The history of gaming is filled with a variety of titles that should have received the love they actually deserved, such as Vanquish, Sleeping Dogs and our forever beloved Titanfall 2. However, there’s a special class of video games sprinkled throughout that, for whatever reason, we can’t even love anymore. They used to be, of course, but whether due to publisher deals gone sour, licenses expiring, feuds between developer and publisher and other reasons entirely, there’s a wide range of games that you just can’t play anymore.
In the spirit of preserving some kind of history of this industry, we’ve decided to list some of the best games that you just simply can’t get hold of at the minute. For some, they were digital only games that have been completely removed from all storefronts, while others are games that did receive a physical release but might be tricky for many to get hold of.
1. Spec Ops: The Line
Last Seen: January 29th, 2024
Cause Of Disappearance: “Partnership licenses expiring”
The most recent disappearance and arguably most readily available game still on this list, Spec Ops: The Line was removed from all digital storefronts around the start of 2024, with the briefest of statements from 2K Games citing the expiration of a number of partner licenses. The idea that one of the most politically charged and effective treatises on the role of a player in a military shooter could be brought down by just a few licensed music tracks seems ridiculous, but that’s the world of video games we live in right now.
Music licenses have led to games being delisted in the past, but that fate is usually reserved for the likes of sports or racing games. Some games have even just removed the offending songs in question in order to keep selling said game, but for Spec Ops: The Line, 2K seemingly decided they’d rather yeet the whole game than try to preserve a truly defining classic. If you own an Xbox One or Xbox Series X, you can still pick up an Xbox 360 copy of Spec Ops, but as time goes on, those copies are going to become a lot more scarce.
2. Battlefield: Bad Company 1 + 2
Last Seen: December 8th, 2023
Cause Of Disappearance: “Retirement of online services”
EA and DICE’s penchant for taking Battlefield games completely offline is a bit baffling, especially when you consider that the majority of the BF games don’t even use official gun licensing. At least with games like BF 1943, which only offered online multiplayer, you can make the excuse that you’re cutting costs because there’s few players, but they’ve also completely removed games like Bad Company and its sequel, Bad Company 2.
Arguably the breakout series for Battlefield for a lot of players, the Bad Company games maintained that large scale, vehicle focused warzone of chaos that the Battlefield series had become synonymous with. However, the real shining gem of both games was the campaign, following a ragtag group of former prisoners forced to work for the US army. While the first game was much more light-hearted in its tone, Bad Company 2 became a megahit for the franchise. Both games are still available physically on console, but for the vast majority of players, they’re lost to history.
3. Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
Last Seen: Late January 2017 (consoles), December 2018 (Steam)
Cause Of Disappearance: Unknown, possibly due to licenses expiring
The Ace Combat series from Bandai Namco has been around for ages at this point, but like any video game featuring licenses of some kind, the grim specter of delisting is bound to rear its ugly head sooner or later. That proved to be the case with Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, which was removed from PlayStation and Xbox store in late January of 2017, while PC users on Steam were able to enjoy the game until December 2018. The reason for the massive discrepancy hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s likely that a license for a plane manufacturer expired.
Assault Horizon being delisted might not sound like a huge loss on the surface, as the Ace Combat series has continued with the excellent AC 7: Skies Unknown, but Assault Horizon was the first game in the series to use real-world locations instead of made up countries, giving the game a grittier feel. Meanwhile, Assault Horizon introduced new gameplay mechanics like Dogfighting Mode, which was designed to give a more cinematic edge to shooting down planes. Those gameplay and tone changes made Ace Combat: Assault Horizon a massive departure from the rest of the series, making it a real shame it’s been removed, honestly.
4. Evolve
Last Seen: July 5th, 2018 (consoles + Legacy), July 6th, 2023 (Stage 2)
Cause Of Disappearance: Only so many times you can cheat death
There’s an argument to be made that Evolve from Turtle Rock Studios was miles ahead of its time, pitting a team of four playable hunters versus one player controlled monster. Considering Evolve predates the release of games like Dead By Daylight and Friday The 13th, Turtle Rock’s multiplayer shooter is actually one of the most influential multiplayer games ever made, so it’s a shame that it’s been permanently delisted.
