Most of us know how tricky it can be to get inhabitants of the internet to vote for things, some people just give their votes away freely, and others, withhold it like their lives depended on it. Reverb Publishing however, just knows how to get’em! Or do they?
Publishers of the game Edge of Space has decided that kittens might help their cause, because who doesn’t like kittens? They dominate the internet with their cat mind powers and using them would bring in lots and lots of votes surely? No.
Unfortunately their attempt went terribly wrong and now makes them looks like cruel animal abusing villains. Reverb Publishing has promised to donate $5, 000 to the Humane Society, an animal protection group should their game break the top 10 barrier on Steam Greenlight, after they’ve already surpassed the top 50 mark. If they don’t however reach the top 10 mark, then well no monies for homeless cats.
Kotaku editor, Jason Schreier received the following press release, making things seem pretty weird and twisted:
“Reverb Publishing and HandyMan Studios’ upcoming terraforming space-adventure, Edge of Space, recently broke the top 50 on Steam’s Greenlight project, but the game needs help getting the final push to the top 10 and approval. In honor of one of the many bizarre characters players will meet in the game, an armored space cat, Reverb Publishing is issuing a pledge to donate money to the Humane Society if the game sees approval on Steam.
If Edge of Space is approved by October 15, 2012 through Greenlight, Reverb Publishing will donate $5000 to the Humane Society, which will go towards providing necessary care and safety to homeless cats. However, if the game doesn’t get approval, that money will disappear, like a puff of smoke in the uncaring wind, leaving poor kitties to survive in the harsh elements, be placed in harm’s way and possibly scheduled for euthanasia. The challenge is out there, and for a simple “yes” vote on Steam’s Greenlight consumers can actively take a role in saving the lives of kitties. So, do your part, save some cats, and see a great space sandbox adventure get onto Steam’s platform. It’s a win-win!”
The official press release submitted to Gamespress though, looks a bit different, where you can see what they were actually trying to do.
“If Edge of Space is approved by October 15, 2012 through Greenlight, Reverb Publishing will donate $5000 (that’s £3,096.07) which will go towards providing necessary care and safety to homeless cats. If the game doesn’t get approval, well… we don’t even want to think about a world where kitties are in peril. Or one where Edge of Space fails to get green lit — and our beloved armoured space cat (we call him Harvey) has to be scheduled for euthanasia.”
It’s still to be seen whether this has hurt the game’s chances of getting to Steam Greenlight’s top 10. Reverb has also posted a thread on the game’s Greenlight page entitled, “Seriously we like cats, please read before jumping the gun”. The post reads as follows:
“Hey everyone! There has been a misunderstanding on the marketing side of Edge of Space. We do not support guilt voting in any way and our sincere apologies go out to anyone who felt that way. This was meant in fun, if anything, Reverb’s intent was to add a bonus; if we can make it to the top 10 by the 15th, we will help out a worthy cause. Understand that there is some dark humor in the game and they wanted to play off of that. We love CATS!!! That’s why we have them in our game to begin with! We have sugar bears too!!! So we like exotics.”
It would be a shame if the game didn’t get Greenlit, as it really does look awesome! Talk about kicking it old school 😛
Last Updated: October 2, 2012
