Classic Steam Horror Game from 2005 Delisted Without Warning

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The game Condemned: Criminal Origins is no longer available for purchase on Steam and the Xbox Store. The removal happened without any warning or reason provided. Players who already bought the game can still access it, but there’s no current information about it being offered for sale again in the future.

The removal of the game from sale likely happened because Monolith Productions, the studio that created it, recently closed. Warner Bros. Games, Monolith’s parent company, shut down the Washington-based studio in February 2025 as part of a larger effort to reorganize and focus its resources.

Condemned: Criminal Origins Delisted After Hitting Historical Low Price

I was pretty bummed to see that Condemned: Criminal Origins got pulled from Steam and the Xbox store on October 31st. You can still see the game’s Steam page, but you can’t actually buy it anymore. It’s a little weird timing, because it was on sale for just $3.73 – the lowest price it’s been for ages, and it’s happened a bunch of times before! The sale actually started a few days earlier, on October 27th, as part of the Steam Scream 4 Fest.

Condemned: Criminal Origins Possibly Delisted Due to Routine Rights Housekeeping

When Condemned disappeared from the Steam store at the end of the month, it likely happened because of standard licensing issues, although Valve hasn’t said why. The game was originally published by Sega on both PC and Xbox, with Monolith handling development. This means the removal could be due to agreements expiring. Many industry contracts automatically renew as long as all companies involved are still operating smoothly. If one of those companies closes, the renewal might be stopped or require a new agreement. However, considering Condemned is an older game, Sega may have simply decided it wasn’t worth the cost and effort to renew the licensing with Warner Bros.

I noticed a lot of people were talking about how Fanatical still had discounted keys for Condemned: Criminal Origins even after it was taken down from Steam. But as of last night (November 1st, Eastern Time), that deal seems to be gone. It probably just meant they had a bunch of old keys left over from a previous purchase, and they were selling them off – they would’ve run out eventually anyway, even without the discount.

Man, I still think about Condemned: Criminal Origins all the time. It’s one of those games that really stuck with me – the fights were intense and super brutal, and the sound design and environments were just incredibly creepy. Back when games came on discs, it kind of flew under the radar as a horror game; everyone thought it was just a detective story about an FBI agent hunting a killer. Now, it’s considered one of the best survival horror games from the mid-2000s, which is why it’s such a bummer it’s been taken off stores. It means a lot of newer players won’t get a chance to experience a true classic.

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2025-11-02 07:36