A developer accidentally releasing a game is a pretty rare occurrence, but that’s exactly what happened when “Happy Wars” developer Toylogic inadvertently hit the launch button for the Xbox One version of the game. If an unscheduled launch of an unfinished product wasn’t bad enough, the ramifications of that mistake have been felt pretty much a console generation apart. Incredibly, the prematurely released Xbox One version of “Happy Wars” seems to have permanently broken the Xbox 360 copy of the game.
The digital download delivery mechanism of the free-to-play game made the mistake easy to commit, whereas the same also meant that gamers could download it just as easily. Eurogamer notes that those who were unfortunate enough to download and play the Xbox One version found out that it rendered their Xbox 360 version unplayable. The Xbox One version of the game is evidently quite raw and still in development, especially since it doesn’t even have a specific release date.
Sadly, there seems to be no immediate respite for those affected by the glitch. The developer Toylogic has taken to its Facebook page to apologise for the game-breaking mistake. The post also carries a warning advising players against installing the accidentally released Xbox One version. However, the developer hasn’t offered any immediate fix for those locked out of their games. Affected gamers have received a promise that the bug will be fixed in the next update. No release date has been announced for the fix.
“IMPORTANT: Please note that after playing ‘Happy Wars’ for Xbox One, the current version of ‘Happy Wars’ for Xbox 360 will no longer be playable. Official release of ‘Happy Wars’ for Xbox One is planned in the near future, so please refrain from installing and running ‘Happy Wars’ for Xbox One until that time,” wrote the Toylogic in is Facebook post. “The issue of ‘Happy Wars’ for Xbox 360 becoming unplayable will be resolved by the next title update of ‘Happy Wars’ for Xbox 360.”
The problem of players being locked out of their games becomes worse because “Happy Wars” is a tactical role-playing game. The RPG aspect entails a levelling system that empowers players with unique skills and abilities, which can be improved and made more potent by investing more time in using them. Since this is a free-to-play title, gamers also tend to pay real-world money to gain these perks.