In a recent Twitter post, the developers behind Hypercharge: Unboxed, addressed harassment that the team received regarding the game’s prolonged Xbox release. Hypercharge: Unboxed is an action-figure-based co-op shooter that was released for PC and Nintendo Switch in 2020. The game began gaining a lot of traction on social media late last year, with a majority of its marketing being towards the upcoming Xbox release of the game that was slated for Q1 2023. With Q2 underway, some Xbox players are becoming impatient and aggressive.
Digital Cybercherries, the studio developing Hypercharge, announced that an Xbox version of the game was in the works in July of 2022, and would most likely be released in Q1 2023. However, in a video tweeted on March 12, developer Joe Henson clarified that they don’t yet have a release date for it, and want to make sure the game is as good as it can be before releasing it on Xbox. Following this statement, some Xbox players took to Twitter to harass the 5-person studio with hateful messages for not releasing the game’s Xbox version yet
Henson responded to the harassment in a Twitter thread, stating, “The abuse we receive for not yet launching our game on Xbox is getting out of hand. We will not be bullied or pressured into rushing release.”
He goes on to aver that as a five-person indie studio, making the game takes time, and that they are “pouring their hearts and souls” into the development of it. As far as release dates go, he assured fans that although there isn’t yet an exact release date, Hypercharge will release for Xbox in 2023. Henson ended the thread by proclaiming, “It’s okay to be enthusiastic. It’s okay to be frustrated. But it’s not okay to send abusive and hateful messages.”
Plenty of fans replied to the thread in support of Hypercharge and the development team’s decision to take their time with the game, prompting the developer to make a follow-up thread assuring that the team sees all of the positivity and support. “I understand it’s always the toxic/vocal minority who shout the loudest,” said Henson. On social media, there’s tons of trolls, and it can be tough to not let the negativity get to you. Henson acknowledges that the negativity sometimes does make him feel down, but it’s crucial to be open about mental health as it “always encourages others to come forward for help.”
Hypercharge: Unboxed brings a unique angle to the highly saturated shooter genre, so it’s no surprise that gamers are excited to be able to try the game for themselves. Xbox players have every right to be excited about the game. That being said, bullying and sending hateful messages is taking it a step too far, especially when the person on the other side of the screen is just trying to make something cool.
Hypercharge is currently available on PC through Steam and on Nintendo Switch.