Fanatical Thread

haha at the dev worrying about the sale price when they are broke. Their sales strategy was working so well before the bundle.

 
Charizard007 said:
Will BS refund 50c (or whatever) to the people who bought the Killer 8 bundle, but haven't yet redeemed SR2?
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I will go out on a limb and say no. Most likely, BS will pretend it never happened.

Waggles said:
So it was the dev's fault and they took their ball and went home.

I knew it
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Pretty much. It's not like I've run out of space games or anything, but this is a dick move by the dev because it's not buyers' fault that they got shafted. This isn't like a glitch or a Putin situation where you know going in there's a chance that you're not going to keep the game. They just figured they got screwed so they'd pass the screw on to us. And, yes, I'm one of those weasels who doesn't redeem keys immediately.

 
Perry Mason has shown up in the Star Ruler 2 Steam forum and is siding with the shafted buyers. Me being one of those shafted buyers (or am I? Can't be arsed to redeem these keys 5 sec after I buy! I'm kinda a big deal, Rollin to pedicure shops with Yanni C in his stretch limo) it might almost be worth it not to get the key just to see the train wreck this continues to be. WOOOOOOOOOOO!
 
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If they had simply removed Star Ruler 2 from the bundle, while letting prior buyers keep their keys, this controversy could have been avoided. 

 
Thanks to the bros, I actually bought this and activated my Star Ruler 2.  They didn't have any insider info, I just saw a Dead Effect 2 event created and it reminded me to stop procrastinating so I bought and activated everything.  Will never play it, but hey, I feel a smug sense of superiority mixed in with a little guilt and pity.  

 
FoxyPie said:
Thanks to the bros, I actually bought this and activated my Star Ruler 2. They didn't have any insider info, I just saw a Dead Effect 2 event created and it reminded me to stop procrastinating so I bought and activated everything. Will never play it, but hey, I feel a smug sense of superiority mixed in with a little guilt and pity.
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U MONSTER!!!
 
not sure why the developers resorted to this type of behaviors.  It has proven again and again in the past that it will backfire, create bad PR and NEVER EVER generate additional sales like they hope.

It's sold.. it's gone. It's your own mistake and Bundle Star's.  Figure it out among your groups.  Dumping it on consumers and making them pay for someone else's blunder is never a good move.

 
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agentghost said:
not sure why the developers resorted to this type of behaviors. It has proven again and again in the past that it will backfire, create bad PR and NEVER EVER generate additional sales like they hope.

It's sold.. it's gone. It's your own mistake and Bundle Star's. Figure it out among your groups. Dumping it on consumers and making them pay for someone else's blunder is never a good move.
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Because they don't want to devalue their game by letting their game get bundled and keys to be resold on the gray market when the keys supposedly were never meant to be included in this kind of bundle in the first place? Really, I don't think their mistake was invalidating keys, it was not disclosing how the fuckup happened in the first place. They've told us that there was a misunderstanding between them and BS, but no further details. Maybe there's some sort of NDA in whatever contract they signed which keeps them from speaking up, but it's hurting them too much in the long run. If it were me I'd disclose that info to the public even it it meant no future business with BS. I'm pretty sure most people would back off if they knew what the exact circumstances were, people love to white knight devs if they see them as the victim, but in this case it ain't happening much because we're lacking crucial info, which is causing lack of trust in the dev and BS.

However, if it was more the dev's screwup than BS I can understand why they don't want anyone to know, in which case no one would defend them and it would cause more of an outrage than what we're seeing now. Maybe they're keeping quiet for that reason, who knows. Honestly if I had bought the bundle and held off on activating keys or held off on buying the bundle period I'd be pissed too, but I have a habit of activating all keys right after I buy bundles. This should be a lesson for the future, activate keys ASAP and don't hold off on buying higher quality bundles if you're interested in the games (looking at you Bobby!). Oh and this could potentially create bad PR for BundleStars as well if they don't do anything to compensate for the situation. Lowering the bundle price by 50 cents isn't doing shit for the consumers lol. They need to make an announcement ASAP if they want to salvage their reputation.

 
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spoderman said:
Because they don't want to devalue their game by letting their game get bundled and keys to be resold on the gray market when the keys supposedly were never meant to be included in this kind of bundle in the first place? Really, I don't think their mistake was invalidating keys, it was not disclosing how the fuckup happened in the first place. They've told us that there was a misunderstanding between them and BS, but no further details. Maybe there's some sort of NDA in whatever contract they signed which keeps them from speaking up, but it's hurting them too much in the long run. If it were me I'd disclose that info to the public even it it meant no future business with BS. I'm pretty sure most people would back off if they knew what the exact circumstances were, people love to white knight devs if they see them as the victim, but in this case it ain't happening much because we're lacking crucial info, which is causing lack of trust in the dev and BS.

