Last summer’s hit streaming game Only Up! is off the shelves and permanently gone.
There are certain times on streaming that one game becomes a peak of interest by many and it creates a huge flow of players purchasing the title. Player Unknowns Battlegrounds and Rust are the first ones that come to my mind, and recently a game by the name “Only Up!” was causing the same effect on both players and people who liked to watch streams. Although the game’s premise was the same as Getting Over It, Only Up! drew more attention due to its 3D platforming aspect.
Players, in this case, lots of streamers, had to climb up a huge construction with a bunch of random items scattered throughout their climb. It was a game of patience and that’s what made it fun. However, the bad sides of the game started picking up once players reached certain points. The objects that were used as obstacles to climb were stolen assets and there were a lot of NFTs around, making the game basically a free advertisement for the things people mostly hate.
After the controversy of stolen assets and NFTs being included in Only Up!, it started getting more heat but in a negative way instead. The single developer behind the game had to pull the game off back in June until everything was sorted out for good. The title was rereleased a few weeks later with certain fixes, however, the said fixes did not change the assets nor wipe off the NFTs, therefore people were complaining again.
In the end, excessive amounts of backlash made the developer of the game finally cut ties and completely remove the game from the Steam platform. SKCR Games, the developer, has stated that during its lifespan, the feedback they received caused irreparable damage and their health needs restoring, therefore they are going to remove the game’s existence from Steam store and leave it behind. The measure taken for backlashes does seem to be the right choice, though people really liked the idea of a 3D platformer with roguelike elements, and Only Up! was unique on its own to draw huge amounts of attention despite being a simple game.
