Compulsion Games’ We Happy Few has been trashed by users in the review section of Steam during its Early Access run because the price has skyrocketed from $30 to $51. This comes amid the developer’s push to finally enrich the game with the final stretch of content and make the title content-complete as they move toward the final release.

The price hike came during a tumultuous time when Compulsion teamed up with Gearbox Publishing to help with the marketing and publishing side of things. Gamers instantly felt as if the sour-side of Gearbox’s anti-consumer practices had seeped out of the pus-filled carcass of PR trickery and Pitchford chicanery that gamers have become accustomed to.

However, according to Greenman Gaming, Gearbox’s senior designer, Matt Cox, attempted to persuade the gaming community that Gearbox wasn’t in charge of hiking up the price for We Happy Few from $30 to $51.

“We” didn’t do that. $29 was set before the huge reception of WHF & Compulsion chose to add a campaign & content worthy of full retail. 🙂

— Matt Cox (@findmattcox) September 7, 2017

Gamers, however, have become completely distrusting of Gearbox, and have resolved to blame them for the price hike, regardless.

This has resulted in the game going from a “Mostly Positive” review score all the down to a “Mostly Negative” user review score.

While Compulsion Games and Gearbox can attempt to deflect from the latter having any part with the price fluctuation, it’s almost become an incorrigible task to deter people from feeling as if Gearbox has swept in and destroyed a good thing.

Some users have attempted to come to Compulsion and Gearbox’s defense, such as electricpotato22, who wrote on the most recent news post…

“For all the people who were too ignorant to even bother reading the weekly journal and are instead hating on gearbox:

 

“Compulsion is working with gearbox PUBLISHING. They have nothing to do with all the previous games Gearbox fucked up

 

“It isn’t run by Randy.

“And they aren’t influencing the game in any way, they’re just helping with marketing. “

The pleas for reason fell on deaf ears; many are resolved in their stance at this point.

Compulsion, however, is still trucking on toward feature completion. In the most recent post on the Steam page they went through a full rundown of what each prominent team member was focused on completing, and how close they are to the final release date. The post also includes a section from Steve from Gearbox Publishing, who explained that they’re working with Compulsion to put together promotional videos and ad material for the upcoming final release of We Happy Few.

With the story content wrapping up, and the animation department putting the final touches on everything, Compulsion is gunning for a final release of April 13th, 2018 next year.

The team had built up a ton of positive press and plenty of encouraging community feedback during its crowdfunding stage and initial Early Access appearance, but aligning with Gearbox may have done more harm than good. For more info you can visit the Steam store page.

(Main image courtesy of Ikari)