Stone Age life simulator Roots of Pacha returns to Steam after rights battle

Stone Age farming and village life simulator Roots of Pacha has returned to Steam following the end of a rights dispute between the developer and publisher, who have now announced that they have decided to “part ways amicably on mutually beneficial terms”.

Roots of Pacha, which received an overwhelmingly positive reception back in April, was removed from the Valve storefront by publisher Crytivo earlier this month. Developer Soda Den claimed the move was made “without (his) knowledge or consent”.

“We have been working hard to amicably resolve our issue with Crytivo domestically,” it said at the time. “Instead of working with us to resolve the issue, Crytivo reached out to Valve and allowed them to remove Roots of Pacha from Steam.” Crytivo, meanwhile, claimed that Soda Den unexpectedly decided to “unilaterally terminate the contract we’ve been under for three years.”

Whatever the details of the disagreement, two weeks later both sides issued a joint statement insisting that the dispute had been resolved.

“Over the past two weeks, Crytivo and Soda Den have been working tirelessly toward their shared goal of bringing Roots of Pacha back to Steam,” the companies wrote in a statement. “We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement and that Roots of Pacha is back on Steam for everyone. We would also like to share that Crytivo and Soda Den have decided to part ways amicably on mutual terms. profitably”.

“Soda Den sincerely thanks the Crytivo team for their efforts in supporting and promoting Roots of Pacha,” the statement continued. “Crytivo sincerely thanks Soda Den for their dedication and craftsmanship that went into making Roots of Pacha.”

Roots of Pacha has also been resolved from the dispute back to Steam, Soda Den continues to work on big post-launch update plans. It says the patch, which introduces a number of quality-of-life features and a “new romance character,” will launch “next month,” with plant and animal evolution coming later this year. Then in 2024, new Tundra and Turtle Islands locations are planned with “other features and improvements.”