NEWS
by Mark Barley
'War Z' update charging players for respawns
Valve is investigating occurrences where War Z players are being charged to respawn in-game.
The Steam release for the ArmA III mod, War Z, was met by much criticism and now gamers are reporting that in order to respawn in the game (something that usually only takes about 30-60 seconds) now takes up to four hours unless you pay real money to spawn at a quicker rate.
A Kotaku report claims that Hammerpoint Games is charging players unjustly. The report states that when you die in War Z it takes up to 60 minutes to respawn - and that was before this morning's update. Now after the update it takes up to four hours to get back into the game unless you pay an "instant respawn fee" of 50 gold coins, which is valued at about $0.40.
What makes things really bad is that you can only purchase the game's Gold Coins in increments of $5. It's not like War Z is free-to-play either. The game initially will run you $15.
Eurogamer is reporting that Valve has officially apologized for the ordeal and is now investigating Hammerpoint Games' policy on the matter.
Valve's Al Farnsworth, after outcry on the Steam forums, said that Valve takes complaints very seriously.
“We take these complaints seriously and are investigating the issue.
“There has been a lot of traffic in this forum – a new topic every minute for the last day and a half, with thousands of replies. All that makes moderation a very difficult task.
“If you have concerns or criticisms about the game, you are free to post those in this forum. However, please keep your posts on-topic and about the game. There’s no reason to personally insult other posters, the developers, or the moderators. Please keep the discussion rules and guidelines in mind when posting.”
I can only imagine the thought process of Hammerpoint when they implemented this one. “There has been a lot of traffic in this forum – a new topic every minute for the last day and a half, with thousands of replies. All that makes moderation a very difficult task.
“If you have concerns or criticisms about the game, you are free to post those in this forum. However, please keep your posts on-topic and about the game. There’s no reason to personally insult other posters, the developers, or the moderators. Please keep the discussion rules and guidelines in mind when posting.”
We'll keep you updated.