Evolve’s troubles began almost immediately, as despite critcal and commercial success, the game’s player base dwindled very quickly, likely due to the backlash regarding the game’s DLC roadmap and plans. Evolve went free-to-play about a year later, but that couldn’t rescue the game from being delisted in 2018, with dedicated servers also closing at the same time. However, hardcore fans who still had access to the game were able to play using peer-to-peer matchmaking until 2023.
5. Beyond Eyes
Last Seen: September 8th, 2021
Cause Of Disappearance: Publishing deal wasn’t renewed
Conflict between a developer and publisher isn’t a new concept in the world of gaming, but it has led to more than a few games getting the chop over the years. The dispute between Frogwares and Nacon over the rights to The Sinking City, which led to a pirated copy being uploaded to Steam by Nacon, is one such example, though at least The Sinking City is back on storefronts. The same certainly can’t be said for Beyond Eyes, which was removed from all digital storefronts in 2021, with no real chance of it ever making a comeback.
A charming little indie adventure game, Beyond Eyes’ main gimmick was that players were controlling a blind girl, who had initially been nervous to explore the outside world but must brave the dangers to find her lost cat. Achievement and trophy hunters will mostly know this game as a bit of an easy completion, but in 2021, Beyond Eyes creator Sherida Halatoe decided not to renew the publishing agreement with Team17, citing that it wasn’t a pleasure to work with the UK-based outfit. The game was removed from storefronts not long afterwards.
6. Fuser
Last Seen: December 19th, 2022
Cause Of Disappearance: Unknown, possibly due to Harmonix’s purchase by Epic
Harmonix has been pioneering the music/rhythm genre of gaming for nearly two decades at this point, with their work on Guitar Hero and subsequently Rock Band kickstarting a whole wave of plastic tat that gathers dust in your cupboard. More recently though, Harmonix tried their hand at the role of a DJ with Fuser, an ambitious project that has now been lost to time. Basically, players could create their own mash-ups in real-time, picking from different elements of a bunch of songs to birth something beautiful or cursed, depending on your preference.
Whether it was due to low player counts or the fact that Harmonix was bought out by Epic Games, even though Fuser was published by NCSoft, the decision was made to pull the plug in December of 2022. However, Fuser is one of the few cases on this list where there’s a bit of a redemption arc, as Harmonix were able to put the work they did on Fuser to action as part of Fortnite’s Jam Stage, which lets four players join together to create mashups, and it’s probably the most underrated feature in all of Fortnite. Who knew ‘Go With The Flow’ and ‘Bad Guy’ could work so well together?
7. Blur
Last Seen: January 2013
Cause Of Disappearance: Closure of developer, car licenses expiring
Oh, Bizarre Creations. Rest in peace you absolute legends. The Liverpool-based firm were the creators of some excellent racing games over the years, including Metropolis Street Racer for the Dreamcast, which would eventually morph into the beloved Project Gotham Racing franchise for the OG Xbox. Shame that Xbox essentially cannibalized themselves by having two exclusive racing game franchises in PGR and Forza. Anyway, that’s beside the point, as before their untimely closure in 2010, they managed to release an arcade racer unlike any other: Blur.
Ostensibly Mario Kart with licensed vehicles, players would choose from various cars from the likes of Dodge, Nissan, Ford and BMW among others, and would race around different exotic locations. Barcelona? Sure. Los Angeles? Absolutely. Brighton Beach? Um, if you insist, Blur. The real twist however was the power-up that would allow players to gain the upper hand on their opponents, with each power looking like a coloured soundwave. If synesthesia was a racing game, it’d be Blur, but between Bizarre shutting down and the licenses expiring, Blur has become little more than a smudge.
8. Driver: San Francisco
Last Seen: July-December 2016
Cause Of Disappearance: Either car or music licenses expiring
Another single-player focused experience that’s been completely erased from all digital storefronts, Driver: San Francisco is arguably the best game in the franchise. A tongue in cheek detective story told through an open-world driving/racing game, Driver: San Francisco boasted a feature that set it apart from anything else on the market: hotswapping. At any time, players could just leap out of the driver’s body, leaving them suspended in midair like some playable Google Maps, before picking another car and taking control of that driver.
It was an utterly brilliant mechanic that made you rethink how you’d approach standard objectives. Usually, you’d just control a bunch of cars and use them to take out your competition in a race, but it was still unlike any other experience. Unfortunately, the licensed cars and music got to it, as they always do, with Driver: San Francisco being removed from all digital storefronts throughout 2016. Weirdly, people could still get hold of UPlay PC keys for a few years afterwards through GameStop, but these days, you’ll need to hunt down a physical copy.
9. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1+2
Last Seen: July 26th, 2018
Cause Of Disappearance: Expired licenses
Marvel games have almost always been prime candidates for deletion, usually due to a change in publisher rights. The main culprit of this was Activision, who at one point had almost free rein to create as many Marvel related games as they liked. Through this, you had plenty of Spider-Man games that have slipped through the cracks, such as Shattered Dimensions, Web Of Shadows and more, along with the underrated Deadpool standalone game, but perhaps the biggest individual losses come from the delisting of Marvel Ultimate Alliance and its sequel.
A team-focused action RPG, the Ultimate Alliance games lived up to their name by allowing players to form their own quartet of Marvel heroes to take on the length and breadth of the Marvel rogues gallery. The first game functioned like a whistle stop tour of recognisable Marvel locales, while the sequel retold the iconic Civil War storyline, and while both games were re-released on PS4 and Xbox One, they were delisted due to the expiration of the publisher agreement not too long afterwards.
10. Marvel Vs Capcom 2
Last Seen: December 2013
Cause Of Disappearance: Capcom’s license with Marvel expiring
We’ve already covered the fate that befalls Marvel titles, and while we could have focused specifically on a Spider-Man title, we instead wanted to focus on the Marvel Vs Capcom series, which has seemingly had every game in the series bar Infinite delisted at some point or another. At the very least, Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 received a second chance on more recent hardware when it was ported to PS4 and Xbox One a few years back, but for those who grew up playing games like Marvel Vs Capcom 2, you’re out of luck.
Capcom did team with Digital Eclipse in 2009 in order to release Marvel Vs Capcom 2 as an updated version with widescreen support, but the game was delisted after just four years, caught up in the wave of lapsed Marvel licenses that also crippled Activision’s back catalog. UMvC3 was a victim of those expired licenses too, and at least the two have come together to bring that back, but those who prefer the ridiculousness of MvC2 have to search for second hand copies at best.
When Digital Eclipse themselves have gone on record to say they’d love to remaster Marvel Vs Capcom 2, you’re leaving money on the table at that point.
11. P.T.
Last Seen: April 2015
Cause Of Disappearance: Delisted due to the cancellation of Silent Hills
When it comes to developer and publisher spats, there’s perhaps few if any which can match up to Konami versus Hideo Kojima. Arguably Konami’s golden goose, Hideo Kojima was consistently producing hits with the Metal Gear Solid series, and had even agreed to work on a rebooted vision of the Silent Hill franchise, called Silent Hills, but the two sides would eventually fall out during the development of MGS V: The Phantom Pain, leading to Kojima leaving Konami in 2015. Silent Hills was promptly canceled as a result, meaning the PS4 demo, P.T., was also removed from the PlayStation Store.
A short experience, but one many would consider to be the most terrifying you could find in gaming, P.T. saw players moving through looping rooms of a house, with the tension slowly ramping until some previously unseen monster scares the crap out of you. After P.T. was deleted from the storefront, the world seemingly went crazy for a little while, as players began to sell their PS4s with P.T. installed for ridiculous amounts of money. Even though P.T. was removed from the store, the real loss of this story is the idea of what could have been.
12. Mortal Kombat (2011)
Last Seen: March-April 2020
Cause Of Disappearance: Discontinuation of online services
Another candidate in the egregious deletions category, 2011’s Mortal Kombat (also known as Mortal Kombat 9) was a welcome return to form for the ailing fighting game franchise, especially after its ill-advised pivot into 3D fighting. Those PS2 games might have sold well, but they didn’t play too well compared to Tekken and Virtua Fighter. Anyway, once Midway collapsed and the team behind Mortal Kombat were able to regroup as NetherRealm Studios, they released the excellent 2011 reboot, which still stands as the best game in the entire franchise. We will die on this hill, don’t try to stop us.
Mortal Kombat had a good run of nine years, still being supported on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC up until 2020, despite the releases of Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11. However, in 2020, Warner Bros. ultimately pulled the plug on Mortal Kombat (2011), removing it from sale citing the discontinuation of online services for the game. While the online portion of a fighting game is arguably the most important, Mortal Kombat’s story and Challenge Tower (which had 300 unique missions) have also been lost to time. Physical copies stay winning, apparently.
