10 Awesome Video Games You Can't Play Anymore

As much as the digital gaming revolution of the last decade-plus has made it easier than ever for small-time developers to bring their labours of love to market, the flip-side is that digital purchases will never have the sense of permanence that an actual game disc does.

And so, digital games often end up delisted or otherwise kept off the online market for one reason or another, no matter how excellent they might be. As a result, there's no easy and convenient way to play them.

At best, you're looking at buying a used physical copy, where in some cases the game's inexplicable rarity has made it a high-value item. But for the many games with an online focus, where perhaps they can't even be played offline, there's no such luck.

These 10 video games, each of them fantastic titles from an array of genres, have been denied the opportunity to hit with a whole new generation of gamers because there's no way for players to discover and purchase them with a few quick clicks, for shame.

There's always the possibility that circumstances might change for these games in the future, but you probably shouldn't get your hopes up, sadly...

The wheels came off the Driver franchise with its critically reviled third game, Driv3r, and after follow-up Driver: Parallel Lines released to mixed reviews, expectations weren't exactly high for the fifth installment, Driver: San Francisco.

But it turned out to be just the shock to the heart the series desperately needed, with its innovative Shift mechanic allowing protagonist Tanner to teleport from one car to another at a moment's notice.

The game's willingness to embrace such a ridiculous gimmick with open arms lends it considerable charm, but beyond that the vehicular physics are also the series' best. All in all, it was a major return to form after the franchise hit a debilitating speed bump with Driv3r.

But one of Driver: San Francisco's most distinctive aspects - its use of licensed cars, unlike its predecessors - may also have resulted in it being delisted in 2016, just five years after its initial release.

Ubisoft hasn't ever officially confirmed why the game cannot be purchased on any digital storefront, though it's probable that the licensing agreements for both the brand cars and 60 songs featured throughout expired.

As a result, the only way to (legally) play Driver: San Francisco is to seek out a second-hand physical copy of the console versions.

It's a depressing fate for an arguably franchise-best entry which should've restored the series' glory, especially as Ubisoft themselves claimed that it exceeded their sales targets.

Instead, more than a decade later, the series remains in unearned limbo.