"The War Z" release fiasco on Steam

Discussion in 'PC/Console Game Discussion' started by SuperJay, Dec 19, 2012.

  1. SuperJay Already Beat BF's New Expansion

    Location:
    A2MI
    I guess they can't outright say "This was clearly a cash-grab fraud scam that used a fictional zombie game as bait and we will have absolutely nothing to do with Hammerpoint Interactive from this point forward," huh?

    Nevertheless, I'm impressed they moved so quickly to take the game down and offer blanket refunds.
    Caya, Elyscape, BlueBean and 3 others like this.
  2. roBurky Despondent Fancybear

    When did the game first go on sale on Steam?
  3. Erik J. Hard Cider Gal

    Monday I believe.
    Elyscape, lordkosc and SuperJay like this.
  4. Jamie Madigan Armchair Designer

    My favorite part of that video is when he time lapses things so it's playing at 8X speed and the game STILL looks slowly paced.
  5. Erik J. Hard Cider Gal

    Has anyone played? Is there anything you can actually "do" or are you basically just running around an empty world they charged you for? That's what the video looked like anyway. I only ask because he said he was jumping in blind, so I'm curious to know if there was actually any way to interact with the world, or if it was just a Zombie Aquarium.
    Elyscape likes this.
  6. MightyMooquack Worked The System

    I read Valve's comment as being highly diplomatic. They're doing right by their users, and embarrassing the developers while simultaneously not burning any bridges with them. The odds seem rather good that the game will never see the light of day again (on Steam at least), but I think Valve saying "until you fix it" is the only possible response they can make. "BANNED FOREVER" wouldn't really be called for, but "FIX YOUR SHIT" seems appropriate.
    Caya, Ozzo, Elyscape and 3 others like this.
  7. Blackadar Worked The System

    Exactly. They've taken the high road for many reasons - there's no use in inflaming the users further, there's no use in Valve publicly flogging the developer and there's no use in posting something that could be used against them in a court of law. But I don't think we will ever see it again on Steam. Steam has to be livid about the massive misrepresentations of the product on the product page, the significant changes to the ToS *after* release (including trying to put in the ToS that people can't get refunds!!!), switching to a 4 hour respawn time that can only be lowered with additional purchases (again after release of the product), the massive abuse by Kewk on the Steam forums who constantly deleted negative posts while working for the publisher and some of the actions of the publisher by people trying to get refunds. Valve doesn't need the headaches or the stigma of working with these douchebags, so I think they're just giving refunds, moving on and that'll be the last time any product of theirs is seen on Steam.
    Caya, Ozzo, Elyscape and 2 others like this.
  8. Blackadar Worked The System

  9. Mandella Worked The System

    Outpost was one of the first two PC games I ever purchased. Amazingly, I continued to buy and play games (but I tend to read player reviews first now).

    Back on topic, now I know what a friend of mine was complaining about yesterday. From what he was telling me, I thought the DayZ folks had finally released their standalone game, and it sucked. Glad to hear it was some company doing a cheap knockoff, but sorry for the folks that got sucked into it.

    On the other hand, since folks like me can get them so easily confused, I feel bad for the DayZ devs who are going to lose support from all the casuals who think that WarZ is the DayZ they've been hearing so much about.

    Did that make sense? I need some coffee.
  10. Pogo Hard Cider Gal

  11. Adree Sangry Malcontent

    War Inc is by the same developers.
  12. Farnsworth Beardy Magnificence

  13. Blackadar Worked The System

    Elyscape and lordkosc like this.
  14. BobJustBob Hard Cider Gal

    Location:
    Florence, Alabama
  15. Hawkeye Fierce Keeper of the Elemental Materials

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    "Well that doesn't look TOO aw...HAHAHAHAHA."
  16. Lizard_King Already Beat BF's New Expansion

    What the hell is that water reflection? Jesus.
  17. Pogo Hard Cider Gal

    Took me a second but... that's fucking funny.
  18. Astromarine Elitist Negative Nancy

    guy sounds like a jackass, but for pure catharsis it's fun. Dude had a video in august saying this was a scam and to not buy it, he got majorly flamed for it (including by the devs). Now he posts his review:

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  19. SuperJay Already Beat BF's New Expansion

    Location:
    A2MI
    PC Gamer did a post-Steam-shutdown interview with ol' Sergey, wherein he strives to sound appropriately contrite without actually acknowledging that the game sucks. The false claims he attributes to "miscommunication" between development and marketing, but at least he's backed away from actually blaming his own customers this time.

    He gets dodgy when it comes down to microtransactions, though:

  20. SpoofyChop Armchair Designer

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    It's hard enough for developers to justify novel or unexpected micro-transactions when the game is awesome. When the game is terrible it makes it pretty challenging indeed.
    Emergent likes this.
  21. ehm ecks Armchair Designer

    RPS on the game

    It goes on like that for a while before a more measured conclusion.
  22. Bill Dungsroman Magister Mundi Elyscape

    First blaming customers, then onto marketing.

    So when will he sue a former employee
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  23. Pogo Hard Cider Gal

    I actually understand the 4 hour death timer, sort of... you don't really want someone coming back to life and going directly toward whatever gear they just lost.
    Elyscape likes this.
  24. SpoofyChop Armchair Designer

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    Yeah we already had that game...Ultima Online :D
    Elyscape likes this.
  25. Elyscape Already Beat BF's New Expansion

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    How much are The Materials Z worth, do you think? Ten dollars? Twenty?
  26. Ozzo Hatoful Pigeon

    It used to be one hour.
  27. lordkosc This Is SEWIOUS

    Location:
    Northampton , PA.
    [IMG] but of course!
    Caya, Daust and Elyscape like this.
  28. OZ 4.0 Despondent Fancybear

    Location:
    NJ
    FAIL.

    It's MaterialZ.
    dermot, Eightball, Marcin and 8 others like this.
  29. Adree Sangry Malcontent

    When you can just buy a resurrection you no longer get to make those arguments.
    SuperJay, Elyscape and Emergent like this.
  30. SqueakyFoo Keeper of the Elemental Materials

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
  31. Lokust I Pretty Much Live Here

    Location:
    Central MI
    Dunno if this is faked, but it's pretty epic

    [IMG]
    Marcin, AaronSofaer and Elyscape like this.
  32. Sarkus Hard Cider Gal

    Why if that is possible is it that everytime I was banned from QT3 I got no message at all other then that I didn't have access and then I had to email Tom to find out what was going on?
    Not One Of Us and AaronSofaer like this.
  33. Elyscape Already Beat BF's New Expansion

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    SPITE

    Or different forum software.
  34. Lokust I Pretty Much Live Here

    Location:
    Central MI
    it's a newer vbulletin than qt3, but it may be just an option between complete shitcock banning or passive-aggressive banning.
    Elyscape likes this.
  35. Elyscape Already Beat BF's New Expansion

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Which one is which? You be the judge!
    BlueBean and Lokust like this.
  36. Adree Sangry Malcontent

    Jesus guys I just read like 10 pages of a thread about this, I came here for hot angry zombie game rage
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  37. Lhowon Hard Cider Gal

    A message from Sergey if anyone is interested. It's long. It goes for penitence. It's not very interesting. You're welcome.

    SuperJay, Elyscape and Eduardo X like this.
  38. SuperJay Already Beat BF's New Expansion

    Location:
    A2MI
    That's noteworthy for all the things he doesn't say. He does go for penitent without actually sounding very sincere, one of those "I know I'm supposed to apologize but I'm not really sure what was wrong or how to fix that" apologies. How about that EULA? What's up with refunds? Did you really think you could re-tool your craptastic FPS into something vaguely resembling a zombie survival game, slap a conspicuously similar name on it and release it without anyone recognizing that you're trying to rip off Day Z?

    What's weird is that they do seem blindsided, but surely if you plan to have your company make a cynical and opportunistic move like this, you prepare accordingly. It's odd that they seem so surprised that anyone called them on their shit.
    nothings, Elyscape and Eduardo X like this.
  39. Pogo Hard Cider Gal

    700,000 players? LOLWUT
    Marcin and SuperJay like this.
  40. Elyscape Already Beat BF's New Expansion

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    In fairness, here's the quote:
    I posit that he was focused on some other small independent team. 2D Boy, perhaps, or Team Meat.
    nothings likes this.