Oops, what happened there? Apparently, a bug at Rockstar Games led to numerous games by the GTA developer disappearing completely from Steam for a short time. All of Rockstar’s big titles, i.e. GTA, Max Payne and Red Dead Redemption, were no longer available.
Shortly afterwards, the 16 affected games were restored. However, the next mistake apparently happened here, because two games that were actually no longer available on Steam returned: the 2003 racing game Midnight Club 2 and the 1999 action game Wild Metal Country by DMA Design, as Rockstar North was called back then.
Old GTAs are back too
The very first two GTAs are also suddenly listed again on Steam, but not available for purchase. Why Rockstar did not also correct the re-listing remains unclear at this point in time.
It was different with Midnight Club 2, which appears to have been restored (and sold) even though it was not one of the games that were accidentally removed. By the time this bug was discovered and reversed, it appears that a few quick players made it to purchase Midnight Club 2. In this way, the sudden increase in the number of simultaneously active players on Steam (via Steamcharts
The full history of the events can be viewed on the data analysis website SteamDB follow up. There the terms “removed at the publisher’s request” and “restored at the publisher’s request” identify the processes.
It is now clear that it was a glitch: Rockstar Games told PC Gamerthat the action was an error.
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Midnight Club 2 – Video-Special: Multiplayer-Duell
If you’re in a retro mood, take a look at the racing duel between Heiko Klinge and Florian Stangl, which the two fought off Midnight Club 2 in the virtual streets of LA in 2003.
