No, that is not the same. No automatic updates, no achievements (if they are ever added), no cloud syncing, etc. Playable yes, but the dev really should just hand out some keys so we don't have to do that. Trying to get people to buy it again is scummy.
It’s hardly scummy. The game came to a new platform and if you want, you can buy there for the platform features; but it’s not like something got removed from 2.0.
And handing out keys means a lot of people who don’t care about Steam are going to give their Steam keys away for free, thus preventing potential sales.
The few sales there's been on Itch prior to launching Steam isn't going to sway the needle in any way, I assure you (I would wager it's already sold more on Steam than on Itch). If anything it would have a positive influence on sales since people that get keys would most certainly post positive reviews for the game. And that's everything on Steam, wishlists and reviews is what drives their algorithm.
If the choice is between giving back in a very minor way to the people that believed in the game before it came out on Steam, which lets face it, is *the* platform people want their games on. Or trying to squeeze every little cent out of people making them have to buy it twice - then yeah, that's scummy. No other way to say it. Dev should get their priorities in check, this ain't it.
I agree that it's not scummy, but don't be here running defense for the developer and making up reasons for why something is or isn't viable.
Of course, the developer is under no obligation to hand out Steam keys, nor has he hasn't said anything about it yet. But I think that most early supporters (myself included) would appreciate an acknowledgement of said support.
It's pretty simple: I bought the game twice already, I am not buying it a third time, but if I were given the Steam version, I would be more inclined to support this developer in future.
Dev has said keys for Itch won't be coming on the Discord server. From the FAQ section:
"Can I get it on other platforms if I bought it somewhere?
You can download the android version if you bought it on itch. That is all."
It's just a ploy to sell to the same players again and again. You might not want to call it what it is, but it's scummy behavior. And sure, there's no obligation to do it as it wasn't ever promised, but that doesn't make it right... The honorable thing is to just make it easy for the early players/supporters.