14 DAY TRIAL // Grand Theft Auto IV is one of Rockstar's most popular games, having sold millions of units since its release back in 2008. In fact, there are probably more gamers that own GTA IV than those who don't, so the following piece of news might not be concerning for too many fans of the genre.
Still, if you're looking to buy the game from Steam right now, you won't be able to do it. While GTA IV is still listed on Valve's digital distribution store, it's no longer available for purchase due to an issue caused by one of Microsoft's demised gaming services.
We're not sure how many of you still remember, but Microsoft once had a service called Games for Windows Live, which enabled Windows PCs to connect to Microsoft's Live service. Users who had unique Gamertags were able to play online, keep track of their friends' status, send and receive messages, gain and keep track of achievements and associated gamerscore, voice chat across platforms, and more.
Unfortunately, Microsoft decided to discontinue Games for Windows Live many years ago, so the last update the service received dates from six years ago. Anyway, Microsoft Games for Windows Live is a thing of the past and that's bad for Rockstar since Grand Theft Auto IV is heavily affected by that.
According to Rockstar, the game was originally created for the Games for Windows Live platform and so with Microsoft no longer supporting the service, it's no longer possible to generate the additional keys needed to continue selling the current version of GTA IV.
However, the studio said that it's “looking at other options for distributing GTA IV for PC and will share more information as soon as” possible. On a side note, the game is still available for purchase on Xbox and PlayStation, so if you absolutely must buy the game right now, you can try another platform.