In November 2019 I received a Kickstarter update on The Universim. This wasn’t related to The Universim however, instead promoting their crowdfunding campaign for a new game. Backers were outraged and started commenting; “ You are years behind on your own game and you have even a moment to consider another game?”. Crytivo was quick to answer;

Crytivo is the developer and publisher of The Universim, and publisher of Football Story. While their response is factually true, it doesn’t satisfy backers of The Universim. Instead of a big update, did they ever consider the release of the game?

Personally I’m a bit irate about the situation, so I’ve decided to confront their PR manager (name censored) on one of their posts;

While Crytivo is spending a lot of energy in posting on Reddit and forgetting that you occasionally also need to react to posts their current line-up of Crytivo games on Steam is growing (released games in bold);

Hotel Magnate (coming soon)

Doomed Mode (early access, release TBA)

Serin Fate (coming soon)

Today Is My Birthday (coming soon)

Football Story (planned release: 22.07.2020)

The Universim (early access, release TBA)

Prehistoric Kingdom (early access, release TBA)

Farm Folks (early access, release TBA)

Goblins of Elderstone (released in 2018)

I wonder what they won’t publish next!

Update: Crytivo has issued a statement based on this article, they’ve sent it to me through Twitter private messaging asking if it could be added to the article. Here’s the full statement:

“Hi Kenney,

We’re really sorry to have let you down. It’s unfortunately true that we underestimated our initial release window for The Universim, as it was our first project at the time. It was easy to get carried away with how quickly we could develop the game, due to our successes leading up to the Kickstarter. However, the reality of the situation was that the game is an immensely ambitious title with technical challenges that far exceeded what our small team could create in such a short timeframe.

It also became evident that the game we really wanted to make needed more time to reach the quality level everyone expected, so we raised the bar and began to improve the overall design and quality of the final experience, which was helped dramatically by the feedback of early backer testing. We were always 100% transparent about the progress of the game, even though the delay announcements were so difficult to make. We’ve always been a small team, but we have had plenty of amazing talent step in to help with some of our major technical issues. A continuous effort, driven by the same passion that initially spawned the project, has made the game what it is today. It has been quite some time since then, but the game is shaping up marvelously. We recently announced that the core features are nearly release ready, which gave us the greenlight to begin completing the final bit of content that is going to tie everything together in a neat package.

However, this doesn’t in any way explain how the publishing side came to be, or how it operates, so let’s clear the air. The publishing side of Crytivo grew very slowly over the years leading up to our public announcement. After the Kickstarter, we started receiving requests for advice and assistance from other small devs looking for a foot in the door. We helped as much as we were able, and our advice got better as the lessons learned from our own experiences began to pile up.

There is far more to running a studio than what you see at face value, as you can imagine. After making some amazing friends and contacts at various conferences (E3, Gamescom, PAX, etc), our business acuity grew exponentially. Very soon, our management staff found themselves in a position where they had a pretty great handle on the industry, especially from an indie context. This created an immense opportunity to really make a splash in the indie space and start a publishing initiative that is just outright friendlier and fairer than almost any you’ll find out there. Our humble beginnings gave us the insights we needed to do so. Additionally, the publishing initiative was never going to affect development in a negative way, as the marketing and management staff are the only ones working on that aspect.

The publishing side has only strengthened Crytivo and improved what we are capable of achieving with The Universim, all while helping our fellow indies on their path to success. However, the important thing to remember is that we are still a small team. The company isn’t as big as you may think, but our experience sets us apart.

We completely understand your anger, but we hope we’ve given you a better idea of why things have happened as they have. Crytivo has gone through a lot, but we are better than ever and The Universim is flourishing. We hope you have an amazing holiday season and that you’ll give The Universim another chance when it releases in all its glory.

-Alex (Founder of Crytivo)“