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realaxis  [developer] Jul 30, 2014 @ 8:45am
IR Bundle Owner & Key Issue
Hello IR Bundle Owners,

Wanted to clear few things with you guys. I am not against sending keys to the bundle owner, If you remember correctly I was doing that myself over email. It is just that I can’t spend time on this kind of support process anymore, so I’ve given up!

I am completely aware of the promises I have made, and I was delivering on the same line, until we got caught into this situation.

Before making this announcement I also contacted IR, and explained them the situation. They made it clear to me that it is not possible to remove those emails from their record to whom we have already sent the keys.

More than 200 keys are already sent, now if you are saying it’s okay; Let them have another copy of the game, “I don’t agree to it”. It means you have no value to the 200 copies of my game. You might argue on the value of the product, but to me as a creator it has great value.

I have sent one more email to IR today, and requested them to help me out here. If they come out with some solution, I am more than happy to give the keys. If not then things may not change any further for us.

Let’s hope for the best.

Update 1>>>>>
That was really fast. Just got a message from IR representative.
There hopefully is a way around it

Update 2
Just got an email from the IR representative, they are going to update the accounts directly in their system, and begin distributing the keys. I don't have exact ETA on this but they said it will be soon.

So there won't be any change for those who already got the keys and installed the game in steam. For others the key will appear on their IR page soon. Please be patient.

I appreciate all helpful suggestions.

Thanks




Last edited by realaxis; Jul 31, 2014 @ 5:36am
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Showing 1-15 of 68 comments
People told you when you said to email them for a key that you should have let IR handle it in the first place. You didn't listen, you made a poor choice and now you're paying for it, either in PR and future sales or "free keys" and 200 sales.

You're continuing to make poor choices. PR and thinking about the future goes way further in business than the "now".

So we're urging you again, do a George Costanza, and do the opposite of what you think this time. It worked for him, it'll work for you. Because right now you, your game. your reputation and your company are being raked over the coals on many gaming websites, which are extremely important for indie devs, especially for word of mouth.
Last edited by 👽🐬 Old Black Nerd🐬👽; Jul 30, 2014 @ 8:52am
Originally posted by realaxis:
It is just that I can’t spend time on this kind of support process anymore, so I’ve given up!

I don't know who you are trying to fool. Generating hundreds if not thousands of keys is as easy as clicking a button. Your excuse has no merit and is again full of lies and deceit. You are beyond redemption and your reputation will continue to be destroyed until you have nothing left.

You might as well just quit the gaming industry and become Phil Fish 2.0
Last edited by Τhe Rolling Cheese Wheel; Jul 30, 2014 @ 8:53am
dgc1980 Jul 30, 2014 @ 8:54am 
lol guess all that bad publicity really got to you
:weed::whiskeybottle::cigarette:
kalirion Jul 30, 2014 @ 9:34am 
I know the exact value of a second key of a game I already own when that game has cards. It goes onto my second account for more cards.

Same with the 3rd key.

Haven't bothered creating a 4th account, so the 4th key would be trade territory.
Bubblegum Witch Jul 30, 2014 @ 10:16am 
Originally posted by The Kendrick Lamar of the Forums:
People told you when you said to email them for a key that you should have let IR handle it in the first place. You didn't listen, you made a poor choice and now you're paying for it, either in PR and future sales or "free keys" and 200 sales.

You're continuing to make poor choices. PR and thinking about the future goes way further in business than the "now".

So we're urging you again, do a George Costanza, and do the opposite of what you think this time. It worked for him, it'll work for you. Because right now you, your game. your reputation and your company are being raked over the coals on many gaming websites, which are extremely important for indie devs, especially for word of mouth.

What this person said. No matter how bad you think things are now, they will get worse if you don't honor those keys - regardless of whether or not that entails giving out a measly 200 extras. People seeing their friends playing the game and will bring awareness to it and might actually improve your sales, though at this point you'd have to perform a total about face and apologize profusely to not end up with so much bad PR that you are effectively blacklisted from the industry.

