this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2024
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Gaming

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TIL I can restore games on Steam, which I removed years ago (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 months ago by xelar@lemmy.ml to c/gaming@beehaw.org
13 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Silly me removed about 70 games from Steam library years ago. Today I have restored most of them via Stem support page and with purchases history.

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[–] thingsiplay@beehaw.org 43 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Yes, removed games are not really removed, just hidden. And for the reader here, we are not talking about hiding in the client. If you go to support page of game at https://help.steampowered.com/en/wizard/HelpWithGame and click "I want to permanently remove this game from my account", then its like you wouldn't own the game anymore.

Not many know you can go to same page and restore the license. It's noted that you get the same license of game than before, not a new license. I don't know why Steam has the permanent removal, if its not permanent at all. But now you know; you can restore. And that is what the user in this post is talking about.

Edit: I thought about why that maybe. It makes sense to keep the license bound to an account, so the key cannot be activated again by someone else. Otherwise people could sell their activated keys like that.

[–] Tarogar 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There are reasons for why that is possible, for better or worse.

To reverse malicious actions that may have been taken by other people that got access to the account for any reason for example.

There may even be legal reasons for why that is the case. Licensing law can be quite complicated.

And then there is the fact that if it's hidden it's effectively gone anyways and that may actually be what people actually care about. Not whether or not they technically still have that game or not. People wanting a clean library is a thing and it ties into the concept that is the right to be forgotten.

[–] CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Also, even if it was permanent, it would still be something like a permanently_removed set to TRUE in a database. License keys probably are one of those things no company truly ever deletes from their records.

[–] Tarogar 6 points 2 months ago

Yet... Ubisoft did go and "remove" the keys for the crew when they shut that one down. No one but them can really say if they actually deleted them or not. though I have my doubts with how that company has acted in recent years.

[–] averyminya@beehaw.org 12 points 2 months ago

I feel like the main reason would be money laundering prevention. It's slightly harder to create new accounts than it would be to have one account repeatedly buy, remove, and repeat for new licenses.

[–] curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The bigger issue to me are games that were removed from steam and I can no longer get.

Which is why I don't bother buying on steam anymore. If I'm buying, its DRM-free only.

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 25 points 2 months ago

I have multiple delisted games in my library that I can still download and play anytime I want. They just don't have a store page anymore.

[–] Chuymatt@beehaw.org 10 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I’ve yet to have that happen, I think. What games have you experienced that with?

[–] Midnitte@beehaw.org 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Nearly 900 games have been delisted.

There's also Fable 3, which you can't buy anymore because it used Games for Windows, which resulted in no more CD keys.

[–] blindsight@beehaw.org 29 points 2 months ago

Right, but Steam still let's people who own delisted games download and play them forever. (Well, assuming they're not live service games with no servers, but that's not a Valve problem.)

[–] thingsiplay@beehaw.org 4 points 2 months ago

I believe you can still activate keys for delisted games. Meaning if you find a shop that sells them, you might be lucky. I never did that, just read reports of this. So can't actually verify if this is true. Provided there is no additional third party launcher or activation that hinders this.

[–] Baguette@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

One example are most telltale games which still are still playable but not purchaseable (poker night at the inventory being the most recognizable for me since the associated tf2 items are also now that much harder to obtain)

[–] curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 months ago

Honestly don't remember the names, its been.... Quite a while. I'll have to open and check.

Iirc it was also some I stored as gifts that became unknown or something, and I wasn't able to send them.