Afro Samurai 2: The Revenge of Kuma was not a good game. In our review, we told fans of the series to "avoid it like the plague" - it was an entirely broken game, complete with visuals that would have been terrible back in 2007. It sounds ridiculous, but somehow, the next-gen sequel was infinitely worse than the game that had inspired it.
Even so, plenty of terrible games stick around forever - but not Afro Samurai 2.
Following terrible reviews and worse sales, Afro Samurai 2 was quietly removed from the PlayStation Store. Considering that games have only been removed from the PSN a few times throughout the store's lifetime, many assumed that something had gone wrong. As it turns out, Afro Samurai 2's disappearance was actually intentional - and its removal isn't limited to the just the PlayStation Store anymore.
Simply put, Afro Samurai 2's Steam page no longer works. While it's still possible to find the game in Valve's digital store, there's no actual way to buy it. Stranger still, there's been no announcement, no reason given for the game's sudden disappearance from digital stores - at least, not through any official channels. In an interview with CGM, Versus Evil General Manager Steve Escalante revealed why the game suddenly vanished.
"The game was a failure. We could not do, in good conscience, volume 2 and volume 3. So we've begun the process, it's been a long process to figure it out because Sony has never really had to do this in this way, but we're returning all the money. So across the board we're putting out an apology saying 'sorry about this.'"
That's right: the game was so bad, the studio behind it is offering refunds.
It's surprising, especially in today's gaming market: some studios will release entirely broken games and then refuse to offer refunds until lawyers get involved. While it doesn't make Afro Samurai 2 a better game, the fact that Versus Evil actually admitted they made a mistake and is actively trying to make things right is commendable.
The ramifications for Versus Evil as a company are still up in the air: depending on how many people bought the game, sending out refunds for multiple versions of Afro Samurai 2 could cost the company a lot of money. True, Versus Evil may have made a terrible game, but no one wants to see a studio get shut down.
There's no word on whether or not Steam users will be offered a refund, but for anyone who purchased the game on PlayStation 4, the funds should have already been returned to your store wallet.
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