Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, I have returned. Beaten, broken, and broke but very much alive. I cannot promise daily videos, but at minimum 3 videos per week are to be expected.

Welcome back Sid. Your soothing voice and breakdown of events was missed.

"viewers that don't agree with my opinions, but respect my content" that line there, that's exactly why I watch your videos. It's the main reason I watch your videos, just like I used to watch TotalBiscuits videos, being able to disagree with someone but still want to hear what they have to say means a lot.

Seriously that guy sounds like this to me: "It's not my fault, it's the evil templar illuminaty underground clockwork reptile alien's fault!"

I think my favorite part of the "shadow ring leader" is the way he frames it as "If only you knew, then you'd en on our side!" Like alright bud, then tell us so we DO know.

Your ethics are the exact reason I respect the hell out of ya so much Sid. Wish ya the best and hopefully a good financial future.

"Must be manipulated by a competitor." He's getting into conspiracy levels of leaps in logic.

Dirty Devs around the world: "OH $HIT he's back!"

Personally on an individual level, i highly respect your commitment to honesty and ethics. Your first response, even if it was unprofessional, definitely showcases your commitment to your morals. Good to have you back.

Imagine bribing one of your most vocal critics to do positive PR for them. Not only is that dumb, it would be super obvious and would immediately backfire. You made the right call Sid.

E2 Apologists: STOP CALLING IT A GAME! E2 Devs: Constantly call it a game

Gaming PR in a nutshell: 1. Admit they listen to criticism and will build based off it. 2. Ignore and don’t make any major changes and never include a specific feature fans want. 3. Offer paid sponsorships to stop the bad press. At least they’re following the formula.

total biscuit would be so proud

I don't think there was anything unprofessional in your response to Shane. You had the right to be angry and insulted, and you conveyed that without going over the top or resorting to name-calling. People like him are like the guys on r/creepypms who assume that the only reason anyone ever says "no" is because they're being stuck-up or angling for a better deal. They need to hear as often as possible that there actually *are* things like "ethics" and that it's patently offensive to suggest that you're just playing hard to get.

I feel like there must have been some legitimate idea behind Earth 2 at some point, and it must have gotten sidetracked by all this monetization nonsense. Whatever the game was once about has been lost, replaced by a marketplace of digital map tiles. Kind of sad, really. I could actually see a point in having a great recreation of Earth's geography in a digital space, which could then be leveraged by games without needing to recreate those locations themselves. Or something like that. I think if they want to salvage Earth 2, they need to admit that they got off track and go back to whatever the original idea was, but I think it might be too late for that. Once they started taking people's money, it became exponentially harder to backtrack and change course.

To be fair, I think that anger was very fair, that offer seemed like an insult more than anything. I can't see anything good coming from Earth 2, hell, I'd say even Dreamworld is in a better position than Earth 2 is, because as incompetent as the developers of Dreamworld are, what they've made available is at least a game.

That title is *chef's kiss*

Shane: "Would you like to promote our game?" Sid: "...... _listen here, you little shit!_ "

Um... That was an angry response? LOL to be honest that's probably about the most professional response I would have been able to muster.

[snaps party poppers and toots a kazoo] Congrats on the return man! Fairly straightforward and simple video here, but I don't expect some giant Dirty Devs when you've had so much on your end. On an actually related topic: He couldn't have been serious, right? No way someone whom apparently watches your content like a hawk would think that boilerplate offer would be well received. Right? I mean, only a jester would make a serious game that's not a scam and then make the same offer made by slot machines that are obvious... OHH!

Welcome back Sid. Was afraid someone had found a way to silence my favorite 'Mook with a mike'. Glad to see that whatever difficulties have plagued you recently, have merely slowed not stalled your efforts to provide cogent, thoughtful, and accessable criticism. Keep on Truckin'

You probably have something to say for youtube about this hidden dislike number thing... Along the lines of "welcome to the dirty devs YT"?

Chains of Gold are still chains. Thank you for your integrity.

Why are people treating this game like it was something taken seriously? It was a scheme to grab money for the least effort and a lot of people fell for it. It was, it is and always will be a scam. It was never something else.

