A little over a month ago, there was more than a little confusion when Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA 4) was removed for sale on Steam. At the time, much of the early speculation suggested that this may have been something to do with music rights, but it turned out it was something completely different. Specifically, that the utilization of the ‘Games for Windows’ software (and Microsoft’s abandonment of it) meant that Rockstar was unable to produce any new Steam key codes.
Well, in a report via Eurogamer, there’s some good and bad news. The good news is that GTA 4 will be returning to Steam in the next few days. The bad news is, the updated ‘complete’ version will not include any of the multiplayer features.
GTA 4 is Returning to Steam
So, what’s happening exactly? Well, in so far as we can gather, multiplayer as a whole is shutting down in GTA 4. This includes people who purchased the game before it was originally removed.
What you will get instead though is the ‘complete’ version of the game. This will also include the original base game as well as the semi-standalone packs such as ‘The Lost and the Damned’ and ‘The Ballad of Gay Tony’. An update will be applied to all users automatically on March 29th bringing this change into effect.
Anything Else?
Well, it does appear that music is something of an issue. If not now, then at some point in the near future. In the report, it has also been confirmed that a number of radio stations will be removed from the new version. These removals, however, are being called ‘temporary’ and may just require certain songs to be removed and the audio track itself re-edited.
So, the good news is that GTA 4 is living on. The bad news is that it’s come at the cost of the multiplayer modes. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!
What do you think? Will this affect you and GTA 4? – Let us know in the comments!
