EA Releases Classic Games on Steam That Have Been Missing for Years

03/07/2024 01:29 pm EST

Several classic EA games that have been missing from Steam were finally added by the publisher today. Most of the games, by themselves, are not particularly notable, but considering they have been all added at once is quite noteworthy. More than this, they are on sale as well. It is unclear why this has happened or if it is a harbinger of an announcement to come, but it has happened without a word from EA or Valve about the matter. 

As for the games, specifically, they are as follows: The Saboteur, Populous, Populous: The Beginning, Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods, Dungeon Keeper 2, and Command & Conquer and The Covert Operations. For whatever reason, the final game here -- Command & Conquer and The Covert Operations -- has been uploaded to Steam and has a storefront, but there is no option to purchase. This makes the whole situation even odder. 

The highlight here is arguably The Saboteur due to the simple fact the game on console is locked to the PS3 and Xbox 360. Meanwhile, on PC, it has been locked behind Origins, which means not many have been purchasing and playing the game over the last few years. This could change with it available on Steam though. 

As you would expect, none of the listings currently mention the Steam Deck. To this end, it is safe to assume all of the games are either partially or entirely unplayable on Steam Deck, and there is no reason to expect this to change as EA is unlikely to provide any resources to getting the games functional on the Valve machine. 

Of course, we will keep you updated. Right now neither EA nor Valve have said a peep about the matter. To be fair, the latter wouldn't really have anything to say, but the former could very well provide more information. If it does, we will update the story. Meanwhile, it is possible this is a mistake and these will be pulled from Steam promptly. The fact that there is multiple games all at once though suggests this is not the result of error. 

All of that said, and as always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there.

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.