However, if it was more the dev's screwup than BS I can understand why they don't want anyone to know, in which case no one would defend them and it would cause more of an outrage than what we're seeing now. Maybe they're keeping quiet for that reason, who knows. Honestly if I had bought the bundle and held off on activating keys or held off on buying the bundle period I'd be pissed too, but I have a habit of activating all keys right after I buy bundles. This should be a lesson for the future, activate keys ASAP and don't hold off on buying higher quality bundles if you're interested in the games (looking at you Bobby!). Oh and this could potentially create bad PR for BundleStars as well if they don't do anything to compensate for the situation. Lowering the bundle price by 50 cents isn't doing shit for the consumers lol. They need to make an announcement ASAP if they want to salvage their reputation.
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I don't buy the devaluing argument. Whether it was a mistake or not, the game was in a bundle and it's obviously not the buyers' fault that it wasn't supposed to be. Frankly I doubt the majority of people who bought it but didn't redeem right away would be satisfied with some explanation that laid the blame for the mess at the feet of BundleStars. Yeah there might be a few weirdos out there who would say that's fine, but most people would just see it as I said it earlier--we got screwed and we're passing the screw on to you. No matter what the explanation is, you're alienating would-be customers by revoking keys that were paid for through what is believed to be a legitimate channel.

But it probably will be in a Humble later this year, so, whatever, I guess.

 
warreni said:
I don't buy the devaluing argument. Whether it was a mistake or not, the game was in a bundle and it's obviously not the buyers' fault that it wasn't supposed to be. Frankly I doubt the majority of people who bought it but didn't redeem right away would be satisfied with some explanation that laid the blame for the mess at the feet of BundleStars. Yeah there might be a few weirdos out there who would say that's fine, but most people would just see it as I said it earlier--we got screwed and we're passing the screw on to you. No matter what the explanation is, you're alienating would-be customers by revoking keys that were paid for through what is believed to be a legitimate channel.

But it probably will be in a Humble later this year, so, whatever, I guess.
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I buy the devaluing argument.. because if I were the dev and a bundle site screwed me over I'd be doing the same damn thing. I'd invalidate keys that haven't been redeemed and let people keep the keys if they were already activated. It all depends on who's at fault here, like I said we have barely any info. Blaming the dev at this point makes no sense to me because we don't really know what happened with either party. I prefer to stay neutral, for all we know BundleStars could have fucked up. Yes, it sucks if you procrastinated and didn't activate your keys, but lesson learned. There's not much benefit to delaying activation of keys. I suppose you could trade them, but why do that if you want the game in the first place?

As for buyers not being satisfied with a good explanation, I disagree. It must be your first day on the internet if you don't realize how much white knighting goes on with indie devs. That, and it's possible BundleStars will offer full refunds for people that ask for it. The problem is like I said before, we don't know all of the facts and BundleStars not announcing what they'll do to compensate people isn't helping the issue.

 
Every time some crap like this happens with devs (Nekro keys expiring, whatever the deal  was with Body Changer in the groupees bundle, etc) I think "From now on I'm going to redeem keys right away!"

Then I buy a bundle and "well... copy and pasting is really hard... so I'll redeem the keys tomorrow".

 
The Dev is not doing a real good job of winning the hearts and minds of the people he scroogied.

He offered a sale price at $7. He insinuated that BundleStars stolen the keys using a hypothetical and then rambled on about some other way they couldn't legally keep the keys and then when pressed for elaboration says: "I cannot speak on the specific situation".

Oh and he's started banning people, always a winning strategy!

Great PR, dood!
 
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Wait... so you saying I could score a few hundred/thousand keys from a dev by contacting them about a hypothetical bundle/sale?

They'll just send the keys without having agreements in place?  Crazy!

That's up there with negotiating with groupees to put a game in a bundle when I'm not the dev/pub.

 
mguiddy said:
Every time some crap like this happens with devs (Nekro keys expiring, whatever the deal was with Body Changer in the groupees bundle, etc) I think "From now on I'm going to redeem keys right away!"

Then I buy a bundle and "well... copy and pasting is really hard... so I'll redeem the keys tomorrow".
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y u do dis

I srsly don't understand why people procrastinate when it comes to activating keys. I get that you don't always have access to a computer, but in that case you should probably wait to buy the bundle if you can't activate it right after it's bought. Almost all of these bundle sites are at least a BIT shady, so you shouldn't be waiting to activate shit.

PS: If you use Archi's Steam Farm + ASFui it makes activating multiple keys a lot faster.

 
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I didn't buy the BS bundle (was only interested in 4 games, I don't like buying a bundle if I'm only interested in less than half of the games).

But like I said, copy and paste is hard.

 
The guy that posted that is obviously very intelligent, handsome and well endowed.

Oh wait! It was me!

So I'm right again.

 
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HitlerCat said:
The guy that posted that is obviously very intelligent, handsome and well endowed.

Oh wait! It was me!

So I'm right again.
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y did that guy get himself banned?

hitlercatban.png


 
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I bought this bundle and activated everything immediately like a good little bundle buyer, so:  :D/  I think this is where I get to say Y U NO...

