Developer Stairway Games, which is responsible for bringing cozy life-sim Coral Island to Steam, said that the game's future on consoles is now "in a place of uncertainty."
Coral Island was able to raise more than $1.6 million in its Kickstarter funding but some backers have been looking for a Nintendo Switch port. Others who have claimed requests for PlayStation 4 keys were automatically upgraded to PlayStation 5 without their consent.
Coral Island's Future on Consoles
Right now, the cozy-life sim is available on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, as well as on Xbox Game Pass. Many of the game's backers on Kickstarter shared their sentiment of the situation on social media.
Some described the situation as "super gross" with one user saying that at this point, they just want a refund to get their money back. He noted that he was unable to get what he paid for, so he just simply wanted to back out, according to Eurogamer.
The developer just released a statement addressing the situation where it claims, "the impact of Humble Games' restructuring on Coral Island remains uncertain for all things related to consoles... as they are responsible for these platforms."
It added that the studio shared players' frustrations regarding Coral Island's lack of a Nintendo Switch port.
The company said that over the years, there was a lot that they wanted to say in the spirit of transparency regarding many different things but were unable due to publishing agreements and non-NDA that were in place.
Lack of a Nintendo Switch Port
Many players are disappointed at what is happening with Coral Island because some who paid for the Nintendo Switch versions are still unable to play the game even after nearly two years since its original early access release, said GamesRadar.
Another thing that Stairway Games noted in its statement is that they had an upcoming hotfix for the game's 1.1 update that was nearing release on Steam.
However, they no longer have any idea how to get the update out to other platforms because they do not have backend permission on console platforms.
One potential solution that the developer is giving to Kickstarter supporters who got Switch keys is to switch them over to PC versions of Coral Island. Stairway Games signed off on the post, adding that the situation "sucks" and asked for players' understanding.
Coral Island was first revealed in 2021 and was quickly backed by many supporters in under 36 hours on Kickstarter. In 2023, the game launched on PC and other platforms but had many bugs at the time, according to NintendoLife.
