Summary
- Spec Ops: The Line, a war shooter game known for its unique narrative and themes, has been quietly removed from the Steam storefront, leaving fans confused.
- Despite receiving positive reviews, the game was a commercial failure upon its release and only gained a cult following later on.
- The removal of the game may be due to expiring music licenses, with a lapsed license often leading to games being delisted.
Controversial war shooter Spec Ops: The Line has been quietly delisted from Steam, to the confusion of both fans and one of the game's original developers. While the war shooter never saw the same level of success as its competitors like Call of Duty and Battlefield, Yager Development brought a unique twist to the genre with the 2012 shooter. Spec Ops: The Line is notorious for its subversion of the war shooter genre, calling into question the player's in-game actions and the morality of fictional killing. Now, the Steam version of the game has mysteriously vanished.
While reviews of Spec Ops: The Line were largely positive, praising its narrative and themes, the game did not prove to be a success for Yager Entertainment. The game was a commercial failure following its launch, only later garnering a cult following among fans for its unique narrative for a war shooter. According to Spec Ops: The Line's lead writer, Walt Williams, publisher 2K had never discussed the potential of a sequel to the shooter, with members of the game's team also wanting to move on. Now, many fans may have just lost the chance to try out the controversial shooter.
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A post by popular gaming aggregate Wario64 on Twitter reveals that Spec Ops: The Line has been quietly removed from the Steam storefront. Spec Ops: The Line's page is no longer accessible through the search function on Steam, with the game's store page listing it as "no longer available on the Steam store." The removal even came as a surprise to director Cory Davis, stating that he feels Spec Ops: The Line's themes are "more relevant than ever." Many fans speculated that expiring music licenses may have led to the stealthy removal.
Controversial Shooter Spec Ops: The Line Delisted from Steam
A removal of Spec Ops: The Line for a lapsed license would not be the first time licensing agreements have led to a game's shutdown. Last year saw Gun Interactive's asymmetrical horror adaptation of Friday the 13th delisted after the license expired. Expiring licenses are one of the most common reasons for many popular adaptations being pulled from online storefronts, with games like the X-Men arcade game and OutRun 2 seeing similar fates.
While fans on Steam may no longer be able to try out Spec Ops: The Line, the game's development team continues to make news. Writer Walt Williams has been a major part of multiple recent releases from Insomniac Games, acting as co-writer on Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and the upcoming Marvel's Wolverine. Director Cory Davis would go on to join indie studio Tangent Games, helping to create the 2016 VR horror game Here They Lie as a launch title for PlayStation VR. The delisting of Spec Ops: The Line sees the removal of one of gaming's most controversial and unique stories.
Spec Ops: The Line
- Released
- June 26, 2012
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Yager Development
- Publisher(s)
- 2K Games
- Engine
- havok, unreal engine 3
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Spec Ops
WHERE TO PLAY
Spec Ops: The Line is a new original title from 2K Games that features provocative and gripping Third-Person modern military Shooter gameplay designed to challenge players' morality by putting them in the middle of unspeakable situations where unimaginable choices affecting human life must be made. Features include, a gripping, storyline reminiscent of Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness but set in a ruined Dubai, tactical squad-based Delta Force gameplay throughout a horizontally and vertically oriented world, devastating sandstorms which can be used in combat, a variety of multiplayer modes and maps, and deep support featuring two factions.
It’s been 6 months since Dubai was wiped off the map by a cataclysmic sandstorm. Thousands of lives were lost, including those of American soldiers sent to evacuate the city. Today, the city lies buried under sand, the world’s most opulent ruin. Now, a mysterious radio signal is picked-up from Dubai, and a Delta Recon Team is sent to infiltrate the city. Their mission is simple: Locate survivors and radio for Evac. What they find is a city in the grip of war. To save Dubai, they’ll have to find the man at the heart of its madness—Col. John Konrad.
