This game is ABANDONED!

[ZedClampet]

Let's say you are known as a handy person in your neighborhood, and one of your neighbors says he'll pay you $500 to build a permanent lemonade stand at the corner of his lot. At that price, the money is going to be tight, but you agree because you could use all the money you can get and you enjoy building things. And if you do a great job, maybe some other people in the neighborhood will want you to build things for them.

When you are done with your work, you are pretty pleased with it, but the neighbor gives you a list of things that are wrong. Two of the shelves aren't completely level and the door to the stock closet was supposed to swing closed on its own and it doesn't. You apologize and fix those problems. It takes more time and money, and you've made almost nothing from the job.

Then the neighbor says he'd like a small conveyor belt coming from the closet to the counter. He's not willing to pay for it, and says you should have done it that way to begin with. You are trying your best, and you want him to be happy with your work, so you put in a small conveyor belt. You've now lost money on the job, but at least you did great work and maybe someone else will hire you for something bigger.

The next day your neighbor presents you with a list of things he'd like modified. You take the list but tell him you don't think you can complete it. He accuses you of abandoning your job. He walks all over the neighborhood and tells everyone that you took his money and then abandoned the lemonade stand before it was finished.

Like it or not, we're the neighbor here. We demand the world from developers, but they have to deal with reality. Most of them are not some megacorp with endless money. They are scraping by just trying to eke out a living. If a game isn't selling anymore, and they have most of the money they are ever going to get from it, they have to stop working on the game after a reasonable amount of time. It can't become an endless time sink and money pit. They've done the best they could. Is it perfect? Nothing ever is. But expecting them to continue working forever is unrealistic.

I've seen so many people calling finished games "abandoned" that I felt like I really wanted to make a thread about it.

When is it okay for a developer to call a game finished?

We can't require the game to be completely bug free. Out of tens of thousands of games on Steam, the number that are bug free is probably very small. Fixing major or game breaking bugs is a reasonable request, though, even if the game isn't making money.

QoL features? Gameplay additions? General player requests? All of these things are nice, and if the game is selling well, I'm sure most developers will try to do all these things. But they aren't necessary to the game being complete, and if the game isn't making money, can we really expect the developer to just keep working on the game until we can't come up with any more ideas? That's just not realistic.

 

[Pifanjr]

Overexaggerating is typical for clickbait articles trying to use outrage to boost engagement.

I would say a game is abandoned by its developers if they stop working on it while the game is unplayable or is missing major gameplay features the developers promised and never explained why they couldn't implement them.

 

[ZedClampet]

Overexaggerating is typical for clickbait articles trying to use outrage to boost engagement.

Sorry. I should have been more specific. I'm talking about players calling games abandoned: Steam forums, reddit, user reviews...everywhere I look, I can find people claiming games are abandoned. Sometimes they are even still being updated, just not fast enough for players.

But, yes, I agree that the game needs to be playable. That's the one thing that has to be accomplished over all else. Major features are more complicated. They definitely need to either add them or give a very good explanation of why they can't.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I just assumed this was a thing for live service games. Didnt realize people were whining about single player games as well.

Guess something single player can be abandoned if its actually missing features that were promised?

 

[Frindis]

If it's a single-player game then the most important thing I care about is that it is playable enough for me to get a good experience within the two hours I get to try the game or meh, they didn't deliver and I get a refund, but maybe in a few patches and at a discount in the future I'll invest. Take BG3 as an example: I pre-ordered the game because I trusted Larian Studios to deliver a solid product, which they did, but they also released a game with a last act being mediocre at best. This I can live with because it didn't break the game, it just could have been better. They noticed that also, and are still fixing it and making the game better and better each year. That is how a good company does it.

Developers who love their game will try their best to iron out any bad bugs and to continue building upon their success. Just look at Stardew Valley, still trucking along with some more people now of course, but delivering new content and patches for people to enjoy. Or the guys who developed Vampire Survivors, still putting out content and fixing stuff. Even older games get sudden updates like Witcher 3 got a while ago.

I think the worst thing a developer can do is listen too much to the consumers about what should or should not be done with their game. It's ok to have ears open, but I think The Culling is a perfect example of what happens to a game when you start listening to a small segment of people and end up destroying the product through changes the majority of people did not want.

 

[DXCHASE]

To me, a game that was "abandoned" was Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem by Wolcen Studios. So this game, i was following since its kickstarter back in, idk 2016? They had a demo of how the game was going to play out and for the first year or so, it looked like it was going to be this next amazing ARPG (this was before D4, after D3 and POE) and it looked really good because it was using cryengine.

