Earth: Year 2066 pulled from Steam over 'dishonest' marketing

Valve has had to pull an early access game from Steam that players said is broken and makes inaccurate claims. It's offering refunds through Monday, May 19.

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Valve has once again had to step in to satisfy customers displeased by misleading claims. Earth: Year 2066 from Killing Day Studios was offered as an early access game for $19.99, but players found it broken and said the product page didn't accurately describe the game.

In a post on the Steam forum (via Eurogamer), Valve employee Chris D explained why the game had been pulled, and seemed to agree with the disgruntled customers.

"On Steam, developers make their own decisions about promotion, features, pricing and publication. However, Steam does require honesty from developers in the marketing of their games," he said. "We have removed Earth: Year 2066 from Early Access on Steam. Customers who purchased the game will be able to get a refund on the store page until Monday May 19th."

More than a year ago, Valve had to pull another game that gained notoriety for its poor launch. The War Z was similarly called misleading and spurred Valve to intervene. The executive producer later apologized for the launch and his response to complaints, and the game was renamed due to trademark issues.

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    May 6, 2014 10:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Earth: Year 2066 pulled from Steam over 'dishonest' marketing.

    Valve has had to pull an early access game from Steam that players said is broken and makes inaccurate claims. It's offering refunds through Monday, May 19.

    • reply
      May 6, 2014 12:16 PM

      Hail Hydra Gaben!

    • reply
      May 6, 2014 12:30 PM

      Yeah, this one was particularly atrocious. From what I understand, the screenshot used in this article shows you the entirety of the world available in the current release. Literally there is just that one town area with a few towers and a chain link fence, some robots who shoot at you, a few invisible walls to keep you penned in, and that's it. That's not even enough for a demo, much less something you charge people $20 for.

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