During the 30 day Spectre Kickstarter campaign there were 15 backer updates and daily engagement from the team in the comments section. Once the campaign ended on April 1st 2014 the updates and comments slowed significantly. The first developer comment after the campaign finished? An invitation to check out the dead and unresponsive IndieGogo campaign. The next comment from Proscenium was over 3 months later, which left a number of backer complaints up in the air.
From a formal update standpoint things have been no better. After posting updates on Kickstarter every 30 – 60 days things were dead between October 2014 and last week. That’s ten months without a formal update. During that same period of time the Spectre Early Access page had three updates. That’s not a lot, but it’s got to sting backers to see that most recent Kickstarter update is mostly a copy and paste of the Early Access update, which came a full week before the one on Kickstarter.
Adding insult to injury is the fact that Kickstarter backers had to pledge $14.00 for a copy of the game, a game that launched at $11.99 when it hit Steam Early Access just 7 months after the campaign closed. The cherry on top of that mess being that backers were expected to wait for the full version to be released before they got their copies. When this issue was raised with the developers they offered no apology or additional reward; but at least they sent backers at the appropriate pledge level the game early.
The interaction that best sums up Proscenium’s indifference towards backers is their response to a question Chris Jones posted in April 2015. Chris states:
I’ve heard nothing from the team regarding my pledge. I have received no paintings as promised at my pledge level. What’s going on?
Proscenium’s response to Chris’ question regarding a reward with a July 2014 delivery date?
Hey Chris,
First, we’d like to thank you again for supporting Spectre on Kickstarter. We apologize for the recent lack of updates. We have been quietly working on the back end to address various stability issues some players are experiencing while playing the Early Access version of Spectre on Steam. We are actually very close to pushing a major update, which will resolve these issues. Once we finish this update, we will again be able to focus on implementing new features, including backer rewards. Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about you!
That’s a lot of typing just to tell someone that gave you at least $345 “Eventually.”
I’m not saying that Proscenium needs to update Spectre backers every month, but posting something every few months is not that difficult, even if it’s to just give people a heads up that things are still moving along. The Spectre Early Access page getting all the attention while backers are left twiddling their thumbs for overdue rewards and answers to basic questions just shows that the team at Proscenium have moved on from the people that had the most faith in them.
This article has left a sour taste in my mouth. I didn’t even back that project and I feel the pain.
Those last months,i’ve been very aggressive towards that type of creator. Like the guy from Armello.
I can understand the logic behind the market and that these creators need to gain their bread.
But, i can’t go through some very permissive manners they have. Forgetting rewards, being very conceited toward backers, which without, would have been nowhere. Or lowering prices day one of the game making it that the guy who buy it on steam spend less money than the guy who supported it 3 years before. It’s not about the money, just about not having that sour taste in the mouth as serena said.
To have been taken for fools and what’s worst and i can’t take are those steam users that openly call backers fools and patsies. Ultimately, they act like jerk , they get everything like us and we even get to be look down by creators (that obviously like those fat cow)and no respect for those butthead who without us would have nothing to lay with.
Usually when i see reviews/video and such from those butthead on steam.
I wish i had admin rights to erase them. No one cares from little shit opinion.
At least i know i don’t.
Completely agree. In doing some of our Kickstarter MIA pieces there have been some genuinely sad stories of developers going through hard times. But that’s still no excuse. The analogy I’ve shared with people on the team is that once the developers have other peoples money then making that game should be treated like a job, and no job lets you just drop off the radar for months on end. Whether there’s personal problems, a death in the family, illness, or whatever, there’s still a responsibility to at least check in.