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Valve hauls down The War Z, offers refunds

Top-selling game on Steam (and most hated)

Valve has performed a humiliating climb-down over zombie game The War Z, pulling the game from Steam and offering refunds to players.

The game launched to two huge customer responses: it became simultaneously the top-selling game on Steam, and the most hated. This Reddit thread will give you the flavour.

After first defending the release, Valve has decided that the best course of action is to flick the debacle back to developer Hammerpoint Interactive and wait for repairs. It has called the launch decision a mistake and pointed customers to its support page, where they can file a ticket for a refund.

At launch, the developer had only managed one map in the game, and neither its promised “hardcore” play mode nor skills existed. It was, in short, the kind of software that escapes rather than being released.

According to Kotaku, the instant farce had gamers complaining that The War Z was launched without features promised on the Valve store, and they disliked its microtransaction pay-to-respawn model.

Users weren’t allowed to post to the game’s forum about why they were leaving, with the forum rules stating “do not post ‘I quit playing this game’ threads. No need for drama”.

In its apology, Valve says it will work with Hammerpoint “until we have confidence in the new build”. It will continue operating servers for the game, for players that decide to battle on while they wait for its replacement. ®

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