Re-Logic confirms that Terraria will continue to be supported on the Play Store

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This story was originally published and last update .

Andrew Spinks is the lead developer of the successful indie survival game Terraria. He’s the founder of Re-Logic, the development studio that created Terraria, and that studio was planning to bring Terraria to Stadia, but that may have changed thanks to Google’s blocking of Spinks from his Google account. You see, Google sent Spinks a ToS warning for a YouTube violation, which was ignored thinking it was sent in error, and so Google did what it does best and banned Spinks’ account for this violation, which prompted Spinks to retaliate by announcing that the Stadia version of Terraria will no longer be happening.

Late last night Andrew Spinks revealed in a series of tweets that his Google account had been banned for three weeks, and that he had been trying for weeks to find someone at Google who could help, but of course he came empty-handed. It’s a familiar story, but this one is a little less clear thanks to a ToS warning sent for YouTube violation. It would appear that Spinks saw and chose to ignore this warning because he hadn’t uploaded a new YouTube video in months, leaving him confused as to why he would get this warning in the first place. Ignoring this warning was clearly a mistake, because as we can see with the account ban, and as we all know, rescinding a ban is difficult unless you get the public on your side, which is how things are going right now.

As you can imagine, Spinks was more than likely frustrated with the whole situation, so he said he no longer plans to bring Terraria to Stadia since it is a platform controlled by Google. Whether or not he retains the ability to do this remains to be seen (are there any contracts etc), but the sentiment is hard to ignore. What’s interesting about this is that this is one of the first times I’ve seen someone hit Google after a ban, and best of all, Spinks and Terraria actually have the power to back this threat since. Terraria has a bigger suite than Stadiums. After all, Terraria is a ten-year-old indie darling with a big cult following, so if he’s no longer coming to Stadia, it could be a loss for the platform.

So far, it’s unclear whether Google will reinstate Spinks’ account, but with the current press coverage circling, I’m sure Google will finally get down to providing real customer service. Of course, there is a bigger problem at play here. The fact that Google can so easily ban anyone’s account, cutting users off from utilities often needed to make a living online, such as YouTube and Gmail, makes it clear that the company needs to change the way it handles these. account bans. Relying on bots is absolutely untenable, and yet there is no indication that Google is ready to change its destructive methods. So yes, even if you’ve made one of the most popular indie games of the past decade, you still have to live in fear that your Google Account could be banned at any time. Of course, this scenario proves that ignoring a ToS warning from Google is still a bad idea, even when that warning consists of extremely vague language (and let’s be honest, they almost always are). Google isn’t playing, but for once it looks like the tables have turned right, so we have a developer on our hands. who does not play either.

Fear not, Terraria will continue to exist on the Play Store.

After yesterday’s events, it wasn’t clear whether Andrew Spinks (and, in expansion, Re-Logic) would continue to support the Play Store version of Terraria. Fortunately IGN reported on a follow-up email from Re-Logic which confirms that the studio has no plans to drop support for the Android version of Terraria. Of course, the studio has also confirmed that it won’t be bringing any new games to Google platforms in the future, so it’s clear that Terraria still won’t be coming to Stadia, which means Spinks is going away. holds on to his weapons.

So if you were worried that Spinks’ feud with Google might force Re-Logic to drop support for the Android version of Terraria, worry no more. The developer has made it clear that the Play Store version will not be affected by this dispute.

We also learned that Stadia Source received a lengthy response from Re-Logic that further explains the timeline of the situation.

Earlier today, our CEO, Andrew Spinks, released a statement regarding our continuing issues with his (demilogical) Google Account. We have taken the time to review public and media comments to determine where areas of confusion may persist. We have provided the following to help alleviate this confusion / misperception of the @demilogic account issue:

  • The Android / Google Play versions of Terraria will not be affected. We don’t want to punish existing customers who have paid for our game on these platforms. To be clear: there should be no impact on Terraria on Google platforms, both for existing / purchased games and continued store availability.
  • Comments on the future availability of Re-Logic games on Google platforms relate to anything not currently available. This includes all future versions of Terraria (such as Stadia) as well as all other games that our studio will develop in the future.
    • The impacts here are not isolated to personal affairs, applications, etc. from Mr. Spinks – although to be clear, they are also numerous and substantial. Due to the early days of the business, when Mr. Spinks was the sole employee of the business, many legacy ties to the demilogic account were severed. This includes the Re-Logic YouTube account, many important documents stored on Drive, and much more. The impact is material in nature – and this has been made clear to Google on several occasions.
  • The chronology of events:
    • The Demilogic account receives a notice from YouTube alleging a violation in mid-January. It was quite confusing for us.
      • We haven’t downloaded for three months.
      • No one in our huge fan / subscriber base noticed any new uploaded content, let alone offensive content.
      • Additionally, YouTube’s initial correspondence on this matter made it clear that this was not a major issue:
        • “We know you may not have realized this was a violation of our policies. So we are not enforcing a warning on your channel. We have removed the content.”
        • No action or response was requested or suggested in this email.
      • Since then, through our efforts on Twitter with the YouTube support team, we have been informed that our YouTube Re-Logic channel is clean and has no issues.
      • To date, we have not been made aware of any real details behind the actual transgression that is alleged.
    • Three days later, the entire Demilogic account – including Gmail, Google Play apps, Drive, and all other Google services – is deactivated. Multiple calls through standard channels are greeted with automated rejection in the absence of any additional information.
    • Many avenues have been tried with Google in private to resolve this problem – far beyond what people saw on Twitter a few weeks ago. Information has been scarce and difficult to obtain, even though we are a long-time partner.
    • Even in the face of strong evidence that this is wrong action – evidence that has been in hand for almost 2 weeks now – it remains unresolved
  • It is not a position that we take willingly or lightly. Google has been a long-time partner, but the inability to resolve this issue for us – a partner that is supposed to be appreciated – within almost a month is not acceptable.
  • In addition, we are aware of many other similar incidents with a repeated pattern of “sudden ban” with no information as to the reason and no recourse. It has happened to countless people as well as developers for Android and beyond. We hope that our situation will be both an uplifting tale for others and a vehicle to shine the spotlight on this issue as a whole. Perhaps a significant change on the customer service front will take place within Google as a result. It is sorely needed.
  • For those within Google who have done their best to help to no avail, we appreciate their efforts. It is a real shame to come to this.
Terraria
Terraria



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