Steam, the popular gaming platform, has silently removed a contentious third-person shooter game, leaving gamers and even the game’s director astounded. Discover more about the unexpected removal that has sparked controversy and stirred up a storm within the gaming community.
Controversial war shooter Spec Ops: The Line has been quietly delisted from Steam, to the confusion of both fans and one of the game's original developers. While the war shooter never saw the same level of success as its competitors like Call of Duty and Battlefield, Yager Development brought a unique twist to the genre with the 2012 shooter. Spec Ops: The Line is notorious for its subversion of the war shooter genre, calling into question the player's in-game actions and the morality of fictional killing. Now, the Steam version of the game has mysteriously vanished.
While reviews of Spec Ops: The Line were largely positive, praising its narrative and themes, the game did not prove to be a success for Yager Entertainment. The game was a commercial failure following its launch, only later garnering a cult following among fans for its unique narrative for a war shooter. According to Spec Ops: The Line's lead writer, Walt Williams, publisher 2K had never discussed the potential of a sequel to the shooter, with members of the game's team also wanting to move on. Now, many fans may have just lost the chance to try out the controversial shooter.
A post by popular gaming aggregate Wario64 on Twitter reveals that Spec Ops: The Line has been quietly removed from the Steam storefront. Spec Ops: The Line's page is no longer accessible through the search function on Steam, with the game's store page listing it as "no longer available on the Steam store." The removal even came as a surprise to director Cory Davis, stating that he feels Spec Ops: The Line's themes are "more relevant than ever." Many fans speculated that expiring music licenses may have led to the stealthy removal.
Controversial Shooter Spec Ops: The Line Delisted from Steam
A removal of Spec Ops: The Line for a lapsed license would not be the first time licensing agreements have led to a game's shutdown. Last year saw Gun Interactive's asymmetrical horror adaptation of Friday the 13th delisted after the license expired. Expiring licenses are one of the most common reasons for many popular adaptations being pulled from online storefronts, with games like the X-Men arcade game and OutRun 2 seeing similar fates.
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