Why can't these guys just be open and honest about wanting/needing the money? I remembered sometime back when Zombie Army dev gave an interview where he did say the main reason for the exclusivity was money, among other things like visibility ect. None of the bullshit like partnering with a great store to provide "the best experience for our customers" crap. I can't fault those indie guys like that, they're taking Epic's money and running away with it.
You can't really shit on these smaller devs for getting the best security first before anything else. If anything, I'd blame Epic for creating the opportunity for paid exclusivity, and to a smaller extend, those fortnite kids paying for sweeney's pocket money. There's always going to be backlash about anything controversial, it's how you react to it that matters. Doesn't matter if you're EA, Bethesda, or an indie dev, in my book, if you act like a douche, you'll be treated like one.
P/s - I'm surprised the EGS defender brigades haven't invaded this thread yet.
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I don't ever recall seeing a blanket EGS defender let alone a troupe of them in here.
In this case it's not even Epic who are behaving badly, but the contracting devs.
I mean, I have an EGS account and have purchased a few things during their launch sale, but I see their use of financial power as a big red flag of what will come if they manage to become fully established. Epic was in a prime position to sweep in like a superhero with their offering a bigger cut to devs, and could have become a kind of middleground between the customer/market freedom focused GOG, and the commercial/sales focused Steam. If they had taken some steps to create a functional storefront and taken a far less strongarm-style approach, the PC game distribution market would look like a luchadore match with EGS being the fresh (albeit untested) face, and Steam by comparison starting to look vaguely like a heel.
I still maintain that Valve is doing a good job despite their record with customer service automation and stumbling attempts at seasonal sideshow events. Complaints that their sales are 'the worst ever' each time one occurs is pretty obnoxious, given that the prices are still good and they pretty much fathered the concept of such price-crushing in the game market in the same way Humble fathered the concept of bundles.
The idea of Epic getting behind finally bringing ports of games like Heavy Rain and the like to PC was a major eyecatch for me. A group willing to put money into getting console exclusives migrated to PC has a strong weapon in their arsenal and could won some serious fans, but then they got a bit predatory with their purchasing and it just didn't sit right. In one hand, trying to get established in a market dominated by a single largely unchallenged provider (Steam) is a painfully difficult arms race, so they could have started out with the honest intention of doing this just to get a foothold and then dialling it back, but we all know that once a corporate body becomes familiar with a lucrative strategy, they are never going to let go of it unless it is causing their userbase to bomb out of the lost trust.
At the moment, I'm going to continue frowning at EGS but play the waiting game to see if they get their shit together. While I feel they are predatory and don't inspire trust, their actions (/ethics?) would be ineffective if there weren't developers who were receptive to it. Timed exclusives are not an unforgivable sin, and Epic have at least been good enough to offer to cover the costs of any refunds to kickstarter backers of Shenmue 3 who wanted a steam key. Buying into their plans feels like a gamble, and one that can't be made easily given their big launch sale also applied pressure to people who sell through them in a weirdly trapping manner. Can we really consider indie developers 'safe' under their contracts? Like, is this some kind of monkeypaw wish where they get the immediate funding and short term support to deal with their struggles, but ultimately end up paying for it in another way?
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The idea of Epic getting behind finally bringing ports of games like Heavy Rain and the like to PC was a major eyecatch for me.
This was such a missed opportunity. I'd have been fully behind them if they started with this instead of buying out competition.
and Epic have at least been good enough to offer to cover the costs of any refunds to kickstarter backers of Shenmue 3 who wanted a steam key.
I don't really buy this tbh, it's just a publicity stunt. They've already paid 2mil to YsNet, what's another mil or so for refunds.
Can we really consider indie developers 'safe' under their contracts?
I'd consider them safe, short term wise. Long term? Who knows. Maybe having a security blanket makes more indie devs complacent, maybe not. All of these indie devs want to be "Stardew Valley", but more often than not they end up being "Where the Water Tastes Like Wine". A game can be good and still fails because there's no market for it, so yeah it's nice to know they have something to fall back on. That being said, there's also the chance that having the security means that they survive, but not learn their lesson and makes the same mistakes in the future. Maybe make a sequel to their "failed" game, and boy if Epic suddenly doesn't pick up their next game, it's gonna hit them hard.
One thing that I've thought before though is that, in an open market, the quality of a game would generally determine survival/success of devs. Now that indie devs know that they can get the upfront money from Epic, what's to say that they can't just poop out some random stuff and run? That would be fun to see.