Then, after adding some quest lines, new abilities etc., they just completely scrapped everything they had and changed the name of the game from Umbra to Wolcen. This was about 3-4 years after this demo had been out and showing off what the game was gonna be and it was for the very worst.

So the game slowly developed along, fast-forward to the games official release (which had over 100k concurrent players for a couple of minutes) and its in an absolutely dissmal state. People couldnt play with each other, servers crashed, whole characters were deleted, many bugs in the game etc. etc.

It was so bad that the concurrent players were in the couple of thousands within a couple of days of its release, and then kept going downhill after that (63 concurrent players).

So ever since then, with the release of a small "expansion", the developers rarely talked to the community about any of the updates. No questions were ever answered and then there was also periods of complete silence (months and months and months at a time) with many of the day 1 issues, still being present. On top of that there were so many balancing issues with builds that only 1-3 builds were viable at any given time.

Then, after 4-5 years of a terrible game that got no communication from the devs just drop the hammer in may saying that at the beginning of sept. this year, there will be no more MP and no more development of the game.

So thats a game that was abandoned to me.

 

[Frindis]

@DXCHASE I was one of those who preordered it also It sucked, but thankfully Last Epoch was there to save the day or at least blow on the wounds and make it a little better. Speaking of Last Epoch, they just released a new patch today. That's how you do it. Honorable mention to Crate Entertainment and their Grim Dawn. The game is from 2016 and still getting much love from the company with new expansions/updates.

I forgot to mention the Doom 1/Doom 2 update that came out of the blue. Now that is doing fan service!

Id Software just surprise launched Doom + Doom 2, a 'definitive' bundle that adds cross-platform multiplayer and in-game mod support to every retro Doom

The Doom + Doom 2 package is a free update for existing Enhanced edition owners.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Colif]

if the game is complete and finished, its not abandoned. You are correct saying games are never bug free, or rarely. But as long as it works for most players, its usually good enough.

Games do get abandoned for numerous reasons though:

1. NFT games that got announced, had a year or two of work and are dropped as they were never going to be made. Earth 2 for instance.
2. Games that are the first tries by companies and not really good enough. Just used to give dev ideas... so eventually they will make a good game... think Palworld Devs.
3. Life... I mean, interruptions by things way more important than making a game.

More of these are on kickstarter or Early Access programs now so there are witnesses. I am confident there have always been abandoned games. Its whether anyone else saw them before which is different.

 

[ZedClampet]

I just assumed this was a thing for live service games. Didnt realize people were whining about single player games as well.

Guess something single player can be abandoned if its actually missing features that were promised?

Yeah, that's a good example of something that's been abandoned. Part of the sales pitch is that the game is going to get certain features and then they never add them.

That's not been the case with the games I'm looking at, so far as I know. The games weren't on Kickstarter. They basically released a couple of videos and launched the game. But because they stopped giving updates a year or so after launch (they fixed the bugs and added some QoL things), people are calling the games abandoned.

Now one of them does have what I would consider a significant bug still in it, but it's not a game breaking bug. In rare cases (it hasn't happened to me after numerous hours in the game), your builders can stop building, at which point you have to fire them and hire new ones. I mean, that's annoying, but not the end of the world. Not sure why it was never fixed.

 

[Pifanjr]

Sorry. I should have been more specific. I'm talking about players calling games abandoned: Steam forums, reddit, user reviews...everywhere I look, I can find people claiming games are abandoned. Sometimes they are even still being updated, just not fast enough for players.

They must have learned that term from somewhere and my assumption is that they learned it from someone trying to make money off of outrage.

Yeah, that's a good example of something that's been abandoned. Part of the sales pitch is that the game is going to get certain features and then they never add them.

That's not been the case with the games I'm looking at, so far as I know. The games weren't on Kickstarter. They basically released a couple of videos and launched the game. But because they stopped giving updates a year or so after launch (they fixed the bugs and added some QoL things), people are calling the games abandoned.

Now one of them does have what I would consider a significant bug still in it, but it's not a game breaking bug. In rare cases (it hasn't happened to me after numerous hours in the game), your builders can stop building, at which point you have to fire them and hire new ones. I mean, that's annoying, but not the end of the world. Not sure why it was never fixed.

If a game has bugs that can be easily worked around, it's janky. If it has a bunch of game breaking bugs, it's unfinished.

 

[Zloth]

In my book, it has been abandoned when the game is done developing and the publisher is done supporting it. I don't think it matters what state the game is in. It's not a particularly bad thing at all - in fact, it tends to be my queue to buy it! I loved Divinity: Original Sin 2. Larian abandoned that to make BG3. Now they are getting ready to abandon BG3 to work on even more games.

