By Anni Simpson on May 6, 2014 at 9:49am
Valve removed “Earth: Year 2066” from Steam today and offering players refunds until May 19. Several allegations have been pitted against the developer, Killing Day Studios, including game-breaking bugs, stolen art, and the removal of threads about problems in the game.
“Earth: Year 2066” is an open-world RPG that was released through Steam’s Greenlight program April 6 for $19.99. According to the Steam store page, players supposedly had access to a “huge open-world with a lot of quests and characters,” as well as a “strong, nonlinear story.” However, what the game promised and what the game delivered over the last month didn’t align.
According to a review from Gamespot, there were several game-breaking bugs.
On occasion, you get lucky and one of the three guns triggers to fire back, but the enemies have so much health that it's about as fun as flinging rice at a brick wall (and generally looks like it, too). The frame rate always locks up for a second when the robotic enemies start attacking you, and strategy never grows deeper than shooting, strafing, and jumping. Revving sounds grow ever louder as your robot wanders the landscape, but I've never quite worked out if the sounds are coming from me or the surrounding enemies.
Artist Jim Sterling also alleged that art used in the game was stolen on April 28. Supposedly, the stolen art was not intentional. According to developer Muxell:
To be honest, we are really concerned about the fact that this masterpiece (trailer) got to the Steam page. Both who were working on it and who accepted it are already fired. At the moment, we are working on a new trailer. Thank you for your help.
However, finding actual discussion about the problems with the game are limited, because Muxwell has been removing comments and threads on Steam since its release:
We will delete all insults, troll comments/threads, spam, and provocations, and we have full and legal right to do this. This is a game discussion, not a garbage tavern.
Reddit has a full-blown thread on the drama surrounding “Earth: Year 2066” in lieu of a discussion on the Steam page.
“Watching Simulator,” another title released through Greenlight by Killing Day Studios, has also been removed.
“Earth: Year 2066” Steam Store Page Gamespot Reddit “Watching Simulator” Steam Store Page YouTube