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And even then, regarding Stardew Valley, apparently ChuckleFish are known for offering an attractive service to indie developers that have an aesthetic that they think fits their brand. Though once you're signed on with them, they are able to make certain demands of you, and that includes influencing your development focus. I never followed the situations closely, so take this with a pinch of salt, but apparently their meddling has been a source of some hiccups in games that they had signed on.
While Stardew Valley is a stand-out title, it's also worth noting that their devs parted ways with ChuckleFish despite becoming a success. When it comes to matters of devs getting backing (particularly indie devs who have far less support and resources of their own to fall back on), there is always some kind of risk involved. The more support recieved, the more the devs are expected to offer or allow as part of the negotiation. So in one hand Epic's bigger cut for the devs is an attractive offer, and if the only thing you give up in exchange for short term backing is timed exclusivity, that can be a necessary but allowable evil. In the other hand, a company with lots of spending power that exercises predatory buying doesn't inspire much trust for acquiring indie games.
As for pooping out random half-assed stuff in an EGS cash-grab? That could totally happen. With the reaction the Ooblets devs have been showing, they don't have much respect for their fans and hold a rather judgemental stance on consumers of the medium in general. They're only human, they're allowed to make some mistakes or get a bit heated if they feel cornered or get exposed to a lot of the worst types of reaction, but there comes a point when it suggests they're unable to handle evan valid, tactful criticism, and that's the hallmark of a dev that will act vindictively or just ditch the project once the contract allows.
I really hope they prove us all wrong and it's just a matter of being unnecessarily over-defensive, but I'm not going to bat an eyelid of they turn out to be exactly what we suspect them to be.
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I really hope they prove us all wrong and it's just a matter of being unnecessarily over-defensive, but I'm not going to bat an eyelid of they turn out to be exactly what we suspect them to be.
When I read the original blog post announcing the exclusivity, I saw a mostly well-written article in which the author tried to report something that he or she knew was going to be taken badly, in an amusing fashion. Humour is often used in an attempt to reduce the negative impact of bad news and I think that's what was intended here. Even re-reading it now I have to look really hard to find any possible malice in it. Obviously some people took it badly or were offended, and I guess that means it missed its mark -- or maybe that such a reaction was inevitable, regardless of the tone of the post. But at that stage I really don't think they'd intended to insult anyone, and hadn't really done anything wrong.
But the shitstorm after that ... wow, that was some terrible PR!
I hope that guy's wife (the second person involved in the game, if I understand correctly) has had sound words with him. She should remove his keyboard privileges! I can imagine some of the people he's riled up would prefer she removed something else ... . ;)
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The initial lead-up painting those who criticise of exclusives as hyperbolic could have floated as poking fun, if that was the only poking it did. By proximity to the other stuff, it colours it away from well-humoured sarcasm. Maybe that's all in the eyes of the reader, but its a hell of a hiccup when you try to get ahead of the angry mob and accidentally pour extra fuel on the summoning pyre, haha.
I mean, even in the aftermath I can totally understand the raised temper when your project starts taking flak too. The big problem is when you allow yourself a certain lashing out under a devleoper identity directly attached to the game, you leave a black mark on your work that is harder to wash off as simply a lapse of judgement or accidental bad wording. Then when you also compound that with the low-key projections towards those who are being more tactful in their disappointment or questions, you go from simply seeming justifiably overwhelmed to just making excuses to let off steam at the expense of fans that didn't do anything worth rudeness.
A big part of how obnoxious it feels in contrast to far worse developer meltdowns comes from how they aren't being overtly insulting, but in how it takes the shape of reductiveness, flippancy, and uses the endlessly regurgitated non-counters like "yeah but global warming and world hunger, so who cares?" or "deal with it, you're not owed anything". The content of the responses only further feeds the tone of passive-aggression, with the escalation echoing back on what may have genuinely started off as nothing more than a genuine attempt at defusal or humour. In the end, it still took the ultimate form of a certain degree of namecalling, character assassination and patronism, even if parts of that may have been unintentional.
When these kind of things happen I usually shrug it off and mentally mutter "douchebags" to myself, but with these devs it's kinda tragic, because we're seeing an uglier side of them but a lot of it may be lost in translation (so to speak), and everybody has an equivalent of that ugly "fucking it I'm done with this" mindset. PR and customer service requires a certain degree of disconnection, otherwise you have a natural negative reaction, and some people just don't fare so well in such roles. I can't tell if I want to sympathise with them while cringing at their choice of misguided clapbacks, or discard them as just another self-concerned entity that feels itself immune to criticism.
