This year marksSega’s 60th anniversary and, as such, the company has kicked off celebrations with some amazing deals for Steam users. Firstly,numerous Sega titles on Steamare now being sold at a discount, including the likes ofSonic Mania, Persona 4 Golden, andYakuza Kiwami, and it’s even offeringSonic the Hedgehog 2for free.
And speaking of free games,Segais releasing four retro-inspired minigames on Steam for a limited time. These includeStreets of Kamurocho, aYakuzagame dressed up in the clothing of 2D beat ‘em upStreets of Rage, andGolden Axed, an old build of a prototype for aGolden Axereboot calledGolden Axe Rebornthat ultimately never saw the light of day.
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While this is certainly a cool novelty, especially for fans ofGolden Axe, it has quickly become mired in controversy after a programmer who worked on the project detailed his experiences on it over Twitter, describing it as nightmarish.
For starters, Tim Dawson claimed that, despite Sega saying thatGolden Axedwas completed with some of the original development team, he nor anyone else he knew who worked on it knew about the release. He goes on to say that he had to deal with inept management and crunch conditions, something that continues to be a recurring complaint within the industry thanks to games likeCyberpunk 2077.
Dawson adds that he was told that his team would be allowed to do the project their own way, with the only mandate being that it had to be darker and bloodier. But, once he presented the work done so far to management, he was met with criticisms that there was no ‘wow factor,’ with the lead designer complaining that it wasn’t a 3D brawler like theGod of Wargames.
Dawson proceeded to continue making the game he envisioned and the same management team later praised his work. Dawson says that he no longer had trust in the people running things as a result.
He clearly takes umbrage with the Steam description as well:
“Golden Axedmay be janky, may be buggy, may be an artifact of its time, but it offers a unique glimpse into the prospect of a project that could have been.”
In response, Dawson says “Go f**k yourself, parasites.”
Dawson’s criticisms have since reached Sega itself, which has removed the aforementioned description from the Steam page and apologized for the comment, saying that it was not meant to be an insult about the original work.
In a statement issued to VGC, Sega writes:
SEGA Europe reached out to former members of the Golden Axe: Reborn dev team to produce this prototype of the game for Steam as part of our 60th Anniversary celebrations. We wanted to bring the work of the developers at the time to light and celebrate it as a part of our history. Something we didn’t get the chance to do first time around.
We certainly didn’t mean to dredge up painful memories for Mr. Dawson and his former colleagues or appear disrespectful. We’ve removed the line from the Steam copy that could have been taken as a slur on the development and would like to reassure everyone that it was intended as a comment on the build we had ported to PC, not the quality of the original work.
We’re hoping lots of fans play the prototype and can appreciate the work he and his colleagues put into this developing this prototype.
In other Sega news, the company is collaborating withFall Guysby includinga Sonic the Hedgehog costumein the game. Sega’s speedy mascot has been otherwise absent this year, with no new Sonic games officially announced at this time.
A Sega rep has also suggested that it will be making another mini console, specificallya Dreamcast Mini. What was Sega’s final attempt at a home console still holds a special place in some nostalgic hearts and if it was to come included with some of the Dreamcast’s most prolific games, likeShenmueandCrazy Taxi, it could be quite successful.
Golden Axedwill be available on Steam from October 18th - 19th.