13. Outrun Online Arcade
Last Seen: October 2010 (PS3)/December 2011 (Xbox 360)
Cause Of Disappearance: SEGA’s license with Ferrari collapsed
There was a time in gaming history when Outrun was the byword on the arcade racing game experience. Driving a Ferrari with your girlfriend in the passenger seat, blasting Magical Sound Shower as you drift along some beachside open road; Outrun offered nothing but the most immaculate vibes possible. Outrun 2006: Coast To Coast was the perfect culmination of that theme, with amazing gameplay, excellent graphics for the PS2 era and more than enough content to sink your teeth into.
SEGA and Sumo Digital did work to port a version of Outrun 2006 to PS3 and Xbox 360 as Outrun Online Arcade, but that version only included half the tracks and fewer modes. Reportedly, Xbox Live Arcade games, where Outrun Online Arcade was released, could only support games with smaller MB sizes until September 2009. Outrun was released before then, so it’s theorized (but unconfirmed) that Sumo gutted the game to meet the requirement. Just over a year later, the whole game would be removed due to SEGA and Ferrari’s deal expiring.
Give us another port though, hey? As a treat.
14. PlayStation Home
Last Seen: March 31st, 2015
Cause Of Disappearance: “Shifting landscapes”
Another example of a game or experience that was too far ahead of its time, PlayStation Home was essentially the prototype for what Silicon Valley techbros would consider to be a “metaverse” these days. Players created their own avatars, hung out in social areas, and could engage in a series of branded experiences based on various Sony games, films or even TV shows. It was an MMO, but without the grinding or guild drama, basically, but Home might have flown too close to the sun too quickly.
PlayStation Home was delisted from the PlayStation store in 2015, with reports circulating about how the game/app wasn’t generating enough in the way of profits for Sony. It was making some money, but according to Madmunki co-founder Dave Dow: “Sony’s not really interested in profits of less than hundreds of millions”. On top of that, Sony had already moved on from the PS3 to the PS4, with no compatibility between the two platforms when it came to games, so Home was basically left out to dry, which is a shame.
Where’s PlayStation Home 2, Sony? Especially with PSVR 2 being a thing.
15. Poker Night 1 & 2
Last Seen: September 11th, 2018 (PN2), May 23rd, 2019 (PN1)
Cause Of Disappearance: Expiration of digital distribution agreements
Recounting the entire history of Telltale Games would take up more real estate than any regular list entry, so here’s the cliffnotes version instead. After making it big with adaptations of Minecraft and The Walking Dead, Telltale stretched itself too thin and imploded in 2018. Naturally, all the licensed games were removed too. While most have made a comeback alongside Telltale’s resurrection, including The Walking Dead, some haven’t, including Telltale’s most interesting games: Poker Night At The Inventory and Poker Night 2.
As the name would imply, Poker Night is about having a game of cards with your buddies, but those buddies just so happen to be characters from various forms of media over the years. The first Poker Night featured internet favorites like Strong Bad and the Heavy from Team Fortress 2, but Poker Night 2 upped the ante with Ash Williams, Brock Samson from The Venture Bros. and Claptrap. Oh, and your dealer is Glados. Both games were mainly comedic and were designed around funny banter above all else, but they’re charming curios that have since been lost to time.
16. Streets Of Kamurocho (and more)
Last Seen: November 16th, 2020
Cause Of Disappearance: Promotional campaign piece
Sometimes, games are delisted purposefully, in the sense that the developer or publisher released a game with the intent on removing it from the market after a certain amount of time. Whether or not you agree or disagree with this method of game distribution is up to you, but SEGA did use it to create something interesting in 2020. As a celebration of the company’s 60th anniversary, SEGA announced four minigames that’d be released on Steam over the course of four days, only to be delisted a few days later.
One game, Golden Axed, was actually a prototype for a cancelled Golden Axe: Reborn project that SEGA just decided to release on players, while the other three games were mash-ups of various SEGA properties. Endless Zone threw together elements of Endless and Fantasy Zone, while Armor of Heroes was a tank-based multiplayer game based on Company of Heroes. However, the real highlight was Streets of Kamurocho, which was a Streets of Rage 2 style arcade brawler featuring Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima. Fortunately, even though these were digital releases, people still have found workarounds to download all four games.
