Sega pulls Alpha Protocol from sale on Steam

Alpha Protocol, the spy role-playing game from Obsidian Entertainment, is no longer available for purchase on Steam. Sega, the game’s publisher, had it pulled from the storefront, according to the game’s Steam listing.

“At the request of the publisher, Alpha Protocol is no longer available for sale on Steam,” reads a message on the product page. Valve updated the listing on Wednesday morning to add the note, according to Steam Database’s change log. Alpha Protocol’s product page on the Humble Store, which also previously sold the game, is gone entirely.

Sega released Alpha Protocol in May 2010 on PlayStation 3, Windows PC, and Xbox 360. It received lukewarm reviews, but is fondly remembered these days as something of a cult classic. Sega’s decision to pull Alpha Protocol from sale had fans on forums and social media speculating that the company was preparing to remaster it. However, it turns out that Sega had to stop selling the game because it no longer has the rights to at least some of its music.

“Due to the expiry of music rights in Alpha Protocol, the title has been removed from Steam and is no longer on sale,” a Sega spokesperson said in a statement to Polygon. The rep noted that anyone who already owns the game will still be able to download and play it in the future.

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Remedy Entertainment was forced to stop selling Alan Wake in May 2017 when the rights to the licensed music in the game expired. The company and publisher Microsoft Studios were able to negotiate a new deal and bring Alan Wake back to digital storefronts, but the process took nearly a year and a half.

Sega has owned the Alpha Protocol intellectual property from the start. Eurogamer reported in 2017 that Obsidian — which pitched the project to Sega after the publisher solicited RPG ideas — was initially set to retain ownership of the IP, but was forced to sacrifice the rights in its publishing deal with Sega in order to get the contract signed.

Update (June 20): Sega clarified on Thursday that it does, in fact, still own the IP rights to Alpha Protocol — it’s the music licensing for the game that has expired. The publisher sent a new statement to Polygon, and we’ve updated the story to reflect it.