Again, I cannot stress enough that I'm sorry for being confusing.
If its any consolation, im about as confused as you guys might be.

For the foreseeable future I will be publishing on this store page, app id 429430.

Originally the plan was that I would have publishing rights on the new page 513470.
I was under the impression that this was due to numerous security factors.

A big one being that I have no way of knowing how many steam keys were produced when BlackShellMedia held the reigns as publisher.

What this means is that in theory they could produce an unknown number of keys and keep them tucked away to resell later. Im not saying that Black Shell Would do such a thing of course however the possibility that this could happen poses a problem for devs, and Valve.

Why? -------------------------------------
Lets say that a partner produces 50,000 keys and doesn't tell anyone about them.
Lets say that partner jumps ship before contributing anything of substance, leaving whoever remains with the burden of producing and selling the actual game.

Now, lets pretend that this game was then released and sold for 10.00$
If that ex-partner held onto the 50,000 keys, they could in theory go online and sell your game at a discount, say 80% off. If the game is particularly popular, that ex-partner could in theory make 100,000$ easily.

This is a problem to the devs because a percentage of those are lost sales, and this is a problem to valve because assuming these keys fly under the radar, valve loses out on their cut (in this case, up to 30,000$) ( Heck, even if Valve caught it and put the kibosh on it, the damage is still done.)

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Again, I have to stress that Im not saying this would happen, I'm not saying that BSM would do such a thing. But because the possibility exists it just makes sense to create a new appid altogether.

However, as it turns out it is generally against Valve's policy to have duplicate items with different ids. This causes confusion (as we all know personally lol ^_^,)
On top of that, I would lose my existing reviews. and all of the work put into the forums.

It does stink a bit from my perspective since 378 publishing and I worked so hard to promote the new page.

It seems like we are now in the clear

But I'm essentially waiting on some confirmation emails. I requested that BlackShellMedia supply all of the master docs containing game keys. and i need proof that these are all of the game keys.
having too many keys out there unchecked spells disaster and on top of that, I cannot chance them being in the wrong hands.

Legally speaking: BlackShellMedia holds no rights to Tyrfing Cycle or the vanilla version (Cycle of Tyrfing)

Said rights were forfeited willingly and without duress, They are therefore not allowed to profit from this Intellectual property and as such should in good faith surrender any unused key(s)

again, Im not at al saying BSM would profiteer from this application, not at all.
Im just saying that I cannot allow the possibility to exist.

Piracy I can live with, but profiteering, no, I can't look the other way.

I anticipate no problems on the business side moving forward

I have no reason to suspect that BSM will choose to be uncooperative, and so I think they will give me the information I need. Assuming that pans out ill be launching the update soon after (probably this week)

Again I am tremendously sorry for all of the confusion and any inconvenience, I sincerely appreciate your guys' support and Im sure you understand that I absolutely have to take these steps to protect my IP

Update - I still am not able to access actual authority on steam works

Ive been of course working dilligently on updating content and adding achievements, so I've been in steamworks regularly.
I am aware that sometimes changes take time, but it has been about 72 hours now since BSM resubmitted the necessary 'paperwork' to surrender full control to me.
Yet I still cannot generate keys, I cannot view key history and I cannot see financials still. I can faux-log into these elements but the actual numbers appear to be invisible and I cannot actually do anything

I personally think it would just be easier to use the new appid, it makes sense since I dont need to rely on BSM complying to use it and it saves me a heck of a lot of work.
However, if it is against steam's policy to use the new appid, then I wont use the new appid. Its Valve's platform so I have to cooperate, and I respect their policies.

Using the old appid generates a risk that the old publisher may have stock piled a large number of keys, and while I doubt they would do such a thing the risk has to be addressed.
Again, this game is going to retail for approx 10$, but if they have 10,000 keys and for some reason go onto a site like g2a and sell those keys for 2$ a pop, then they profit. I make nothing. Valve makes nothing

I might not even sell 10,000 units, ever

I am very sorry about the inconvenience.

DemonSword Out -