Scarecrow71

The odds are next to...zero. They sold the rights to KSP to Take Two, and I don't think they even exist any longer.

Samurai ban. A Banurai, if you will.

Using the past tense is cheating.

5/10, as software can be programmed to both have an interest in AND be about science and space. In fact, you might be a Kerbal. I have the capacity to interact with chat bots, so I've got to be human.

Scythia Minor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythia_Minor

And they only "fixed" wobbly rockets after the community complained enough about them. Don't forget that we were literally told that the wobbly rockets were a design decision, in spite of us telling them that they weren't fun at all. It was part of Kerbal DNA, if I remember the quote correctly. That isn't hard development; that's lousy and unfounded development. Don't forget that those timelines should have been more than reachable after multiple years of development. Yes, there was a studio change in...2019, if I am correct? But still, 4 years after that and they can't even fix core foundational issues? That's not a timeline issue - that's a "we don't know what we're doing" issue. There is no reason, short of incompetence, that the developers couldn't reach any development milestones. Yep, they care about getting working features out. But they certainly didn't care about making sure the core systems were working before pushing some features out. And even if they did care about features, they certainly weren't prepared to craft them, were they? How long did it take heat management to hit the scene? And weren't there issues with parts overheating inside of fairings? I guess I need to restate my first sentence: they care about getting features out. Whether or not they cared about them working is another story. You are right - what we have does not change the quality of the game. And the quality of the game is poor. It's a buggy mess, and performance is still a major issue. Got a craft with over 100 parts? Perhaps multiple craft in orbit at the same time? Sorry, you don't get good performance, then. I still haven't seen anything north of 20 FPS on my mid-range equipment. User-friendly is subjective. Some people like the UI, some don't. Some people can find what they want easily enough, others can't. And that's not even taking into account the stuff that doesn't work, like maneuver nodes, or orbital lines, or even SAS. A lot of people have to fight with the controls to get anything to work. As far as progression goes...pfft. The story missions are far too rigid, there aren't enough of them, and once you finish the main story, there is ZERO reason to keep playing that career. Oh, you found all the monuments and got all those science points? Great. But we're out of missions to give you, and the developers have stated that they aren't going to change that. So, no replayability here! I agree that the game is moddable. I use(d) mods in KSP2. I wrote one. But the game shouldn't have to rely upon mods to be playable; it should be playable out of the box without any help from the modding community. Mods should enhance gameplay, not fix it. Bugs. Lack of communication. No replayability. Missing core features. Should I go on? The issue on communication isn't what is being said, but rather the entire lack of being told anything. EA is supposed to be a back-and-forth between the developers and the community, and while we provided feedback, we got next to nothing in return. That's what the issue is. Quite possibly the only part of your post I agree with. We've been at each others' throats over this, and we really should be banding together to show our support for the IP. We all want the same thing - a great playable sequel to a great game.

And we are already 7 years and 2 studio closures in. How much more time do you think we should give them? This entire community would care. And if this boils down to bad business practices, I'm sure someone at the FTC might care. Or the SEC. Or several other gaming companies that might see an opening to come in and either perform a hostile takeover OR to start worming into buying the IP. And at the time of release the game was barely a passable alpha tech demo. Gameplay was horrid, bugs galore, and performance was rotten, even on higher-end machines. The pace of bug-fixes/patches was pretty slow for an early access release, and we got 1 piece of new content prior to For Science - grid fins. Oh joy, we can try to control our craft that wobbles all over the place even though SAS shouldn't be that broken to begin with. For Science didn't fix much, and it actually hurt the game because of how dumbed-down the actual gathering of science was. And how rigid the contracts/missions were. And how broken some of the science-gathering parts were (such as the automated sample collector constantly being "blocked" by some mysterious force that couldn't be accounted for). Not to mention that, even after FS, we still had day 1 game-breaking bugs present that they still couldn't fix (orbital lines disappearing, for example), and a maneuver node gadget that simply didn't work. I want to believe that if they released the game with FS in February things would have been different, but after 10 months they still couldn't fix core, foundational issues. Again, how much time do you think we should give them? It's been 7 years since announcement, we've had multiple studio changes, multiple rounds of developers coming and going, and they still couldn't give us a game worth buying or playing. SEVEN YEARS. Let me ask you: how have we been impatient? Or are you talking about Take Two forcing a release on a game that wasn't ready (presumably; we don't know for sure if that is what happened or not)? Are we just not supposed to ask questions and try to figure out how this all happened? Should we just wait indefinitely for this? Do you think we should just look the other way on all of this, heads stuck in the sand, and say to ourselves "It will all be fine if we just shut up"? Impatience didn't kill this game. Bad development decisions, an over-hyped non-existent product, and lousy management all killed this game. If anything, being impatient was the only thing that brought most of this to light.

