Update regarding Store.Bistudio & Arma 3 Steam key distribution

[gonzotbita 10]

Some people don't get a confirmation, with me they send my confirmation 3 times already.

LOL omg are you serious?! I wish that was what happened to me. Instead my bank account got charged 3 times and I got nothing. Not even a confirmation email or anything.

[strat 10]

18h now, my 70€ is gone and still no answer. I've sent support email but only thing I got was automated response message.. People are getting numerous confirmation messages but I've got none! Why is it still so hard to answer?

[derdoe 10]

Guys please be patient, BIS support will answer you as soon as they can, spamming them with several messages on the same matter just makes progress even slower. Write 1 email where you put all information needed in and then wait.

[tonygrunt 10]

Probably they are resending all confirmations to clear out the problem with missing emails due to overloading servers and the remaining problematic cases might have to be looked one by one.

Maybe in some cases BI didn't get confirmation of paying from paypal or the credit card processing facility they use. These purchases might be stuck in a virtual limbo.

[strat 10]

Probably they are resending all confirmations to clear out the problem with missing emails due to overloading servers and the remaining problematic cases might have to be looked one by one.

Maybe in some cases BI didn't get confirmation of paying from paypal or the credit card processing facility they use. These purchases might be stuck in a virtual limbo.

Yeah maybe so but all I'm saying is that it wouldn't be so hard to me to give away 70€ for nothing if they would answer to me in person so that I can believe that I'm getting something for my lost money. In facebook they said that all customers should have their keys now but I'm getting no response from them and it worries me a BIT.

[Masharra 10]

heh and here i am desperately wishing they would take my money. Error code: 30-1002 keeps kicking me in the shins.

paypal is verifying or some crap, cant complete purchase at this time. ive funneled hundreds to various cards to use. the fbi is probaby thinking im trying to commit some type of fraud

also.... shouldnt it be " ON sale now" ? XD

[chortles 263]

As of this post, the store is back up with all three editions available, the basic and Digital Deluxe alpha builds being at lower-than-Steam prices; I just made my purchase approximately twenty minutes ago using Paypal (second try; first try had an error on Paypal's end).

[Masharra 10]

ugh ill wing it again then head to bed.

heading to bed

[Johny 25]

So to update on the situation, we believe that about 99% of people should have received their Steam codes now if the order went through successfully on the system, for those that still haven't received their Steam code please send another email to support@bistudio.com (this will help us to get you sorted quickly). Please try to include the following information (if you have it):

• Your store account name and email address

• The purchase number or transaction ID or order number

• Your paypal Email address (if payment was via paypal and the email address is different from that registered on your store account)

People that were charged multiple times for 1 game should send a similar email (unless they have done so already). We are processing the refunds and you will get your money back, but it may take some time until we get to your request.

It goes without saying we're hugely disappointed that yesterday didn't work out as planned, it's gratifying to see many people playing the Alpha and reporting back they're happy but one person who spent a frustrated night without the key is one too many and we're very sorry for that.

[nimrod123 11]

now its pretty much over, and once you get everything sorted out, this is probally something to be proud of, you managed to tank all/most of your servers for something like 12 hours due to demand (maybe not something to be proud of for the person in charge of estimating demand)

thats a good metric i think :D

and your getting it sorted far quicker then some other systems like this i have been involded in so kudos to you

[Iulik 10]

You did a good job guys, in the end everyone got to play, and i don't think that a couple of hours makes a big difference, now just keep up the good work and add as many features as possible :D

[DnA 5154]

I'd like to add to Johny's status update that we deeply apologize to all of you affected by the situation! It is very sad irony that those of you who wished to support us, were the ones affected by this plight the most. We hope you will all soon have been helped to either an Arma 3 Alpha version or a refund. Many thanks to your continued support. The feedback we've seen so far has recharged our team and made us enthusiastic to get through Alpha and Beta towards a fantastic full game release.

[tonygrunt 10]

Any lessons learned for the eventual future releases? How many people were hammering the servers? :)

[[lb] boggler 10]

You should think about a secondary support option. There are a lot of arma addicts who wanted to support you but have been forced to buy the steam arma lite version because of this stupid and silly credit-idea and the resulted ddos.

And do yourself a favor, get rid of the accountable marketing guy!

Edited March 6, 2013 by [LB] boggler

[ProfTournesol 956]

Well, i waited until this morning and it took me ten minutes to buy the SE through BiStore. Sad that it was such a mess yesterday though.

[Placebo 29]

How many people were hammering the servers? :)

Well when you look simply at how badly hammered the forums have been:

74,757 Users have visited the forum. 3,535 members and 71,222 guests

you can probably start to understand a bit why the store took such a schelacking! I noticed that the Steam website was slowing down at times after the launch so if they can't keep up there's no hope for the rest of us ;)

As for what lessons to learn, it's difficult to say, as mentioned we upgraded the hardware 10 fold over the CC & TOH launches, the problem is to improve the hardware/servers further to cope with the stresses experienced in one day versus the other 364 days wouldn't be good business (in one sense), maybe the solution is some kind of "pre-registration" system where it's staggered over time rather than suddenly everyone trying to buy at once, or maybe multiple servers split over locations, lots of ideas but who knows what's practical, fortunately it's not my area ;)

[nimrod123 11]

Well when you look simply at how badly hammered the forums have been:

you can probably start to understand a bit why the store took such a schelacking! I noticed that the Steam website was slowing down at times after the launch so if they can't keep up there's no hope for the rest of us ;)

