Spintires Developer Breaks His Own Game Following Dispute With Publisher

Update: Spintires developer Pavel Zagrebelnyj denies allegations that he sabotaged his own game with a “timebomb.” He stated to Gamasutra when contacted that the reason for the game’s crashes and myriad issues players are facing are due to the publisher’s own time-related piracy checking code.

Previous report follows:

Were you one of the one hundred thousand gamers who bought and enjoyed truck simulator Spintires? Sad news, as it seems internal squabbles has led to the developer allegedly sabotaging his own game.

Spintires is a curiosity, even among off-road truck simulators. Set in the Russian wilderness, players can take the wheels of several large, sprawling trucks, as they take to Russia’s rough, slippery, backwoods roads.  Developer Pavel Zagrebelnyj has somehow managed to take what seems like a series of mundane, frustrating tasks, and create a challenging, yet compelling experience out of it.

Now, however,  Pavel Zagrebelnyj seems set to ruin the game he created. In its current state, the game has unfixed bugs, and worse, it seems Pavel has included a time bomb in the code. Time bomb is technical jargon for saying the game is programmed to stop working at a set date.

If you own Spintires, you can get an unofficial patch fix from Reddit. In normal circumstances, this patch would come with caveats that it is not certified by the game developers, but for now, it’s the best way you have to keep your copy of the game working and safe.

As for why Pavel Zagrebelnyj may be doing this, it boils down to disputes with Spintires’ publisher, the UK based Oovee. Pavel has been alleging for some time his access to update Steam files was removed, and he has been chronically unpaid. The full details of this dispute remain a confidential matter between Oovee and Pavel. For now, players can only hope Pavel will fix the game for them in the future, and if possible, that the two can settle their differences and resume work on the game.

Were you adversely affected by the circumstances surrounding Spintires? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.