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A week after sparking a sometimes acrimonious debate over whether its game is actually an MMO or not, Temtem developer Crema has announced that no new islands, Tems, or passes will be released for the game after the upcoming 1.7 update, and that all microtransactions in the game are being removed.
Temtem came to life thanks to a 2018 Kickstarter campaign that raised nearly $574,000, far more than its initial goal of $70,000. Crema described it in that campaign as a “massively multiplayer creature collecting adventure”, although he clarified in a Frequently asked questions that its vision of the game “is much smaller” than that of conventional MMOs. Still, the use of the term raised expectations among some actors about its long-term future, expectations that many of them feel have not been met.
That was the crux of conversations that began in February when Crema announced a new game called Temtem: Swarm, which some community members took as a sign that the original Temtem was being abandoned.
Crema CEO Enrique PaƱos Montoya didn’t calm those waters when he jumped into the fray on Discord, saying that if Temtem fans wanted the series to stay alive, “what they would really ask of us is that we stop improving Temtem 1 and start working on something new. From now on, we’re improving Temtem 1 just for you, even if it never feels like enough.”
A studio representative later said GamesRadar that Temtem will not disappear and will continue to receive more updates along with the development of Temtem: Swarm. In a lengthy new statement published today on Steam, Crema provided details on his plan for the future of Temtem: Patch 1.7, expected to arrive in early June, will include a new season, a new Tamer Pass, and the usual mix of bug fixes, balance changes, and improvements in quality of life; It will also remove all real-money microtransactions, so everything that could previously be purchased with the premium Nova currency will be available with Feathers. It is also planned to be the last update with a new season and Tamer Pass.
Patch 1.8, which is later, is planned to be “the last feature-packed patch of the usual size,” though it won’t be the last patch: Crema said it will “continue to polish, fix bugs, and balance Temtem for as long as it needs it.” “
Most of today’s announcement actually focuses on providing an in-depth justification for Crema’s decision to end development of new content, ranging from technical debt (more content, more problems, basically) to the fact that The work involved in creating new islands and Tems simply wasn’t paying off: “Many players would finish a new island in about 6 hours, when it took our team 9 months to do so,” the studio said.
Crema also said that he is not currently “contemplating an offline mode,” something highly requested by players. On Twitter, Crema also clarified that point, saying that if the servers have to go offline at some point, “we’ll be sure to find ways to make the game available to everyone, even if that means an offline mode.” “
Reaction to the announcement is mixed: some players are happy to see the removal of monetization and recognition of where Crema went wrong, while others remain firmly angry and continue to insist that work on Temtem continue. He mini review bombing campaign on Steam continues: Only 130 new user reviews have been posted in the last 30 days, a small fraction of the total of more than 30,000, but they are “mostly negative” due to discontent with the decision to end new content updates .
Crema also reaffirmed that the promised Arcade Bar is coming and will be implemented with update 1.7. Along with a trio of “Temtem-based arcade minigames,” Arcade Bar will also include a “super-simplified” version of Temtem: Swarm, although that part may be added in a future patch.