Steam Removes Legally Acquired Copies of The Surge From Player Accounts [UPDATE]

Update

Less than 24 hours after players' appeal, those affected by unexpected cancellation of game keys The Surge have received a response from the developers.

Most of the players who sent a message with a complaint have been informed that they will will soon receive brand new codeswith which to unlock the game on Steam.

One participant in the discussion on the Steam forum confirmed that he had already received the promised copy by email, and decided to share the contents of the entire message he received:

Focus Entertainment, which is now probably busy enough with the release of Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun (to be held in 5 days), has quickly dealt with the inconvenient situation.

Interestingly, neither on the studio's social media nor on the official website will we find any information about the possibility of getting a new key. All arrangements with players were made on the Steam forum or through private correspondence.

Original news (May 17, 2023)

Getting a coveted game cheaply or even for free is in many cases nowadays just a matter of time. If one has a little patience, legally adding games to our library is easier than ever. The problem arises when this technology fails.

Promo for The Surge for free in 2021

Two years ago, a promotional campaign was organized in Focus Entertainment's store. According to its outline, each logged-in user received a key to The Surge on Steam for each order - regardless of the amount spent.

Many players then decided to purchase The Surge CREO Special Employee Kit DLC, which cost less than $1. In comparison, the basic edition of the 6-year-old game is currently available for purchase on Steam for $10.

Source: Steam

Adding free content to the purchase of a game is not unheard of, so no one expected that two years later this inconspicuous promotion would turn out to be a source of problems.

Unexplained cancellation of the action

As reported by readers of Lowcy Gier [in Polish], recently the publisher of The Surge has decided to cancel key for the game acquired as part of the aforementioned promotion.

Users who came into possession of the game in 2021, firing up Steam today saw a message, informing them that the key activation had been canceled due to "problems with the processing of payment for the product."

Thus a legally purchased copy of the game, no matter the amount, disappeared from players' libraries.

1. It seems that the situation affected all players taking advantage of the promotion, as the problem lived to see its own thread on Steam forum, in which players complain about the situation.
2. Shortly thereafter, one of the game's developers joined the discussion, claiming that the studio is aware of the problem and is working on solving it.

For some players, such a promise is temporarily satisfactory, but some officially declared that they have lost confidence in Focus Entertainment and feel cheated.

One of the participants in the forum discussion also noted that the problem with The Surge is not an isolated incident:

Whether the obscure cancellation of keys is the result of coincidence or unfair play by the developers, it shows us that by relying entirely on digital purchases of games, we will never own them 100%.

• Focus Entertainment - official website
• Discussion regarding problems with The Surge on Steam