Deep Silver’s roleplaying game Risen is currently on sale for Steam right now, but we’re advising you not to buy it. Not because of the game’s quality, but because if you buy it right now, you won’t be able to play it. Apparently failing to foresee the game’s popularity, Valve ran out of activation keys and is currently scrabbling to secure more.
Many gamers are getting a “Failed to contact key server” error message when attempting to unlock their game, and needless to say, it has pissed a lot of customers off. There’s a seventeen page forum thread on the issue, bursting with outrage. The main problem people have is that Valve didn’t warn anybody beforehand, and has allegedly done nothing to stop people buying a game they cannot yet activate.
The developer, for its part, has addressed the issue, sympathizing with customers and promising that more keys will be available on Monday. In the meantime, a weekend of roleplaying has been lost to those who bought the game without warning, and we all got a stern reminder that buying digital games leaves the consumer with very little power.
Never nice to be reminded of that.
[Thanks, Ken!]
