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Of course, my last blog was pretty terrible. I know I promised some great stuff in there, but this one is going to blow your socks off.

As mentioned previously, Godus now has a second game. It was released for free to everyone who purchased a copy of Godus! You know, Godus! That game that was released by Peter Molyneux and 22cans in early access. When was that? Wikipedia says September 13 2013. What year is it now? 2016, right? It's still in early access? Oh, right.

Back to Godus Wars, the new Godus game. It's free with every copy of Godus! Or, actually, now, with every copy of Godus Wars, you get a free copy of Godus! Godus, which was formerly a $20 Steam game is now no longer available for purchase individually. Instead, you can buy Godus Wars for $15 and get Godus included.

I lack the comprehension to interpret why Godus Wars was made separate from Godus and released as a separate title from a "Do right to the people who bought and/or crowdfunded your unfinished game" point of view. I just don't see how this helps. One idea I had? Godus was originally intended to be a multiplayer title. However, for some reason or another I cannot recall, 22cans elected to use an engine that had online Windows support, but not online Linux support. I think, though I may be mistaken, the reason for this was to make the game easier to develop as a freemium mobile title. Again, not positive, though the game did become a freemium mobile title, at least. Perhaps the introduction of Godus Wars allows for the introduction of a new engine that doesn't scrap all the incomplete and unfinished work of the heavily-critically-and-gamer-panned-Godus-that-is-laden-with-microtransaction-based-gameplay, but allows for a more flexible engine when it comes to network gameplay? I don't know. That was my initial hypothesis.

Then I read an article on Rock-Paper-Shotgun. Weird. It states that upon completing a continent in Godus Wars, at the initial launch of this unfinished, early access game that people essentially already purchased when they kickstarted Godus or bought Early Access to Godus, one is offered the chance to purchase access to additional continents of Godus Wars for the meager price of $5.

Remember, Godus Wars appears to be intended to be the combat element that was originally intended to be included inside a single, individual game called Godus. And yet, even though it's been distributed to people who own the primary title, it's clear the intent was to bait these gamers into paying even more money into 22cans's Early Access titles, even though gamers have already payed for them in entirety via Steam or kickstarter. It was, without a doubt, a dishonest move.

Naturally, early adopters learned of this, called out 22cans, and recognizing the possible fallout for such a decision in the face of uproar, 22cans removed the premium barrier. Allow me to find the quote from 22cans about their decision:

“In the mean time, its been brought to our attention that the extra content being a premium add on really isn’t a popular choice. Whilst we think that it does represent good value, especially considering that Godus Wars has been delivered as a free update to hundreds of thousands of users and the lower purchase price of the main game we understand previous Godus owners frustrations with this.

Therefore, based on your feedback, the extra content will be available to all free-of-charge

Apologies for the frustrations and we hope you enjoy playing.”

That's from the studio's current CEO, Simon Phillips.

Go back and read that statement again. Even though Godus Wars is basically an element of a game that was never included in the game, and paid for upfront by people who funded the kickstarter or purchased Godus as an Early Access title, the CEO of 22cans thinks charging an extra $5 for each continent in Godus Wars is a good value. He states that 22cans understands previous Godus owners frustrations with this, but I believe it's clear they do not.

Previous Godus owners paid for the content promised in the kickstarter campaign. They have not yet received the content promised in the kickstarter campaign. 22cans asked them to pay more money for content in a game they never asked for that is of tertiary fulfillment to the promises made about the content that would be in Godus as stated in the kickstarter campaign.

Oh, and let's remember that Godus Wars is currently a single-player title. Player vs. CPU. The combat in Godus was intended to be a way to bring in the "God of Gods" role that still has not been implemented, and it was intended to bring social aspects to the game. The formerly premium content in Godus Wars? Definitely didn't fulfill any of those promises. Way to go, 22cans.

On a different note, and as an actual conclusion, the guy who "won" Curiosity -- What's Inside the Cube still hasn't actually won anything aside from a few inside updates from 22cans. I believe at some point, Simon Phillips said technically, they didn't really owe him anything. This is a blog for a reason, I don't feel like re-researching all of this. However, let's not forget that Curiosity -- What's Inside the Cube was a mobile game where you tapped the screen indefinitely, and could pay a premium price to tap off a greater number of bricks. It was a freemium title, and it was explicitly stated the winner would receive a life-changing reward. People paid money so they could tap "better." Then it turned out Curiosity was designed to run indefinitely, and that additional layers could be implemented, without any actual center until 22cans decided one layer was the last. This means that any tapping that occurred before 22cans was ready to end the game was meant as filler. It didn't reduce the amount of time that it took for the inside of the cube to be released. It just mean 22cans made some money on some temporary premium content, then added a new layer to the inside as a means to stall until they were ready to announce the Godus project. Something in there seems awful deceitful, but I've seen very few people call out or recognize that idea.

All right, I'm done. I'll never blog or talk about 22cans, Godus, or Peter Molyneux ever again. (I'm actually lying when I say that.)