Remedy Entertainment’s time-bending third-person shooter Quantum Break is due for a Steam release soon, but fans who picked up the game at launch may be left out in the cold, as recent studio comments suggest that Remedy is dropping its support for previously issued PC editions.
Responding to user complaints regarding Quantum Break‘s lingering performance issues on PCs, Thomas Puha, Remedy’s head of communications, said the studio is “unlikely” to release new patches for the Windows Store edition released in April, indicating that development efforts have shifted toward the upcoming Steam launch.
Released for Windows 10 PCs and Microsoft’s Xbox One console in April, Quantum Break follows up on developer Remedy Entertainment’s work with the Alan Wake and Max Payne franchises. Players control a superpowered protagonist who can manipulate time in order to freeze or disable enemies, though gameplay otherwise sticks closely to established third-person shooter conventions.
In an unusual move, Quantum Break was initially available for PCs exclusively through Microsoft’s Windows Store app, requiring players to upgrade to Windows 10 in order to play. The upcoming Steam release eases these restrictions, and will be playable on Windows 7 and Windows 8 operating systems.
The Steam version of Quantum Break further distances itself from the previously issued Windows Store edition in terms of support. While the game saw a handful of patches and fixes following its initial release, this week’s comments from Remedy indicate that players should switch over to the Steam edition if they want to see new features and improvements in the future.
Players who purchased the abandoned Windows 10 version of Quantum Break shouldn’t expect a free upgrade to the Steam edition, however, as Remedy’s Puha refused user requests for compensatory Steam keys, stating that “we don’t publish the game nor make business decisions on it.”
The Steam version of Quantum Break launches on September 14.
