Ancient Shadows Key STILL Won't Register

[Echo35]

So I reformatted my machine not too long ago, and when I was reinstalling stuff I realized that I never actually registered Ancient Shadows on Steam (I had just installed it when it hit open Beta and never re installed or anything when it came out) so I tried entering my key I got from the website back then, and it still isn't registering. It's always worked before (Even the base game, which I bought in Impulse, registered on Steam) so either that never happened with Ancient Shadows or my key is lost in the ether somewhere. To be clear, I can still download the installer from here and enter my key and play it that way, so it's really only a convenience thing.

EDIT: And I just realized after I posted this that I completely forgot to click on the Technical Support forum first. Derp.

[x4000]

Yes, they are not set up to be registerable, it's nothing with your key.  That got lost in the shuffle with Valve, and I don't know that it will ever register.

[Echo35]

Yes, they are not set up to be registerable, it's nothing with your key.  That got lost in the shuffle with Valve, and I don't know that it will ever register.

Ah, figured. Thanks!

[x4000]

Yep!

[TechSY730]

Ah, good ol' Valve time... 

[x4000]

I think that the issue is that they forgot.  And, it's not that we're not on good terms with them or something -- I think we very much are -- but I have a lot of much more important things I want to ask them for this year, and I try to pick my battles.  I asked a number of times about the key, but I don't want to turn into "Mr Annoying Developer," if you know what I mean.  The folks at Valve are great, and I'm probably just being super paranoid -- I in no way want to give a bad impression of them.  But they are in pretty firm control of not just my livelihood, but also the livelihood of everyone who works for me, so I tend to tread carefully.  It's a testament to them that I'm actually cool with them having that much control over my future; I really like everyone I know there.

[Cyborg]

But they are in pretty firm control of not just my livelihood, but also the livelihood of everyone who works for me, so I tend to tread carefully. 

So are we.

Steam integration is important, imho. Next expansion you could include this batch, too. I don't want to dig through old invoices every time, either.

[keith.lamothe]

So are we.

Whether or not a directly-bought key is registerable on steam doesn't really affect our bottom line in a big way.  We would prefer it were possible (as a matter of customer service) but the vast majority of purchases are made directly from steam so this issue is not part of their experience with what they've received from us.

There's probably no resolution to this that doesn't involve rubbing someone (steam staff, or direct-buy customers) the wrong way in a manner that could potentially impact our sales (or availability of community feedback, which is more important on a per-unit level), but chances are that the current approach has a lower overall negative impact.  Not that we enjoy that sort of calculation, but the alternative is worse.  Hopefully our general customer service is sufficient to counterbalance that.

[Cyborg]

Are you sure? Because I'm 99% certain that although your publisher is singularly bigger than any one customer, alienating customers who actually try to install your product seems like bad form and breaking precedent from all of your other titles.

Every title so far has been available on steam, and it's been said on every release that getting a steam copy is on the list. Actually, every developer does this.

http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,11876.0.html
This is a link from your own forum not 5 months ago when you agreed with me before you disagreed with me.

If the new policy is, "some of our expansions may not register because we are afraid of angering our distributor by asking for... distribution...", you should definitely post that. I'm not asking you to make heads roll, I'm asking you to honor the product you are selling by making it available on the same platform that it's been available on for three years now. And you don't even have to do it today! It was a request for your next release to fix the issue.

[x4000]

Whoa, okay.  Let's back up here:

1. Not remotely every game from every developer registers on Steam.

2. I don't recall ever having promised that.  When you buy direct from us, you're getting the product you paid for.  Any sort of cross-registration elsewhere is a bonus we generally try to provide, but are in no way obligated to.

3. If someone feels alienated by not getting a perk that they were not promised, I'm not sure what we can do to salvage that in the first place.

4. Keith's point was that less than 5% of our customers buy direct anyhow.  If that many, it may be closer to 1% at this point but I was being generous.  Even if we're alienating every single customer in that group -- not that I think we are or should be -- we'd be foolish to poison the main source of income.

5. Having to post that "we're not offering something on some of our products that we never promised" is a bit of a silly thing.  I guess we should also post that you don't get Desura keys, and that you can't download it from the Humble Bundle Store?  That's a bit facetious, but often the people who buy from us do so because they don't want to have dealings with Steam; some people just feel that way.  Other people, I realize, are the early adopters.  With Shattered Haven we addressed the early adopters issue by getting a batch of Steam keys to give out.  I suppose for Ancient Shadows we can do the same, come to think of it.  But only people that email us will get one.

EDIT:  Oops, no, it's not set up so that I can request keys without bugging Valve first.  I just checked.  Grr.

TLDR: We're in a rock and a hard place, and we've chosen the lesser of two evils in our view.  Would that we didn't have to choose any evils, but that's not the world we find ourselves in.  I think that our early adopters would probably rather see further games from us, rather than have us mess up our main source of income and thus disappear.

[keith.lamothe]

Yes, actually it probably would be good to go ahead and give AS steam keys to people who bought from us and directly ask for one.  Chris, I forget if you've sent me a list of keys for that purpose, do you remember?

[x4000]

Chris, I forget if you've sent me a list of keys for that purpose, do you remember?

We never got any Steam keys at all for that expansion, actually.

[keith.lamothe]

Oh, wow.  Yea, that's kind of inconvenient.

[Cyborg]

Whoa, okay.  Let's back up here:

1. Not remotely every game from every developer registers on Steam.

Let's not set up straw men. Nobody said that. However, yours does, and you supported it for this expansion just this past winter. Now you don't? If you don't see that as changing your policy when every other product you have ever released supports it, when you openly supported for this product we are talking about today and now suddenly don't (I provided a link showing this), I don't know what to say. Must be really good coffee.

2. I don't recall ever having promised that.  When you buy direct from us, you're getting the product you paid for.  Any sort of cross-registration elsewhere is a bonus we generally try to provide, but are in no way obligated to.

You should put that on your store. Maybe you don't realize, but many of the folks who use your personal store are trying to give you the biggest cut and the earliest cut to support your products. This is not how you thank them or do customer service. I certainly won't be using your store anymore, as you selectively support it.

3. If someone feels alienated by not getting a perk that they were not promised, I'm not sure what we can do to salvage that in the first place.

You supported it. Now you don't.

4. Keith's point was that less than 5% of our customers buy direct anyhow.  If that many, it may be closer to 1% at this point but I was being generous.  Even if we're alienating every single customer in that group -- not that I think we are or should be -- we'd be foolish to poison the main source of income.

Yes, the 5% of customers who are also your biggest advocates.

5. Having to post that "we're not offering something on some of our products that we never promised" is a bit of a silly thing. 

Not really when this is the first product that doesn't support steam registration. Actually, it's the first time that you have basically just threw your hands up and ignored folks who bought your product expecting a key that works. Your comment about desura is hyperbole, as we both know steam is the designated platform.

Your argument about not even trying to get keys registered on your next communication because you're afraid of them, it's mind-boggling, a disservice to your customers, a change of the rules, and all of your early adopters and direct store purchasers should be aware that whatever key they get may not be supported on steam.

[Cyborg]

I'm going to add one more thing here. All that's being asked for is an effort to honor the key. That's it. However you do it, if it's the next release, if it's with alternate keys, it doesn't matter. Just make an effort for the folks that support you. echo is nicer than I am, perhaps, but folks like him/her have been around forever and deserve better than that.