The digital version of the board game Pandemic disappeared from Steam on January 6th after being quietly delisted. And it will be pulled from other digital storefronts throughout the year and its publisher, Asmody, hasn’t explained why beyond a vague statement why the game is “being removed for a number of reasons that [it] cannot disclose.”
As spotted by Gamer on PC, Pandemic was pulled from Steam on January 6th without warning or warning. On Steam, the game’s store page says it has been removed “at the request of the publisher.” It also appears to have been removed from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. If you’ve already purchased the game, you can still install and play it on Steam and mobile, but Pandemic can no longer be purchased by new customers.
A Reddit user sent publisher Asmodee an email regarding the removal of the game and received a message purportedly confirming that it was indeed pulled from Steam and was being removed from other platforms as well.
“First of all, we would like to thank you and all Pandemic players for your loyalty and long-term support. Unfortunately, we push the pandemic application out of stores. We have worked hard on the pandemic for 4 years and removing it from the shops was not an easy option. This decision was taken with a heavy heart for several reasons which we cannot disclose.
For now, only PC, the App Store, and Google Play have been removed. The Microsoft version will follow on January 31, 2022, then the Nintendo Switch through the end of July 2022.
Kotaku contacted Asmodee about the pandemic and why it was removed from the Steam and mobile stores.
Looking at the company’s website, it seems that any mention of the epidemic was removed from it. As Gamer on PC pointed out, using Return Machine you can see that the game was taken down from the publisher’s site around December last year.
There is a version that appears to be immune to radiation, at least for now. In the safe board game arena, the site owned by Asmodee, you can still play the digital version of Pandemic with other players for free. But it is possible that at some point in the near future this version will be removed from the list for “reasonable reasons”.
“For now, only PC, the App Store, and Google Play have been removed. The Microsoft version will follow on January 31, 2022, and then the Nintendo Switch through the end of July 2022.”
If you already own the game, you can still download it.
“With respect to the game, as long as it has been purchased and downloaded prior to removal from the Store, you will have access to the game,” Asmosdy explained. “If you uninstall the game, you will need to access your library to find and install the game again.”
Pandemic ranked as our second favorite on our list of the best board games of 2021, and we also gave it five out of five stars in our Pandemic board game review.
“If you haven’t tried the Pandemic board game before, you need to address this immediately,” we said at the time. “While it’s taken on a new edge for obvious reasons, it’s one of the best board games ever.”
Here are our picks of the best card games, best board games and best tabletop RPGs right now.
The digital board game version of Pandemic has disappeared from Steam after being quietly removed on January 6. And it will be removed from other digital storefronts throughout the year. Its publisher, Asmody, has yet to explain why beyond a vague statement why the game is being removed “for a number of reasons that [it] cannot disclose.”
As spotted by PC Gamer, Pandemic was removed from Steam on January 6 with no warnings or heads up. The game’s store page on Steam says it was removed “at the request of the publisher”. It appears to have been removed from the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. If you have already purchased the game you can still install and play it on Steam and mobile, but Pandemic can no longer be purchased by new customers.
A Reddit user emailed publisher Asmody about the game’s removal and received a message that reportedly confirms that it was indeed ripped from Steam and was being removed from other platforms as well.