Back on March 23 the PlayStation Blog released its list of upcoming games for the week of March 27.  One of the surprises in there was Tempest 4000, which had gotten exactly zero advance notification and even as recently as GDC last week was given a launch date of "Spring 2018."  There were a couple of other Atari releases in the list too, such as Atari Flashback Collection V.3 and Roller Coaster Tycoon: Joyride, but Tempest 4000 is the one that got people's attention.  As the days went by and the listed March 28 release got closer, the silence from Atari was mystifying and confusing, with not a peep on the official web site or even a single Tweet commenting on the big date.  Still, the PlayStation Blog dates stood untouched and unedited until finally today rolled around.

With no word on the pending release fans were left keeping an eye on the PSN storefront, and sure enough Tempest 4000 launched this morning.  The price was a bit more than expected at $29.99 but it's a new Tempest created by a world-class developer, so personally I found it on the high side of acceptable.  (I'm also holding out for the PC version so promptly wandered to Steam, where the game is still showing in the New Release list but isn't actually available for purchase yet.  Someday Steam might fix that bug in its listings, maybe.)  The game only came out in the US store, but it's easy enough for international PSN users to wander over to another country's storefront even if it's not super-convenient.  Tempest 4000 was out and people were buying it, and then it got un-released and disappeared from the market.

Something obviously went seriously wrong.  An incorrect release date is one thing, but having a game actually come out available for sale and then disappear back into the ether is a completely different level of screw-up.  Those who bought Tempest 4000 still have it, thankfully, but anyone who wanted it but took a bit to think before pulling the trigger on the $30 price tag is out of luck.  As for Atari, the complete explanation for whatever this was about is "...".  No word on the Twitter or Facebook feeds, and not even a page for the game on the official web site.  Whatever it was that happened here obviously started out wrong before spiraling completely out of control, but an "oops, sorry!" post takes maybe ten minutes to write and does amazing things to settle the confusion and aggravation that a situation like this creates.  As it is, Tempest 4000's release is a complete train-wreck, and both Llamasoft and the legacy of one of Atari's greatest series deserved better.

https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/3607085/type/dlg/sid/UUhgUeUpU24231/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFdejno9NJ4