So I heard about earth 2 past week thanks to a friend, after cringing about how expensive is to get a plot I saw the capitol of my country Chile, and I saw a lot of Venezuelans buying plots on Santiago, one of those plots was a guy who bought at the time 12 spaces of terrain at a sum of 7 dollars. I heard that the minimum salary on Venezuela is about 6 Dollars a month (unless it changed), I just told to my friend on that VC that day "did this guy bought virtual plot instead of money?? did this guy wanted virtual plot rather to eat for a month??!!" I just can't believe that people prefer to get a virtual land rather than survive in the real life :/

To the statement at 7:07 : That's an understatement and a half. Hell, I once had a stalker use gaming, and my enjoyment of playing video games, as an attempted 'slap' of discrediting what I say, basically saying that: 'Because I play video games, I must be a criminal.' When he himself was already a criminal by stalking, harassing, threatening, trespassing, and displayed quite the severe case of classism, all within that same 2 - 3 minute conversation he forced on me. And that's not even to mention some US state laws restricting access to, and the use of, some industry standard CPU chip-sets for building PCs intended for gaming. Yeah, there's a lot of crap gamers have to put up with. Milking our wallets dry for every little line of code simply because "they worked to write it, so you have to pay for it" is not one of those things that should be on the list. But all in all, and as little as it may mean, I personally am glad that you are alright Sid. There are far too few that are actually putting up a fight against the rampant plague that is in the form of 'Greed'.

I asked the Discord this. Why the website has prices listed at amounts that people are not actually selling for anywhere near. The value is obviously arbitrary but trying to explain basic market dynamics to these moonboys is a wasted effort.

Oh I remember this guy. Good guy. Good morals. Makes me think of the late TB too... what a tragedy. Glad there are people carrying his legacy forward.

It took me a couple of days to get to watching this video, but it reminded me why I like your videos. Welcome back. Personally I think your response at the end of the video was more charitable than I would have been had I been in your place.

There's no nebulous enemy wanting Earth 2 to fail, just a bunch of separate like minded creators looking at your product and logically judging it based on available information, technological limitations in relation to your vision, lack of skilled individuals to make your vision a reality.

That is ok Sid as long as you are safe and well. I miss the video's but your well being is key having a voice for all of us.

glad to hear your alive and hope whatever problems your having will get better

Algorith food for the channel. Never left. Long live proper journalism in the gaming JOURNALISM!!!

Just yesterday I saw the tangent tavern by josh strife hayes and callum who mentioned you, so I checked to see if I missed anything. Glad you're back and hopefully good.

Wow, the pyramid schemer actually offered you a bribe! 😂 Why am I surprised… that it took him this long?

Here I was expecting a long ass video for the delay. But welcome back Sid i'm sure I speak for a majority of your audiance, we've missed you.

This? *AGAIN* ? Wow, Earth2 is the gift that keeps on giving!

just learned of this whole earth 2 thing a few hours ago, been fascinated by it mostly by going through the bigfry saga. so i checked this one out he posted. the earth 2 story you know already, so to comment further about how ridiculous it is would be redundant. what i would like to say, is that you have restored some of my lost faith in humanity. forget the specifics of this particular subject matter; the earth 2 saga is a story of greed and exploitation, countered by collective action of vocal critique. humanity appreciates your reaction to encountering someone who just assumes that everything is for sale. thank you for illustrating an alternate, better path forward. sincerely, random human of earth

I feel that angry response was well deserved. Shane has done nothing to earn your trust that he won't shaft you at any point, and still being banned from the E2 Discord is proof of that.

Your initial response to their business proposition is completely justified given the public perception E2 has built for themselves

He’s alive !!!!!!!

honestly... i think one of the reasons i like your videos is because i CAN disagree with them but i dont find myself disliking them. like a dish that isn't bad but just isn't quite compatible with your tastes

Watching the video I have to say I do not believe that they actually do watch these videos and make notes of critiques like they claim. The evidence is in how Shane spoke to you in that discord post. He kept calling you a gamer, meaning he likly don't have an understanding or has never really watched what your channel is all about. Chalking you up to just another youtuber who plays games and uploads videos of those games. Heck, I don't think he even is aware of who you are for if he did, he wouldn't have offered to sponsor someone who was so open to criticize their scam of a game, or someone they had tried to censor in the past.

