I had pre-ordered the game on Steam close to launch. I did so under the assumption that Solo Mode, which was announced here 10 days before launch, would be a forthcoming feature with an original release window of December 2022.
It is now October 2023, and Fatshark have not made any official announcements regarding the status or new expected delivery window of the feature. The only statements we have on the subject are forum posts when asked about it, stating “its not a priority”.
I am tired of waiting and being kept in the dark for a feature that, despite being described previously as “in the final stages of testing”, is still undelivered and there is increasing indication that it is not being actively worked on.
Genuine question - why wait so long to lodge the refund request/complaint? 10 months seems like a long time to wait from the originally slated release window of December
Because I was holding out for the possibility that Solo Mode might actually get in. If they had released it late, I would’ve been willing to accept it. But its become clear to me that the developers swindled me, either via negligence or malice. Especially with that screenpic of Fatshark Catfish reiterating that “its not a priority, but maybe in the future!”.
In my refund request, I listed all of the instances of Fatshark announcing a feature or post-launch content, only for all of it to be delivered late and in a form that did not match what they described before launch.
While Solo Mode remains undelivered, Crafting was late and didn’t match its description, and “one class every quarter” turned out to also be false.
I hope that’s enough to get a refund. And if that’s not enough, I will file a complaint with the Tribunal of Consumer Claims.
Thanks for the explanation; my original thought was if the sole concern was solo mode and it didn’t appear/have some announcement within a month or two, that’s probably a reasonable amount of time before acting.
Not advertized in the original product description and also nowhere really sold as a “100% will be done” claim.
There were a few posts about it, those were estimates.
Your complaint stands on super shaky grounds. Think twice.
It ranges from vague plans to very definitive statements. Solo Mode being the most definitive.
Solo Mode was described to be “in the final stages of testing” and having a release window of December 2022. Despite this, its still no where to be found and developer statements have shown they do not intend to finish it.
Crafting had a pretty in-depth description of what it was going to be just before launch. Crafting as it was described wasn’t delivered on time, and the feature as it was eventually delivered had some significant differences from what was announced.
“One class per quarter” is completely false at this point. We didn’t get any new classes at all and the upcoming Class Overhaul makes the system completely unrecognizable to what they had advertised.
I’ll let the refund request run its course through Steam’s system for now and will escalate to filing a complaint at the Tribunal of Consumer Claims Malaysia if I’m unsuccessful.
In fairness there used to be a solo mode at the start, but it had plenty of bugs (Both on server and for the bots) so it was taken out, then a month or so after they re-introduced private which needed 2 players
That’s not entirely accurate. There are developer statements of having a version of it working internally, but these were never released to the public. There were never any public tests for Solo Mode. Not in the Close Beta Test, nor in the Pre-order Beta.
Only Private Mode was released. Solo Mode was never released to us at any point.
There was a bug back in February whereby people could press certain key combinations in the Mission Select screen to cause the menu to bug out and allow a solo player to start a mission in Private mode, and the server didn’t have a check to force-switch the Private lobby to Public if the Private lobby was already at a party size of 1.
That bug was quietly hotfixed in March, but before it was people who did play with the Private Solo bug reported that the game ran perfectly fine. It was the closest we’d ever gotten to having an official Solo Mode, eventhough it was unintentional.
Unless, the Solo & Private mode testing you’re referring to happened before the Closed Beta Test of October 2022.
I do fully intend to file a complaint at the Tribunal of Consumer Claims Malaysia if I am unable to secure a refund, so that part at least is not an idle threat.
I am aware of 2 Solo Mode mods. 1 has no progression while the other 1 is technically a different mod but is being used to indirectly enable Solo Private mode again.
I’m also aware that the developers have threatened to close the loophole that the latter mod uses to function.
So no, that is not acceptable to me, especially since the developers have a history of quietly hotfixing loopholes and bugs that the community general likes.
Yeah don’t really care about solo mode and think the ones that desperatly wants it is so few it’s probably not a priority on the “to do list” and there are more important things to fix first and show that FS at least knows a bit what to prioritize.
It will probably come in due time if it works somewhat normal.
It’s kinda wack to buy a co-op pve game for a singelplayer experince, but each to their own.
But fair enough if you want to spend lawyer fees for refunding a game for a few bucks thats your prerogative.
That’s what Catfish said the other day. It’s no longer on their list, because all the other features have priority.
Pretty reasonable accessment, their only mistake was talking about uncooked bacon again before actually putting it on the stove.
Don’t think it will come to any lawyering. Valve is pretty amicable what refunds are concerned.
Solo Play was an important enough feature that they officially announced it and advertised it to us on the lead up to launch. Because they did that, all other personal considerations about what’s “more important” are irrelevant.
They’d announced the feature, described it as “in the final stages of testing”, and given it a release window of December 2022. I’d bought the game based on that advertisement.
The failure to deliver on the product as advertised, and the continuing display of the lack of intent to deliver the product as advertised, is why I’m requesting the refund and am willing to escalate it to a formal complain at the Tribunal of Consumer Claims.
If Fatshark had not announced the feature, then I wouldn’t have bought the game and I wouldn’t be forced to take this course of action. A game developer should not be given carte blanche to announce and advertise features with no intent to deliver them.
I mean, go knock yourself out. I’m just telling you your chances, they’re slim.
No marketing material remains claiming solo mode as a feature. Even back then it was only advertized in so far, that there were responses for this in some thread. And that’s not a product advertizement by legal definition, just a claim made by staff.
When judging if fraud is present, most laws go by what the packaging promises, not what an employee said as an off-the-cuff remark 1 hour before jumping into the weekend.
Not that it will get to the refund denial stage anyway. Steam will grant you yours in all likelihood, if you present the issue as you currently have.
That’s up to the interpretation of local laws. This is an official communication by the developers announcing the feature on Steam’s News section.
This is far beyond vague statements on forums. Especially since it definitively said the feature will be in, described it as “in the final stages of testing”, and gave it a release window.
In any case, the ball is now in Steam’s court. If I do not get a satisfactory resolution in there, then I will escalate to the Tribunal of Consumer Claims.
Okay, I must admit that is more definitive than a forum post. Good find. I had no idea such a post was up.
They delivered on the second part of their promise, but the true solo locally hosted mode isn’t in. Clearly because it requires additional networking features.
From my point of view SP in 4 player coop titles is actually industry standard - all of these games I played do offer it at least.
I played the Solo mod and it was a pleasure - if they enabled progression for it I’d be fine to wait a long time until they deliver something official…
And while I absolutely get that some (many) don’t care I can name you a few reasons why I want locally hosted SP:
clearing maps at my own pacing (no speedjunkies or slow draggers depending on my mood)
goofing around with loadouts without ruining other peoples experiences
Avoiding Germanys atrocious internet infrastructure (no hit reg issues, no lags ect)
Being able to design the whole team for teamwide synergies (will become more important after next patch!)
Autistic unwillingness to interact with other people after a stressfull day…
While I get why FS redirected their ressources I still feel betrayed by the broken promise.
I enjoy the atmosphere, gun- and swordplay to much to ask for a refund but I’m very unwilling to spend further money as I hate being lied to.