Peter Molyneux’s Godus and Godus Wars have been removed from Steam

Godus and Godus Wars, the 2013 God game and its multiplayer sequel, developed by Fable creator Peter Molyneux‘s studio 22cans, have both been removed from Steam. While the reasons for this removal are somewhat nebulous, the developer has cited an upcoming “technical change” regarding Amazon Web Services as an explanation.

In a post on Steam, 22cans announced the removal of Godus and Godus Wars from the Steam storefront. The post states that “due to an upcoming technical change to Amazon Web Services, affecting our ability to serve necessary game files to new users, these titles are to be withdrawn from the Steam store.” If you already own the game, the developer assures that it will still be playable, however those looking to purchase it for themselves are out of luck.

Godus was intended to be a throwback/revival of Peter Molyneux’s pre-Fable game Populous. Playing as a (presumably) benevolent deity, you can sculpt your own little civilisation of worshippers as you nurture their development and react to complications like rival tribes seeking to pinch your followers. In classic Peter Molyneux fashion, the game’s potential success was undercut by its director’s astronomical degree of hyping it up that the game couldn’t possibly live up to. This included clouding the game’s reveal in a weird online competition which promised a prize which would be “life-changingly amazing by any definition“. Far from life-changing, the prize amounted to the announcement of Godus and the opportunity to be paid a portion of the game’s profits, which the competition’s winner reportedly never actually received. That Godus would then be subject to mediocre reviews and controversies regarding its monetisation model was icing on the cake.

Godus Wars was released three years later to hopefully inject some funding for 22cans following the failure of Godus, but to little avail. The developer is currently working on Legacy, a business sim utilising NFTs and blockchain technology. Peter Molyneux also teased a new project for PC and consoles earlier this year, about which the director is remaining uncharacteristically tight-lipped.

At any rate, Godus has been withdrawn from PC storefronts seemingly for good. For those looking to play the game for whatever reason, the free-to-play smartphone version is still available to download. Hopefully Peter Molyneux has learned from this experience and knows to adequately temper players’ expectations for his studio’s next project.