Update 29/10/21 9:50PM: The delisted games should be returning to owner's libraries now according to Oscar K, an Xbox Developer. According to him, this was first a hot issue at Xbox before being resolved. In his second post updating the situation he said,
Wanted to update the thread - these games should be starting to become visible to existing owners in their Full Library in My Games & Apps.There was no intention to remove access to these games. Apologies from the team that it happened briefly
Original story below
More than a dozen games have been mysteriously removed from the Xbox Store including Defender's Quest, JumpJet Rex, The Station, and others -- and no one seems to know why.
It's never been a better time to be an Xbox gamer. There's plenty of stuff to play thanks to Microsoft's ambitious Xbox Game Pass plans, a ton of Xbox Cloud Gaming offerings, and the monthly Games with Gold giveaways. Unfortunately, things don't always go smoothly -- over a dozen games have been mysteriously delisted from the Microsoft Store.
Missing Xbox Store Games Mystify Gamers, Developers
The list of missing Xbox Store games doesn't have many huge titles on it and there doesn't appear to be any common thread between them other than the fact that most of these titles are indie games.
Here is the current list of the missing Xbox Store games as reported by TrueAchievements:
- Cubikolor
- Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten DX
- Electronic Super Joy
- Frizzy
- Gear Gauntlet
- Gemini: Heroes Reborn
- Gemini Heroes Reborn (DE)
- JumpJet Rex
- Marble Void
- Mekazoo
- Monkey Pirates
- Mystery Castle
- Numantia *
- Past Cure
- Pix the Cat
- Q*bert REBOOTED: The XBOX One @!#?@! Edition
- SlashDash
- The Station
- Tetrobot and Co
* Delisted, but can still be downloaded by current owners.
TechRaptor Staff Writer Joseph Allen went through the list one-by-one and found that none of the above titles were showing up in the store on his Xbox Series S console. Additionally, this doesn't appear to be an issue with the specific developers or publishers; for example, Tetrobot and Co is missing, but the game Seasons After Fall from the same developer Swing Swing Submarine is still available.
We've reached out to several of the involved parties and have not yet received a response from most of our inquiries at the time of writing. Contacting many of the developers has proven to be especially challenging as many of these companies are inactive or closed down.
We did, however, receive a response from Defender's Quest developer Lars Doucet. According to him, our e-mail was the first that he's heard of the removal and he has not been contacted by Microsoft (or anyone else) on this matter as far as he can tell.
We'll update this article as we learn more about this situation. For now, you can still buy several of these games on other platforms -- you can buy Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten (DX edition) on Steam for just $4.94 or your regional equivalent as part of the Steam Halloween sale until November 1, 2021.
Have you noticed any other games disappearing from the Xbox Store recently? What's your favorite title on the list of missing games? Let us know in the comments below!
