The bizarre development saga of the immersive sim retro shooter Fortune’s Run has taken another tragic turn. This niche hit had its development paused for a year while lead developer Dizzy was imprisoned, and now it is reportedly completely "cancelled." Dizzy claims that Steam allegedly transferred the game's revenue to a former colleague whom she accuses of domestic abuse. The game is currently being review-bombed, with reports suggesting the negativity stems from the forum Kiwi Farms, and the title appears to have been fully delisted and removed from sale.
Among the numerous allegations against her former partner, Dizzy's core grievance is that Valve "refused to grant me legal control over the project." She insists the company withheld $9,000 in funds, maintaining that this money could only be paid to whomever Valve recognized as the "game owner"—whom she refers to as Jin. The situation has grown even more complicated following Dizzy's recent arrest and subsequent 25-day prison sentence.
"Hi everyone, things have gotten worse." So begins Dizzy's latest highly personal Steam post, her first since announcing her release from prison in April (Dizzy stated she was imprisoned due to violent acts committed years ago, when she was "living a very different life"). In the post, the developer lists a series of accusations: "Jin abused me and stole all the project's money." The post claims, "She lies constantly, uses drugs, cheats on partners via Grindr, took my bank card, and withdrew thousands of dollars from ATMs. She drained all my accounts, including Patreon and PayPal—everywhere there was money, she left nothing." Obviously, media outlets cannot verify the truthfulness of these allegations and take no stance on them.
The post continues in a similar tone, further alleging abusive behavior, while acknowledging that these statements "could constitute defamation in court," adding: "Because the law only protects narcissists and abusers. This world is damned."
Dizzy's situation is undoubtedly complex. Currently on parole and living in a halfway house, she claims she cannot obtain identification documents because "the police won't let me stay out long enough to complete this damn process." She is also required to pay taxes on Steam income she never actually received. Furthermore, Dizzy claims she reported Jin to the police, attempting to sue her for "fraud, death threats, and sexual abuse," but was told it was a civil matter. She also alleges that her parole officer used this as grounds to send her back to prison. Once again, we take no stance on any of these claims.
However, there is still a glimmer of hope for the game's future development. Dizzy stated on Discord that although she cannot resolve the issues on Steam, she should be able to regain ownership and continue developing the game on GOG and Epic. However, revenue from these two platforms is only a fraction of Steam's. She noted that Fortune’s Run earned approximately $200,000 on Steam, compared to just $5,000 on GOG during the same period. Therefore, she seems to have abandoned the possibility of operating the game as a commercial project, but still hopes to release content through these platforms, as she has created a major update for the game that she wants to launch successfully.
In another Steam post, Dizzy included screenshots of responses from Valve's customer support team. In the screenshots, an apparently confused support agent attempts to clarify the situation and asks Dizzy why she wants to transfer game ownership from a Steam account that appears to belong to Jin. "This raises the question: who is initiating the application partner transfer? Only the signatory of the Steamworks Partner Group [name redacted] Steam Distribution Agreement is eligible to initiate a transfer request." Customer support also provided links to methods for proving account ownership.
Dizzy added below the screenshot:
"Valve is revoking my access to the game. I've priced the game at $1, applying the lowest possible discount.
Goodbye, everyone."
Unfortunately, although Dizzy appeared to want to price the game at $1, it was completely unavailable for purchase at the time of writing.
Fortune’s Run is currently facing a small-scale review bombing campaign. The game's "Recent Reviews" are rated "Mostly Negative," though based on only 63 reviews; meanwhile, its overall rating remains "Mostly Positive" with a total of 599 reviews. Dizzy stated on Discord that these negative reviews originated from the forum Kiwi Farms.
Many have accused Dizzy of having a "public emotional breakdown," but Dizzy believes she is merely stating the "facts" of "what happened." She said that when she told Valve that "the person currently controlling this platform account sexually abused me," the company "required me to obtain written permission from them to reclaim the account. This is utterly unreasonable."
We have contacted Valve to inquire about how the company might handle such a thorny and complex situation, and whether the game will be relisted for sale.