Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night for Linux has been officially cancelled

QuoteI just can't believe my eyes, given they had over eleven times their original funding goal!

Yes. I know that development is hard and I try to be understanding. However, this requires just one response:

Fuck you, Iga.

Quoting: no_information_here

QuoteI just can't believe my eyes, given they had over eleven times their original funding goal!

Yes. I know that development is hard and I try to be understanding. However, this requires just one response:

Fuck you, Iga.

Apparently that's not even the half of it.

According to this /r/linux_gaming/ post, "It took months for the backers who asked after they canned Vita version, and these pricks haven't even gave complete refunds. They gave like 50% of the backed amout, or 70%, but not everything."

Unless it was "50% of the backed amount, plus a key for another platform" (which I seriously doubt), that's just insult to injury.

Quoting: Shmerl

Quoting: orochi_kyoJust reading comments on kickstarter page, some people could be right... this middleware could be DENUVO and Im pretty sure their next announcement will be delaying the GOG version or even cancelling it.

That would be strange, given that GOG already lists the game. It means they agreed to release it DRM-free there.

Some games became one year exclusive to Epic Games Store while having Steam Store pages.

What middleware could it be if not Denuvo? If they were actually planning to support all platform, they would have chosen cross-platform tools. That means, it's either Denuvo, or they never intended to support Linux, Mac, Vita, etc. I don't know what is worse. Reading updates on Kickstarter, I always suspected Iga has been spending backers' millions on resting on a yacht with hookers and cocaine.

Look at Hollow Knight. A metroidvania too, 100 times less budget, all Kickstarter promises were delivered, and the game is excellent. But that one is definitely a scam. What version gets cancelled next, Windows or Xbox? They don't even refund.


Last edited by ageres on 31 December 2018 at 3:06 am UTC

Quoting: ageresWhat middleware could it be if not Denuvo? If they were actually planning to support all platform, they would have chosen cross-platform tools. That means, it's either Denuvo, or they never intended to support Linux, Mac, Vita, etc. I don't know what is worse. Reading updates on Kickstarter, I always suspected Iga has been spending backers' millions on resting on a yacht with hookers and cocaine.

My operational assumption until I have more info is that they chose a piece of middleware that was promising Mac and Linux support "soon" when they chose it (probably because the dev team already knew how to work with it), and which has meanwhile failed to deliver said support or dropped it because Proton or other reasons.
Denuvo rarely goes into small project games like this because their baseline initial license fee is reportedly quite high ($15 mil USD) and one only very rarely hears of them willingly negotiating it lower (and even then not lower than $10 to $12 mil USD). Unless they've been picked up for publication by a big AAA publisher, Denuvo seems very unlikely.

I'm surprised some are stupid enough to pay anything to those who make Denuvo, let alone such crazy prices. And no respect for developers who make such garbage.


Last edited by Shmerl on 28 December 2018 at 7:34 am UTC

Quoting: vlademir1My operational assumption until I have more info is that they chose a piece of middleware that was promising Mac and Linux support "soon" when they chose it (probably because the dev team already knew how to work with it), and which has meanwhile failed to deliver said support or dropped it because Proton or other reasons.

They didn't explain what kind of middleware had let them down. How convenient is that their middleware supports Switch so they could add it to their list, right? Anyway, with $5.5M they could have spent some resources on another middleware.

Quoting: vlademir1Denuvo rarely goes into small project games like this because their baseline initial license fee is reportedly quite high ($15 mil USD) and one only very rarely hears of them willingly negotiating it lower (and even then not lower than $10 to $12 mil USD). Unless they've been picked up for publication by a big AAA publisher, Denuvo seems very unlikely.

Where did you get these prices? I never heard what does Denuvo cost, but $15M seems too much. Many games won't even get profitable unless sold at few millions copies.

Also, there is 2Dark, another crowdfunded game which promised DRM-free, Mac and Linux versions, but then its developers consorted with a bad publisher, put Denuvo into the game, cancelled Mac and Linux support as well as DRM-free release and started to sell it overpriced. This case was covered here on GoL: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/2dark-released-without-a-linux-version-despite-promising-it-during-crowdfunding.9299
"Naughty, naughty developers." © GoL 2017.

Quoting: ageres

Quoting: vlademir1My operational assumption until I have more info is that they chose a piece of middleware that was promising Mac and Linux support "soon" when they chose it (probably because the dev team already knew how to work with it), and which has meanwhile failed to deliver said support or dropped it because Proton or other reasons.

They didn't explain what kind of middleware had let them down. How convenient is that their middleware supports Switch so they could add it to their list, right? Anyway, with $5.5M they could have spent some resources on another middleware.

sitch is fucking profitable and with its short life time it already surpassed the instal base of linux and its only going to grow in the next few years.

i'm really pissed off that they droped support for an entire platform instead of an feature, they could at least relase an incomplete version for those who paid + an key to the complete game elsewhere where all the features are supported.
if the feature is an small thing like netplay, i woudnt mind lose it, i dont want to play the multiplayer of an metroidvania-ish game anyway.

Quoting: elmapulsitch is fucking profitable and with its short life time it already surpassed the instal base of linux and its only going to grow in the next few years.

If the devs were so slow so WiiU and Vita died during the development and Switch appeared, that doesn't mean they can break their promises. Linux and Mac bases were profitable enough to raise money on Kickstarter, but not enough for making a port?

God damnit. I wanted this game to make it!
However, I didn't back it... because I barely ever back anything.

Maybe I'm jaded by all the broken 'promises' and butthurt by all the pathetic "apologies".

Maybe I need a proven track record before I spend any of my money on eventual Linux releases, especially from developers who don't normally release games for Linux.

Maybe I'd be content with chucking money towards a Linux friendly dev simply because they care about our preferred operating system.

Maybe these crowdfunding shenanigans are simply 90% hustlers who profit on our innate proclivity to wish for things, and the remaining 10% actually get products to market.


I'll just leave this little snippet from one of my all-time favorite fantasy series The Sword Of Truth by Terry Goodkind. It's worth thinking about. BTW, the TV show was pure excrement, do NOT watch it. Read the magnificently brutal books!

This is the Wizard's First Rule:

Quote“People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People’s heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool.” -- Zedd

Quoting: GuestI emailed them asking for a refund...let's see if something comes about it.

I sent a message for kickstarter about a refund. Will see what their reply will be. If nothing happens will do a chargeback through credit card company.

I haven't been this angry in a long long time. This was to be my last backed kickstarter game ever, and even this was a major disappointment.