So, when browsing through SCS's Software blog a while back, I saw a comment about pre-ordering of American Truck Simulator (ATS) available in the UK. Here's the link to the product on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/American-Truck-Simulator-PC-DVD/dp/B00HWPL2X0/ref=sr_1_1/275-5905974-1515127?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1400086651&sr=1-1&keywords=American+Truck+Simulator#productDescriptionNow, notice that it's UK only, if you search "American Truck Simulator" on the US Amazon, you get no results for ATS, just ETS and other Europe based truck sims. Also notice the date of release for the pre-order, June 27.
SCS has specifically mentioned that they do not have a specific release date, and all dates are simply speculation.Another thing is this:
In America, big is beautiful and the trucks you’ll be driving are no exception. With a selection of vehicles that are larger than their European counter parts, you’ll feel the raw power of each vehicle’s engine as you cruise down the wide-open roads and manoeuvre through densely populated cities.
This base game will continue to be expanded upon with future releases extending your Californian driving experience. Unlike digital versions, this boxed version will include a serial key to allow the free download of American Truck Simulator’s Arizona expansion pack later on during 2014.
Notice those last two sentences. If I remember correctly, SCS said they'd be doing a Minecraft style release of ATS. This means they'd set the game up for sale, and at the moment, it would be just ~California. It'd basically be a beta. Then, as more of the map was completed, they'd set the game up for sale at its full price, and as they finished more of the map, it would be available for free to all who had bought the game. They never said anything about needing keys to download the rest of the map!
Then there's image used for it:
Let's look at other SCS truck simulator covers.
Notice a difference? All of these have pictures of trucks and other stuff in them. And in the lower right corner, it always says "Excalibur Publishing," not "Excalibur Simulator."
Now, the last thing that makes this look like a scam to me is the publisher. This is a small thing, and I could easily be wrong about it, but the publisher for ATS is "Excalibur Publishing." If you search for "Euro Truck Simulator," you get it being sold by multiple different sellers, including "Excalibur/Merge," and just plain "Excalibur." Excalibur is the publishing company for Euro Truck Simulator, so this makes sense. If you look at the other things "Excalibur Publishing" is selling, it's a bunch of other, similar simulator games. Notice that a bunch have only a couple or no reviews? I'd think the publisher for such a successful game would have more reviews on their products. My point is, this could easily have been created outside of Excalibur Publishing, and used to sell stuff. Then they decided to try this scam.
So, what do you guys think? Am I just going crazy, or does this look like it
could be a scam?
