Rockstar explains Grand Theft Auto 4’s Steam delisting

Rockstar has explained the decision to remove Grand Theft Auto 4 from sale on Steam.

The game was recently delisted from Valve’s digital distribution platform without warning, as spotted by Twitter user Nittomata.

A Rockstar spokesperson told USgamer that its removal was related to the title’s integration with Microsoft‘s Games for Windows Live service, which was discontinued in 2014.

“Grand Theft Auto 4 was originally created for the Games For Windows Live platform,” they said. “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,” the spokesperson added.

Rockstar never patched Games for Windows Live integration out of its game, instead advising players to sign-in via an Xbox Live account.

The company released a dedicated game launcher for its PC titles in September 2019 and offered early users a free copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

While the launcher plays home to the likes of Grand Theft Auto V and the studio’s most recent release, Red Dead Redemption 2, Grand Theft Auto 4 is a notable absentee.

Grand Theft Auto studio Rockstar North has been ramping up to fill multiple positions for work on next-gen projects over the past few months.