10 Video Games That Were Pulled From Digital Store Shelves (And Why)

Obsidian's oft-forgotten Alpha Protocol celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2020, but players who wanted to celebrate that occasion by jumping back into the game? They had a surprising hurdle blocking their path.

This is because the game was actually pulled from Steam in June 2019, meaning that gamers who were looking to add it to their digital collection were unable to do so.

As for why it was removed in the first place, it was initially reported that Sega's publishing rights for the game had expired, but this wasn't true - Eurogamer was soon able to confirm that the issue actually revolved around music licensing.

The game contains music that Sega had licensed from the artists and companies that created said music, and so, instead of trying to renew these licenses - which would've cost the company quite a few pennies - Sega chose to pull the game from sale.

Considering that Alpha Protocol was nine years old at the time, it probably wasn't selling many copies... so it's hard to argue with that decision.