Last call for Forza Horizon 4: It's being removed from sale in 2 days, so get it while you can

A car driving through the UK — (Image credit: Microsoft)

The excellent and not-very-old racing game Forza Horizon 4 will disappear from Steam in just two days, so if you want it, you'd best make your move now. Luckily, "now" is a good time, because it's currently 80% off the regular price, meaning you can snag it for just $12/£11/€14.

You might naturally wonder why Forza Horizon 4 is being pulled from sale, not just on Steam but all digital storefronts. It only came out in 2018, after all, it's very well regarded—we called it "worth enduring the pain of the Microsoft Store" in our 89% review, and that's not nothing—and it still has a healthy player base, with a peak concurrent player count of nearly 44,000 today on Steam alone. That doesn't sound like a game whose time has come.

The reason for the takedown is one we've seen before: expiring license agreements. Simplistically, developers sign deals to use real-world objects and music in their games, but those deals are often not perpetual, meaning that after a certain number of years the right to use that stuff disappears. That leaves developers and publishers with choices: Negotiate a new deal, remove the no-longer-allowed content, or say, "Hey, we had a good run," and pull the plug.

In 2012, for instance, Rockstar removed GTA: Vice City from sale because of expiring music licenses, although it eventually came back. Earlier this year, 2K pulled the excellent Spec Ops: The Line for the same reason, and the odds of it coming back are basically zero. Alan Wake ended up in a weird situation where it has two different ending songs, depending on which version you own: David Bowie's Space Oddity was cut from the original release in September, but remains in Alan Wake Remastered.

Licensed music can be a real boon for games. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, for instance, wouldn't be the game it is without Chiasm, Lacuna Coil, and Darling Violetta. But examples where it does more harm than good are plentiful: We lost two of the best racing sims ever in 2022 because of expiring licenses, and they're just gone, beyond the reach of anyone who didn't buy them prior to the takedown and doesn't particularly want to resort to dodgy key resellers or less-than-legal means.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.