Starsand Island is a cozy game that was recently released back on February 11, 2026, for the PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. It had good reviews and pretty much made some good money. However, it has an issue when it comes to Steam, as the game was removed.
Why was the game removed from Steam?
According to the image above, the primary reason was that there was UNAUTHORIZED CONTENT in the game (more on that later). So, due to Steam’s policies, the game has been removed for the time being. If you already bought and own the game, you still have it. Players can access the game with no issues. It’s just now; there are no new copies for sale until the matter is solved.
The Tetris situation
The actual reason the game was removed was that it had a mini-game version of TETRIS. That’s right, the same Tetris that we all love, apparently, they were not allowed to make their version of it. The company that owns the copyright to Tetris is very strict about this; other companies can create their version of Tetris. You can’t blame the company that owns the copyright to Tetris if they want to protect its IP.
However, doing a 1-to-1 copy of the game is a big no. In Starsand Island, their version of Tetris is pretty much the same as the original one. There are no variations to it, which is why they got into trouble, and the game had to be removed entirely from Steam.
Why was it only removed on Steam?
We don’t really know why, but we can assume that the other platforms, like Sony or Microsoft, and even Nintendo, got the notice but have yet to act. These other platforms may have different approaches when it comes to these things. Valve takes these things very seriously, which is why they had to make the devs remove the game. Maybe the game gets removed on the other platforms, but things are looking a bit bright.
Potential comeback
This is just a minor setback, as the devs have already made attempts to change or remove the Tetris mini game from the arcade. They haven’t set a sure date for the game’s return on Steam. If it does get reinstated, then possibly the versions for other systems get changed as well, to avoid the conundrum of being removed from other platforms.
The devs have assured that those who own the game will have their updated versions as well. They may have to download some new files to change the content, but it is necessary. Then, it might bring forth the return to Steam.
In Closing
All we can do now is wait until the devs release the patched or new version of the game. It’s just the Tetris part that caused this whole debacle. Once they remove it, you can purchase your copy today. Plus, the devs said that they’ll be giving out free DLC to current owners and new players when they buy their copy of the game. This is just an unfortunate situation overall.