To top it all off, I just had a quick google, and apparently it has gotten to the point of personal threats, which has me leaning more towards sympathy now we're at that particular lunatic fringe. Assuming there are actual threats and harassment and it's not just media spin and exaggeration, it sucks ass for them (and I have zero envy for being in that situation), but it sucks on the secondary level of how it will magically make them infallible in regards to all dissent they want to frame as 'entitled gamerism', which could hurt their project and its community on an irrepparable level in terms of growth. It's just bizarre how shit got so far out of hand. Urgh.
I wonder how much of this unintentionally comes from the shadow of past bogeymen, with previous garbage developers influencing our opinions of what the Ooblet devs tone was, just as the Ooblet devs had their frustrations and judgemental dismissiveness influenced by their apparent views of "gamers". Being "gamers" with heavy airquotes there. Still, it's hard for me to swallow the whataboutism given the current political climate, because it then renders those same bigger issues into a cheap free-pass token. Trying to believe in the best of people while also holding them accountable for their fuckups is a wonky balancing act.
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The initial lead-up painting those who criticise of exclusives as hyperbolic could have floated as poking fun, if that was the only poking it did. By proximity to the other stuff, it colours it away from well-humoured sarcasm. Maybe that's all in the eyes of the reader,
I think that's exactly right.
I read it again, and then again just now for good measure, and I really can't see any problem with the original blog post (and only the original blog post; the rest of that rubbish that came after was awful). I think some of the humour fell flat, but after many years of telling what I thought were funny jokes and having people look at me as if I'd just driven over their favourite cat, maybe I'm just a bit more forgiving of questionable humour than many. :)
Edit: I was just thinking, It's also entirely possible that I'm too thick-skinned / gullible / unobservant to realise when someone is insulting me, so maybe I'm just missing it. :)
I guess I'd never heard of the game, so I had absolutely nothing invested in it, and I also don't really care about what Epic is doing with these exclusives. Do I prefer they weren't doing them? Sure, but I'm not going to get all excited about it. Even after all this time, I'm much more pissed off about half a dozen people who work for my government banning Valkyrie Drive. My annoyance at Epic's exclusives pales in comparison.
Don't even get me started on the editors of the major dictionaries for adding a definition of "literally" that literally means "not literally". Grrrrrrrr. Now I'm all angry again.
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"The idea of Epic getting behind finally bringing ports of games like Heavy Rain and the like to PC was a major eyecatch for me. A group willing to put money into getting console exclusives migrated to PC has a strong weapon in their arsenal and could won some serious fans"
except they didn't do that, they didn't bring that port to PC, they only buy exclusive contract with Quantic Dream, without EGS exist, their games is still coming to PC..
even their CEO already making early talk to other store before (presumably of course with Valve Steam), and will continue after exclusivity end
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Tim Sweeney thought the press release announcing the exclusive was "awesome" despite the massive backlash.
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https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1157561293995462657
At first I thought it was a parody account.
Nope. All too real
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I don't mind Devs taking Epic's money as part of a deal. But when I saw Jim Sterling's vid, wow oO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TriZmvorwxc
I hope Ooblet's Developer goes bankrupt soon.
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You want people to lose their jobs and not being able to support their families, because you didn't like a comment they made?
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If they're going to be so arrogant and condescending to customers/potential customers then they deserve it.
They will certainly have burnt some bridges and games are luxury items of which there are many on the market. It's not like people aren't spoilt for choice what to spend their money on.
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As Jim said in the video, they yprobably tried to be funny about it and combat the inevitable backlash upfront. They did a really poor job about it, no doubt. They probably should have kept their mouths completely. Still, I would never wish them losing their jobs over this. I am sure if you said something stupid at work, you also would want people to be understanding and not fire you.
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There's a difference between saying something stupid and kicking the boss' door down to yell at him (s)he can go fuck him/herself.
Which is pretty much what this guy did.
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Is it, though? They made a few bad jokes, hoping they could combat the backlash with sarcasm and a wink. At least that's what I see there. Is that really enough fór you to boycott them for life and wish them bankruptcy? They also said a lot of thing in a serious manner. Again, I understand why they took the deal and I am convinced most people in here would do the same in that situation.
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I would take the deal, frankly, but I would be honest and a blog post would have a lot of "sorry". Not a lot of "entitled babies"
And I wouldn't call my patrons, people that have been supporting me for years "entitled"
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I don't care about them taking the deal. It's totally valid and it would be stupid not to for a small company.
The problem is they're treating their potential audience as shit, as if they're smart and anyone else just "entitled" or whatever. That this seems to be the official company line just makes matters worse.
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So, you missed their Discord replies then and go just off the blog I presume?
Cause that's where the real hatred for gamers became apparent.
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They made a few bad jokes
Making fun of people in their blog post is not a "few bad jokes".
