In an ironic twist, the spooky game No Players Online, about what remains of an abandoned FPS, is actually haunted in real life by a "former friend" of the developers who managed to get it taken down. A successful Steam strike removed the experimental horror shooter, and it’s only now been relisted.
Adam Pype, a dev at Beeswax, the studio behind the game, recounted events in a statement. "They claimed to be a co-author of the game despite not having done anything for it," the post reads. "NPO was made completely from scratch by our team. Despite trying to clarify to them the past couple months that their allegations were completely unfounded, they recklessly filed the DMCA to Steam without any notice, and the game was taken down on November 13."
They mention the team spent "two and a half years of our lives and a ton of money" putting together No Players Online, and state "it's crazy" that a "simple form" can harm such an investment. "It's been tough trying to reconcile with this betrayal from someone I considered a dear friend," Pype comments.
There's an apology for anyone who couldn’t access the release during this time, and it’s mentioned how much this hurts the overall returns of a small indie game. "We lost out on much needed momentum and revenue right after the release of our game and we're unsure if we will be able to recover financially from this given our already thin margins," Beeswax says.
Beeswax remains "committed" to providing post-launch support for No Players Online, but Pype warns that the team's future is now unclear. "Any visibility on our game at this point would be crucial," he writes.
This is a larger, more fleshed-out version of a freeware project of the same name, about playing through a dusty old first-person shooter that's since become cavernous and empty, only to discover a hidden mystery within the fabric of the game. It's odd, a little esoteric, and quite ambitious, and it tugs on the heartstrings of nostalgia in a novel way. If all that sounds like something you'd be into, No Players Online is on Steam.
