One of Steam’s most successful publishers is Rockstar Games. That’s not a surprise given the popularity ofGrand Theft Auto 5andRed Dead Redemption 2, of course. Both titles have appeared in Steam’s weekly top-selling games since they released, as well as Steam’s list of games with the highest concurrent player totals. So imagine how shocking it was to find Monday afternoon that all ofRockstar’s games, includingGrand Theft Auto 5, had seemingly been disabled from purchasing.
At several points on Monday, visiting the profile ofGrand Theft Auto 5and other Rockstar games would show that there was no longer an option to purchase the games. The profiles still existed, making clear that the games still existed on Steam’s platform. However, there was no way to purchase them. Steam users began to worry that there could be adispute between Steam and Rockstar, or that Rockstar was moving exclusivity to a different PC storefront.
RELATED:Red Dead Redemption 2 Has Way More PC Than Console Players
A deeper look into what was happening showed that dozens of Rockstar products on Steam had been “Retired at publisher request.” Rockstar’s entire library appeared to be affected, including theGrand Theft Auto,Max Payne, andRed Dead Redemptionfranchises, as well as games likeL.A. Noire,Bully,Manhunt, and others. However, within 15 minutes, the games were re-listed, denoted as “Unretired at publisher request.” It appeared to be a blip in the system.
Rockstar hasn’t issued an official comment regarding the issue as of yet, nor has it spoken on social media. For the time being, this will likely be treated as aSteam bugthat isn’t worth acknowledging. Since the games are currently available and there’s no indication that they’ll be removed again, there doesn’t seem like there’s anything to worry about.
That said, there’s likely to be some speculation within theSteam communitythat there’s more to this than meets the eye. Whether that’s something small, like Valve or Rockstar having to make adjustments to how purchasing works, or something big, like the possibility of Rockstar eventually leaving the platform, fans are likely to let their vivid imaginations run wild.
Regardless of what Valve or Rockstar may or may not have had to do with today’s blip, everything is currently back to normal. All ofRockstar’s gamesare currently able to be purchased. And every purchased Rockstar game has remained playable throughout the entirety of the issues on Steam. Mark this down as an oddity that likely impacted very few people and nothing more.
