Eugen Systems' real-time strategy game R.U.S.E. is no longer available for purchase digitally. The game has been de-listed from Steam and Ubisoft's own storefront..
Our bold new digital future, where things can be permanently rendered unavailable by the most trivial of licensing issues. Hoorah. :P
To be honest, it still strikes me as insane that anyone is allowed to make this sort of licensing deal time-limited rather than for the life of the work, especially in this day and age where said work could continue to be viable indefinitely. I guess it made a tiny bit of sense back in the day when, for example, no one ever expected to be going back into the archives and republishing decades-old television programs. But not anymore. I mean, I get that the rights-holder for a given song or brand or whatever has a vested interest in controlling what uses it and how, but we're not talking about making new works off the same agreement, we're talking about selling the work that was already agreed upon.
This game reached my radar long after it was pulled from Steam. So I was surprised to see that Amazon had it for sale, with Steam keys. I figured I’d give it a shot, and sure enough the keys just activated and the game is in my library. Expansions, too.
So if you were disappointed that you couldn’t get this game on Steam, now is your chance to make things right.