独立开发者Hide耗时9年作《Deserter’s》Steam上市前遭破解，宣布退出行业

Japanese game developer Hide, representative of indie studio WhiteCute & AlphaNuts, recently reported that their latest title Deserter’s – an adult fantasy SLG that took 9 years to build – has been cracked and illegally distributed overseas ahead of its Steam launch (as reported by Game*Spark). The developer has expressed “despair” over the incident and announced his de facto retirement from the game industry after 26 years.

Deserter’s was originally released in March this year in Japan for PC (via DLSite), with a future international Steam release planned. The game is the latest entry in a popular tactical simulation series for feature phones and smartphones which has sold over 200,000 units domestically. Built in a proprietary engine, the ambitious project includes over 100 hand-drawn illustrations animated in Live2D, over 33 romanceable characters, and a robust core gameplay loop revolving around strategic real-time warfare and political scheming. Although Deserter’s is an adult game with erotic scenarios, it also comes with an all-ages patch for those interested only in the main campaign.

Around September, Hide had announced that his studio was finally working with a publisher towards releasing the game globally on Steam after negotiations with four other companies fell through. However, in the latest update posted on X on October 17, Hide reported that he’d become aware of a pirated version of Deserter’s circulating in China. The game had not only been cracked and translated unofficially, but its contents had apparently also been modified, which Hide took particular issue with. While his team had been preparing official Chinese language support for Deserter’s Steam version, Hide suggested this was no longer viable business-wise.

In a subsequent post, the developer made a statement suggesting he will be withdrawing from the industry after 26 years of making games. “I think it was around the heyday of freeware and free software. I won an award from Digital Famitsu, got to create an official sample game for RPG Maker, and had a lot of fun along the way. The way things have ended is a bit unfortunate, but I do feel like I’ve seen things through to the end.”

Aside from delivering a promised extra content patch for Deserter’s and bringing the game’s SFW version to Switch, Hide says he is essentially done making games. As for the Steam version of Deserter’s, he intends to leave the decision to his publisher, so it’s currently not clear whether the game is still coming to the platform. In closing, Hide commented, “I’m leaving the industry (and the world at large) as it grows ever more chaotic with AI and everything else… in a way, I’m running away. I wish everyone who continues to fight the good fight all the best in what lies ahead.”