What if a dev broke a game you bought out of spite?

[Segert]

So there is a situation with a game. Im not saying which to trow any shade. But what happened here is this. The game was being updated for 4 years. But do to a fight behind the scenes with devs and the head dev. Who is the owner of the game. other devs where cut out of the company.

Then the Head dev that was the sole owner of that game. Updated the game. That broke the game for all the players out of spite. Nobody can play it anymore. It is still being sold. However. The community of 2000 players. that payed for the game. Cannot refund it obviously since it is outside the refund period.

Dev is ignoring people and banning anyone who pings him from his discord. So now a few months later. Still broken and nothing happened.

So my question is. Is there any course of action here? Where a game dev due to a disagreement with others. Decide to break a product you payed for. I feel this cant be allowed or legal. right? right?

[Chompman]

You can try placing a manual ticket to try to get a refund but it's not guaranteed.

You can reach out to steam if it's an actual issue and not just an issue on your end if it's still being sold and needs to be removed but if no one can no longer run it then this is outside of steams hands usually for a normal refund as they do not have the money past the date of the refund window.

[Segert]

引用自 Chompman：

You can try placing a manual ticket to try to get a refund but it's not guaranteed.

You can reach out to steam if it's an actual issue and not just an issue on your end if it's still being sold and needs to be removed but if no one can no longer run it then this is outside of steams hands usually for a normal refund as they do not have the money past the date of the refund window.

After the update 2000 concurrent players now 0. And everyone is complaining about it. So. i guess it is not just me. I feel it should be somekind of illegal to take something away from someone they paid for.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Contact steam support about that

[Satoru]

I’m doubtful the scenario you’re talking about exists

Not to mention a dev can simply roll back to a previous version on steam with one click

Meaning again I’m doubtful what youre talking about is a thing

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

Class-action lawsuit...

[Muppet among Puppets]

引用自 Satoru：

I’m doubtful the scenario you’re talking about exists

Not to mention a dev can simply roll back to a previous version on steam with one click

Meaning again I’m doubtful what youre talking about is a thing

It reminds me on another game. I forgot what stopped working, but one day the wheel traces were gone as well. And there was something about the code.

But it was fixed. Though the traces i think were never the same.

[Satoru]

引用自 Muppet among Puppets：

引用自 Satoru：

I’m doubtful the scenario you’re talking about exists

Not to mention a dev can simply roll back to a previous version on steam with one click

Meaning again I’m doubtful what youre talking about is a thing

It reminds me on another game. I forgot what stopped working, but one day the wheel traces were gone as well. And there was something about the code.

But it was fixed. Though the traces i think were never the same.

Now a malicious dev could 'in theory' wipe out the source code of a game

but that doesn't impact Steam's historical builds Thus the developer on Steam could simply roll back any malicious changes to a known good build with basically 1 click.

Of course future development would be jeopardized depending on the extend of the malicious act, available source code backups, etc. But for Steam users, you could just be rolled back to the last known build on Steam and be basically done.

Without a concrete example from the OP its again super suspect as to what is actually going on. For example I have seen games where a video driver update basically breaks an existing game for inexplicable reasons. So that could be happening.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

OP what the game name in question.

[Satoru]

引用自 Dr.Shadowds 🐉：

OP what the game name in question.

I get the feeling this is a drive by post and the OP is unlikely to respond

[Segert]

引用自 Satoru：

I’m doubtful the scenario you’re talking about exists

Not to mention a dev can simply roll back to a previous version on steam with one click

Meaning again I’m doubtful what youre talking about is a thing

引用自 Satoru：

引用自 Muppet among Puppets：

It reminds me on another game. I forgot what stopped working, but one day the wheel traces were gone as well. And there was something about the code.

But it was fixed. Though the traces i think were never the same.

Now a malicious dev could 'in theory' wipe out the source code of a game

but that doesn't impact Steam's historical builds Thus the developer on Steam could simply roll back any malicious changes to a known good build with basically 1 click.

Of course future development would be jeopardized depending on the extend of the malicious act, available source code backups, etc. But for Steam users, you could just be rolled back to the last known build on Steam and be basically done.

Without a concrete example from the OP its again super suspect as to what is actually going on. For example I have seen games where a video driver update basically breaks an existing game for inexplicable reasons. So that could be happening.

yeah they COULD revert the changes. However. The dev is the sole owner of the game. No one else has access. the other devs in his employ where kicked out. It was the sole dev that is the owner of the game. That broke it out of spite. Truth be told. People figure he is on the spectrum.
No one is there to push the revert update button. The person that is there refuses to do so.

引用自 Dr.Shadowds 🐉：

OP what the game name in question.

I dont want to tell. Because there is loads of toxicity and treats to this dev.(for somewhat good reason but still) I dont want to pile onto that. I can tell you it was a niche ww shooter.

[Segert]

引用自 Satoru：

引用自 Dr.Shadowds 🐉：

OP what the game name in question.

I get the feeling this is a drive by post and the OP is unlikely to respond

i dont know what a drive by post means. But i just wanted to put this here. To ask if anything can be done in such a situation. Or do people just have to accept it. It is not broken for one person. It is broken for everyone. On purpose. At least that is what everyone says. Because why push an update without notes. And the only thing that it does. Is making the game unplayable?

[Callahan420]

引用自 Satoru：

I’m doubtful the scenario you’re talking about exists

Not to mention a dev can simply roll back to a previous version on steam with one click

Meaning again I’m doubtful what youre talking about is a thing

It has happened before.
Have a read
https://steamcommunity.com/news/post/295355202034764321

The only thing you can do is report the game and yes I have seen games taken down because they were broken or not playable at all.

[Satoru]

引用自 Callahan420：

引用自 Satoru：

I’m doubtful the scenario you’re talking about exists

Not to mention a dev can simply roll back to a previous version on steam with one click

Meaning again I’m doubtful what youre talking about is a thing

It has happened before.
Have a read
https://steamcommunity.com/news/post/295355202034764321

The only thing you can do is report the game and yes I have seen games taken down because they were broken or not playable at all.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/263280/announcements/detail/597101122296308833?snr=2_9_100003_

The dev accidentally added bugs into the game. It wasn’t sabotage

Again this scenario hasn’t actually happened

The OP also continues to refuse to name the game for inexplicable reasons. The issue can be mitigated so it’s pretty much a moot point

[•ᴮᴬᴰʙᴏʏ]

Gooood

[Segert]

引用自 Satoru：

引用自 Callahan420：

It has happened before.
Have a read
https://steamcommunity.com/news/post/295355202034764321

The only thing you can do is report the game and yes I have seen games taken down because they were broken or not playable at all.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/263280/announcements/detail/597101122296308833?snr=2_9_100003_

The dev accidentally added bugs into the game. It wasn’t sabotage

Again this scenario hasn’t actually happened

The OP also continues to refuse to name the game for inexplicable reasons. The issue can be mitigated so it’s pretty much a moot point

'inexplicable reasons' I explained them. I dont want to pile on the toxic hate and death treads. Im just wondering what course of action is possible in this scenario. It is a small indie title.

This wasnt accidental. This was a disagreement between a dev. And his employees. The community sided with the employees. and the dev threw a temper tantrum. There where also death treads involved and doxxing or at least attempts to doxx. Im not going to say the name of the game or the dev here. Since it is inrelevant. and i dont want this topic to get deleted. I just want to know. What are my rights and what can i do in such a situation. Since i payed 20 euros for this game.