Google is in trouble with a user: Andrew Spinks (37) was locked out of his Google account and is very upset that no one is helping him. Bad luck for Google: Spinks is the developer behind the Steam hit “Terraria” and is now canceling the release of Terraria for Google Stadia in sheer anger.
What did Google do to the man? As Spinks writes on Twitter, he has some issues with Google. Google banned him from all platforms 3 weeks ago – his account was deactivated. Spinks doesn’t know why and isn’t able to reach Google. No one tells him anything, just referring him to the next person. The 37-year-old is certainly not aware of any guilt.
The loss of the Google account has serious consequences for Spinks (via Twitter):
- As a result, Spinks has “lost thousands of dollars worth of apps” that he no longer has access to
- he bought The Lord of the Rings in 4K but can’t finish watching it now
- his data on Google Drive is gone
- he can no longer access his YouTube channel
- And he has lost access to the email account he has been using for 15 years
Spinks says: He doesn’t even know what he did wrong. But he sees it this way:
“I can only understand it this way: you have decided to burn all bridges with me. Consider it done. Terraria for Google Stadia is canceled. My company will not support any of your platforms anymore.
I want nothing to do with a company that values its partners so little.”
Andrew Spinks
“Release of Terraria on Google Stadia is canceled!”
Why is this critical? Terraria is an absolute cult hit on Steam: It came out on PC in 2011 and has over 536,500 reviews on the Steam platform – of which 98% are positive. It only costs €10.
In Google’s own app store, Terraria is ranked 8 among the most popular paid games, behind “Five Nights at Freddy’s”, but ahead of Grand Theft Auto 5. There, Terraria has 311,721 reviews and a rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars.
People love the quirky open-world game in 2D style because it offers a tremendous amount of freedom and has been developed so well. Terraria comes from the indie studio Re-Logic, a team of about 12 people, led by Andrew Spinks.
Google Stadia is already struggling with a limited selection of games, so hits like Terraria would be important fuel.
The ultimate revenge of the banned, who feels powerless
What it’s about: Many people get extremely upset every day when they are banned by a company and feel powerless and that they can do nothing about it. They often have revenge fantasies about how they can make themselves heard. They dream of the possibility of showing a big company like David vs. Goliath.
Spinks is in the position to actually carry out this revenge fantasy. Ultimately, however, he is depriving players on Google Stadia of the chance to rediscover his game for themselves.
His reaction is still understandable: The ban shows how powerful Google is and in how many ways a ban from Google can affect a person. Losing YouTube, an email account, and apps might be bearable, but the poor man cannot finish watching The Lord of the Rings in 4K. That violates human rights conventions.
Terraria is among our 25 best survival games to play in 2021:
The 25 best survival games 2021 for PlayStation, Xbox and PC
