In April 2016, developer Tecopark released the original version of Pico Park, a 2D multiplayer puzzle game that's grown into a hugely popular franchise that technically includes three games. That first version is Pico Park: Classic Edition, a simpler and smaller incarnation of Pico Park and its sequel Pico Park 2. In October 2025, the devs accidentally made the Classic Edition free-to-keep forever, planning to switch to a paid plan but forgetting they "can never go back" after flipping the switch.
"PICO PARK : Classic Edition is permanently free!" Tecopark said at the time. But the Classic Edition won't be available permanently, it seems. This Monday, the studio announced that "PICO PARK: Classic Edition will be removed from the store."
Why? "After carefully considering how to continue the PICO PARK series moving forward, we've decided to discontinue this free version," a new Steam post reads. "We’ll let you know once the exact date is set. If you've already downloaded the game, you can continue playing it. This was the very first PICO PARK game, and it celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. Thank you for everything!"
The good news is that people who already have this game in their Steam library should still be able to play it with friends. As the devs said last year, there's no server upkeep because it's all peer-to-peer, which is also why the unintended giveaway wasn't a giant financial disaster.
The bad news is that this version of Pico Park will seemingly be lost to time. Even if it is crude and short, it's still the seed of a hugely viral puzzle game series – not that video games need to meet some list of qualifiers to be worth preserving.
As you might expect, news of this removal – with the exact date of the delisting still to be decided – disappointed or angered some folks online. The post's Steam discussion replies are a chorus of threats to pirate the other Pico Park games or ignore future releases from Tecopark entirely.
I think there are some overreactions mixed in, but I understand the sentiment, especially the argument that this free offering was a great lightning rod to bring players in and push them toward the paid games ($5 for the first one, $9 for the sequel). Tecopark hasn't clearly explained the reasoning for the Classic Edition's removal.
The first reply to the post argues: "'We want people to buy the new one so we're removing the old one.' No thanks. Also for the sake of game preservation, surely you'd want this to be available for as long as possible?"
And I'm only singling this reply out because Tecopark responded to it, saying, "I totally get that point of view!" A means to address the preservation concerns, however, remains to be seen.
Pico Park is also available on Nintendo Switch, and the sequel additionally came to Xbox. Classic Edition is Steam-only, and not listed on the developer's main page at all.
