Pirate Version of Deserters Hits Planned Steam Release
A nine-year rebuild had finally reached the point of overseas publishing talks and a Steam version; the cracked version landed in the same Chinese-speaking market that localization was being prepared for, and the developer now says the business case is gone.
Reporting from 1 source: Game Spark.
Deserters, an adult fantasy strategy game from doujin circle WhiteCute & AlphaNuts, is being distributed in a cracked, modified and translated pirate version, the developer said. The game launched on DLsite on March 14 after nine years of rebuilding a feature-phone title for PC. A new publisher had begun moving toward a Steam release as of September, with Chinese-language support in preparation. On October 17 the developer said the piracy means "it's over as a business" and that he is stepping away from activity.
The pirate build surfaced in Chinese-speaking regions on October 17. As of August, negotiations with four publishers for overseas expansion had fallen through, and as of September a new publisher had started work toward a Steam release, with Chinese-language support being prepared for that version.
Representative Hide wrote that he thought a quarter-century of activity might end abruptly like this, and that the shock of being pirated left him unable to recover. Deserters remains on sale for PC via DLsite. The developer has not stated what happens to the Steam version.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.