If the game is in a bad state when the creators move on, then the game is badly broken and abandoned. If it never got out of early access, then it's unfinished and abandoned.

 

[Colif]

In my book, it has been abandoned when the game is done developing and the publisher is done supporting it. I don't think it matters what state the game is in. It's not a particularly bad thing at all - in fact, it tends to be my queue to buy it! I loved Divinity: Original Sin 2. Larian abandoned that to make BG3. Now they are getting ready to abandon BG3 to work on even more games.

Yes. there are way more games that have been abandoned by their makers than are active now. Why they were abandoned varies.

Almost all games made will be abandoned eventually
AAA companies are the worst offenders.

If you only buy games that are still being made, you are an idiot... I feel I have said this already

 

[ZedClampet]

In my book, it has been abandoned when the game is done developing and the publisher is done supporting it. I don't think it matters what state the game is in. It's not a particularly bad thing at all - in fact, it tends to be my queue to buy it! I loved Divinity: Original Sin 2. Larian abandoned that to make BG3. Now they are getting ready to abandon BG3 to work on even more games.

If the game is in a bad state when the creators move on, then the game is badly broken and abandoned. If it never got out of early access, then it's unfinished and abandoned.

You're not talking about the same thing. No one else on this planet uses the word in regards to gaming like that. It's like saying the mother abandoned her children. It's meant as a sharp criticism

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Yeah, that's a good example of something that's been abandoned. Part of the sales pitch is that the game is going to get certain features and then they never add them.

That's not been the case with the games I'm looking at, so far as I know. The games weren't on Kickstarter. They basically released a couple of videos and launched the game. But because they stopped giving updates a year or so after launch (they fixed the bugs and added some QoL things), people are calling the games abandoned.

Now one of them does have what I would consider a significant bug still in it, but it's not a game breaking bug. In rare cases (it hasn't happened to me after numerous hours in the game), your builders can stop building, at which point you have to fire them and hire new ones. I mean, that's annoying, but not the end of the world. Not sure why it was never fixed.

Guess people have been spoiled by certain games getting a lot of free support including content and updates over a long time. Like you point out in the OP thats not as viable for small studios.

 

[BeardyHat]

Reminds me of this video

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO38QvKraTQ


There are certain projects that have been abandoned, but by and large, I think people call "Dead Game" and "Abandonware" because they want something to totally consume their time. It's easier to continue to play one game and obsess about it than it is to constantly try and find something new to get into, which can be a frustrating time and money sink because we have so much choice out here these days.

Back in the day, it was easy to play Mechwarrior 2 ages and ages, finding your own fun with the game and when you finally felt done with it, you'd go to the store and find maybe a few dozen other games to choose from, making the process much easier. Now, I finish a game and I look through my library, try some here, try some there, nothing really fits, buy a new game, it's ok, etc, etc. Takes time to figure out what I really am interested in playing and it was so much easier when I just played WoW or World of Tanks constantly; I just had my relax game that never ended and I didn't have to think about the mood I was in or sort through my library in boredom looking for anything to play.

 

[Colif]

More than half the games I have spent more than a year playing (per game, in some cases more) are dead now. Only wow remains as Blizzard won't let it die.

• Torchlight is so dead the original Devs are gone. (ignores mobile games)
• Sacred series is dead, though franchise has new owners.
• Titan Quest is dead although part 2 is coming.
• Diablo is dead but Blizzard won't let it die.

Damn Blizzard and their dark necromancy keeping two of them alive.

Brian only plays dead games... mostly. Civ 7 videos might be making him think.

 

[Johnway]

Personally i have no problems with the term abandoned. We have abandonware after all.

Abandoned is another way to describe something that developers have ceased supporting/maintaining, Arbeit with a more cyncal/corrosive tone to the situation. Which might be a bit harsh in some cases.

So it all depends. in what state did the devs leave their final game? if they over promised and seriously under delivered (features missing) and rushed it out cut their losses and just moved on, i think abandoned is perfectly fine to describe the situation. i mean, if i was pissed off i would say the game was abandoned. Bonus points if the game never leaves alpha, early access or beta.

if its a long supported game and does well, delivers everything and runs fine, calling it abandoned is a bit excessive. Perhaps ceased support might be a more reasonable way to describe the situation. Die hard fans who feel hurt (like some jilted lover) might use abandoned but thats more anger tbh.

 

[Zloth]

You're not talking about the same thing. No one else on this planet uses the word in regards to gaming like that. It's like saying the mother abandoned her children. It's meant as a sharp criticism

Excuse me? Do a big survey, did you? Yes, people do use it that way. Maybe not the ones you hang around with, but that's not my problem.