Indie games sell by word of mouth, and right now you have the worst word of mouth imaginable. If you just sit by and let yourself happen, you are damning your chances both of this game being successful and of you ever being able to make a successful game in your life. Plus, with how widely this story has spread and how much enmity there is toward you, you're running the risk of doxxing and death threats. For your own sake, you need to give people their keys. If you don't, an already bad situation will continue to spiral out of hand. If you think things can't get worse than they are now, you are so very very wrong, and I genuinely hope that you don't have to find out how bad this will be if you don't make amends immediately.
FaeDine Jul 30, 2014 @ 10:34am 
I do hope you're able to work something out with the folks at IR.

You may or may not be aware of this, but even if 200 "bonus" keys are out in the wild, that doesn't mean you've lost 200 sales. I'd bite the bullet and consider it advertising, or maybe even spin it as an "Oops, sorry for all the drama, here you go."

Something similar happened to GOG recently, where a pricing glitch caused thousands of free games to go out. They earned a lot of good will from the way they handled it[www.joystiq.com].
Last edited by FaeDine; Jul 30, 2014 @ 10:35am
Foxhack Jul 30, 2014 @ 10:59am 
200 extras? That's it?

You know that you could've sold that many copies in an hour just through word of mouth had you actually given IR the keys to begin with?

Just... argh. ;_;
shockedfrog Jul 30, 2014 @ 11:20am 
While it's interesting to hear that there might be an alternative way to handle this, as others have said, many of those extra 200 keys (and many of the bundle keys, too) don't correspond to lost sales. Many of them will likely go to people who have no intention to buy the game normally and the impact on realistically expected sales will be negligible. Some won't even be used at all. I was one of the people who got the key by e-mail and if I got a spare, I'd happily leave it unused if it's such a big deal.

These things get heated because so many games have delivered bundle keys now in one way or another, and it's difficult for players to understand why it would be difficult for a developer to do what's already been done a hundred times before. However, there's a somewhat surprising number of developers who aren't really familiar with the way the community works. Perhaps this is because they've been too busy making their game to have time for that, or perhaps it's because they're here just to do business - but the best way to do business on Steam is to understand and embrace the community.

You're not the first dev to get things wrong and won't be the last, though this situation has gotten uglier than most and some damage has been done. Still, sorting things out and making a public apology could go a long way and can hopefully turn peoples attention away from the issues and to the game itself. :)
Rzep Jul 30, 2014 @ 11:31am 
I smell bs.
G3TC4RT3R Jul 30, 2014 @ 11:52am 
You couldn't be more full of ♥♥♥♥ if you lived in a sewage pipe. Good luck with the game!
Err.. I hope you don't get death threats thats.. a bit too much... or doxxing.

Jeez.
DopeFish <°(((>< Jul 30, 2014 @ 12:37pm 
Why don't you ask Steam to invalidate those 200 keys. The game gets revoked from their libraries, but they can just grab their "legit" key from the IR page.

I'd say that's a simple solution.

Thoughts?
Bubblegum Witch Jul 30, 2014 @ 12:42pm 
Originally posted by The Kendrick Lamar of the Forums:
Err.. I hope you don't get death threats thats.. a bit too much... or doxxing.

Jeez.

If it wasn't clear, I don't want that to happen to them either. The reason I mention it is because I'm expecting it to happen, not because I support the idea. No one deserves to get that treatment. But, unfortunately, it is one of the things that frequently happens when you tick off the denizens of the Internet, and the controversy surrounding this has gotten big. I'm not even one of the people who bought the Indie Royale bundle, I have no stake here.
Last edited by Bubblegum Witch; Jul 30, 2014 @ 12:43pm
realaxis  [developer] Jul 30, 2014 @ 12:44pm 
Originally posted by DopeFish <°(((><:
Why don't you ask Steam to invalidate those 200 keys. The game gets revoked from their libraries, but they can just grab their "legit" key from the IR page.

I'd say that's a simple solution.

Thoughts?

That's actually a very good idea. Let me see if that's doable from the steam works back end.
dgc1980 Jul 30, 2014 @ 12:47pm 
If you do get it done via steamworks or support, I would suggest you email the people you have given the keys to, to inform them of the action before you proceed

:weed::whiskeybottle::cigarette:
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