One of Steam's most successful publishers is Rockstar Games. That's not a surprise given the popularity of Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2, of course. Both titles have appeared in Steam's weekly top-selling games since they released, as well as Steam's list of games with the highest concurrent player totals. So imagine how shocking it was to find Monday afternoon that all of Rockstar's games, including Grand Theft Auto 5, had seemingly been disabled from purchasing.
At several points on Monday, visiting the profile of Grand Theft Auto 5 and other Rockstar games would show that there was no longer an option to purchase the games. The profiles still existed, making clear that the games still existed on Steam's platform. However, there was no way to purchase them. Steam users began to worry that there could be a dispute between Steam and Rockstar, or that Rockstar was moving exclusivity to a different PC storefront.
A deeper look into what was happening showed that dozens of Rockstar products on Steam had been "Retired at publisher request." Rockstar's entire library appeared to be affected, including the Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, and Red Dead Redemption franchises, as well as games like L.A. Noire, Bully, Manhunt, and others. However, within 15 minutes, the games were re-listed, denoted as "Unretired at publisher request." It appeared to be a blip in the system.
Rockstar hasn't issued an official comment regarding the issue as of yet, nor has it spoken on social media. For the time being, this will likely be treated as a Steam bug that isn't worth acknowledging. Since the games are currently available and there's no indication that they'll be removed again, there doesn't seem like there's anything to worry about.
That said, there's likely to be some speculation within the Steam community that there's more to this than meets the eye. Whether that's something small, like Valve or Rockstar having to make adjustments to how purchasing works, or something big, like the possibility of Rockstar eventually leaving the platform, fans are likely to let their vivid imaginations run wild.
Regardless of what Valve or Rockstar may or may not have had to do with today's blip, everything is currently back to normal. All of Rockstar's games are currently able to be purchased. And every purchased Rockstar game has remained playable throughout the entirety of the issues on Steam. Mark this down as an oddity that likely impacted very few people and nothing more.
Source: Twitter/Lashman