After getting pulled from Steam due to technical issues, Grand Theft Auto 4 will be coming back to Steam on March 19th with some major changes.
The good of these changes is that Rockstar will be replacing Grand Theft Auto 4 and the Episodes from Liberty City with a combination of the two called Grand Theft Auto 4: The Complete Edition and players’ save files will remain compatible. The downside is that Grand Theft Auto 4’s multiplayer features, leaderboards and some in-game radio stations including Vice City FM and RamJam FM, will be unavailable. However, the radio stations will return after some licensing issues are corrected.
Grand Theft Auto 4 was originally released in 2008 on PC through the Games for Windows Live system. Microsoft no longer supports the service, discontinuing the system in 2014 which caused problems with Rockstar being able to generate additional keys for the current version of the game.
People who have purchased Grand Theft Auto 4, or Episodes from Liberty city will be able to update the game to bring it up to the current version. Here are the instructions from Rockstar:
Current Players
Players who have previously installed and played Grand Theft Auto IV or Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City will be able to update their copy to Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition through the following means:
Steam Users
Depending on the game, players on Steam will need to install or update their current game:
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City will be removed and replaced with GTAIV: Complete Edition in the launcher library. Update file size is expected to be approximately 22GB
Grand Theft Auto IV owners will download content from Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City and their game will update to GTAIV: Complete Edition. Update file size is expected to be approximately 6GB
Physical Media
Games not previously activated using Games for Windows Live will be able to use the Key on the back of the game manual to activate and update to Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition
Games for Windows Live Digital Store Purchases
Games previously activated using Games for Windows Live will require players to create and/or link their Social Club accounts in replacement of Games for Windows Live to update to Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition