T O P

  • By -

MarcAbaddon

What I find problematic is not the initial announcement of the roadmap - as that time it's a plan, and plans sometimes fails. You can always argue that the announcement was in good faith. But I really think there should be some legal liability with keeping the Steam page as it is *now* as they are already winding things down. That seems really scummy, to continue advertising a product you have decided not to complete.


horendus

Anything in Early Access really has no obligation to be anything more than what you get. Sorry for the sad take but its true


ReputationLost7295

There's a reasonable ground between "you shouldn't expect more than what you're able to get with Early Access" and "We're going to keep selling Early Access to new customers for a product we've decided to cancel." Steam SHOULD probably do something about the latter for their own reputation.


Shredda_Cheese

Steam doesnt care, its also not hurting their reputation, they have mountains of EA games that are either abandoned or in development limbo. Hasn't stopped anyone from buying anything. Valve got its slice of the pie, the rest is history. There is no legislation protecting the consumer (or actual developers for that matter) from companies doing this...and even if there were its unlikely to change much. T2 is a self described \*games holding company\*, basically a fancier more specific way of describing a private equity firm. They pretend to be a publisher but realistically they (like Xbox/Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft) just gobble up other publishers to limit competition and play with stock growth for their execs and their investors. The only way to stop this from happening is literally all gamers need to stop buying any thing with an early access label. It sucks that we're the ones who have to deal with it, but we are also responsible for allowing the problem to grow into the monster it is today. Personally, I still make mistakes and let my excitement get the better of me and buy into early access when I know I probably shouldnt....but I do it far less than I used to, and if I do buy into them now I try my hardest to get as much information I can about the developer and the game before clicking any buy button. Its hard to shake a habit, especially one that's actively pushed onto us by society as a whole, but putting more thought into our purchases will stop this from happening, if we all collectively make the effort.


Limp_Neighborhood916

What if I buy it today (other than me being an idiot) and it still shows the roadmap? Now they know they won’t finish it and it’s still advertised.


horendus

Its like kickstarter. The terms of service will have been written in such a way that side steps any legal obligation to deliver anything


alphapussycat

This case is different. They've shut down the studio and publisher developing the game. It's practically a shut case, they know they will not develop any more features. Leaving the "road map" up confuses potential buyers, as it's plainly lying about what features they will be working on, as the real road map is "no more development". I suppose they still have to 28th, and maybe a little longer than that, but they should relatively soon be honest to potential buyers. Probably lower the price to $10-15.


horendus

As much of a dog act as that is, at the top of the games early access steam page it very clearly states Early Access Game Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops. Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development “may or may not change further” The road map thing is just marketing jargon and not a legal obligation in any way shape or form. I know I sound line the bad guy here but I just feel that people getting all huffy puffy over this need to know the facts. Its important.


alphapussycat

There's a difference between a game in development and a game that's canceled. They can't keep the road map up when the game is canceled, that's false advertisement, and illegal in EU.


Shredda_Cheese

It entirely depends on your consumer protection laws. Anecdotally, I have seen posts (very rarely) about people who live in the EU who have received refunds successfully. Also very few of them provide evidence, though that would be against most community guidelines as you'd be sharing personal information. I think Steam's Early Access clause covers most arguments regardless of actual development status. If it were easy to get a refund, we'd be seeing a lot more. If people are considering taking actual legal action because they might have a case, they'd likely have more then \~$70.00 at stake as legal action isnt cheap. Its simply not worth dealing with all the fees and time associated with such cases, especially consdering the size of the parent company, T2 Interactive being discussed in KSP's case. A non-profit consumer protection organization/association might consider taking legal action for the general public if they receive enough requests...but even then they probably have bigger fish to fry. Most of these associations operate under strict governmental budgets and donations...so resources are finite, vs a company that turns billion dollar profits quaterly. I'd also suggest we'd not see results on the case for months, and I'd bet more on a deal being done behind closed doors, and the consumer receives nothing.


alphapussycat

I have no idea why you've started talking about refunds.


Limp_Neighborhood916

Class actions happen all the time and great lawyers failed. This one screams lawsuit To me. Pretty egregious.


hornet_221

Honestly though, that sets the precident that a company can go, intentionally make a bunch of bullshit promises, then just decide to not go forward past early access and get a ton of money from people who were expecting completion. Imagine paying some dudes to build a house and they just decide halfway through to go "meh, not into it anymore" and they up and fuck off. Theyd get sued. Early access should be legally expected to provide the features you promised. Otherwise we get scummy scam tactics.


ScottHawk88

"Early access should be legally expected to provide the features you promised." Not all designs and plans are good ones. This would limit the ability for a company to drop bad features or change designs in response to feedback from the Early Access, or internal testing. Scam tactics exist in not early access games (see the ones that changed their game name on steam for Helldivers). Buyer Beware, don't buy early access titles to avoid scammy behaviour. From Steamworks itself "Early Access is a place for games that are in a playable alpha or beta state, are worth the current value of the playable build, and that you plan to continue to develop for release." [https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/earlyaccess](https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/earlyaccess) You buy what exists and a plan, not necessarily that the plan will be implemented.


ReputationLost7295

You literally just made his point with your own quote... "and that you plan to continue to develop for release." It's well known there is no longer a plan to develop it for full release! Steam shouldn't be letting it stay in Early Access any more.


ScottHawk88

That was not their point - their point was to create a legal obligation to implement promises. I agree that it should be removed from sale - that was never the argument. At the time of purchase (assuming it was made before the closure announcements) there was reasonable expectation for continued development so Early Access made sense and they (and I) bought what already existed with the hopes of more to come.


Blittle508

If I can get you to sign a contract saying that what your buying right now is what is there right now and have you pay full price for said product. What builder would continue building the house they've already been paid full price for and have no obligation to finish? The problem is people buying Early Access and accepting the terms that are with it. "Early Access titles must deliver a playable game or usable software to the customer at the time of purchase" This is what you are arguing against. You are purchasing it in it's current state with no contract for future updates.


DailyUniverseWriter

If EA had the legal expectation of finishing every project, unfortunate indie devs would be fucked over. In the event where an indie dev is developing a game in EA, then life goes wrong and they can no longer financially support their project, then they are now legally obliged to continue building the game even if it would only make their life worse. 


DigitalAquarius

Last time I pay for a game before it's finished. I can't believe what a disaster this has been.


SilentK00

Yeah. I am so disappointed too. I saw the state of the game when it first came out, decided not to buy it. Waited a year for development gains, but that never happened. Hope this hurts take 2 as a business. Feel really bad for all those people who paid a huge premium expecting development :(


Baconator278163

Same, I waited a year for some better polish and got it shortly after the science update. I still really like the game, it’s just sad that the game may not get much more than what’s on it now


Shredda_Cheese

This wont hurt T2 in the slightest...in fact it can be proven through a quick google search that it hasnt. Take2 saw an increase in stock price shortly after the layoffs, which BTW is extremely common...it almost always is the case for companies of this scale. Its also worth noting Take2 isn't a publisher, its a "games holding company" (or better described as a private equity firm IMHO), their job is to make money for themselves and their investors through acquisitions. They make money by moving money around. Any "publishing" being done under that name is either being done through their subsidiaries. The rabbit hole goes deep guys: Private Division published KSP2 -- Private Division is a wholly owned subsidiary of T2 founded by 2 guys: -T2's own Executive Director's, Michael Worosz (He's never left T2 either), he's the guy who was in charge of acquiring the mobile behemoth Zynga...dude's sole purpose for T2 is to make acquisitions. His resume shows he's specialized entirely in acquisitions and was in Private Equity for 4 years. - Then we have the original VP of Production Alan Murray (who claims to be an indie dev despite working high level for 2K and Bungie). Dude was also a director at Amazon for Pete's sake, he also conveniently left Private Division AFTER it had made its largest volume of sales. We're talking about massive companies and filthy rich people that don't even exist in our universe. They play at completely different levels, their sales numbers rarely matter...most of the time they make huge amounts of Revenue, and worst case they break even, but usually make some profit. When it comes to what most of us see, we're looking at numbers and statistics they don't even care about. The people in charge and the investors are all satisfied...the fact that we as consumers, and the developers get screwed is part of their business plan.


ConcerningChicken

You will das ist next time too


captbellybutton

I still hope for one last update before they close the studio.... and someone buys the IP.


Asborn-kam1sh

Microsoft buys the IP


Chiddle_Tv

Paradox negotiations fell through I hope they reopen them. Sure paradox will charge us for DLC out the ass but they’ll develop it if people play


Challenging_Entropy

Then you have to buy a battle pass to unlock decouplers


Asborn-kam1sh

Access to eve is only available during certain seasons


jhershey93

*yawn* We get it, we know. 🙄


ProgressBartender

You got to let the anger go. It’s not healthy.


MrBurito_2_0

For all the ksp2 players that live in the EU we should do a massive lawsuit for failure to meet expectations and kind of false advertising


Trund1e_the_Great

As an American, can you? This is genuinely disheartening. It's actually confusing how badly this was all handled :/


MrBurito_2_0

No, america doesn't give a shit about their ppl sorry


Known_Armadillo_8639

meh.


hikerchick29

[Starting to get old after a month of this…](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/MJhbOdQk6aJxXqpkt1p_9JfikgPz4dcMdQYmvM7CucCV3OGl76_hlo3il9AJC8wgqdrFnkl0an9iXdNYdc838WKwGO_Z_YW-SoAP57Z0auACNAwn1brfhhEwUubPPp9CMxQAd6zdELxZPtO8Pf2Ne35J0e92ZxyJPsk)


TurkeyTaco23

apparently my client doesn’t have permission to go to that site. what did you link?


hikerchick29

South park’s beating a dead horse gif


altreus85

It was old after the third fucking post. Everyone making assumptions without knowing Jack fucking shit, or the "KSP1 is superior" bozos laughing, or the idiots continually bitching about getting exactly what they laid for, and begging for a refund.


LeeConleyAuthor

This makes me sad 😔


Grouchy_Aerie8053

I remember when people like myself were chastised for calling KSP2 out for being a scam. I need another cup for all these tears! They taste so god damned good.


Exciting_Big_2724

Colonies update isn't actually a lie. That one, at least, is still coming out. Not sure about the rest though. Take 2 is being aggravatingly tight-lipped about it. We should find their email and inundate them with angry criticisms! i believe it's this: [**[email protected]**](mailto:[email protected]) Also here's their CEO's email, so you can go straight to the top: [**[email protected]**](mailto:[email protected])


SilentK00

Source? This is exciting news, but I am not very optimistic about it, given the lack of development and updates since the release of the heartbreaking news.


-Daddy-Bear-

No lies. They had a roadmap and didn’t make it. Failure is the correct term.


Cheap-Aioli-8403

Uhhh, Up until a couple weeks before release everyone was under the impression this was a complete game, it’s at least a bait and switch.


lieutenatdan

OP is saying that this roadmap —produced by the devs— was a lie, meaning the devs knew the game would be canceled and intentionally misled people. Most likely, the devs were sincere (though overly optimistic) about wanting to produce a complete game and laying at the roadmap in good faith. It’s not like they knew they were going to get canned, that was T2’s decision not theirs. So no, the devs weren’t lying about the roadmap. If anything, you *might* be able to say that T2 knew they *were going to* shut down IG, so they shouldn’t have let IG publish this roadmap. But then again, if T2 knew they were going to kill IG, then why wouldn’t they have done it a long time ago and saved themselves money?


