So they pull a The Day Before on us

[Muted]

Uh they essentially took our money, found that they can't get their ♥♥♥♥ together, posted a sappy yet generic and hollow corporate apology on X/Twitter saying that they can't work on the game full time, only on a volunteer basis, which translates to rarely or never, and bailed. Oh, they WILL work on it again IF the game becomes profitable again...which isn't going to happen because you've abandoned it???? What kind of ass-backwards logic is that? At least Fntastic of The Day Before gave us refunds for their ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game. You guys are worse then.

[Nerathul]

FNtastic didn't give a refund, Steam forced it. But yes, this game was clearly a scam.

[Blehh.....]

Wait, whats this? This is news to me....

[Raymond]

the game is only 14 dollars. Steamcharts say there are only 600 players peak with 21k people buying the game, that means they raised at most generous estmation 294k USD. Considering a fulltime job is 48 hours a week and minimum wage is $16, those money would only enough to feed a small group of 5 developers to work for over a year, on MINIMUM wage. The game is released in May 2023, it's been over years and the game barely have 4 daily active players, it seems like devs legitimately ran out of cash and have to take up odd jobs to keep their studio running.

The game fail cause hardly anyone paying for it. That's just the fate of EA game.

[Oscar.M]

They say the problem is that they wanted to cover the fixes at the same time on console and pc, instead of focusing on pc, having a more stable version and then moving it to consoles. This chaos is seen to have involved more expense than normal and meant that no version was ever quite right (perhaps except at the end).

Then it was also a problem that the game came out of its EA too quickly, and in the supposed final version it lacked more content.

[Joe]

Originally posted by Raymond:

the game is only 14 dollars. Steamcharts say there are only 600 players peak with 21k people buying the game, that means they raised at most generous estmation 294k USD. Considering a fulltime job is 48 hours a week and minimum wage is $16, those money would only enough to feed a small group of 5 developers to work for over a year, on MINIMUM wage. The game is released in May 2023, it's been over years and the game barely have 4 daily active players, it seems like devs legitimately ran out of cash and have to take up odd jobs to keep their studio running.

The game fail cause hardly anyone paying for it. That's just the fate of EA game.

People might pay for it if it was actually worth any money. Unfortunately though, that's not the case.

[Kaezeribato]

Originally posted by Raymond:

the game is only 14 dollars. Steamcharts say there are only 600 players peak with 21k people buying the game, that means they raised at most generous estmation 294k USD. Considering a fulltime job is 48 hours a week and minimum wage is $16, those money would only enough to feed a small group of 5 developers to work for over a year, on MINIMUM wage. The game is released in May 2023, it's been over years and the game barely have 4 daily active players, it seems like devs legitimately ran out of cash and have to take up odd jobs to keep their studio running.

The game fail cause hardly anyone paying for it. That's just the fate of EA game.

So they had the money to work on the game, they just decided to work on something else because they made more money...
Almost all indie dev who made succefull game decided that it was worth getting a really low wage for a few year if it meanmaking a good game.

The reason no one brough this game was mainly because they never updated it. Had they worked on it they would have gotten more customer.

[Minnvin]

from what I understood it was the publish that made the choice not the devs, game wasn't making enough money so they pulled the team to work on something else, I believe that what they said on the discord

[Oscar.M]

Originally posted by Minnvin:

from what I understood it was the publish that made the choice not the devs, game wasn't making enough money so they pulled the team to work on something else, I believe that what they said on the discord

The terrible thing is that this happened in the middle of a major content update, which I feel was left half done, being in the publibeta.

[Muted]

Originally posted by Minnvin:

from what I understood it was the publish that made the choice not the devs, game wasn't making enough money so they pulled the team to work on something else, I believe that what they said on the discord

They would have made more money if they worked on it. Like, actually worked on it and did meaningful sh*t (like fixing the crappy settler AI for instance) instead of just sharting out a few mediocre updates and calling it a day. I mean ffs the game could've been as big as Starbound or even Terraria. Now whether it's the devs being incompetent or the publisher being an asscrack, something clearly went wrong and it still a sore point for me even after 5 months since I posted this thread.