17. Super Mario 3D All-Stars
Last Seen: March 31st, 2021
Cause Of Disappearance: Because Nintendo felt like it, weirdly
Now for a game collection that was delisted seemingly arbitrarily to create FOMO, we have Super Mario 3D All-Stars. On paper, this compilation should have been a slam dunk for Nintendo, bringing together three of Mario’s most beloved 3D titles in one package with Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy. Okay, two of the most beloved games, and Super Mario Sunshine, considering quite a few people seem to hate that one. You’re all just afraid to call FLUDD peak though, and you know it. Sunshine hive arise.
Anyway, Nintendo released the collection in September 2020, much to the rejoicing of the entire Nintendo fanbase, but that monkey paw just had to curl one of its fingers, as Nintendo also revealed that the game would be delisted at the end of March 2021. Immediately, Nintendo had created the idea of FOMO for a collection that most of the userbase would have bought anyway, because who doesn’t love Mario? Sure enough, once March 2021 finished, Super Mario 3D All Stars was removed from the eShop, and while there are physical copies to buy, they currently cost more to buy second hand than 3D All Stars when it launched.
18. The Legend Of Korra
Last Seen: December 2017
Cause Of Disappearance: Licenses with Activision expiring
At a certain point, you have to wonder why Activision would ever use a licensed property to make a game again, as there’s an entire period of gaming history where Activision games have been completely removed from history. We’ve already mentioned their Marvel games, but in the 2010s, Activision also teamed up with Platinum Games to create some licensed beat ‘em ups. Not all of them were great, as reviews for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants In Manhattan will attest, but Transformers: Devastation was an overlooked banger that deserved way more love than it received. Proof that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.
The biggest loss of the bunch though was The Legend of Korra, a smaller scope effort that showcased some unique abilities and movesets from main character Korra. It was the perfect example of a PS2-esque game you’d pick up for like £15/$20, which is something that should be appreciated more these days, but all three of these games found themselves delisted in 2017 when the licenses expired. While Transformers and TMNT were fortunate enough to receive a physical release, The Legend of Korra was a digital only title, meaning it’s lost forever for those who would now like to play it.
19. WWE All Stars
Last Seen: 2016
Cause Of Disappearance: Unknown, likely due to expired publisher agreement or likeness
The WWE franchise of games could fill a delisting article on their own at this point, as could many annual release sports games. All of them are prime candidates for delisting as far as publishers are concerned, due to the various music, logo and likeness licenses involved, along with the march of progress towards next year’s installment. WWE games are no exception to those rules, but when you’ve got a game like WWE All Stars, which broke the mold of traditional wrestling games to create something over the top and ridiculous, that loss stings all the more.
Embracing that larger than life aura that WWE loves to cultivate as a brand, WWE All Stars beefed everyone up to cartoonish proportions and stuck the wrestlers in a game with 20 ft leaping powerbombs and juggle combos. Compared to the slower paced, simulation focused WWE games of 2K15 to 2K20, WWE All Stars felt like four player Tekken and unlike all other wrestling games at the time. Because WWE is an ever changing beast, and a good portion of All Stars’ roster has either left the company or has had some kind of career ending disgrace emerge about them, we’ll never get this game relisted. However, a new WWE All Stars would hit like a chop from GUNTHER.
20. Rumbleverse
Last Seen: February 28th, 2023
Cause Of Disappearance: Unknown, likely didn’t generate enough money for Epic
The main issue with creating an always online multiplayer game in this day and age is that you’re playing against the clock. Eventually, that clock is always going to strike midnight, the player base is going to leave or the money is going to dry up, and the game in question is going to get sunsetted or delisted. We could rattle off a list of just excellent multiplayer games that are now extinct, but for the sake of spotlighting a wider variety of games, let’s stick with one near and dear to my heart: Rumbleverse.
A hodge podge blend of wrestling, fighting game culture and battle royales, Rumbleverse offered a genuinely refreshing, melee-focused take on the one versus all playstyle. Unfortunately, the game was shuttered after two seasons, meaning no-one will ever be able to play it again. The devs cited a lack of money being generated to sustain the game any longer, but with Fortnite adding its own sub-games/modes like Rocket Racing and LEGO Fortnite, a mode like Rumbleverse could be an interesting addition.
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