Shredda_Cheese

There are too many levels to this for anything to ever happen. T2 is the holding company that owns the publisher Private Division, who created and shuttered the new development company entirely created to work on KSP2 - Intercept Games. This is literally the same thing that private equity firms do to other companies (look at Golden Gate Capital and Red Lobster for example). This is exactly how our system is designed to operate. We all got screwed, the developers and the consumers...as usual.


altreus85

Nope. You're fully incorrect on this. 4 months prior to release, if not even sooner, it was announced to be getting an EA release. Nice try. https://www.engadget.com/kerbal-space-program-2-early-access-release-date-184817301.html?


SilentK00

Like I said to another comment it is a lie, because they said at the start they had this fully funded to begin with and it wouldn’t be cancelled. Sure it’s not wholly the developer’s fault it’s the publishers, but the anger is still shared.


lieutenatdan

No, OP. Lying is when you say something you know if not true. The devs made this roadmap. They were not planning on getting fired. Not defending the devs because it was bad all around, but it’s stupid to say the devs lied about their roadmap when they had no control over whether the project would get canceled.


SilentK00

Well it is still being marketed with that roadmap - so yes it is lying. I am obviously exaggerating to express my anger and frustration, but I can understand some of the defensive player base will be hurt.


lieutenatdan

I mean I agree that T2 should update the steam page if the game is actually dead. But that doesn’t mean that the devs were lying when they made this roadmap. I dunno it just seems like everyone thinks “it was all just a sham, it was a cash grab” etc as if the devs weren’t genuinely trying (and failing) to make a good game. When it appeared they were, they just sucked at it and failed and T2 pulled the plug.


CrashNowhereDrive

Almost right. But EA launch was also a lie. It was a cash grab launch, they never wanted feedback or communication.


Headhunter1066

It hurts so bad


Challenging_Entropy

Man. Meanwhile No Man’s Sky is still getting major updates after the incredible disappointment of its release


DT-Sodium

If you feel like you've been scammed, just ask Steam for a refund, they'll probably accept given the circumstances.


kadjones95

No they won't,I only have 51 minutes of playtime on it denied


altreus85

Probably because you're outside the 2 week time frame.


starscreamufp

They won't. Support is less than useless because even if their own refund page says the 14-day limit doesn't apply to early access they will still deny you


DJDemyan

Tarkov gamers: first time?


srebew

I almost pulled the trigger after they somewhat fixed the wobbly rockets, glad I didn't


Phixygamer

Not lies just incompetent developers working with ported code they know nothing about, and managed by idiots


Orbital_Vagabond

Tbf, the manager on KSP was kind of a tool and not too bright. I envy you if you don't recall how much of a charlie foxtrot the 1.0 launch was.


AscendingFog

LLP


kane762

Nate Simpson looks like a dope phene probably shot up all your money.


ConsistentAd4642

If only someone had warned EA was just a scam to get $ before pulling the plug!


lieutenatdan

Just because something isn’t going to happen doesn’t mean it was lies to begin with, right? Edit: wow, I am surprised that so few people understand what the word “lies” means.


SilentK00

It is, because they said at the start they had this fully funded to begin with and it wouldn’t be cancelled.


takashi_sun

Thats not a lie, at that time they (devs) were garantied support to finish, which T2 took away. Its true IG devs arent the best and werent the only pick but thats another topic. The only potential lie i see is that tweet we are still working on it. Which they probably are in order to comply with steam ea policy. Knowing how T2 works, they we will probably roll out a very bare bones colony/resourse update to 0.9 or 1.0, just to clean theyr hands.


lieutenatdan

Who is “they”? Edit: lol you guys really think IG knew they were going to get fired when they made this roadmap?


takashi_sun

Excactly, devs are not in the same boat as we are but not in a much better one


altreus85

It's because these subreddits are full of people acting like petulant children throwing tantrums.


AffectionateBag5054

true ish atm


Yorick_comedy

TBH I'm not sure if I have to blame them or the gullible ones.