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GTA IV disappears from Steam - Games For Windows Live support the issue
Over the weekend some weird news appeared, GTA VI would not be able to be purchased at Steam anymore. When I checked it was still available, however, things are rapidly changing globally now.
Rockstar now claims that Microsoft no longer supports the Games For Windows Live service and as such keys for GTA IV is therefore no longer possible. There have been problems with keeping Grand Theft Auto IV on digital platforms in the past. One of the main issues with the game is the soundtrack, as Rockstar Games has disabled the music in Grand Theft Auto IV in the past. There are limits to how long the licensed songs can remain in games that can be patched and fans can expect similar issues to arise with Grand Theft Auto V in the future.
Developer Rockstar has given an explanation about this to various websites, including Gamespot. According to the developer, the game was originally created for the Games For Windows Live platform. Due to the lack of support for this, according to Rockstar it is no longer possible to release keys for the current version of the game. Recently it turned out that it is no longer possible to buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV via Steam. There were speculations that this might have to do with licenses for the music in the game or the deployment of the Rockstar launcher.
The issues with Games for Windows Live might make a remake or remaster a more appealing prospect for Rockstar, in the future. Grand Theft Auto VI is likely Rockstar's highest priority project at the moment, even though CJ's voice actor has shot down the rumors about the game being in development. Grand Theft Auto IV is still loved by many fans of the series and it remains to be seen whether Rockstar is willing to put in the time and effort to get in running on Steam.
Rockstar haven’t said yet how long they expect GTA 4 to be absent from Steam.
JonasBeckman
Senior Member
Posts: 16598
Joined: 2009-02-25
Senior Member
Posts: 16598
Joined: 2009-02-25
#5750664 Posted on: 01/14/2020 06:56 PM
GTA V gets a bit fragmented by the triple story or how it branches back and forth connecting and then separating and from memory how each character is something like a different aspect of a GTA protagonist or something to that nature but I might be remembering that detail incorrectly.
Plus a lot of stuff happens as you switch back and forth or do some of the side missions and such stuff whereas Niko's little tale felt more focused though very grim or dark or how to say even within the satirical tone the games often take.
And a lot of story missions total and quite a bit of somewhat forced upon the player mechanics and various events no wonder the two side tales Balad especially is so well received cutting loose some of that.
Been years since I played through GTA IV though and GTA V I rushed through the last parts a bit though I enjoyed the various takes on the ending but GTA IV also had somewhat of a twist on things as I remember at least.
Like Niko as a character more than the trio of trouble though players could patch up and improve things a bit for some of them but then story kinda does it's thing and personality just shifts and alters with plot too at some points making it feel a bit weird or how to say but eh I might have missed some details too in those last few missions.
Also used a ton of mods for GTA IV I do remember that much, cousin let's go bowling...oh look who's banned from the bowling hall guess I can just skip that. ~
(Then things got kinda crazy with scripting and all sorts of fascinating additions beyond various tweaks and mini cheats.
)
EDIT: Could do with a replay at some point perhaps, bit of a backlog and I always kinda liked the classic 2D games before going into blocky 3D with Liberty, Vice and San Andreas not that those were bad or anything.
Then GTA IV and V became these gigantic games with a ton of stuff in them, one day perhaps.
RDR2's on the backlog as well once it's gotten some more patches at least and AMD fixes the artillery shell holes they turned the tessellated terrain feature into, very symmetrically aligned shell holes.
(Well it doesn't outright break anything other than how it looks I suppose so at least it's just a visual glitch.)
GTA V gets a bit fragmented by the triple story or how it branches back and forth connecting and then separating and from memory how each character is something like a different aspect of a GTA protagonist or something to that nature but I might be remembering that detail incorrectly.
Plus a lot of stuff happens as you switch back and forth or do some of the side missions and such stuff whereas Niko's little tale felt more focused though very grim or dark or how to say even within the satirical tone the games often take.
And a lot of story missions total and quite a bit of somewhat forced upon the player mechanics and various events no wonder the two side tales Balad especially is so well received cutting loose some of that.
Been years since I played through GTA IV though and GTA V I rushed through the last parts a bit though I enjoyed the various takes on the ending but GTA IV also had somewhat of a twist on things as I remember at least.
Like Niko as a character more than the trio of trouble though players could patch up and improve things a bit for some of them but then story kinda does it's thing and personality just shifts and alters with plot too at some points making it feel a bit weird or how to say but eh I might have missed some details too in those last few missions.
Also used a ton of mods for GTA IV I do remember that much, cousin let's go bowling...oh look who's banned from the bowling hall guess I can just skip that. ~
(Then things got kinda crazy with scripting and all sorts of fascinating additions beyond various tweaks and mini cheats.