If the game could use more work but nobody official is willing to work on it anymore, then the game has been abandoned. It's on its own now, just like a child whose parents refuse to help anymore, even though they technically could. In the case of a game like Divinity: Original Sin 2, it should do just fine without any more help. If some new NVIDIA driver screws the game up, then that's just too bad. (Unless Larian rushes in to save the day - in which case the game wasn't really abandoned after all. )

 

[ZedClampet]

Excuse me? Do a big survey, did you? Yes, people do use it that way. Maybe not the ones you hang around with, but that's not my problem.

If the game could use more work but nobody official is willing to work on it anymore, then the game has been abandoned. It's on its own now, just like a child whose parents refuse to help anymore, even though they technically could. In the case of a game like Divinity: Original Sin 2, it should do just fine without any more help. If some new NVIDIA driver screws the game up, then that's just too bad. (Unless Larian rushes in to save the day - in which case the game wasn't really abandoned after all. )

I don't know what to tell you. Have you not read any of the half-dozen PCG articles on this? Have you not heard developers talking about this? I'm sorry, but you don't have a clue. That's not the way the word is being used by players.

It's one of the biggest complaints by developers/publishers right now. It's all over the place. Players expect perpetual and quick updates because of the proliferation of live service games, which is something you don't know about because you don't play them. It has to do with things like battle passes, expansions, etc. Nearly every game that isn't updated frequently is now being beset by angry players accusing the developers of abandoning the game. This includes single player games that were never designed to be in perpetual development.

I'm sorry you are out-of-touch. But you've tried your best and earned an ignore. Congrats.

 

[Colif]

It's one of the biggest complaints by developers/publishers right now. It's all over the place. Players expect perpetual and quick updates because of the proliferation of live service games,

Nearly every game that isn't updated frequently is now being beset by angry players accusing the developers of abandoning the game. This includes single player games that were never designed to be in perpetual development.

That is stupid.

I guess they been grown to expect it but its pretty dumb. Nothing lasts forever.
Is it young people who don't know any better?
Surely older gamers know better... More things fail than succeed. Older you get the less around you seems familiar as its all replaced.

Different rules for different types of games. We don't need a game that does it all. Fork knife tried but its not going to last forever. Metaverse tried... lol

is that why dorfromntik has seasons now... must keep those accusations at bay. When are you allowed to stop? Do they attack Activitision for not supporting the 1st ever cod game still? Not a remake... Is it okay to abandon a game if the next in series is out? Do these idiots think there is an endless supply of devs to keep making old game DLC?

Ignoring people tends to lead to misunderstanding chat... I know, I did it once and couldn't understand any conversations where I missed the lines of the person I was ignoring... but its your choice. Not going to say anymore on that.

 

[DXCHASE]

More than half the games I have spent more than a year playing (per game, in some cases more) are dead now. Only wow remains as Blizzard won't let it die.

• Torchlight is so dead the original Devs are gone. (ignores mobile games)
• Sacred series is dead, though franchise has new owners.
• Titan Quest is dead although part 2 is coming.
• Diablo is dead but Blizzard won't let it die.

Damn Blizzard and their dark necromancy keeping two of them alive.

Brian only plays dead games... mostly. Civ 7 videos might be making him think.

Didnt like torchlight, but absolutely on Sacred being dead . Sad that it is gone and went out the way it did.

I am concerned that Titan Quest 2 is going to fall flat on its face simply because theres so many ongoing ARPGs out there already. Also, fans of this genre eat the devs alive when class/skills are unbalanced or not having every single little ARPG mech. (pets,trading,map overlays, loot filters etc.) thing that people have in years-ongoing developed ARPGs have already and i feel that Titan Quest wont have everything like that on day 1 or 20.

Blizzard wont let Diablo 4 die because it makes them a lot of money with D4 being its biggest release. Not that the game is in a good place or anything (i think its ok now tbh) but the game sits in the top 100 on steam even now and thats not including its battlenet users.

If the game could use more work but nobody official is willing to work on it anymore, then the game has been abandoned. It's on its own now, just like a child whose parents refuse to help anymore, even though they technically could.

True, and with Activision stepping in to stop a mod on a dead and old CoD game simply because money i can see adults doin that to a kid they abandoned.

 

[Colif]

Sacred Franchise now owned by same people making Titan Quest 2. No idea if they ever do anything with it apart from sell it on Steam (Sacred 2 I mean). But can live in hope. Its in better hands.

Should rename Dustborn as Stillborn. It was DOA releasing one day after Wukong... Concord not much better. Why I mention them? Well, they going to be abandoned... by their players first.