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Sad news for fans of action platformers, as Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night for Linux has been officially cancelled.

Bloodstained was crowdfunded on Kickstarter back in June of 2015, with that they managed to gain $5.5 million dollars. During the campaign, they confirmed Linux was going to be a supported platform, they even told us they were aiming for a simultaneous release.

However, that's all changed now. Sharing the news in a Kickstarter update posted today, they said this:

In this update, we have a very important announcement to make.  Bloodstained will no longer be supported on Mac and Linux. We have made this tough decision due to challenges of supporting middleware and online feature support and making sure we deliver on the rest of the scope for the game. We will be offering backers who planned to play the game on Mac and Linux the option to change the platform of their order. If you would like to change your platform, please send an email with your new platform request from the email address associated with your Kickstarter pledge. We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and we hope for your understanding.

So not only are they cancelling the Linux version, they're seemingly not offering a refund and only allowing you the option to change your platform. I had to wipe my glasses and read it again to be sure! A refund simply isn't mentioned, only the chance to change your platform.

I didn't personally fund this one, so I don't have any personal grudges or anything like that. Even so, I find this extremely poor, to put it rather lightly. I just can't believe my eyes, given they had over eleven times their original funding goal!

I've added it to our dedicated page tracking individual crowdfunding projects, with 150 projects that puts individual projects that promise Linux support at around 89% that deliver.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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scaine Dec 28, 2018
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Quoting: ShmerlI'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.

I'm pretty keen to pick up both Nier:Automata and Prey, but wouldn't prod either of them with a shitty stick until they ditch Denuvo. I'm not supporting that. Ever.

Edit to add: annoyingly I got the new Metal Gear Solid game via Humble Bundle last month, but won't install it for the same reason, despite a platinum rating in ProtonDB.


Last edited by scaine on 28 December 2018 at 11:32 am UTC
marcus Dec 28, 2018
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Quoting: ssokolowAccording 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.

That really sucks. I remember when I backed Kingdom Come: Deliverance and they announced they can not deliver the Linux version. (A good game btw. My wife plays it using Proton). Warhorse were very helpful, apologetic and friendly about the refund. They refunded me 100% of the backed amount even though I expected them to not refund the Paypal/Kickstarter fees. This is the way such situations should be handled.
ShoNuff!!! Dec 28, 2018
I wonder if Valve success with SteamPlay/Proton made it not worth the effort to develop a Linux release.
Shmerl Dec 28, 2018
Quoting: marcusThat really sucks. I remember when I backed Kingdom Come: Deliverance and they announced they can not deliver the Linux version. (A good game btw. My wife plays it using Proton). Warhorse were very helpful, apologetic and friendly about the refund.

What stops them from making a Wine based official Linux release now?
marcus Dec 28, 2018
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Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: marcusThat really sucks. I remember when I backed Kingdom Come: Deliverance and they announced they can not deliver the Linux version. (A good game btw. My wife plays it using Proton). Warhorse were very helpful, apologetic and friendly about the refund.

What stops them from making a Wine based official Linux release now?

Probably nothing. In the end it may not be worth it for them with it working quite well in Proton. Maybe they could officially "Endorse" the proton version, but I'm not sure how that would work. I think Valve sooner or later will add an indication in the store on whether a game runs with Proton and they could highlight/modify this indication if the dev supports the Proton version instead of Valve (i.e. by testing that updates don't break with Proton on SteamOS).

I only don't buy it again because I only buy games that are officially supported by the dev on Linux - so such an indication would definitely be beneficial for me :)
Shmerl Dec 28, 2018
Quoting: marcusProbably nothing. In the end it may not be worth it for them with it working quite well in Proton.

It may be working well in Wine / Proton without their involvement, but it's a reputation issue. They promised Linux release and blew it. It wasn't exactly their fault, since Cry Engine version they used had low quality Linux support, but now they have a relatively easy way to actually keep their promise, utilizing the very fact that it's working well in Wine.


Last edited by Shmerl on 28 December 2018 at 7:15 pm UTC
skry Dec 29, 2018
Asked for full refund. Here's how they replied:

QuoteHey there xxxx,

Unfortunately ArtPlay and 505 Games are not offering refunds, so we are only able to change your platform. You can provide further feedback to the team directly by posting on the Official Bloodstained Forum or the Bloodstained Discord server. We’re sorry for the trouble; please let us know if you have any other questions.

Bunch of scammers.

Edit:

QuoteNot offering refunds? Well, they sure are not offering me what I was promised and what I payed for. I don't want to give feedback to team via forums or discord, I want either what was promised, or my money back.
QuoteHey xxxx,

If you have further inquiries the best course of action is to talk to Artplay and 505 Games directly through their forums or Discord server. We unfortunately cannot provide the any further assistance from here unless you need us to change the choice of platform.

