Steam Removes Legally Acquired Copies of The Surge From Player Accounts [UPDATE]
Legally acquired copies of The Surge has begun to disappear from the libraries of Steam users. Some believe that this is a continuation of a disturbing trend and evidence of problems with the platform's regulations.
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:
"Dear Customer,
We regret to inform you of an operational problem that occurred on our system, causing the Steam key for The Surge to be invalidated. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
Below you will find your new key:
xxxxx-xxxxxxx-xxxxxx
Your save is still in your computer's files and will be available again automatically when you activate your new Steam key. Be careful not to uninstall the game. If you have uninstalled it, there is still a chance to recover your save through Steam Cloud.
If you need further assistance, you can contact our support at the following address: [email protected] or create a ticket directly in our support by selecting the topic "Check order status".
We hope you go through these steps smoothly and will soon be back to slicing and shredding enemies in The Surge.
Thank you for your patience.
Sincerely,
Focus Entertainment store team, reported user XenoSlug
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.
![Steam Removes Legally Acquired Copies of The Surge From Player Accounts [UPDATE] - picture #1](https://cdn.gracza.pl/gallery/html/news/524771171.jpg)
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.
- 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.
- 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.
"I received the same message, but what would be the real reason for taking away everyone's Steam keys?
Why all this a year and a half after purchase?," asks stealt555
One of the participants in the forum discussion also noted that the problem with The Surge is not an isolated incident:
"Let the fun begin. First Deponia (more information can be found here - Editor's note), now this. Steam should ban such sudden changes without a real analysis of the situation," concludes Povi
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%.
