• Suzune@ani.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    37
    arrow-down
    10
    ·
    7 months ago

    Maybe… just not make exclusive deals? Especially not on mediocre game distribution platforms.

    • MurrayL@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      33
      arrow-down
      13
      ·
      7 months ago

      “I talked to at least five small teams, like 35 [members] and under, during GDC, and they’re like: Cuts, cuts, cuts, funding canceled, talks that were going on for a year, canceled,” said Casey Yano, the co-founder of Slay the Spire studio Mega Crit. “It sounds like it’s shit. We’re definitely very privileged to be able to self-fund. [Otherwise] I’d be very, very, very scared right now.”

      If these deals didn’t exist, lots of games simply wouldn’t get made. You can hate on the platforms all you like but the deals are one of the only sources of funding for small & solo developers.

      • Halosheep@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        20
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        7 months ago

        Oh no! Not the games I will never play because they’re exclusive to EGS!

        • beetus@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          7
          ·
          edit-2
          7 months ago

          You do realize those are usually exclusive for only a year, right? So EGS pays them out for a year of exclusivity and then the devs are free to launch on steam and others.

          The thing is, often if they don’t get that first infusion of cash from a deal with EGS (or another investor) they don’t get to complete or even launch the game at all. So it never would make it to the other markets.

          • Halosheep@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            8
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            7 months ago

            Usually by the time they’ve made it off EGS, I’ve forgotten they exist. There’s been many sequels to games I loved that I forgot existed because of this.

            • newcool1230@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              7 months ago

              Same, after a few years you see them show up on steam and all the reviews are

              • “All my lobbies are empty”
              • “It takes 30+ mins to get into a game with 2 other players”
              • “I’m only getting matched against bots”
    • rtxn@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      7 months ago

      Remember DARQ? Taking a stance against third-party exclusivity pays off.