They clearly have no intention to refund people their money. Smart move to outsource customer "service" to some random company, and make them forward people to forums or other mediums where they can be silently ignored or moderated. This whole thing is starting to look shady af if you think about it. There's like three or four companies all supposedly doing something with the project, yet in three(?) years they've managed to come up with disappointing and unimpressive tech demo (they call it beta) with the millions they got. Nothing else. Sure there was curse of the moon but it was done by Inti (who are more or less known to deliver). I thought it was nice that WayForward joined the crew to fix bugs and polish things up, but maybe they are actually there to deliver something playable (fixing the whole mess?) so that people would not come after everyone with torches and pitchforks.

I've had enough of this crowd funding bs.


Last edited by skry on 29 December 2018 at 7:09 am UTC
emphy Dec 29, 2018
Quoting: skryAsked for full refund. Here's how they replied:

QuoteHey there xxxx,

Unfortunately ArtPlay and 505 Games are not offering refunds, so we are only able to change your platform. You can provide further feedback to the team directly by posting on the Official Bloodstained Forum or the Bloodstained Discord server. We’re sorry for the trouble; please let us know if you have any other questions.

Bunch of scammers.

Edit:

QuoteNot offering refunds? Well, they sure are not offering me what I was promised and what I payed for. I don't want to give feedback to team via forums or discord, I want either what was promised, or my money back.
QuoteHey xxxx,

If you have further inquiries the best course of action is to talk to Artplay and 505 Games directly through their forums or Discord server. We unfortunately cannot provide the any further assistance from here unless you need us to change the choice of platform.

They clearly have no intention to refund people their money. Smart move to outsource customer "service" to some random company, and make them forward people to forums or other mediums where they can be silently ignored or moderated. This whole thing is starting to look shady af if you think about it. There's like three or four companies all supposedly doing something with the project, yet in three(?) years they've managed to come up with disappointing and unimpressive tech demo (they call it beta) with the millions they got. Nothing else. Sure there was curse of the moon but it was done by Inti (who are more or less known to deliver). I thought it was nice that WayForward joined the crew to fix bugs and polish things up, but maybe they are actually there to deliver something playable (fixing the whole mess?) so that people would not come after everyone with torches and pitchforks.

I've had enough of this crowd funding bs.

At the moment it's down due to the government shutdown, but if you live in the US I encourage you to file a complaint at the ftc:

https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-consumer-protection

There's probably similar agencies in other countries.


Last edited by emphy on 29 December 2018 at 9:31 am UTC
scaine Dec 29, 2018
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It's a minor thing, but one action you can take is to "Ignore" 505 Games as a creator on Steam. Provided Valve actually honour the setting, it should prevent any games published by "505 Games" from appearing in your store, either in queues, or recommendations.

No idea if they have visibility of this, but I'm certainly never dropping money on scammers where I can help it, so I've given it a shot.

https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/505Games/lists/

Click on the gear icon on the top right and choose "Ignore Creator".

Sadly, the developer "Artplay" haven't created a content page, so I'm not sure if there's a way to ignore them. If find one, I'll post again.
ssokolow Dec 29, 2018
Quoting: scaineIt's a minor thing, but one action you can take is to "Ignore" 505 Games as a creator on Steam. Provided Valve actually honour the setting, it should prevent any games published by "505 Games" from appearing in your store, either in queues, or recommendations.

No idea if they have visibility of this, but I'm certainly never dropping money on scammers where I can help it, so I've given it a shot.

https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/505Games/lists/

Click on the gear icon on the top right and choose "Ignore Creator".

Sadly, the developer "Artplay" haven't created a content page, so I'm not sure if there's a way to ignore them. If find one, I'll post again.

Good to know. I don't use Steam as anything beyond a backup proof-of-purchase for my Humble Bundle buys and a way to bridge them into GOG Connect, but I did that in case they get stats out of it and it also got me thinking about a site I do use. Given the amount of metadata and filtering offered by IsThereAnyDeal.com, and the existing support for hiding undesired stores, it seems like something ITAD might offer, so I've suggested adding it.

Also, that "Report this Creator" option got me thinking in another direction. It doesn't apply to this kind of issue, but I wonder if there's another way to report them to Valve which might be useful for turning up the pressure on them.

(On that note, since I refuse to give Steam any money, I still have a limited account. If anyone else wants to, nobody has yet pointed this thread at the Kickstarter URL that says this sort of thing is a ToS violation.)


Last edited by ssokolow on 29 December 2018 at 3:36 pm UTC
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