Sports Story update removes hidden dev message lambasting working conditions

One of the most fun aspects of video games is finding secrets and Easter eggs hidden within the game world. Often times these are funny nods to other mediums, past games, or other franchises by the same developer. The Nintendo Switch title Sports Story, however, decided to mix up the narrative by placing a hidden room in the game that contains a bunch of disgruntled game developers experiencing poor working conditions and crunch culture. Some Easter eggs are not meant to be found, apparently, as developer Sidebar Games has just patched the room out of the game and even admitted it in the patch notes.

Listed bluntly in the main section of the patch notes is the sentence “Blocked access to the secret dev room.” While vague in its wording, any Sports Story fan has probably heard of the secret room by now.

Before the patch, clever players who managed to push a box into the path of a specific door would cause their pathing to allow access to the black void around the room the next time they entered the building. By progressing to the left, the player would pass random objects, including a tennis court and a net. However, if they proceeded far enough they would stumble upon a fully functional room full of NPCs.

Entering the room the first time would simply place you in a lobby, but leaving and reentering instead put you in the secret developer room. Here, the player could converse with a dozen NPCs that work for a fictional game company called Cold Storage. They are working on the sequel to a game called GALF, which seems to be a nod to Golf Story, the previous entry to Sports Story.

Each NPC has something to say about the poor state of development and working conditions for the project. While it hasn’t been stated outright that this is the developers attempt to protest their own disdain with working on Sports Story, it does paint a picture that some things might not have been going smoothly for the employees of Sidebar Games.

Related: How long does Sports Story take to beat? Answered

Sadly, finding the room is no longer possible, but its spirit lives on in video proof and social media. Based on player feedback and reviews, however, something obviously didn’t pan out as planned for Sports Story.