Last week, we covered the backer backlash of the latest Obduction controversy. This time it was in regards to the physical “special edition box” that Cyan promised back during the Kickstarter. Finally, several days after publishing that piece they responded with a backer-only update. Needless to say it was met with mixed reception.
Cyan states one of the primary reasons for the physical copy being as it was is due to them running out of money. It’s no secret that they aren’t on firm financial footing, as it was revealed a couple years ago that a publishing deal went south. During which time development assets were scrapped. This cost both time and money.
With all that said, Obduction is still a good game. Don’t get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed playing it myself. However, due to past poor decisions, coupled with the thought that backers wanted a jewel case like what we got, backers got understandably upset. The update we just received didn’t do a whole lot to help quench these flames. In fact, it put even more people off by the condescending way the post came off as.
There were, of course, other factors mentioned. In particular, the lackluster sales apparently didn’t help. Another topic was keeping the “box” more “current”. Which, I guess, meant a nearly empty jewel case with a slip cover that had a huge hole in the middle. While there were a lot of people understandably upset, there seems to be just as many backers who are fine with what they got.
Frankly, if Cyan took a little more time and effort to at least make the physical edition of Obduction more presentable there wouldn’t be such an uproar. The way the update read wasn’t in any way encouraging either. In any event, I don’t see many people returning should Cyan want to return to crowdfunding. Nor do I blame them.
What box did they promise on the KS campaign?