Apple probably won’t care
Spiderweb Software’s not having a good time as of late.No one really pays much attention to them most of the time, but the fact they still pump out very niche retro-style CRPGs after 20 years is a really nice thing. They’re one of the few constants in this industry we can count on: Chris Metzen will love Orcs almost as much as I do, we’ll get an Assassin’s Creed every year, and yep. Spiderweb’s still making games like Avernum. All is right in the world.
Unfortunately, it appears they’ve taken a bit of a blow recently. In a forum post and a series of tweets (as seen below), Spiderweb’s president Jeff Vogel announced that due to updates made to iOS, they will be unable to continue developing for the platform.
Updating to iOS 8.3 “completely [breaks] the engine we have been using for the last several years”, according to Vogel. Because of this, he tweeted out that he will be offering refunds or exchanges to anyone felt hard-done by after purchasing Avernum 2 HD.
I am miserable to announce that we will no longer be developing new games for the iPad. Reasons are here: https://t.co/hfRtWfVTQC
— Jeff Vogel (@spiderwebsoft) April 16, 2015
If you bought Avernum 2 HD and found it to be broken, contact us at [email protected] for a replacement or refund.
— Jeff Vogel (@spiderwebsoft) April 16, 2015
Probably going to be spending a lot of time in the next few days writing and mailing refund checks. Apple doesn’t support refunds in iTunes.
— Jeff Vogel (@spiderwebsoft) April 16, 2015
When Apple decide to fuck up your game, there’s no fighting against that. It’s a sad thing to see such a resilient indie dev like Spiderweb take a hit, but it’s also commendable they’re offering refunds for something that seems beyond their control. Fortunately, their games are also available on Android and PC, so it isn’t by any means the end for the studio. It’s just a sad shame they’re no longer welcome on that particular lovely touch screen.