updated: Sports Story studio Sidebar Games now says it’s trying to remove the game’s secret development room, but finds it difficult “because of the way the game is programmed.”
Further down this page is my original report on a curious situation where the developers of NPCs in the secret room of Sports Story changed their dialogue quite noticeably. Whereas before developers seemed to complain about crunch culture, more recently players have found the same NPCs talking about how happy, rested and “well fed” they apparently are.
On the surface, it seemed like the developers went in and edited out criticisms about internal working conditions that might have crept into the game before launch, but the details about the whole situation are murky at best. That’s why I contacted the developer for clarification and well, I ended up with more questions than answers.
“Unfortunately, we cannot comment on the origins of the secret dev room,” a Sidebar spokesperson said in an email to GamesRadar+. “Efforts are being made to remove it from the game, but it has proven difficult due to the way the game is scheduled.”
At first I wasn’t sure if the spokesperson who contacted me was being truthful, but in fact, the studio notes on the latest game news patch notes (opens in a new tab) that access to the secret development room is supposed to be blocked. Needless to say, players are finding ways to access the room, but it may not be long before the developers successfully take it down.
This goes a long way to confirm that the Sports Story leads aren’t in on the joke here, but it does make me wonder how such an important feature made its way into the full game without the higher-ups noticing. No doubt the launch of the game did not go smoothly (opens in a new tab)but an entire room with various NPCs and leaking dialogue seems like a huge oversight.
So why is it so difficult to delete the room? Is it because whoever put it there scrambled security measures to make sure it couldn’t be removed? Or is it just hard to remove without affecting other parts of the game? Finally, is the studio unable to comment on the origins of the room because the studio itself doesn’t know how it ended up there, or is it because the nature of its creation is inauspicious? It’s a big weird mystery for now, but I’ll update with any further developments.
original story:
The hidden NPCs in the Sports Story dev room, who previously complained quite frankly about being overworked, are now ominously cheerful, insisting they couldn’t be happier.
For some context, a hidden room in the comedy RPG Sports Story was discovered earlier this month, and it was filled with NPCs denouncing what sounded a lot like crunch culture, something real-life game developers would come up with. they are forced to deal all the time. While none of Sports Story’s developers have spoken publicly, the scene could have been interpreted as a cry for help, but now it’s looking more like a hostage situation, as those same NPCs suddenly have nothing but good stuff. what to say about your work conditions.
So this is… interesting. It appears that the secret development room in Sports Story is still accessible, but the dialog has been updated to remove anything that suggests that its development was problematic. NPCs now insist otherwise: https://t.co/qVFhT1Cenw pic.twitter.com/mBdbskp8hjJanuary 29, 2023
“Not only are we ahead of the development schedule, but we’re also setting records for employee happiness,” says an NPC.
Other NPC dialogues are even more suspicious, bordering on sarcasm. “Our staff are well rested, well fed, and their self-esteem is skyrocketing.” Well fed?! I wasn’t worried about the NPCs starving to death, but I sure do now.
“I can assure you that things are under control here! I promise.” It’s worth noting here that the “I promise” text appears after a short pause and is much smaller than the rest of the dialog.
“Everything is working fine!” says another NPC.
“I don’t see any problem here at all!” says another.
At this point, I’m not sure if this is a truly tragic situation or if the developers are joking. I honestly hope it’s the latter for your sake, but it’s hard not to suspect that there might be some trouble behind the scenes at Sports Story’s Sidebar Games studio. I’ve reached out for comment and will update this article if I hear back.
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