[Kamo Kraken]

Originally posted by Nerathul:

FNtastic didn't give a refund, Steam forced it. But yes, this game was clearly a scam.

Since online conversations don't convey visual clues, I'll start this off with: none of what I say is meant to excuse devs/publishers. Rather, it is what I assume to be the driving factors behind what is going on.

Since other publishers have been forced into refunds ... I bet you behind the scenes every publisher who's got a dud on their hands is EXTRA careful not to fall into that same trap. They'll look very closely at how they communicate their "progress" to their customers. And in many instances, it looks like they decide "if we say nothing, it cannot be used against us".

Also, being able to convey negative facts in a way that won't get you torn to bits by your audience is a rare skill. One, I think, many devs seem to lack (I think I remember reading that there's actually a negative correlation between social skills and STEM affinity ... not always, but often enough). How often have we seen much bigger projects stumble because of the creative minds behind it are a bit ... hm ... too literal minded?

And then there's probably a hefty amount of being in a state of denial. Most people are pretty decent and don't intentionally scam others (and in this regard I disagree with above quote; I don't think this was "clearly a scam"). When you still end up in a position where it becomes clear you can't keep your word, it is excruciatingly difficult to fess up. Much easier to pretend that "if I just do this one thing, wait a bit longer, then things will turn out fine".

... again ... to be very clear ... none of the above makes what's happening with this game okay. Every single point I listed could have been addressed better and wasn't.

But that's the risk we take by buying an unfinished product. And Steam is very clear on that, too. Like any investment, it's a bit of a gamble. And as long as I don't see clear evidence that an EA was always meant as a cash grab and then make a run for it, I can't be too mad at the devs/publishers. I, of my own free will, made the informed decision to risk a certain amount of money on the chance of eventually getting a great game.

This time, it looks like I misplaced my bet. And it's not the only time ... but it is one of comparatively few instances and for all the rest, it paid out. I got Dave The Diver in EA, for example, and I'm so glad I did. Way back when (before you could even buy it on Steam) I got Factorio ... and that was another great investment. And so on.

I'll keep on buying EA. I'll keep on getting burned every so often. And I'll effing do it again ;) Because the payout is oh so worth it.

[blarging2000s]

Originally posted by Raymond:

the game is only 14 dollars. Steamcharts say there are only 600 players peak with 21k people buying the game, that means they raised at most generous estmation 294k USD. Considering a fulltime job is 48 hours a week and minimum wage is $16, those money would only enough to feed a small group of 5 developers to work for over a year, on MINIMUM wage. The game is released in May 2023, it's been over years and the game barely have 4 daily active players, it seems like devs legitimately ran out of cash and have to take up odd jobs to keep their studio running.

The game fail cause hardly anyone paying for it. That's just the fate of EA game.

Does this factor in Steam and publisher's cut?

[Ez2kL]

Oh, very nice of Steam to put this game up on the front page as a mid week sale, when from the sound of these comments the product is dead. Glad I'm only out $4.00, but still.

[Lainers]

I don't think it is a scam. Just the fate of another EA game that ran out of money. Too many good ideas ruined by the lack of good management.

[Oscar.M]

Originally posted by Lainers:

I don't think it is a scam. Just the fate of another EA game that ran out of money. Too many good ideas ruined by the lack of good management.

If it had been a scam, I think they wouldn't have said anything in the end, so yes, I agree that it's not a scam.

[fr0]

Originally posted by Kamo Kraken:

Originally posted by Nerathul:

FNtastic didn't give a refund, Steam forced it. But yes, this game was clearly a scam.

I'll keep on buying EA. I'll keep on getting burned every so often. And I'll effing do it again ;) Because the payout is oh so worth it.

The problem is this one was out of early access and was marketed as a 1.0 product despite clearly not being anywhere close to ready.

That is why it’s being labeled as a scam.