War of the Worlds has disappeared from Steam following a copyright complaint involving material based on the 2005 Steven Spielberg movie, abruptly hiding a game that some survival-horror fans have been following for years.
For GamingHQ, this one hits particularly close to home.
War of the Worlds had been sitting on our own Steam wishlist for a very long time. In fact, we discovered something was wrong because a game had suddenly disappeared from that wishlist. After digging through recent Steam removals, we eventually found the missing game.
It was War of the Worlds.
Fortunately, this does not appear to be the end of the project.
Developer FlipSwitch Games says development is continuing and that the Steam disappearance is temporary. However, the copyright complaint has forced a major change: content designed to closely resemble the machines, aliens, sounds and artwork of the 2005 movie is being removed.
And perhaps the most surprising part of the story is that the developer knew this could eventually happen.
War of the Worlds Has Been Removed From Steam
The Steam store page for War of the Worlds is currently unavailable.
Steam tracking data lists the game, App ID 1898920, as removed from the store. Its Steam community pages remain accessible, but its normal store presence has disappeared.
Before its removal, the game was listed as an upcoming Early Access release developed and published by FlipSwitch Games.
It was being presented as a hardcore open-world survival horror game set during an alien invasion.
Players would have to survive while enormous alien machines hunted humanity, scavenging buildings for supplies while dealing with hunger, dehydration and potentially hostile survivors.
Multiplayer was also planned, including the possibility of playing as humans or the invading aliens.
For anyone who has followed the project for years, however, the real attraction was obvious.
It looked remarkably similar to the terrifying world portrayed in Steven Spielberg’s 2005 War of the Worlds movie.
That similarity has now become a problem.
A Copyright Complaint Triggered the Removal
According to a statement from the developer, Valve received a copyright complaint concerning material connected to the 2005 movie.
Valve subsequently made the Steam store listing unavailable while the issue is addressed.
This distinction is important.
War of the Worlds has not been permanently cancelled.
The developer says the game itself has not been removed from development, existing testers have not lost access and work on the project is continuing.
Instead, the Steam store page has effectively been hidden while FlipSwitch Games removes the disputed material.
The developer is cooperating with the complaint rather than attempting to fight it.
No, We Cannot Confirm Paramount Filed the Complaint
There is already speculation online that Paramount is responsible for the complaint.
That conclusion should currently be treated as speculation.
Paramount Pictures is strongly connected to the 2005 War of the Worlds movie and continues to list the Steven Spielberg film in its own catalogue. The game also contained designs deliberately intended to reproduce elements of that adaptation.
However, FlipSwitch Games has not publicly identified whoever submitted the copyright complaint.
In fact, the developer has specifically said it will not discuss who reported the game and has asked the community not to speculate about or target individuals.
Unless additional information becomes public, claiming that Paramount itself filed the complaint would therefore go beyond what has actually been confirmed.
What we do know is that the complaint concerns designs featured in screenshots on the Steam page that were based on the 2005 movie.
The Original H. G. Wells Story Is Not the Problem
This is where the situation becomes particularly interesting.
The underlying War of the Worlds story originated with H. G. Wells and was first published in 1898.
That old story and a modern movie adaptation are not necessarily the same thing from an intellectual-property perspective.
A developer can create its own interpretation of an old public-domain story without automatically receiving the right to reproduce original creative elements introduced by a much newer movie adaptation.
That appears to be the crucial distinction here.
FlipSwitch Games is not abandoning War of the Worlds.
Instead, it is abandoning the elements based specifically on the 2005 movie and moving completely toward its own interpretation.
The 2005 Tripods Are Going Away
This is probably the biggest disappointment for players who originally discovered the project because of its resemblance to the movie.
The 2005-inspired machines are being removed.
According to FlipSwitch Games, the affected movie designs, sounds and loading-screen artwork will not be included in future versions of the game.
Instead, the developer will use its own Tripod and alien designs.
That means the game should remain recognizably War of the Worlds, but it will no longer be the unofficial playable recreation of Spielberg’s 2005 invasion that attracted so much attention.
For some players, that is a substantial change.
The enormous Tripods from the 2005 film are among its most recognizable elements. Their appearance, movement and sound helped create an atmosphere that made the movie’s invasion feel genuinely horrifying.
Seeing something extremely close to those machines walking around an open-world survival game was consequently a huge part of the appeal.
That era of the project now appears to be over.
The Developer Actually Prepared for This Years Ago
Here’s where the story gets much more complicated.
This copyright problem did not arrive completely unexpectedly.
FlipSwitch Games was discussing the possibility of copyright trouble as far back as 2023.
The developer openly acknowledged community concerns about its use of machines that were extremely close to those appearing in the 2005 film.
At one point, the developer described a newly created Tripod as a virtually 1:1 recreation of the movie machine.
That alone illustrates how closely the project was attempting to replicate the film.
A Backup Tripod Was Created Because of Copyright Concerns
By February 2023, FlipSwitch Games was already developing an original Tripod design specifically as a backup.
The reasoning was remarkably similar to what has now happened.
