By far the main reason has to do with the terms of the agreement you make when you create an account on a gaming platform or when you click purchase.

When you buy a game on a digital platform, you’re essentially just paying to access the content — in other words, you own a license but not the actual game. Accessing content is not the same as owning it. It means that if the seller changes their terms or conditions, goes out of business, or has licensing issues, that content can become inaccessible.

This happens a lot more than you might think. Indeed, if you haven’t been across gaming news on a regular basis you might have missed the delisting of games like Titanfall, Battlefield 2, Rocket League, Fable 3, Deadpool, Evolve, and Mortal Combat from Steam, and games like Assassin’s Creed Origins, Darksiders III, and Far Cry 5 from EA’s Origin platform.

What reasons do the platforms give for delisting?

When reasons are given, and they’re not always forthcoming, they can be surprisingly varied. Expiring licenses is a biggy and explains the disappearance of titles like the James Bond game Quantum of Solace from Steam — publisher Activision simply no longer had a license to kill.

In the case of Rocket League’s delisting from Steam in 2021, the game’s owner Epic decided to make the game free to play on the Epic Game Store. Although removing the game was controversial, it paid off in that it increased the game’s player base to nearly 1 million soon after.

These are some of the more understandable explanations, but there are more obscure reasons, as is the case with EA’s Battlefield 2 and Respawn Entertainment’s Titanfall.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Dominic Bayley / IDG

In Battlefield 2’s case, it was delisted from Steam when the company that ran the game’s multiplayer servers, GameSpy, shutdown.

Titanfall’s removal, on the other hand, had in part to do with some malicious activity. After the game’s online servers were subjected to multiple DDOS attacks, Respawn made the call to discontinue the game and cancel subscriptions.

Another reason that accounts for quite a lot of delistings is when games lose a large amount of their player base. That can be because they are getting a little old, which was the case with some games in EA’s Need for Speed franchise, or players could simply cease to find them fun or interesting.

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Dominic Bayley / IDG

Dominic Bayley / IDG

The removal of the Need For Speed games from five gaming platforms ruffled quite a few fans’ feathers when it happened back in 2021. In fact, the outcry was enough for EA to release a statement to the effect that the studios simply didn’t have the manpower to keep games operating beyond their use-by date.

“The number of players has come to a point where it’s no longer feasible to continue the work behind the scenes,” a spokesperson said, and it’s a valid point.

As much as we like to think developers and publishers have endless resources, the truth is that they need to keep making and selling games to be profitable and many simply can’t do that when their staff are busy keeping old titles alive.

So, what should you do about it?

In some cases, you can simply buy a physical copy of the game, but thanks to the rise of downloadable games not every game is released in that format. It’s worth noting, too, that if you do find a physical copy, legal conditions still apply.

Again, you don’t own the software, just the DVD and the license, and under the terms of that license you have limited rights.

Personally, I’d like to see protections in place to keep games from disappearing for purely licensing reasons if they still have legions of fans and are being played by many.

Whether that’s new laws to protect gamer interests or the creation of some kind of not-for-profit organization that can rehome delisted games is worth some thought.

For now, though, the one power you do have is to choose where you buy and play your digital games. The terms of the agreements will differ from platform to platform, and some are generally better than others, so be sure to read the fine print when you can.