Spintires returns to Steam with hot fix as publisher denies drama

Spintires, the offroad Soviet vehicle game that found popularity upon its 2014 release, has returned to Steam after a major bug forced it off the platform. An update for the game is now available that fixes a bug that caused the game to crash, developer Oovee Game Studios announced in a community post.

Earlier this week, the publisher removed the game from sale due to widespread reports that frequent crashes prevented players from advancing past the first load screen. A full statement explaining the cause of the bug is forthcoming, Oovee said.

"In the next few days we will release a full and frank statement regarding the cause of the problem and how we plan to avoid this happening again, as well as details of the next update we have been working on since the start of 2016 which we plan to start testing next week," the developer said in the announcement of the fix.

The publisher first acknowledged the bug earlier this week on its own forums — as well as allegations that the bug was caused by the lead programmer himself, Pavel Zagrebelnyj.

Future updates in the works

"We are aware of recent press speculation relating to sabotage of the Spintires game by the lead developer Pavel," the studio wrote in a post on its customer support forum. "We wish to express our displeasure at this speculation and totally refute these and other recent allegations."

These allegations stem from comments made by the lead developer earlier this year. In a February interview with Eurogamer, Zagrebelnyj said that Oovee has not properly compensated him for his work. "I haven't had a meaningful communication with Oovee for many months (maybe a year)," he told the site.

Yet according to Oovee's forum post, the lead programmer helped with this week's hot fix. The studio also said it plans to work with Zagrebelnyj on future updates.

Oovee IT manager Tony Fellas refuted the programmer's claims in a statement to Eurogamer, saying that the company had fulfilled its contracts with the lead developer.

Yet the studio did admit that it's had accounting and other financial problems, which have contributed to the long development cycle of Spintires. Oovee said a sequel to the game was in the works last year, but little else has been announced on that front since.

Rumors of a strained relationship between Zagrebelnyj and Oovee first circulated a year ago, which Oovee spoke out against, claiming communication problems between the parties had been "settled."

For more on Spintires, check out our overview below.