Why Roots of Pacha was pulled from Steam: publisher Crytivo accuses dev Soda Den of breaching contract
Roots of Pacha, a co-op farming simulator inspired by Stardew Valley, has been pulled from Steam over the weekend. This is all due to a conflict between developer Soda Den and publisher Crytivo.
What happened?
- On May 13, Soda Den shared a statement on Twitter, informing players that the Roots of Pacha Steam page temporarily went offline.
- “We are sad to report that we have been engaged in a dispute with Crytivo over the rights to Roots of Pacha,” the studio wrote, adding that the publisher “went to Valve and authorized them to remove Roots of Pacha from Steam without our knowledge or consent.”
- Soda Den noted that it will continue developing the game despite the ongoing conflict, promising to publish a content roadmap next month.
- “We’re cautiously optimistic that Roots of Pacha will return to Steam very soon,” the team concluded.
— Roots of Pacha (@rootsofpacha) May 13, 2023
What is known about Roots of Pacha?
- Roots of Pacha is a farming and life sim game developed by Soda Den, a studio founded in 2019 by brothers Timothy and Jonathan Dadone.
- The team launched a Kickstarter campaign for the project in 2021, raising $355,388 from over 7,000 backers.
- Soda Den then partnered with indie publisher Crytivo and released Roots of Pacha on April 25, 2023.
- Inspired by Stardew Valley, the game is set in the stone age and allows players to control a clan and evolve by developing new ideas through various actions.
- Roots of Pacha received positive reviews from critics, with an average score of 83/100 on Metacritic. It also peaked at 6,062 concurrent players on Steam and received over 90% positive reviews from users.
What is Crytivo’s version of the story?
- On May 14, the publisher responded with its own statement, saying that it has closely worked with Soda Den for three years and provided support and guidance throughout the whole development leading up to the game’s launch.
- “Just two days after the successful release, we received an unexpected message from the Soda Den team, informing us they were claiming to unilaterally rescind the contract we had worked under for three years, treating it as void,” Crytivo explained.
- It also claimed that the studio removed access to the Roots of Pacha Steam page for the publisher’s team. As a result, Valve delisted the game from the store until the dispute between the parties is resolved.
— Crytivo (@Crytivo) May 13, 2023
- “We’re not seeking anything but the benefit of the contract we worked hard under for three years. This is an extremely challenging time for our team,” Crytivo said.
- However, it is unclear when and how Soda Den or Crytivo will be able to resolve the issue and bring Roots of Pacha back to Steam. The statements also contain little information about the dispute itself and the reasons behind it, as both parties try to hold each other accountable.
