Developers of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Rockstar Games have removed the game from Steam.
"Due to some music licensing issues, we've had to temporarily remove Vice City PC from digital stores," said Rockstar in a statement. "W'll make it available again as soon as possible," Rockstar added, IGN reported.
It was reported that Vice City was taken off due to music licensing issues. "The block is from Sony Music Entertainment with the claim on a song from Michael Jackson called 'Wanna be Startin' Something' from Vice City's Fever 105 station. The content from SME and Warner Chappell has blocked the content on copyright grounds," Cinema Blend reported.
"It seems to me that the licenses should have been taken care of by now. Details are scarce, but I suppose the original license could have expired, or that the digital version of Vice City could be considered 'streaming' audio, and is thus subject to different rules," said MTV.
Players who have downloaded the game from Steam can still re-download it.
This is not the first time such issues concerned to music copyright have stopped the digital release of a game. Previously, Atlatntic Records stopped Hitman: Contracts from being released on Steam when the copyright for Clutch's "Immortal" was not renewed.
Vice City was released 2002. The game got a rating of 9.6/10 from GameSpot. The game was praised for open-ended action and re-creation of 1980s culture. The total sales of Vice City globally were 16.15 million, according to VGChartz.
The game became the best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time, July 2006. The game features dozens of characters and draws inspiration from 1980s American culture, the story revolves around Mafia hitman Tommy Vercetti, who is out from prison recently.
Vice City will hit iOS and Android this fall.