The developer explained that the replacement machine could be used if licensing efforts failed or if the team was told it could no longer use the movie-inspired design.
In other words, FlipSwitch Games had a Plan B.
And that Plan B is now becoming the main game.
The original design was intended to maintain the frightening biomechanical style that fans enjoyed while being sufficiently different from the movie version.
More importantly, the developer designed it so existing animations and AI could continue to work without requiring the entire Tripod system to be rebuilt.
That preparation could now prove extremely valuable.
FlipSwitch Games Previously Wanted an Official License
The developer also previously discussed trying to obtain official licensing.
That apparently never materialized.
In its statement following the Steam removal, FlipSwitch Games acknowledged that licensing a major movie property was not realistically achievable for a team of its size.
The developer has therefore chosen not to dispute the complaint.
Instead, the affected material is being removed.
That is probably the fastest path toward getting the game back onto Steam.
The Warning Signs Were Public
Looking back through the project’s development history makes the current situation even more striking.
FlipSwitch Games previously acknowledged that the 2005 machines could potentially cause problems.
The team said it understood that War of the Worlds itself could be adapted while the movie’s specific machine designs could still belong to the relevant rights holders.
That is exactly why the alternative Tripods were created.
The game’s own Steam FAQ also previously addressed copyright concerns, stating that precautions would be taken to prevent the project from being taken down, including the existence of the backup Tripod.
So this wasn’t an obscure legal possibility nobody had considered.
It was a known risk.
The Movie-Accurate Tripods Continued to Exist Anyway
Despite those precautions, movie-accurate machines remained part of the project.
In 2024, community discussions again raised copyright questions after players noticed different Tripods and sounds.
At the time, information shared through the Steam community indicated that the 2005-style Tripods had not been removed.
Players could apparently choose between the movie-inspired machines and the developer’s original design.
The original design was positioned as the default, while the movie-inspired version remained available as an additional option.
That arrangement has now changed.
Following the copyright complaint, FlipSwitch Games says the 2005 designs are being removed from future builds entirely.
They Won’t Officially Be Available as a Mod Either
There’s another important detail.
Players might immediately think that FlipSwitch Games could simply remove the copyrighted material from the base game and let players download it separately.
That doesn’t appear to be the plan.
The developer says it will not distribute the removed 2005 designs.
Future modding support remains planned, but FlipSwitch Games itself will not provide those assets.
Older testing builds that already contain the movie-inspired content are a different matter. Existing testers aren’t having those historical builds remotely taken away.
Going forward, however, the official game is moving toward original designs.
Existing Testers Still Have Access
Players who already have testing access have not lost it.
FlipSwitch Games says the Steam issue affects the store listing rather than existing tester access.
Development builds will continue to be updated, although future versions will reflect the removal of the disputed content.
The developer has temporarily paused new Patreon tester sign-ups while the situation is being resolved.
That is arguably a sensible decision.
Accepting additional payments for access while the game’s public Steam presence is caught in a copyright dispute would create even more confusion.
The Game Is Not Being Sued Out of Existence
It is also important not to exaggerate what happened.
According to FlipSwitch Games, there is currently no lawsuit.
The developer describes the situation as a complaint involving the Steam store listing.
Valve removing or hiding a Steam page after receiving a copyright complaint does not by itself establish that a court has found the developer guilty of copyright infringement.
FlipSwitch Games has simply decided not to contest the matter.
Instead, it is removing the material concerned and attempting to get the Steam listing restored.
There Is Currently No ETA for the Steam Page
FlipSwitch Games has not provided a date for the game’s return to Steam.
The developer says it is communicating with Valve and will restore the listing once the necessary changes have been completed and accepted.
That means players searching Steam right now may simply find that the game has vanished.
This is particularly confusing for people who previously wishlisted it.
Some Steam users have already reported noticing an unavailable or missing entry in their wishlists without immediately knowing which game disappeared.
We had exactly the same problem.
Yes, This Was the Game Missing From Our Wishlist
This entire story became considerably more interesting to us because War of the Worlds wasn’t just another random Steam game.
We’ve been waiting for it.
For a long time.
When our Steam wishlist suddenly appeared to be missing a game, there was no obvious explanation of what had disappeared.
After going through recent Steam removals, we found the culprit.
War of the Worlds was gone.
That discovery is frustrating because this is exactly the sort of unusual survival project that has kept our attention throughout its lengthy development.
Instead of another conventional zombie survival game, War of the Worlds promised something different: being an ordinary survivor caught underneath towering alien machines capable of wiping you out in seconds.
The game didn’t need to make the player an unstoppable hero.
Surviving was supposed to be the achievement.
Development Has Already Taken Years
The copyright problem also comes at an awkward point in the project’s history.
SteamDB records show War of the Worlds appearing on Steam as far back as February 2022.
Its release date nevertheless remained “To be announced.”
Development has gone through numerous changes, rebuilds and delays since then.
In January 2026, FlipSwitch Games published another major development update explaining that the project remained alive and that development had returned to a more active state.
The December 2025 tester build had introduced multiplayer alongside changes to movement, atmosphere, AI, performance and other systems.
