Micro Machines spiritual successor Toybox Turbos delisted on Steam

Without warning, Toybox Turbos has been quietly removed from Steam.

Developed by Codemasters and released in 2014 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Toybox Turbos was a spiritual successor to the classic top-down Micro Machines games where you raced tiny cars around gigantic environments littered with obstacles, from kitchen tables to science labs.

Manic multiplayer matches allowed players to attack each other with weapons, from mines to machine guns and giant car-mounted hammers in a throwback to Micro Machines.

It was also backwards compatible with Xbox One and Stam Deck Verified. The PC version even offered VR support for the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 in a post-launch update.

Spotted on Reddit, the delisting comes as a surprise, with no official announcement from Codemasters or EA at the time of writing. “Toybox Turbos is no longer available on the Steam store,” a notice reads on the game’s Steam page.

Before it was removed from Steam, Toybox Turbos was removed from the PlayStation and Xbox digital stores in 2021 and 2022, respectively, according to Delisted Games.   

Luckily, you can still access Turbo Turbos in your game library if you bought it before it was delisted.  With no physical release, Toybox Turbos can no longer be purchased on any platform, once again highlighting the issue of digital game preservation. It’s a shame newcomers will miss out on this forgotten racing game gem.

Racing games are often delisted due to expiring car licenses – Forza Horizon 4 is a recent example of this. This isn’t the case for Toyobox Turbos, though: there are no real-world cars or Micro Machines branding, so it’s unclear why it’s been delisted. 

Codemasters would follow up Toybox Turbos with a Micro Machines mobile game and Micro Machines World Series for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The latter was later delisted and criticised for its lack of single-player campaign.

While there have been no new Micro Machines games since World Series, Toybox Turbo’s designer, Tom Goodchild, went on to create Make Way, a multiplayer-focused party racer that’s considered a spiritual successor to Toybox Turbos.

Last week saw Make Way receive a substantial update increasing the player count from four to six, while also adding new cars and more event customisation options.

Toybox Turbos was delisted this month alongside five other titles published by Codemasters and EA, including Damnation, Hospital Tycoon, Maelstrom: The Battle for Earth Begins, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and Rise of the Argonauts.

Are you disappointed to see Toybox Turbos disappear from Steam? Do you have fond memories of playing the Micro Machines-inspired racer? Let us know in the comments below.