Only Up dev yanks Twitch hit from Steam after saying it caused “a lot of stress”
“I want to put the game behind me”
Only Up, the viral game that blew up Twitch over the summer with its 3D take on the punishing climbing of Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, has been pulled from Steam. Its creator has vowed that they “want to put the game behind me” after suffering “a lot of stress”.
SCKR Games’ debut appeared out of nowhere back in June, quickly garnering hundreds of thousands of viewers on Twitch as the result of its strange spin on Jack and the Beanstalk - complete with philosophical musings delivered in voiceover - and incredibly tough platforming as players attempted to clamber their way up various floating objects and environments into the sky.
Despite its rapturous popularity on Twitch, Only Up faced almost as much criticism, primarily aimed at its inclusion of NFT references, lack of gameplay features such as a save function and accusations of using another developer’s copyrighted assets, which led to it being taken down from Steam for just a few hours in July before returning.
In an update post announcing Only Up’s departure from Steam, its solo developer said that it was “a game I did for creativity, to test myself, and where I made a lot of mistakes”.
“The game has kept me under a lot of stress all these months,” they continued. “Now I want to put the game behind me. [...] What I need now is peace of mind and healing.”
The post added that the developer plans to “take a pause” and continue their education while working on their next game, which currently has the working title Kith.
“It will be a new experience and a new concept with realism, a completely different genre and setting, and the emphasis is on cinematography,” they said. “This time I hope the project will be created by a small team. This is a challenging project on which I want to significantly improve my skills in game design.”
True to their word, Only Up is no longer available to buy on Steam, although it does remain possible to download and play for those who already purchased it. The game’s reviews - of which there are almost 13,000 - give it an overall “Mostly Positive” rating.