The War Z, the online zombie survival shooter which has drawn ample comparisons to DayZ, launched on Steam on Monday. It quickly became the download service’s top-selling game at an introductory price of $13.50. Today, Valve disabled further purchases and is offering refunds for customers who already bought it. What happened?
“From time to time a mistake can be made and one was made by prematurely issuing a copy of War Z for sale via Steam,” Valve told Kotaku. “We apologize for this and have temporary removed the sale offering of the title until we have time to work with the developer and have confidence in a new build. Those who purchase the game and wish to continue playing it via Steam may do so. Those who purchased the title via Steam and are unhappy with what they received may seek a refund by creating a ticket at our support site here.”
If you frequent Reddit’s gaming channels or NeoGAF, you know very well by now what that mistake was. Several inaccurate statements were included in the game’s initial listing, including claims of multiple maps when only one is currently available and server limits of up to 100 players when only 50 can join at the moment. The listing was since revised, but only after the previously mentioned chart-topping sales.
Developer Hammerpoint Games also responded to Kotaku, saying it will ensure its store page is accurate and that “our end goal is to have satisfied and not angry customers, so this is more important for us than everything else.” The War Z is still available for purchase on its website.