It almost sounds like E2 is trying to recreate Playstation Home from the PS3. Which was a Social Experiance for gamers and an expensive marketing place for companies. There's a reason it failed.

Sid is bacc

defelcts with the "threats and insults" argument. alludes to a shadow figure. calls himself a gamer..... i should make a bingo box out of this and see how many i get with all these bullshit excuses

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Sidalph-" (thunderous applause interrupts rest of the intro.

Fairly sure we're not getting the Repentance DLC

Algorithm food to help Sid alpha's channel upon his glorious return!

Welcome back sid take your time healing those wounds the important thing is that you will feel better mate

„I was unreasonably angry“ *shows quite reasonable looking response*

“Destroy Earth: 2?” Gotta build something for anybody to destroy it!

Welcome back Sid! As always, an eloquently put together video! I was shocked to see Shane Isaac reaching out to you... It almost seems as though he's just as detached from reality as the fanatics that circle-jerk over their worthless pixels... I look forward to the next video!

Good to see you back Sid, you have to take these things at your own pace as life dictates. It's not like you missed any horror shows in the game industry while you were gone or anything...

I kind of feel proud that Shane thinks my crappy channel might be part of some weird kind of shadow youtube anti E2 crusade. :D We have a saying here, The innkeeper trusts his guests as he trusts himself. =)

That reply was well put together and a lot of us can relate as well as support it.

There will always be developers that won't use these insane macrotransaction schemes. Don't despair, we may be indie but we are with many.

Bad boy, you forgot the Mentars... Mentars will save the Game in one single night, when they land... Or desembark... Or erupt... Or, well, something...

Welcome back Sid. Missed you! Here's your algorithm fuel. ^_^

I read "Dirty Devs: The Binding of Isaac" and thought "What did Edmund do now?".

Welcome back Sid! Oh how I've missed that lengthy yet straightforward and honest opinion of yours.

Isaac was oddly calm and normal in those talks, I'll give him that. Wb Sid, the 2½mo has felt kinda empty without you.

Missed you, my dude. Good to have you back!

Missed your videos, many dirty dev have crawled out the woodwork while you were away and I look forward to seeing you put them in their place

The game most likely was D.R.O.N.E Apparently the devs were under NDA towards their own discord server (no activity there), asumed to be an attempt to kill the D.R.O.N.E community. Somewhat recently the discord was linked in the E2 server. Kinda sad I won't get my 20eur back (though saw some larger investors ask to revoke their supporter benefits in an attempt to dissasociate from the project and, if possible, get a refund), but the shitshow during the E2 assault was entertaining.

To humor the dark side, BetaSid sounds like a fun channel name. We all appreciate your videos nonetheless. Serves as good food as what not to do as a developer when your critiques air.

I think you were fairly restrained in your response to Shane. I do wonder at Shane's mental state if he's falling into a persecution complex though.

I’m pleased to see my earlier fears were not realised. Good to hear from you again, Sid.

Its Great to see you are back up and running again mate. Hope your feeling much better. Now lets see what new Scam this lot are pulling on there customers...

Welcome back, I'll have you removed from the MIA/Possibly dead list.

Welcome back Sid! Also get rekt Arya.

Oh wow Shane's actually disconnected from reality.

"Suddenly, in come the people from Earth 2. Which, if you've never heard of it, is like Earth 1, but it's even."

9:15 This stinks as: "Accuse your adversaries of what you are doing to cause confusion!"

Welcome back dude ^.^ 16:12 i personally thought your response was pretty tame considering some of the BS shane has said before all this. I know you won't break your word an tell us about what the game is actually 'mechanically supposed to be... But i wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be some kind of NFT skin/card trading game. I mean... How can you *not* think that after looking back on everything.

