Popular Steam Game Disappears With No Warning

A popular game has been removed from Steam, without warning, leaving Steam users with no option to purchase said game. The mystery game in question is many years old at this point, but it's one of the more popular games of its generation so its removal is an unpleasant surprise for many. Further, other games in the series -- both newer and older -- remain on Steam. As a result, the Internet is now speculating that a remake or remaster must be in the works. Whether this is true or not, we don't know at the moment, but there have been rumors of it, and it's seemingly the only possible explanation for this development. 

The game in question is Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, which is actually the sixth major installment in the series, and it's also widely considered one of the best. In fact, alongside Assassin's Creed II, it's the favorite of many. It's also widely considered one of the best games of its release year 2013, and a staple of the seventh console generation, aka the Xbox 360 and PS3 generation. 

Not only has the game been removed from Steam, but it's been removed from the Assassin's Creed bundle on Steam. In other words, there's no way around the game's removal that allows you to still purchase it on Steam. And this has been the case since September 7. What makes the removal even odder though is the fact that the game remains available to play on PC via the Ubisoft Store. Meanwhile, listings on other platforms have not been removed. 

It's a peculiar situation that so far Ubisoft has not commented on. If this changes, we will be sure to update the story accordingly. If it doesn't change, this may be a good indication the game's removal has something to do with the aforementioned rumored remake. 

If you do own the game on Steam, you can still download it and play it. And this includes on Steam Deck as well, however, the game is listed as "Playable" on the handheld Valve machine, not "Verified," which means it may not run on the Steam Deck very well. Or it could run just fine, but Valve has not confirmed as much. 

"The year is 1715. Pirates rule the Caribbean and have established their own lawless Republic where corruption, greediness and cruelty are commonplace," reads an official blurb about the game. "Among these outlaws is a brash young captain named Edward Kenway. His fight for glory has earned him the respect of legends like Blackbeard, but also drawn him into the ancient war between Assassins and Templars, a war that may destroy everything the pirates have built. Welcome to the Golden Age of Piracy."