Popular multiplayer FPS and free game Enlisted finally arrived on Steam on Thursday March 28. Less than a week later, however, the WW2 shooter has been pulled from sale indefinitely following widespread criticism of its pricing structure and premium availability on Valve’s store. Though free to play via its own dedicated servers and launcher, on Steam, Enlisted was only available for $19.99, in a pack that provided DLC and other bonus material. Players also encountered problems when attempting to link their current Enlisted accounts to the new Steam version, prompting developer Darkflow Software and publisher Gaijin to suspend sales of the shooter.
Enlisted arrived on Steam as ‘Enlisted Reinforced,’ an expanded version of the WWII FPS game that included a variety of paid DLC. The base game, without any additions, was not accessible via Valve’s store, forcing players to pay for the extra material if they wanted to use the game on Steam whatsoever. This sparked backlash from the Enlisted player base, dropping the shooter’s rating on Steam down to ‘mixed.’ In a new statement, the developer and publisher of Enlisted say they are “deeply sorry.”
“We see that many of you are very dissatisfied with the Early Access version that we made available on Steam,” Enlisted’s creators say. “Some of you are not happy that the game is bundled with a paid DLC on Steam. Some of you couldn’t link your existing Gaijin.Net accounts to the Steam version due to technical issues. We’re deeply sorry for this.
“We’ve removed the Early Access version of Enlisted Reinforced from the Steam store for now. All users who purchased a Steam access pack for Enlisted Reinforced will be able to continue playing via Steam. Meanwhile we’ll do our best to assess what we can do to address the issues raised by you.”
Enlisted’s creators explain that the initial launch of the shooter was not expected to manage and support a large number of players, creating technical problems with regards to linking existing accounts. Different email accounts used by players “break” the procedure designed for Steam.
“Unfortunately there is a significant technical obstacle preventing us from making the linking process smooth enough,” the game’s makers continue. “It occurs if a player already linked their Steam account in another Gaijin.Net game, but the email used there and the one used for Enlisted do not match. This completely breaks our linking procedure.
“The existing Steam version was never intended to be available to a massive number of players, hence the Early Access status, so making it available to existing huge audience of Enlisted fans could probably lead to even more dissatisfaction, as more people would face these technical issues, or new ones.”
Currently, there is no date for when Enlisted may be available again through Steam – while the page still exists, the game cannot be downloaded there. The creators say they are “exploring our Steam options” while “looking for a solution for a linking issue and polishing all aspects of the game.”
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