Supergiant Helps Soldier Out, Ships Bastion To Afghanistan

[WWmelb]

Ok, that's it, I need to buy Bastion, if just to support such awesome guys.

And i doubt you will regret it. Equal top game of the year for me with Dark Souls. I really couldn't decide which i liked more, so i stopped trying

And yes, Supergiant have earned yet more respect from me. Where do i get a bandanna?

 

[ImmortalDrifter]

To be fair, publishers can't really be in the discussion, since Supergiant Games is a developer. Warner Brothers Interactive worked as their publisher for Bastion, so they're not entirely an Indie company. Not to say that should, in any way, diminish the act of kindness that they offered to this soldier, but you can't really use them as an example when stamping your feet at "big publishing".

Well allow me to clarify slightly; I'm not "stamping my feet" at big publishing. (EA and Actiblizzard both make games in-house but I digress) I'm simply stating that this was the small studio's doing, not a big name studio with a lot of publisher money floating around. Would this be anywhere near as cool if you knew that the time and money it took make and ship the copy meant nothing and the dev still asked for a buy? And for the record I consider any company who hasn't signed a difinite publishing agreement Indie. If supergiant has signed such an agreement, I was not aware at the time of writing.

 

[DeadpanLunatic]

I have removed my words from this site.

 

[Thyunda]

HAVE A FREE COPY OF THE GAME, POOR SOLDIER ...but buy it when you get home or we'll sue you for incompetence!

That "only if he buys it when he gets home" part made this sound less charitable than I'm sure it is. It's cool act of kindness and whatever but really? Did they have to say that? It makes me feel less god about this whole ordeal. They're basically lending him a copy of the game. That doesn't sound as nice as giving a free copy to a desperate soldier outposted in the middle of nowhere...

Uh... it's not like they made him sign a contract or anything. Also, read his emails to Supergiant: He actually said he'd buy the game when he got back to the States in his initial email. Hell, Supergiant probably spent more money shipping him the game than they'll earn from him actually buying it.

I figured it was their way of making it sound more...give-and-take. If they'd have just given him a free game, it's "I feel sorry for you. Have a free thing." With the promise that he'll purchase it when he gets home, it's more of a deal. A give-and-take to put weight on Shagnasty's end.

 

[shado_temple]

HAVE A FREE COPY OF THE GAME, POOR SOLDIER ...but buy it when you get home or we'll sue you for incompetence!

That "only if he buys it when he gets home" part made this sound less charitable than I'm sure it is. It's cool act of kindness and whatever but really? Did they have to say that? It makes me feel less god about this whole ordeal. They're basically lending him a copy of the game. That doesn't sound as nice as giving a free copy to a desperate soldier outposted in the middle of nowhere...

Uh... it's not like they made him sign a contract or anything. Also, read his emails to Supergiant: He actually said he'd buy the game when he got back to the States in his initial email. Hell, Supergiant probably spent more money shipping him the game than they'll earn from him actually buying it.

I figured it was their way of making it sound more...give-and-take. If they'd have just given him a free game, it's "I feel sorry for you. Have a free thing." With the promise that he'll purchase it when he gets home, it's more of a deal. A give-and-take to put weight on Shagnasty's end.

Not to mention, it almost feels like he meant it as a roundabout way of saying "get home safe".

 

[Thyunda]

HAVE A FREE COPY OF THE GAME, POOR SOLDIER ...but buy it when you get home or we'll sue you for incompetence!

That "only if he buys it when he gets home" part made this sound less charitable than I'm sure it is. It's cool act of kindness and whatever but really? Did they have to say that? It makes me feel less god about this whole ordeal. They're basically lending him a copy of the game. That doesn't sound as nice as giving a free copy to a desperate soldier outposted in the middle of nowhere...

Uh... it's not like they made him sign a contract or anything. Also, read his emails to Supergiant: He actually said he'd buy the game when he got back to the States in his initial email. Hell, Supergiant probably spent more money shipping him the game than they'll earn from him actually buying it.

I figured it was their way of making it sound more...give-and-take. If they'd have just given him a free game, it's "I feel sorry for you. Have a free thing." With the promise that he'll purchase it when he gets home, it's more of a deal. A give-and-take to put weight on Shagnasty's end.

Not to mention, it almost feels like he meant it as a roundabout way of saying "get home safe".

