Despite only being announced recently, developer 11 Bit Studios have found Frostpunk 2 is being listed by scammers, offering illegal orders for a game that isn’t out yet nor has a price.
“ANNOUNCEMENT! We don’t know the price of our game yet, we don’t have any keys. Some SHITTY SCAMMER sells Frostpunk 2 on pre-order under umbrella of another CROOK Kinguin?! Re-tweet & let’s make some noise to stop it. Media folks?,” developer 11 Bit Studios said over on Twitter.
The discovery that Frostpunk 2 is being listed by scammers is due to Kinguin, a game product key reseller, listing the game despite the fact that 11 Bit Studios doesn’t even have product keys yet for the game.
Game product key resellers are often the target of illegal keys or chargebacks, both of which negatively affect the publisher and developers of various games. Another key reseller, G2A, came under fire when users were listing illegal keys, as well as charging users back. This also led to G2A eventually paying back the damages for illegal keys being sold.
The store page on Kinguin notes that pre-orders for Frostpunk 2 are offered through retailer g2play.net, and is priced at $37.50, while the actual game has no release date nor a price set, yet. This is a gray area in terms of legality, the same as selling existing pre-orders for Steam Deck – which isn’t releasing until late 2021 or early 2022.
Here’s a rundown on the game:
Frostpunk 2 is the sequel to the highly acclaimed, BAFTA-nominated society survival game that blended city building, strategy and management gameplay, creating a brand new genre. Its successor takes place 30 years after the apocalyptic blizzard storm, and Earth is still overwhelmed by the icy climate of neverending frost and harsh weather.
You play as the leader of a resource-hungry metropolis where the expansion and search for new sources of power is an unavoidable reality. After the age of coal, conquering Frostland for the oil extraction industry is expected to be the new salvation of what’s left of humanity. However, change does not come easily, and not everyone in this new multi-layered society will welcome this new direction.
Demands and expectations of various factions will raise tensions and evoke conflicts, but will a cold-blooded rule and a Machiavellian approach to politics be necessary? As the everlasting cold continues its grip on the city and outside threats arise, you’ll need to make sure your people are united, driven, and ready for difficult, unavoidable sacrifices!
Jakub Stokalski, Frostpunk 2 Co-Director, had this to say about the grand vision of the game:
“What we aim to deliver to players is an experience that goes vastly beyond that of the original Frostpunk. With a still-growing team of nearly 70 people, we have more manpower available to focus on all aspects of the game from the scale, the production value, and the quality of UX, but our ambition is to do more than a straight-up sequel. What players should expect is a wide universe of choices, the freedom to shape the society and the city however they see fit – and reap the consequences. Frostpunk 2 builds on the conflicts of its predecessor – survival vs human values, life vs the arctic frost. But most importantly, it adds a new layer that is present in many aspects of the game – be it politics, society or technological progress – the conflict between humans and their nature”.