- the "late capitalist dystopia" even tho there is a huge difference between first and third party exclusives
- the "PC exclusives has become the latest thing (((Gamers™))) have gotten angry about"
- the "What it means for you" point as if it is the only reason for not supporting epic
- the "this weird anti-Epic contingent"
- the "I remember waaay back" week excuse about steam back then.
- the "but there’s no extra cost to use EGS" again as if it is the only reason for not supporting epic
- the whole "seek out things to get angry about" is just sad to read
none of these things they write screamed "we could combat the backlash with sarcasm and a wink"
It's as if they know they will get backlash about it so they decided to flip the table and insult them will they're at it.
Is that really enough fór you to boycott them for life and wish them bankruptcy
Yes, I myself don't wish them bankruptcy but I have seen a lot of cases where companies were boycotted and went bankrupt because they simply made a joke not "entitled babies" "toxic" "kids" "Gamers™"
And lastly, since you have watched Jim video I'm sure you have read the devs discord meltdown comments.
So I don't understand your "At least that's what I see there" But if you missed it I invite you to read the comments and the screenshots, you might change your opinion about those devs.
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Yep, if they were my employees (these devs), they'd have been hitting the help wanted ads that same evening.
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Yeah in a book of any respectable publisher or game studio ownerwhatever, this would be grounds for immediate termination. Remember how that ArenaNet dev got fired for less.
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I feel like they could of just said that the money helps them make the game they want and end it there. Instead they created an entitled article trying to "dunk on gamers".
People will understand if you make a solid case for something along these line. For example, people were initially annoyed that Bayonetta 2 ended up becoming a Wii U exclusive, but once people understood that the game essentially wouldn't exist without Nintendo's support, most were accepting.
From what I can tell, the main frustration with the exclusivity deals is usually the money taken isn't out of some sort of need, but rather the publishers and/or developers caring more about the money earned at the expense of the buyers and supporters. An example would be Borderlands 3, which probably doesn't need the cash, but goes exclusive anyways, because money.
And finally, the success of a game and game devs aren't just in terms of the financial success but the legacy you build as well. I would bring up Platinum in this case composed of key Clover Studio staff. Clover made games like Okami and God Hand, which weren't finacially successful, but held up as great games even today. And their talent has now lead to their success through Platinum games.
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Borderlands probably does need the money know as we all know Gearbox aren't exactly top of the class when it comes to managing funds.
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Never even heard of the game. I imagine Epic giving them money is the only way they'd really see any but I also can't see it really pulling any significant numbers to Epic either so I doubt they paid out much on it and that blog post is just shooting themselves in the foot.
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Ooblets looked great, if only because it was an indie monster-game (of which there are surprisingly few that feel 'full length'), and its decision to avoid physical combat along with having a soft, upbeat feel really made it feel charming. The developers attitudes before this always seemed to be on that level of "lets just be cool and enjoy a nice thing". That won them a lot of watchers, wishlists and apparently a fair number of patrons. Seeing them take such transparently toxic and accusatory stances is pretty disillusoining.
Now, as indie developers, I can totally understand the decision to go with a distribution system that gives them a better share. Retail, distribution and publishing tend to take a massive slice of profits, which has frankly always been a sour concept for me. Even the timed exclusive can be forgiven as a 'necessary evil' given Epic offered them short term financial support in exchange. Being able to continue development so the product launches with all intended features can be a vital push in making sure your game community / fanbase reaches critical mass, so that it won't just fizzle after a brief moment of interest. But if these are truly the case then you should simply admit it, and even if you refuse to elaborate on why, it's an absolute PR sin to then begin projecting hostile generalisations upon your fans. By all means, call people out if they go beyond 'slightly disgruntled' into 'full on tantrum', but this is just... urgh.
Maybe they should have invested some of that financial assistance in temporary PR staff. These burnt bridges aren't going to be repaired any time soon. Worse yet, the seemingly total 180 in dev attitude and demeanour, and it reads like a big red flag for things that may come. Normally I would err on the side of caution given the devs apparent previous upbeat and gentle seeming attitudes, but this has gone past just snapping back at the usual suspects who took the first shots, and has gone into a haze of omnidirectional derision. I mean, yeah, we see screenshots of the most patronising and shortsighted things they've said, and there is a chance that padded around those screenshots are a whole bunch of more antagonistic stereotypical fan-rage stuff that backed them into a corner, but it's hard to give the benefit of the doubt to people who play gatekeeper, are happy to make open and hostile generalisation, and... just... urgh.
