No time for long commentary.
Just goes to show, ultimately, big games are still a business.
Commercial viability to keep the company going is still important.
On a personal level, it doesn’t pay off to be too heartily invested into any one game.
Circumstances may change beyond control.
There’s always another game.
Gamer cred can stretch through multiple games.
For what it’s worth, I played Glitch from time to time.
A lot of that time was just “playing” or checking on the offline skill progress bar now and then to watch it increment like a long-term version of Progress Quest. Never found much reason to keep busyworking hamster wheel “speeding” up the time to skill up. Still got there in the end.
Lots of Glitch was a busywork achievement hamster wheel for item, for goals, for achievements.
Still whimsical fun, ‘long as one recognizes it for what it was. Something to pass the time with. Be entertained by.
Lots of their zone design was very creative and unique. Aesthetically pleasing, quirky, playful music, cute stories, some platforming and puzzle jumping fun. Throw in crafting and collecting and farming style activities, low pressure, sandboxy but with guided progression at the beginning.
Nice of them to offer refunds back. They really did a lot of things right as a company (morally and design-wise) – except where financial stuff was concerned, I guess.
They had an optional cash shop for clothing and customization and what-not. I was always under the impression that it was working for them, that they had monthly subscribers and enough people paying for credits to keep them going – given the amount of people I see around with oodles of customised clothing and houses and towers and things.
Guess it wasn’t enough.
I’d always managed to play it for free and settle for being less fancy, until I decided on a whim one day I wanted to look nice and wear a top hat and look like an English gentleman. Then I just spent 3 bucks and played dressup to amuse myself. Don’t begrudge ’em that sum at all.
Perhaps it might have been enough for a smaller sized firm, but I guess keeping Glitch going requires too much manpower with too little income.
So long, Glitch. It’s been swell.
Why I Game 