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

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

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This story was originally published and last updated .

Andrew Spinks is the primary developer behind the hit Indie Survival game. He is the founder of Re-Logic, the development studio that Terraria created, and this studio intended to bring Terraria to Stadia, but that may have changed because Google closed Spinks out of its Google account. You see, Google has sent Spinks a ToS Alert for YouTube Violation, which was ignored because it was sent incorrectly, and so Google did what was best and Spinks’ account banned for this offense, which caused Spinks to strike back by announcing that the Stadia version of Terraria will no longer happen.

Late last night Andrew Spinks revealed in a series of tweets that his Google account has been banned for three weeks, and that he’s been trying for weeks to find someone at Google who can help, but of course came up empty handed. It’s a familiar story, but it’s a little less clear thanks to a ToS alert sent due to YouTube violation. Spinks seems to have seen this warning and chose to ignore it, as he has not uploaded a new YouTube video for months, which leaves him confused why he would receive this warning in the first place. Ignoring this warning was clearly a mistake, because as we can see, Google has gone through the account ban and as we all know, it’s hard to reverse a ban unless you get the public on your side, how things play out now.

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

So far, there is no word on whether Google will reset the Spinks account, but with the current press coverage making the rounds, I’m sure Google will eventually be able to provide the actual customer service. Of course, a bigger problem plays out here. The fact that Google can so easily ban anyone’s account and turn users off from the utilities often needed to make money online, such as YouTube and Gmail, makes it clear that the company needs to change how it handles this account ban. Relying on bots is completely untenable, and yet there are no signs that Google is willing to change its destructive ways. So, even if you’ve created one of the most popular indie games in the last decade, you’re still living in fear that your Google Account might be banned at any time. Sure, this scenario is proof-positive that ignoring a Google ToS alert is always a bad idea, even if the alert consists of extremely vague language (and let’s be honest, it almost always is). Google does not play around, but the tables seem to have turned nicely, so we have a developer on hand who does not play either.

Do not be afraid, Terraria will continue to exist in the Play Store

After yesterday’s events unfolded, it was unclear whether Andrew Spinks (and in the Re-Logic extension) would support the Play Store version of Terraria. Happy IGN reported on a follow-up email from Re-Logic confirming that the studio has no plans to drop support for the Android version of Terraria. Of course, the studio has also confirmed that it will not be bringing any new games to Google platforms, so it is clear that Terraria will still not be coming to Stadia, which means Spinks is sticking to its guns.

So if you’ve worried that Spinks’ feud with Google Re-Logic would force you to drop the Android version of Terraria, you need not worry anymore. The developer has made it clear that the Play Store version will remain untouched by this dispute.

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

Our CEO, Andrew Spinks, issued a statement earlier today on our ongoing issues regarding his Google Account (demilogies). We took time to review comments from the public and in the media to determine where any confusion might occur. We’ve provided the following to alleviate this confusion / misperception surrounding the @demilogic account issue:

  • Android / Google Play versions of Terraria are not affected. Punishing existing customers who paid for our game on these platforms is not about that. To be clear: there does not have to be any impact on Terraria on Google platforms, both existing / purchased games and ongoing store availability.
  • The comments about the future availability of Re-Logic games on Google platforms relate to everything that is not currently available. This includes all future versions of Terraria (such as Stadia), as well as other games that our studio will develop in the future.
    • The consequences here are not isolated on mr. Spinks’ personal affairs, programs, and so on. While this is very clear, it is also very. Due to the early days of the company, when Mr. Spinks was the only employee of the company, there are quite a few legacy connections to the demilogical account that have been broken. These include the Re-Logic YouTube account, many important documents stored on Drive, and more. The impact is significant – and this has been made clear to Google repeatedly.
  • The timeline of events:
    • Demilogic account receives notification of a violation from YouTube in mid-January. It was quite confusing for us.
      • We did not upload in three months.
      • No one in our massive fans / subscribers noticed that new content was uploaded, much less insulting.
      • In addition, YouTube’s initial correspondence on this matter was clear that it was not an important issue:
        • “We know you may not have realized that it violates our policies, so we do not apply a strike to your channel. We have removed the content. ”
        • No action or response has been requested or suggested in this email.
      • Since that time, through our efforts on Twitter with the support team on YouTube, we have been informed that our Re-Logic YouTube channel is clean and has no issues.
      • To date, we have not been notified of any actual details behind the actual violation alleged.
    • Three days later, the entire Demilogic account – including Gmail, Google Play Apps, Drive and all other Google services – was deactivated. Multiple calls through the standard channels are received with an automatic rejection without further information.
    • There have been many ways with Google in the private attempt to resolve this issue – far beyond what people saw on Twitter a few weeks ago. Information was sparse and difficult to obtain, even though we were a longtime partner.
    • Even in the face of strong evidence that this is wrongdoing – evidence that has been in hand for almost two weeks now – it remains unresolved
  • This is not a position we like or take lightly. Google has been a long-time partner, but the inability to resolve it for us, a supposedly valued partner, within a time span of almost a month is not acceptable.
  • In addition, we are aware of many other incidents in a similar vein with a recurring pattern of ‘ban out of the blue’ without information about the reason and no use. This has happened to countless individuals as well as developers for Android and beyond. We hope our situation is a warning to others as well as a vehicle to shine a bright spotlight on this issue as a whole. As a result, there may be a significant change in the customer service front within Google. It is much needed.
  • For those within Google who have done their best to help nothing, we appreciate their efforts. It really is a shame that has come up to this point.
Terraria
Terraria

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