The developer said hundreds of bugs and optimization problems had also been addressed.
2025 Was Particularly Slow
FlipSwitch Games also explained why development had slowed considerably during part of 2025.
Lead developer Raf entered the FDNY Fire Academy in January 2025, which required months of full-time commitment.
After graduating and settling into the new career, active development reportedly resumed around June.
The January 2026 update was effectively intended to demonstrate that the project had not been abandoned.
For players who had already been following the game for several years, that provided some reassurance.
Now another major obstacle has appeared.
Multiplayer Had Finally Arrived for Testers
The timing is especially unfortunate because development appeared to be making meaningful progress again.
Multiplayer was introduced to testers in version 0.9.1 in December 2025.
The update also included new weapons, equipment and tools alongside substantial improvements to the game’s atmosphere.
Lighting, fog, weather, clouds and effects had been overhauled.
Character traversal had expanded with swimming, parachuting, hang gliding and climbing.
Alien AI had also received additional work.
Underneath everything, optimization work was being performed on terrain, physics, shadows, level-of-detail systems and scene loading.
It sounded like the project was finally moving closer toward the Early Access release players had been waiting for.
Now the Visual Identity Has to Change
The copyright complaint doesn’t necessarily destroy any of those systems.
The survival mechanics still exist.
The map still exists.
Multiplayer still exists.
The AI, inventory systems, exploration and other underlying mechanics can continue.
But the visual identity of an alien-invasion game matters enormously.
For many followers, the sight of those towering 2005-style Tripods was War of the Worlds.
Removing them may therefore feel considerably bigger than swapping one enemy model for another.
FlipSwitch Games now has the difficult task of convincing players that its own machines can create the same sense of terror without relying on the Spielberg movie’s designs.
Original Designs Could Ultimately Be Better for the Game
There is, however, another side to this.
Moving away from the 2005 movie could finally give War of the Worlds its own identity.
Instead of permanently existing in the shadow of Spielberg’s adaptation, FlipSwitch Games can build something recognizable as H. G. Wells’ alien invasion while developing its own machines, aliens and sounds.
That also removes a massive cloud hanging over the project.
The possibility of copyright trouble has apparently existed for years.
If the Steam page returns with entirely original assets and those assets remain the foundation of the project, players should no longer have to wonder whether the game could suddenly disappear because one of its most important creatures looks too much like something from a Hollywood movie.
Ironically, this setback could therefore make the project more sustainable.
But This Could Have Been Avoided Earlier
At the same time, it is difficult to ignore the project’s own history.
The copyright concern was already being discussed in 2023.
An original Tripod was specifically created as a backup.
The developer openly recognized that the 2005 movie designs presented a potential problem.
Years later, that potential problem has become real.
From that perspective, the safest route would have been to move completely to original assets much earlier.
Doing so might have disappointed fans of the movie-inspired Tripods, but it could also have prevented the Steam listing from disappearing in the first place.
What Happens to Wishlists?
FlipSwitch Games says it does not expect players to permanently lose their wishlist entries.
According to the developer, Steam keeps wishlist associations while a page is temporarily unavailable.
That said, the experience can certainly make it appear that something has disappeared.
Players have reported finding an unavailable game in their wishlist and struggling to identify it.
If you’ve recently noticed a mysterious missing or unavailable game yourself, War of the Worlds may very well be the answer.
When Is War of the Worlds Coming Back?
Right now, nobody knows.
FlipSwitch Games isn’t providing an estimated date.
The process requires removing the affected material, replacing Steam store assets and communicating with Valve regarding restoration of the page.
The developer says it will announce further information when there is something concrete to share.
Until then, the Steam store page remains unavailable.
War of the Worlds Is Still Alive
That’s ultimately the most important takeaway.
War of the Worlds has disappeared from Steam, but the game itself has not been cancelled.
Existing testers retain access.
Development is continuing.
The original Tripods are ready to replace the movie-inspired machines.
Multiplayer and the wider survival systems aren’t being abandoned.
The project simply won’t be able to continue using the 2005 movie as closely as it once did.
For players who primarily wanted a playable version of Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, that’s undeniably disappointing.
For everyone who has been waiting years simply to see this ambitious survival game finally reach Early Access, however, there is still hope.
GamingHQ’s Take
This one hurts more than the average Steam delisting.
We’ve personally had War of the Worlds sitting on our wishlist for a long time, waiting for the day when we’d finally get to properly jump into its alien-infested world.
Finding out that it was the mysterious game that had disappeared from our wishlist wasn’t exactly the update we had been hoping for.
At the same time, we’re glad this isn’t an obituary for the project.
FlipSwitch Games already has original designs available, development is continuing and the developer appears to be cooperating rather than turning the situation into a lengthy fight.
We would much rather play War of the Worlds with redesigned Tripods than never play it at all.
But after years of waiting, another obstacle between the game and its Steam Early Access launch is frustrating.
Hopefully this is the copyright problem finally being dealt with once and for all.
Get the disputed material out.
Get the Steam page restored.
Keep developing the game.
And please, after all these years, let us finally play the damn thing.