Are you going to pay that? I most certainly am not fronting that kind of cash. Even if we were to cobble together 15,000 signatures, someone has to pay the retainer. And although the cost per person would be less than $1 ($0.67 per person, to be precise), how many people do you think are going to put any money towards it? Ok, so maybe the retainer isn't prohibitive when you start getting down to having, say, 5000 people pitch in $2 each. Ok, no big deal. Oh, wait - now there are active ongoing costs for this thing. Oh, less and less people are going to pony up? Ok, so some people continue to front cash. And when the whole thing is over, assuming a win...everyone on the petition wants to get whatever their share is. Even those who didn't pony up are going to be out there with their hands face up asking for their share. And that's AFTER the lawyers get paid. Look, I think a lawsuit is a damned fine idea. I think consumers have every right to defend themselves from shady business practices, and if it takes a group of people to prove it in court, then I'm all for it. But someone has to actually pay for this to happen. And while I do have some cash on hand, I'm not going to front the majority cost. Especially not if I'm not going to be the face of the case, or if I'm not going to be very involved in the case as a whole.

This...isn't really a secret. The earnings call for Take Two is on the 16th, and we are all speculating that we may hear something on that call.

While it is nice knowing there is a case....that retainer is prohibitive. Eesh.

I don't just say it. I have personal experience stemming from my own poor performance in the very first job I ever got. 16 years old, got hired at McDonald's, thought it would be a cakewalk and they'd just hand me a check. Boy, did I ever find out differently 2 months in. Walked in for a shift, got called into the office before I clocked in, was handed my final paycheck and told, in no uncertain terms, that "...your performance doesn't meet the McDonald's standard..." and was told I was no longer a part of the McDonald's family. Poor performance in ANY industry can cause employees to get fired, or businesses to close. But we are talking about game dev so...just because you haven't seen it means it hasn't happened? Your personal experience does not mean others haven't had other experiences or seen/heard other things. Your narrow view of what can happen is simply that - your own narrow view. I have been in the same industry my entire career, and I've seen the company I work for gobble up multiple smaller insurance firms. Promises are made, nobody is getting the axe...and then the smaller company ends up just getting gutted, employees laid off, and systems integrated. It happens. Poor performance can, and almost always does, lead to revenue hits.

I've gone through disbelief. And anger. And confusion. And back to anger. And I've skated through the "the game is canceled" stage. Right now, as of today, I am in the "I've got nothing other than stating the facts and hoping that the community can stay together through this" stage. I could not agree more. This whole debacle has caused this great community to fracture right down the middle, with insults and anger hurled from both sides to the other. I just want us all to get along again, no matter what happens or what people think.

My guess is that if we are to hear anything, it will be either during or after the financial call on the 16th. [snip] While I agree with this sentiment, I doubt it will change. Not to mention that you have to wonder how many games in EA from big publishers/companies would never even sniff release without EA.

I think what a lot of people are forgetting is that Steam isn't the only place the game was sold. Myself, much like others, purchased the game on Epic. Which means it isn't just Steam's terms that need to be checked, but Epic's as well. And if the game is canceled, BOTH could be on the hook for refunds.

Did you see where I stated, quite plainly, that I an aware there are people who have an issue with it? Or are you simply just looking for a reason to argue?

I won't deny that there are people who have an issue with the placement and/or size of the navball in KSP1. However, a lot of us, myself included, don't have an issue with it. And there are mods for PC that correct issues people have with it. I can't speak for console because I don't play on console.

No. The navball obstructed your view. I thought it was fine where it was.

And all those official statements from the last 6 years carry so much weight? My point is that people need to be realistic at this point.

You know how a lot of people are all like "Hey, the studio may be getting shut down, but they should still be working and will release new content before June 28"? Yeah, I don't think so. Arkane was shut down without warning too, and all the stuff they were working on for Redfall has been cancelled. Redfall's Offline Mode Was Being Worked On, But Is Dead Now (kotaku.com)

Thanks to Epic, I've got a whole bunch of games I picked up for free that I can cycle through. Thief, Fallout New Vegas, Evil Within...just to name a few. And that's on top of my going through Kerbal Space Program 1, which I happen to love. As far as KitBash goes, I highly recommend it. I picked it up for like $15 a few weeks ago, and it's really good. HarvesteR is engaged with the community, he's actively working on enhancements and bug fixes, and it's just plain fun. Juno, on the other hand...meh. I like some things about it, but there's others that both me. And I'm not sure I'll ever be able to do the whole engine scaling thing to make them as efficient as possible. All told, I agree with you: I'll never purchase another game from Take Two or Private Division, and I'll avoid anything over-hyped by one particular individual like the plague.

Well, Microsoft isn't immune to the mass layoffs and studio closures happening. Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks are the latest victims. Dang. 'A F***ing Gut Stab': Game Devs React To Shocking Shutdowns (kotaku.com)

Banned for being the new page police