BoLS logo Tabletop, RPGs & Pop Culture
Advertisement

‘Pandemic’ Removed From Steam For “Undisclosed’ Reasons

2 Minute Read
Jan 17 2022
Hot story icon

Upon hearing Pandemic has been removed from Steam, the entire industry responded with a collective, “Yeah, that makes sense.” But why now?

The digital board game, Pandemic, has been removed from Steam, Google Play, and Apple App Store all with no official announcement. Asmodee, the game’s publisher, has requested the removal from the Steam store.

Pandemic Removed From Steam

According to reddit user /u/bad_boy-barry, who emailed Asmodee regarding the removal, they received an immediate response with the following:

Advertisement

All mention of the game has been removed from the Asmodee Digital store but it remains on the Asmodee shop for physical games, as well on the direct Z-Man Games site. PC Gamer pointed out that, by usage of Wayback Machine, they were able to confirm that Pandemic was removed from the Asmodee Digital store in December. Interestingly, the game is still available on Board Game Arena, which is owned by Asmodee.

Wild Speculation

It certainly does make sense that Asmodee would look to distance themselves from a game like Pandemic. Considering the all of the everything that has happened, it’s not a great look. Still, it does beg the question, “Why now?”.

It could have something to do with the fact that Asmodee was recently sold for $3 billion. So maybe the new owners are the ones making that call.  Obviously, we have no way of knowing. But, the game is still playable on Board Game Arena (which is a great service by the way), owned by Asmodee. BGA does require a paid membership to start a new game of Pandemic. So, the fact that Pandemic is removed from other digital stores is interesting.

If you have previously purchased Pandemic anywhere and since deleted it, you’re in luck. You can still redownload the game easily. Scroll through your profile and find the list of all your apps and previous purchases. It will be in that list somewhere for you to redownload.

Why do you think it was removed?

Avatar
Author: Matt Sall
Advertisement
  • Wheel of Time, 40K's New Rules, MTG Spoilers, D&D Level Up for FREE!