As for what lessons to learn, it's difficult to say, as mentioned we upgraded the hardware 10 fold over the CC & TOH launches, the problem is to improve the hardware/servers further to cope with the stresses experienced in one day versus the other 364 days wouldn't be good business (in one sense), maybe the solution is some kind of "pre-registration" system where it's staggered over time rather than suddenly everyone trying to buy at once, or maybe multiple servers split over locations, lots of ideas but who knows what's practical, fortunately it's not my area ;)

its stuff like this this and the sim city launch (your not alone with a rocky start!) kinda explains 2 things;

one, preloading a game (less applicable here since its alpha, and it more a steam thing)

two, regional role outs, even if its over the course of a day to try and stage the load

Random question, at what point did the store/server tech (if you have one) start getting scared/suprised

[kernriver 4]

Placebo, those numbers are staggering.

I was wise enough to wait till today so my purchase went smoothly (not that I didn't try yesterday :p).

BTW, Arm3alpha is 1st on Steam top sellers list, as expected. :cool:

[CapitanMalcolm 10]

If 99% of people have already his keys, I asume you can answer my emails (I sended one yesterday) and I have sent another one some minutes ago.

(I dont have my key btw).

The content of the email is:

Guys, like I told you in the last mail in wich I didnt recieve a response. I bought the game (I can see it right now in my bank that 72´30 € was transfered using my credit card to store.bistudio.co), but I had an error during I think the last step of tue transaction. SO:

- Money is gone (to you)

- I dont have ANY email of confirmation

- NO GAME is in "My Games" in Bohemia. I only see in "Order information": "NO ORDERS TO DISPLAY".

Again, mi account user in Bohemia is "CapitanMalcolm"......and my email is.... I wrote this part on the mail.

Thanks in advice.

PD: Im sending right now another mail with my IP and a capture from my bank with the payment to store.bistudio.com , I didt saw the thread of Placebo. (Thanks).

Edited March 6, 2013 by CapitanMalcolm

[Franking 10]

Well when you look simply at how badly hammered the forums have been:

you can probably start to understand a bit why the store took such a schelacking! I noticed that the Steam website was slowing down at times after the launch so if they can't keep up there's no hope for the rest of us ;)

As for what lessons to learn, it's difficult to say, as mentioned we upgraded the hardware 10 fold over the CC & TOH launches, the problem is to improve the hardware/servers further to cope with the stresses experienced in one day versus the other 364 days wouldn't be good business (in one sense), maybe the solution is some kind of "pre-registration" system where it's staggered over time rather than suddenly everyone trying to buy at once, or maybe multiple servers split over locations, lots of ideas but who knows what's practical, fortunately it's not my area ;)

Hi, Placebo. I'm one of those people who have a problem of getting the key.

I have bought the supporter edition yesterday at about 15 o'clock and it's 20 hours ago. But when I succeeded to pay, I got nothing with it.

I did't receive an email and did't get the game in BIS. I have sent BI support emails but get no reply.

Just tell me that you are still deal with it and make me relieved, can you?

Thanks a lot and I will always support you BI.

Edited March 6, 2013 by franking

[zoog 18]

maybe the solution is some kind of "pre-registration" system where it's staggered over time rather than suddenly everyone trying to buy at once, or maybe multiple servers split over locations, lots of ideas but who knows what's practical, fortunately it's not my area ;)

I know that a big store chain here in the Netherlands utilises an online queuing system when they have their yearly 3 day long "uber sale" which attracts halve the country. I also believe some festivals utilize systems like this in which visitors are thrown in a queue for the actual ticketing/payment system. Or for example the national airport website uses a much more simpler website version if the load becomes too much. Stuff like this can be done with a store as well, simple version of the site with only the product that is released and a queue system for handling payments/orders.

I believe there are also a lot of load balancing solutions, especially when using cloud hosting which can expand and contract based on current load. Don't know the details, but stuff like this must be available. If it's economically viable for BIS? I don't know :)

Edited March 6, 2013 by zoog

[Placebo 29]

@CapitanMalcolm &@Franking I understand your frustration but replying here doesn't help you, email Support@bistudio.com as Johny says above please.

---------- Post added at 13:02 ---------- Previous post was at 12:59 ----------

I know that a big store chain here in the Netherlands utilises an online queuing system:)

That sounds like a really good idea TBH.

[Dwarden 1125]

my older reply from early morning in some other thread

the whole issue was that the store was overloaded as the short-term visit load was too high

now majority of these who had issues was resolved, keys were resent , if you still have issues contact support @ bistudio d,o,t, com

if you bought by BI store then you know we got more % than STEAM and helped support us ...

so yes we are sorry for the yesterdays BI store issues (article was on BI website and twitters or asked me on Skype / IRC / IM you knew)

be sure we learn from it and improve it for next 'madness' :)

[Franking 10]

@CapitanMalcolm &@Franking I understand your frustration but replying here doesn't help you, email Support@bistudio.com as Johny says above please.

I know that. But I have already sent three emails to this address, should I continue or just wait for reply?

There's nothing else I want, I just want to know you guys is still working on it, right? I can wait, but give me a reply first and that will make me at least not being anxious.

Thanks again for your reply Placebo. I'm very comfort that someone of you guys still replied me.

Edited March 6, 2013 by franking

[Placebo 29]

I see your tickets in the support system so I can only suggest you hold on and it will be sorted as soon as possible :)