)EDIT: Could do with a replay at some point perhaps, bit of a backlog and I always kinda liked the classic 2D games before going into blocky 3D with Liberty, Vice and San Andreas not that those were bad or anything.
Then GTA IV and V became these gigantic games with a ton of stuff in them, one day perhaps.
RDR2's on the backlog as well once it's gotten some more patches at least and AMD fixes the artillery shell holes they turned the tessellated terrain feature into, very symmetrically aligned shell holes.
(Well it doesn't outright break anything other than how it looks I suppose so at least it's just a visual glitch.)
Astyanax
Senior Member
Posts: 6597
Joined: 2018-03-21
Senior Member
Posts: 6597
Joined: 2018-03-21
#5750675 Posted on: 01/14/2020 07:22 PM
There has been absolutely no problem with GFWL and Windows 10 with this game, it has been perfectly playable, all you need is the GFWL client downloaded and to login.
Issues with GFWL come from using the bundled installer with games downloaded on steam instead of the latest
http://www.xbox.com/en-CA/Live/PC/DownloadClient
Games For Windows Live has been a reason that you couldn't play GTA IV anymore for a long time now, I didn't even know it was still purchaseable.
There has been absolutely no problem with GFWL and Windows 10 with this game, it has been perfectly playable, all you need is the GFWL client downloaded and to login.
Issues with GFWL come from using the bundled installer with games downloaded on steam instead of the latest
http://www.xbox.com/en-CA/Live/PC/DownloadClient
MonstroMart
Senior Member
Posts: 680
Joined: 2006-07-06
Senior Member
Posts: 680
Joined: 2006-07-06
#5750699 Posted on: 01/14/2020 08:46 PM
I think he said he was able to make it run but the multiplayer and whatever save feature were not working properly. From what i know GFWL still work sort of correctly on windows 7 but on windows 10 you must not rely on the default installation or else it's not working properly most of the time.
I wonder how, i've never had any issues with launching gta 4, if it was few years ago or few days ago. Actually i did install the game few days ago and launched it without issues, even logged in to gfwl. What were your exact problems with launching gta 4? I'm genuinely curious.
I think he said he was able to make it run but the multiplayer and whatever save feature were not working properly. From what i know GFWL still work sort of correctly on windows 7 but on windows 10 you must not rely on the default installation or else it's not working properly most of the time.
spectatorx
Senior Member
Posts: 808
Joined: 2012-05-24
Senior Member
Posts: 808
Joined: 2012-05-24
#5750776 Posted on: 01/15/2020 01:17 AM
Personally i've never been interested in mp in gta series. I did launch it in gta 5 once because friend asked me to do so but i didn't enjoy it and never run it again. So to clarify: yes, gta 4, 5 and all others, gta I including are working for me in their single player portion.
I think he said he was able to make it run but the multiplayer and whatever save feature were not working properly. From what i know GFWL still work sort of correctly on windows 7 but on windows 10 you must not rely on the default installation or else it's not working properly most of the time.
Personally i've never been interested in mp in gta series. I did launch it in gta 5 once because friend asked me to do so but i didn't enjoy it and never run it again. So to clarify: yes, gta 4, 5 and all others, gta I including are working for me in their single player portion.
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Senior Member
Posts: 5040
Joined: 2012-11-10
Although I own the game on Steam, I use a cracked version to avoid GFWL. BTW - this is how you get the game to run on Proton, if anyone cares.
GTA 4 was the abomination among Grand Theft Auto games , it ran like crap (ballad of gay tony ran way better already) , and it had stupid assignments like dating.
Since they already renewed the licenses of their songs (it received a patch twice) , it doesnt make sense to not remove games for windows live and still have it for sale.
They should have removed it anyways when the news was out microsoft was gonna drop the service.
BoGT ran better because they seemed to fix a memory leak, that was never fixed in the original game.
Honestly, aside from how broken the game was or doing stuff like dating or bowling with Roman, I liked the story mode of GTA4 a lot better than GTA5. Niko is kinda an idiot but the story felt more coherent and I cared more about the characters. I found the missions to be a lot more fun and memorable too.
In GTA5, I have no sympathy for Michael whatsoever (seriously, all he does is complain and talk about movies, and he's at fault for all of his own problems), Franklin's life choices don't suit his personality (he's the only playable character in the entire franchise who actually seems like a decent and responsible human being), and although Trevor is by far the most interesting character, most of his missions seem so meaningless. I find most of the missions to be forgettable, and a lot of them are just outright boring or uninspiring. GTA5 isn't a bad game by any means, but I find it the least enjoyable. Never played it online but I didn't get the game for online play.