Only Up, the ultra-challenging, physics-based indie game, has been removed from Steam by its creator owing to “stress.” Created by SCKR Games, Only Up was previously removed from Steam amid accusations of copyright violations connected to various in-game assets. Immensely popular with YouTubers and Twitch streamers, partly because of its intense difficulty, the creator of Only Up has now delisted the game from Valve’s storefront, explaining that they “made a lot of mistakes” and wish to “put the game behind [them].”
Based on data from a variety of tracking sites, at its peak, Only Up attracted some 280,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch. A video of the game from YouTuber Darren Jason Watkins, better known as ‘IShowSpeed,’ has attracted 5.6 million views in two months.
Despite this success, the creator of Only Up has removed the game from Steam, where it is now longer available for purchase. In an accompanying statement, the developer says that they need “peace of mind and healing.”
“I’m a solo developer and this game is my first experience in game dev, a game I did for creativity, to test myself, and where I made a lot of mistakes,” the creator of Only Up, known by studio name SCKR games, explains. “The game has kept me under a lot of stress all these months. Now I want to put the game behind me. And yes, the game won’t be available in the Steam store soon, that’s what I decided myself.”
Following the statement’s publication, Only Up has since disappeared from Steam. Its creator says that they are now planning to begin development on a new game called Kith.
“What I need now is peace of mind and healing,” they explain. “I plan to take a pause, and continue my education in game design and further with new experience [sic] and knowledge to direct my energies to my next game with the working title ‘Kith.’
“It will be a new experience and a new concept with realism, a completely different genre and setting, and the emphasis is on cinematography. This time I hope the project will be created by a small team. This is a challenging project on which I want to significantly improve my skills in game design.”
Though its rating on Valve’s storefront is ‘mostly positive,’ with over 12,000 user reviews, the title on Only Up’s Steam page has been changed to ‘not available’ and it cannot be purchased. The game’s description and player data sections remain live, however.