Battalion 1944 developer apologises, acts quick to fix shaky launch
"We are incredibly humbled to receive this many players on day one."
Indie first-person shooter Battalion 1944 launched yesterday via Steam Early Access, but servers struggled to cope with demand.
The game's issues now appear to be fixed, but it was a frustrating night for fans and developers of the game alike.
Studio lead Joe Brammer took personal responsibility for the launch in a heartfelt video, below, posted as part of a series of updates shared through Steam during the early hours.
In short, Brammer had underestimated the number of multiplayer matchmaking servers necessary to support the game's Early Access launch.
"I let our fear of us failing get in the way of the game being good," Brammer said.
"You guys have helped test the game, it is Early Access but I don't want to use that as an excuse. I find this unacceptable which is why I'm making this apology. I'm personally embarrassed I doubted myself and my team on how many units we would sell and how many concurrents we would have."
Battalion 1944 has been designed as a back-to-basics revival of old-school first-person shooters. While big boys Battlefield and Call of Duty have recently revisited their origins' historical settings, Battalion has been designed to recapture the feel of their early gameplay, too.
"There's undoubtedly merit in the notion of disrobing the FPS of its accumulated finery, and a renewed focus on the unholy trinity of move, point, shoot," Rick Lane wrote for Eurogamer when he played Battalion 1944 last month. "It also feels pretty darned good to play, which is a great starting point."