What 'platform' could possibly be competing with such an amazing catch-all platform such as Earth-2? They said it probably half a dozen times, there is nothing like Earth 2. Now, I'd have to agree, I never seen a 'game' that then switched to a platform, monetizing whats not EVEN personally created assets for frankly silly sums of cash in one closed market closed network of information. No, no one is 'competing' and therefore there is no one pulling shadowy strings behind the critiquing youtube channels. I hear 'nothing' of Earth 2 outside of Sid's and his connected fellows anywhere else yet they have the audacity to believe they're important enough for corporate image sabotoge? I don't usually like to vocalize these ideas but I can't help but hope that 'someone' can get it through their heads that they aren't that important to be in such a position. They're a pilot-light, a test to see if a aggressive idea could work. I'd believe that its THEY that have these shadowy strings manipulating them before the opposite.

Welcome back SidAlpha. You're right when it comes to how much we respect you as a creator. 🥰

That's so weird. I was only thinking yesterday that you hadn't uploaded in a while, and here you are.

Welcome back Lord Sid, your wisdom, as well as your words of truth and facts have been sorely missed.

Primarily writing to help the algorithm... But honestly, while I would agree that it was blunt, your response to proposed sponsorship didn't seem very far out of line. There's been a lot of shady things done in multiple cases by these devs, and it would be far better for them to just own up that they are gonna get hate, or actually get around to releasing the things they are talking about to put the critics in their place. Nothing I've seen on this game really leads me to think of it as a game. Usually, for how long we've heard of a game, there's some general sense of what the game is gonna wind up like. RTS? FPS? City Builder? Racing? Open World? Nothing shown at all ever seems to stitch together to form any idea of what this game is. There's resources, but nothing to do with them. There's territory, but nothing to do with it. There's a marketplace, but for things you can't use, only sell. There's vehicles, but nothing that would need a vehicle for.

That smooth, buttery voice is so nice to hear again. Hope you and yours are doing well, Sid.

Glad to have you back, Sid. I hope everything's okay with you and your family. 😎 Good strong video to come back with too. 👍👍

Your response wasn't unprofessional to me

I'm very happy about your honesty. It's exactly true that if you had taken this monetary exchange, even if it would help you financially, I would no longer be able to trust the veracity of your content and I would have to unsubscribe, even if I would miss the content. I watch your videos for the same reason I was so supportive of the GamerGate movement. We need gaming journalists and critics who are open, honest and willing to admit to their mistakes, who are open about their ties to the things they critique and are upfront about any potential bias they may have.

We've all *Assembled* to see what Earth 2 is throwing out for us to laugh at!!😎😎 Good to see your return.

Thanks for the info. Glad to see you back! I missed your content. Keep up the good work!

This is why I subbed to you. You upload well written and well-thought-out commentary on certain games.

I can’t believe he tried to buy you off, thats hilarious. Shane is delusional.

The White Wolves of Consumer Rights have returned! All lay the sacrificial subscriptions and donations at SidAlpha's feet.

I was wondering where you went! It's good to see you back!

Glad to see you back, and wooo earth 2.. can't wait to see what you have to say about all that's been going on with that! I'm also hoping you chim in on the whole blizzard nightmare, though with how that story keeps digging an ever bigger hole by the time you do the hole will be 1000 foot deeper XD

I wonder if it's an easy job, being an Earth 2 dev. Like "Hey did you work on those level designs?" "There's level designs?" "Haha!" "Hahah, you got me." "See you at karaoke after work?" "You know it."

I got all the way excited for a new sid with not noticing it was a premier I have become all the offense and I wish to see the manager of youtube

Welcome back. I'll take as much as you can give.

To me your written response was very acceptable and devs need to be told off like that more often

when i heard you say that you were away for 2 months.. I looked at your video list.. damn.. it HAS actualy been 2-3 months.. Damn. Been a whille, old man. I hope you have been safe and your family as well. Welcome back.

At least this appeared in front of me with no uploads for 3 months

Great to see you back and awesome video as always.

Welcome back Sid and I applaud your original response to Shane. This is why I love your channel and watch through your videos.

Your family and well being will always come first. It is the quality, not the quantity why we watch your videos. Good to see you on the crazy world wide web again.