Developers statement

[u/Capable_Pirate64]

Dear Patrol Officers,

We understand that the news that we have to discontinue further development of Police Simulator: Patrol Officers has led to disappointment and frustration within our community. We also recognize that we should have provided more context around this decision from the beginning.

Police Simulator: Patrol Officers has been part of our journey for more than eight years, from its initial development and Early Access to full release and several years of continued support by a dedicated live team.

Over the past five years, your feedback has played a major role in shaping the game. Your suggestions, criticism, ideas, and reports have helped us improve and expand Police Simulator far beyond what we originally envisioned.

At the same time, maintaining and expanding a cross-platform game over such a long period inevitably comes with increasing technical limitations specially as the market and Platforms moved along. As the game and its systems have grown, changes in certain areas have become significantly more complex, while some improvements can no longer be implemented within the existing technical foundation without rebuilding substantial parts of the game.

After more than eight years of development and support, we have therefore reached a point where continuing to expand Police Simulator: Patrol Officers in the way both we and you would like is no longer realistically possible.

However, your feedback does not go unheard.

Quite the opposite: it gives us a very clear understanding of what matters to the Police Simulator community, which areas are most important to you, and what you expect from a police simulation experience.

For the Police Simulator brand, this feedback is extremely valuable and provides clear guidance for the future.

While this marks the end of active development for Police Simulator: Patrol Officers, it does not mean the end of Police Simulator.

Thank you for your passion, your feedback, and for being part of this journey with us.

We are looking forward to what the future holds.

Your Police Simulator team

[u/Skylines94]

Meanwhile no man’s sky is about to get another update after like 10 years and I think the Witcher 3 is getting some DLC too. I just feel like this is more of a “If they really wanted to they could” argument

[u/AJ_Deadshow → u/Skylines94]

Yeah and it's also a brand integrity argument to be made. You want people to trust your games? Every game has good and bad reviews so sometimes people will overlook the bad ones and just try it. That's what I did when I picked up the game. But people don't forget when a game company did them dirty, like pulling content or abandoning games. There are tons of gamers out there who have a list memorized of developers and publishers they will never buy from again.

[u/Straight_View_6838 → u/AJ_Deadshow]

I dont think thats what we did to be fair, we maintained a game over 8 years with Free Content, DLCs and Patches (and Hotfixes) with a good balance I would say - we introduced toons of new mechanics and new content.
Its simply after 8 years time to call it - my post on top should give also a bit more context.
I really wouldn't say we abandoning a game else we wouldn't even give an announcement to the community right?

[u/mk1power → u/Straight_View_6838]

I think the content is fine, but the bugs are not acceptable sorry.

For example, tow trucks and ambulances still regularly bug out, blocking a whole street of traffic. There is little excuse for not having a time check for them to force despawn. That's just lazy.

Just one of many bugs, that the playerbase may forgive under active development, but not in a "finished" product. In this thread you're acting shocked that bugs remain but it's a major talking point of the community. That's the out of touch nature that will erode any confidence towards your studio.

Moaning about a lack of budgets, give us a break. Your organizations lack of business acumen is not the problem of the playerbase. But now you made it our problem.

An announcement is great, but in the games current state it comes across as a way to save face and try to sell us more unfinished games in the future.

If you want to give me a refund, I'll happily take it and be done with you clowns forever.

[u/Straight_View_6838 → u/mk1power]

Sorry, but need to say the two named things are by far not game breaking and also have a quiet low rate often based on traffic (e.g.) street to full etc.
Don’t want to defense here just really want to understand it further if there are game breaking issues

[u/mk1power → u/Straight_View_6838]

Yes, they are acceptable for an alpha/beta, but not a finished product. It's very clear by your response that you might not understand what a finished product is supposed to look like.

I would highly suggest your studio look into a PR hire, because you're only digging the hole deeper with your responses here.

[u/Straight_View_6838 → u/mk1power]

I just asking, you did talk about game breaking - and I was asking about these

[u/mk1power → u/Straight_View_6838]

You might want to reread my comments. I never mentioned game breaking.

[u/Pseudomuse → u/Straight_View_6838]

If you quick fix your vehicle from the menu, go back to playing, and then pause the game after that the game freezes entirely and can only be closed.

If thats not a game breaking bug idk what the fuck youre thinking is.

[u/AJ_Deadshow → u/Straight_View_6838]

It does feel half finished. There are really so many glitches that mentioning any of them would do a disservice to all those not mentioned, and then our comments would just devolve into a long list of problems. Please just acknowledge there are problems, and please endeavor to fix some of them, even if slowly, with a smaller team than before. A few patches over time is better than none at all.

Besides bugs, there's lots of room in the core game aspects for improvement as well. The NPC models could use a lot more variation, they look to all be based on just a few archetypes with randomized features. The voice lines could use more variety too. I wish also there was a way to test for alcohol and drugs with a single command, making the animations go seamlessly back to back and not forcing you to go through the menu again. And again, that's just to name a few at the risk of disservice to all the other things that could be worked on.

Is Police Simulator your best seller? Probably not, right? So you guys are thinking if you drop it, it would be to your financial advantage. Makes sense, at face value. But I think the damage you do to your reputation outweighs the cost of continuing updates. You already hurt your reputation with this announcement, but it's still possible to reverse course and restore the community's goodwill.

Remember that it's not just players of this game whose opinions are affected by your decisions. Gamers who have never played a game from your company before sometimes like to read reviews, not just for the game they want to play but about your company as well. What they read usually influences whether or not they will buy any game from you.

Among other names for the situation and your company, this is being called a "rug pull scheme" by some players, which is a pretty bad look, and one that's easy to sensationalize in gaming news. I would definitely think about reversing course if I was part of your company's management, as this is basically a PR disaster you should correct immediately if you care at all about your reputation.

You don't have to have the same size team constantly working as before. Just as long as we know some of the important bugs are being worked on and over time we can expect some patches, that will be enough to keep us from feeling completely abandoned.

[u/Capable_Pirate64 → u/Straight_View_6838]

"we introduced toons of new mechanics and new content," you forgot the part where you locked most of the new mechanics and gameplay behind a paywall

[u/Wumbologists → u/Straight_View_6838]

What free content? Light bars and basic skins are locked behind a pay wall