A 2018 Early Access game titled Heartbound is once again under fire after streamer GappyV reviewed its recent update strategy. PirateSoftware pushed a minimal 2MB update after more than a year of silence—just enough to remove Steam’s “abandoned” tag from their title.
The update primarily merged existing beta builds with almost no new content. Players who invested in the game years ago have seen development progress at a snail’s pace with few meaningful improvements.
“Steam marked this game as abandoned…and PirateSoftware got so insecure about that he pushed a nothingburger update,” explained one frustrated player in online discussions.
The developer’s claimed background at Blizzard Entertainment raised expectations that many feel haven’t been met during the five years since the game’s Early Access release. This mismatch between professional experience and actual output has fueled much of the criticism.
Community members have also criticized the developer’s work habits. According to one observer: “He would open his stream to ‘work’ on the game. Copy a line or two of code, then open paint and proceed to farm shorts for YouTube.”
Adding to the controversy, users discovered that credits had been removed from game files in the recent update, though the significance of this change remains unclear.
Steam’s Early Access program was designed to help developers fund ongoing work while gathering player feedback. However, cases like this show how developers can potentially exploit loopholes to maintain their game’s marketplace status without showing substantial progress.
The situation raises questions about whether platforms should implement stricter policies to ensure Early Access games either continue meaningful development or face more significant consequences than just a warning tag.
