Fraud and exploits are a real concern in the Steam online marketplace, with Valve cracking down on “fake games” earlier this year. But when algorithms are apparently involved, some games may have found themselves unintentionally in the crossfire. One such is Wandersong, a musical adventure game by Greg Lobanov, which was recently struck by restrictions on Steam.
The official Wandersong Twitter account pointed this out, as restrictions to the game’s trading cards and achievements, usual features that Steam games have, were rolled out. “Steam is still learning about this game,” a notification eerily reads.
Wandersong’s steam reviews are so good that Valve doesn’t necessarily believe it’s a real game, and still haven’t enabled many basic features for us in case it’s a bot trick. BUT IT’S REAL. https://t.co/wRZVo1LKtL pic.twitter.com/XqEzQKKP5x
— WANDERSONG (out now!!!) (@Wandersong_game) January 8, 2019
Fitting with the wholesome nature of the game was the response, with the Twitter account encouraging fans to view this as a mistake rather than a big company attempting to stomp down on independent games. Take it as a testament that Wandersong is so good that its many positive reviews were alarming!
Please don’t take this to mean that Valve is working against small games! Many games that are far less successful than us have been verified. And it’s good to take precaution to protect buyers from scams.
we’re just so good it’s statistically improbable that we’re real
— WANDERSONG (out now!!!) (@Wandersong_game) January 8, 2019
Per another tweet, the problem is due to be fixed quite soon—in fact, this problem occurred with several other titles, meaning that this isn’t quite an isolated incident and a potential problem with Valve’s current methodology.
I can tell you for a fact that Wandersong is a real game—look no further to my own review and its spot on my personal top ten list. In fact, Wandersong has a presence in the Independent Games Festival awards ceremony, with several honorable mentions and a full nomination for Excellence in Narrative.
If you’d rather get Wandersong for the Switch rather than the apparently mistake-prone Steam, the game is on sale on the Nintendo eShop for 20% off until January 10. Lobanov is currently working on a follow-up project currently titled Drawdog.
The post Wandersong Struck With Restrictions from Steam, Mistaken as a Fake Game by Bots by Chris Compendio appeared first on DualShockers.