Yes. It's common knowledge that "You owe me money, man" is man-speak for "We'll get through this, buddy".

Not being sarcastic. It's true.

 

[FoolKiller]

Okay. I now need to buy Bastion again. This is just awesome. This is also an example of great customer service. *nudge, nudge, wink, wink, EA*

 

[Apollo45]

And I am off to buy myself a copy. Wasn't planning on doing so before this, but it looks like an interesting game and they've earned my respect, and buying their game is the least I can do.

 

[F'Angus]

Well that's just awesome, huge respect for Supergiant now.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Try searching the article for the word "free". Only comes up in the comments. Also, what the three guys above me said.
Hell, I'd prefer it this way instead of him getting a "free game" - then they'd almost have to give a free copy to everyone in the military, or blow them off by saying "He got it because he was the first to ask." (which is still the case with the mere fact of shipping a physical copy)
No doubt, this is a nice thing to do, but yeah, the company isn't a charity, they recognized the fact that this would make a good story, good PR, and acted on it.

Uh... it's not like they made him sign a contract or anything. Also, read his emails to Supergiant: He actually said he'd buy the game when he got back to the States in his initial email. Hell, Supergiant probably spent more money shipping him the game than they'll earn from him actually buying it.

Well allow me to defend a game company that doesn't know or care about me.

First off, we're not talking about Activision or EA. Supergiant is an Indie company, doing something like this may have been much more taxing than you may think. Next, it was still a nice thing to do. They went out of their way to make a physical copy for him, it's not like they simply shipped it. In a lot of ways this is a loan, but Supergiant was in no way obligated to do this. They could have just said "Sorry we can't help you." and left it there.

Why did you think I was berailing the company? I simply meant that that sentence just sort of made the whole goodwill gesture seem slightly less charitable than it is. That's all. I've no quibbles with it, but when you run a "INDIE DEV IS SUPER NICE" article, that sort of bygone fact will stink up the place. A little. Surely you agree if they'd given him the game for free, it'd be even more awesome on their behalf? This is still AWESOME, don't get me wrong! I appreciate that they've done this for a fan stationed overseas. But that doesn't mean that I won't pick that bad apple from the basket. They are, essentially, lending him the game. Doesn't that have less of a ring to it...?

Oh god please tell me you understand where I'm coming from. I really don't want to have to draw a diagram, or something. ...when the hypothetical "game dev gives soldier free game" article is waiting well in the wings, it kind of sucks that the "free" bit is crossed out. Right...? Surely? No?

 

[Hat Man]

When I first saw the title of the story I though it said "Supermutant Helps Soldier Out"

Now that would be a truly interesting story.

 

[littlewisp]

Why did you think I was berailing the company? I simply meant that that sentence just sort of made the whole goodwill gesture seem slightly less charitable than it is. That's all. I've no quibbles with it, but when you run a "INDIE DEV IS SUPER NICE" article, that sort of bygone fact will stink up the place. A little. Surely you agree if they'd given him the game for free, it'd be even more awesome on their behalf? This is still AWESOME, don't get me wrong! I appreciate that they've done this for a fan stationed overseas. But that doesn't mean that I won't pick that bad apple from the basket. They are, essentially, lending him the game. Doesn't that have less of a ring to it...?

Oh god please tell me you understand where I'm coming from. I really don't want to have to draw a diagram, or something. ...when the hypothetical "game dev gives soldier free game" article is waiting well in the wings, it kind of sucks that the "free" bit is crossed out. Right...? Surely? No?

I don't really get where you're coming from. I saw the article and assumed a soldier had paid for a game but couldn't get it where he was at, and so a company went out of their way to make sure he got it. The idea here is that a dev took personal time to package something, pay for the shipping, and send it to a customer who was having difficulties. The soldier did not ask for charity. He asked for some customer service, and I believe he received a whopper of customer service in return.

And as someone else said, I think the 'buy a copy' was a clap on the shoulder, a 'get home safe' message without being too corny or personal.

Additionally, it could put supergiant in a bind if other people see someone got a free game due to difficult circumstances, and then demand the same thing. What an article that would be: supergiant playing favorites, denying free games to others in need.

I don't think this would be more awesome (or less stained) if supergiant hadn't requested buying the game, in a purely commercial sense without the 'get home safe' some of us are reading into it.