Featured Image Credit: Ella Don via Unsplash
It turns out that your Steam library may be worth more than you think it is.
While physical gaming is still going strong on consoles, PC gaming has basically adopted a digital-only model since the early 2010s.
Sure, you can get DRM-free versions of games that can work without a launcher, but if that game gets taken down for sale, new buyers are out of luck. That’s a problem you don’t really get with physical copies.
This is a process known as “delisting”, where a game is taken down from a digital storefront because of expired licences, developers being shut down, or it being considered obsolete due to a new remaster coming out.
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If a game gets delisted, it’ll no longer be available to buy, but those who have already purchased it can still access the game in their library.
They can continue to download and enjoy it without any issues. There's some common games here that are going for an absolute fortune, including some I actually own?
Once a game becomes unavailable to purchase legitimately on Steam, keys for that game promptly skyrocket in price on third market resellers.
When there are only a limited number of keys left, they suddenly start becoming a lot more valuable.
If you’ve been on Steam long enough, it’s likely that your own library has at least a few delisted games on there.
I’ve checked my own account, and I have games like Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition, Fable 3, and Driver: San Francisco on there, which were all delisted sometime in the 2010s. In fact, I've noted before how ridiculous it is to try and play the Fable series on PC.
Looking on third market resellers, Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition Steam keys now go for around £650, while Fable 3 keys hover around £150 and Driver: San Francisco keys are around £118.
This will massively drive up the value of your Steam account.
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Looking at these prices makes me a little sad.
While Dark Souls can be played via the remastered version that was released in 2018, and Fable 3 is still accessible on console, PC players are going to struggle to access the original versions of these titles.
In a similar way, I’m sad there are a few games on Steam that I’ve always wanted to own, but were delisted before I could grab them.
The Activision James Bond games, for example, which includes the likes of Blood Stone and 007 Legends, were delisted at the end of 2013, around two months after I made a Steam account. Feels bad.
