As of yesterday, Steam users can no longer purchase The Stomping Land by SuperCrit on Early Access. The game, which was developed by a three-person team including ex Skyrim animator Alex “Jig” Fundora, was originally made available on May, 30th, 2014; however, the team has sparsely released updates and failed to communicate its efforts to its community.
One of the biggest signs for the game’s fate is when their PR representative, revealed that he’s a freelancer, and he didn’t feel like continuing working with SuperCrit due to a breakdown in communication. “Jig — as we all know — is not very communicative and the Monday posts feel like I am stringing the community along,” wrote the PR representative who goes by MichelleObama on Steam. “I don’t want that. You don’t want that. So I’m not going to continue doing that.”
The Stomping Land’s community echoed MichelleObama’s frustrations in the comments section. “[There] have been no official news posts from the devs since it hit Steam,” wrote Steam user OddFox. Another user claimed that SuperCrit pruned the review section to make the reception to the game seem more positive. “A friend told me they’re deleting a bunch of negative reviews,” said user Cerami. “Maximum damage control.”
The Stomping Land originally had a successful Kickstarter campaign, earning an impressive $114,060. Even though the team earned well above its original Kickstarter goal, $20,000, and it was lead by an ex-Skyrim developer, it still managed to suffer a dubious fate that unfortunately happens to even the most successful Kickstarters. And while sometimes development doesn’t go according to plan, I also don’t think that SuperCrit has handled its situation correctly. Communication is key.
Source: Eurogamer
