When The Stomping Land was Kickstarted a year ago, its prehistoric survival pitch garnered enough goodwill to fund nearly six times its target. But that goodwill has since dissipated in Early Access. Initial plans for weekly updates gave way to radio silence, and eventually the news that the game was moving to a new engine.
Despite that recent reassurance, The Stomping Land has now been removed from sale.
While the game’s Steam page remains, the option to purchase has been snatched away. It’s not clear whether the decision came from developers SuperCrit, or whether Valve capitulated to the nearly 3000 fans petitioning to have the game removed from Steam.
Valve’s official stance of early access sees them warn customers that “some teams will be unable to ‘finish’ their game”. But they have stepped in to tackle controversial cases in the past: namely Earth: Year 2066 and The War Z.
Supercrit apologised for their “sudden and abrupt silence” in mid-June, citing “personal matters” and declaring themselves “ready to stomp”. But The Stomping Land hasn’t been updated since, and Supercrit’s social media presence has only become more sparse and erratic.
Less than a month ago, lead developer Alex Fundora announced that The Stomping Land would move to Unreal Engine 4 to take advantage of its “technical and creative opportunities”. There were no updates on his progress through the rest of August, however.
It’s ace that the Top Sellers list is often graced by indie efforts like The Forest and Rust. But is it possible that Steam users go so weak at the knees for survival games that they push valid reservations aside?
Thanks, RPS.