While not encouraging the practice, S?derstr?m makes an exception
Devolver Digital and Dennaton Games’ forthcoming title Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number made headlines yesterday after the Australian Classification Board made the decision to refuse the game classification, effectively banning its sales and distribution in the region.
A concerned Hotline Miami supporter living in Australia named Max Cartwright reached out to Jonatan Söderström of Dennaton in an email to share his concerns about the Classification Board’s decision and to ask if there were alternative methods to acquire the game.
“Please, if there is any way for me to pay you directly for a copy of your game, I would be delighted,” he said via email. “Perhaps you could send me a copy of your game and I could donate to your Paypal? Just give me options!”
Söderström responded by saying, “If it ends up not being released in Australia, just pirate it after release. No need to send us any money, just enjoy the game!” Devolver’s Fork Parker verified the authenticity of the email over Twitter in this exchange with Polygon’s Ben Kuchera.
While the developer’s statement may come as a surprise to some, this isn’t be the first time the Hotline Miami team has tolerated piracy of their games. Back in October of 2012, Söderström reached out to the Pirate Bay community requesting that its future torrents of the title include the latest patch that he was working on at the time.
When questioned by Polygon about the unusual decision, Söderström replied, “I’ve worked very hard on making an interesting experience that I want people to enjoy,” adding “Bugs detract from that, and that’s worse to me than losing money.”
Obviously Denneton would prefer for people to pay for its games and not resort to piracy; but, if left with no other viable option — as is the case with Australia — it seems that the team wants gamers to experience its work no matter how they have to get it.
[Header image by Promadas, published on DeviantArt]
