GameMill Entertainment is pulling Avatar: The Last Airbender: Quest for Balance from sale at the end of December 2026, a little more than three years after the game first launched. The publisher explained the decision in a notice on the game’s Steam store page, which was first reported on 5 November. It said the game is “soon to be leaving Steam at the end of December 2026 as our licensing agreement for the title has concluded”. GameMill also told existing owners that the game “will remain in your library and will continue to be fully playable”. The news has since sent searches for GameMill’s Xbox delistings climbing in the United States, as players try to work out which versions are affected.
Which versions of Quest for Balance are being delisted?
So far, GameMill’s notice only covers the Steam version of the game. On the Xbox Store, Quest for Balance was still on sale for $49.99 on 7 November, with no warning about its removal on the listing. GameMill has not published separate dates for the Xbox, PlayStation or Nintendo Switch versions either. Because the reason given is the end of the licence itself, however, the console versions are widely expected to follow the PC release off digital stores.
That is exactly what happened with GameMill’s two Street Outlaws games, whose removal from every major storefront was confirmed at the end of October. Quest for Balance has never been part of Game Pass, unlike the games in this month’s first Game Pass wave, so buying it outright is the only way to play it on Xbox. The store does list it as cloud playable for members of Game Pass, whose pricing Microsoft is currently testing, but only for players who already own the game.
Physical copies are not affected by digital delistings, and the game was released on disc for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch. Those versions should keep working as normal, although retailers may struggle to restock them once the licence has run out. GameMill has not said whether the game’s online co-op mode will change, and its notice only promises that the game will stay fully playable for owners.
Why Quest for Balance struggled to win over players
Quest for Balance was developed by Bamtang Games and released on 22 September 2023 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. It retells the story of the original Nickelodeon series across 18 replayable chapters, with nine playable characters including Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph. Players can tackle it alone or in two-player co-op, using all four elements to solve puzzles and fight off Fire Nation soldiers. GameMill pitched it as a game made “with family play in mind” when it announced the release date in August 2023.
Reception, however, was poor from the very start. When the game was revealed in 2023, some fans compared its look to a PlayStation 2 game, according to the Spanish outlet LevelUp. Its Steam page now shows a “Mostly Negative” rating, with only 38% of 155 user reviews recommending it. The game never collected enough critic reviews for a Metacritic score, and it was still listed at its full price of $49.99 on Steam this week.
Anyone who still wants a copy has around eight weeks left to buy one. Seasonal promotions such as PlayStation’s Black Friday sale could offer a cheaper route on console, although GameMill has not announced any final discount for the game. Once it is delisted, existing owners will still be able to download it again from their libraries on each platform.
GameMill and Outright Games clear out more licensed games
Quest for Balance is not the only licensed game GameMill is removing before the end of the year. On 29 October, the publisher confirmed that Street Outlaws: The List and Street Outlaws 2: Winner Takes All would leave digital stores on 31 December, after their licensing agreements also expired. The games were made by Team6 Game Studios, which has since closed, according to GamingHQ. Street Outlaws 2 is currently 95% off on Steam at $2.49, in a promotion that runs until 11 November.
Another licensed game is leaving Steam at the same time, although it does not come from GameMill. Hotel Transylvania 3: Monsters Overboard, released in 2018 and developed by Torus Games, is also set to leave Steam at the end of December. Some reports have grouped it with GameMill’s games, but the Xbox Store listing names Outright Games as its publisher. Like Quest for Balance, it was still on sale on Xbox this week, priced at $24.99.
Delistings like these are part of the business of working with borrowed brands. GameMill, which is based in Minnesota, describes its work as bringing licensed brands to life in games, and its website shows partners including Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Mattel and NASCAR. The publisher also removed Nerf Legends from sale at the end of 2024, with only a brief statement at the time. The Avatar licence itself remains busy elsewhere, and Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game, which launched in July, is not affected by GameMill’s decision. Quest for Balance stays on sale until the end of December, and GameMill has not yet given an exact final day for any platform.