I read most of that thread and I think people that bought the bundle with Star Ruler 2 in it really have a legitimate gripe with the developer. I do get the impression that BundleStars wasn't interested in any of his solutions in resolving their differences. He did say he spent a few days trying to come up with a better solution.

The logical thing would have been to have BS drop the game from the bundle and return the unused keys. Since the logical course was not followed, we can assume one of two things:

1. Dev screwed up and made a bad deal; or

2. BS breached their own contract.

It seems highly unlikely that BS would not follow a contract they constructed, therefore you have to conclude that the developer messed up, couldn't get BS to back out, and then took his keys and went home. Voiding the keys was his only leverage, but in the process he screwed his own customers.

The whole thing is really unfortunate. I get why BS wouldn't want to blow up a bundle they just hyped and released, though I think they'd have been better off realizing that playing hardball with developers isn't good for anyone. Also, consider that we're not talking about Humble-type sales numbers. Letting a few thousand copies of the game go into a bundle isn't going to hurt sales that much in the end. If I were in financial trouble, I'd take a smaller check now instead of milking a higher price in a niche genre.

 
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hal said:
It seems highly unlikely that BS would not follow a contract they constructed, therefore you have to conclude that the developer messed up, couldn't get BS to back out, and then took his keys and went home. Voiding the keys was his only leverage, but in the process he screwed his own customers.
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Bundle sites aren't perfect, BS is no exception. Remember when Groupees sent a music contract to a dev for a game bundle? lol

I think it's best if we wait until BS makes a statement before making assumptions. It's possible they both screwed up somehow. Best to hear from both sides.

 
We aren't going to get statements from BS. We're talking Star Ruler 2, not Grand Theft Auto V. We're all going to forget about it in a week when the latest outrage occurs.

And while mistakes do happen, I don't know that I'd compare anyone to Groupees. They are a special kind of stupid. :dunce:

 
hal said:
We aren't going to get statements from BS. We're talking Star Ruler 2, not Grand Theft Auto V. We're all going to forget about it in a week when the latest outrage occurs.

And while mistakes do happen, I don't know that I'd compare anyone to Groupees. They are a special kind of stupid. :dunce:
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We'll likely get some kind of statement from BS. They have to provide refunds, even if they're partial, otherwise their reputation is going to tank completely so they'll say SOMETHING lol. Oh, and don't forget that the IR twitter rep works for BS. I don't know what kind of job he has but you know that guy is a dumbass, comparable to Groupees level of stupid.

 
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FoxyPie said:
The devs should have invalidated keys not yet sold and let people who already bought the bundle keep them. Simple as that.
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Dev said the reason this wasn't done was because BundleStars wasn't willing to share that information, so all unactivated were invalidated.

 
So how does that work then? How do the devs know which keys were activated? Or is there a feature on Steam that allows them to deactivate unless redeemed?
 
I'll be honest, I don't tend to believe devs, unless groupees is involved. Believe the devs and they want you to believe they just randomly sign up for some bundle they know nothing about, send bundle site thousands of keys, and then the bundle site illegally distributes them and instead of taking legal action, the only recourse they have is this bullshit. I'm more willing to believe that bundle stars had their shit together and we're dealing with an unprofessional dev.
 
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I kind of agree with that. I think it ultimately boils down to a miscommunication between both parties, but something doesn't add up with the developer claiming to have had no choice but to go nuclear with all the keys. Passing that loss onto the customers as a way to publicly blame Bundle Stars was bad form. At the very least the dev should have issued a statement to let people know in advance that unredeemed keys would be invalidated or be prepared to issue new ones to bundle buyers who provide proof of purchase.

Has such an incident/controversy happened with Bundle Stars before? They seem like the best non-Humble retail/bundle store overall. Not saying they're infallible, but if Bundle Stars wasn't giving up info on which keys were sold/unsold I'd guess there was a legitimate reason.

My personal feeling? Developer got cold feet about the bundle after it launched (wanted a different bundle w/ a higher revenue split), tried to pull out, BS refused (citing contract terms), and the dev went to DEFCON-1. The contract probably wasn't specific enough to give the dev any other leverage.

 
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I don't see how they'd have been in a bundle with a higher revenue split though. The Killer Bundle is $5 for 10 games. The only bundles that usually go for more than that on BS are the one specific game and DLC complete bundles or game collection bundles e.g. Star Ruler 1 and 2 together.

Dev's are full of crap, they misunderstood the contract. BS wouldn't/couldn't let them back out as the bundle was already live. Dev's stupidly revoked keys  fuck ing everyone over. 

Steam really needs to stop letting keys get revoked for such trivial reasons.

 
The issue has been resolved and the devs said that Bundlestars has been given replacement keys for Star Ruler 2. I'd assume that if you didn't already buy the bundle, you're stuck with just the 9 games at 50 cents cheaper.

 
madjoki said:
Dev said the reason this wasn't done was because BundleStars wasn't willing to share that information, so all unactivated were invalidated.
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Dev should've asked BS for the game to be removed from the bundle and do nothing more. No key deactivation... Nothing.

Easy.
 
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