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Their Steam page is still up, wonder if they'll just leave it until their Epic deal is up and the game can actually be sold there ... I put it on my ignore list, just in case it does become available and I forget about this. I'll probably re-evaluate their behaviour then (who knows, maybe they'll apologize?) and what the game's turned into (seems still pretty low on content/grindy from the description, "decorate, collect, dance"), but right now I'd rather spend my time and money on other games (time spent reading about this doesn't count, it's intermittent procrastination, I wouldn't have played anything instead)
I've read quite a few threads on this now, on Twitter and Youtube and a little bit on Steam, and I can't believe I haven't seen anyone go "Ooblets? More like Ooflets"
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In my opinion steam should close the store page and steam forums. Why give those 2 a free platform while they think the community of those platforms are entitled toxic cry babies.
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Those Ooblets belong to oubliettes.
Nothing of value is lost, really.
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I'm a simple man, if you colude with Epic, you're dead to me.
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This is absurd to a degree that I almost begin to suspect that it's an intentional sabotage against Epic and dev sellouts, a kind of an angry parody. Almost.
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Wow, I just saw Xarabas screenshots, what an ungrateful douchebag, but I'm not amazed since It only takes 1 achievement and a chunk of money for some people to show their true colors. Also, I think Jim Sterling said they're young devs, that makes It even worse since there's this age where you think you're Leonardo DiCaprio screaming in the front of the Titanic.
If you like that kind of game, art style, you should check Wreckoons development. I've never seen the actual dev post trash like that, and while there's the chance that he might pick Epic in the future because of the revenue, I think It's worth It.
Here's the link to his Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/punchesbears
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Well, that's a dev to put on the shitlist I guess.
I don't care if they really are total dickbags, or jjust acting like total dickbags "as a joke". If you go outright attacking your audience, I (as part of that audience) am not going to support you.
Also, the game doesn't look that good anyway, I find the artsyle is just obnoxious. I'd recommend people who're looking for a mons game to check out Temtem instead. That's also made by devs who're pretty cool about things and listen to their audience.
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TemTem is an MMO though.
Garden Paws is similar to Ooblets too and has both single and multiplayer.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/840010
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Official response from Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney
https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1157561293995462657
You seeeeeeriously can't make this up. This is all a joke, right?
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There is a beautiful irony in all of that seeing how the devs called their customers baby gamers multiple times but here we are now, with their boss showing us the emotional maturity of a toddler.
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It's amazing that even through the internet, i can feel Sweeney shaking in his seat, his hands trembling,
tired of being portrayed as clown, his new launcher being constantly criticised
a nervous wreck, waiting to unleash the biggest comeback on twitter,
he is writing the perfect comment, hands are shaking, he almost breaks the keyboard in anger for months demanding your respect as he tries to click enter.
the comment is posted...FUCK!!! Sweeney notices he wrote "awesome" instead of "Epic". an entire afternoon wasted
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i'm waiting for the classic 2-3 users to defend him <3
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Welp, time to drop any defenses for EGS I ever made. That's just... beyond stupid. Why do these devs and Sweeney hate gamers? While selling... GAMES?
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you know, steam for me is promoting to BUY original game, not pirate them
but egs on the other hand...
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thats fine, they didnt need to worry about that insignificant thing when there are bigger matter like climate change and human right violation..
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you're right, what can a virtual pirates do in the real world right??11? :p
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Wow.
I understand taking the Epic payout. I'd take it if I were in their shoes too. I wouldnt go around dissing everyone who didnt agree with my choice though, holy fuck, that's one hell of a way to build bad karma.
If they are planning on developing more games they just burned not only the bridges with the community but the whole city.
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Not the whole city,the WHOLE COUNTRY
I will be surprised if they EVER get ANY funding for future games after the shit they pulled
And I don't think that Epic will give them those funds for the next game when this 1 flops(and it WILL)
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I though the title said "Goocubelets goes Epic Exclusive"
Time to go to sleep.
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As a beginner game developer who wants to use their engine, I decided to fully boycott it, including their storefront.
I swear any developer who takes bribes from Epic has a high chance of turning themselves into d*cks because they got their money, so who needs those people who helped them crowdfund their project? Who needs the fans who expected a Steam and GOG release when they can simply opt to EGS? A barebones storefront with little to none essential features and no shopping cart?
And having Tim Sweeney to respond that Ooblets blog was "AWESOME", has made my decision even easier to just ignore their engine and storefront altogether because, screw you, Tim. King of scumbags.
I will still play other people's games using the Unreal engine like Bloodstained, for example, because developers have made huge progress in developing their games and I can't blame them, but ONLY through Steam.
What about Mechwarrior 5 and Ooblets? Mechwarrior developer lied to its fans that they signed a deal with Epic as early as April, not promising Steam release and doing damage control. Ooblets developers, however, acted like pricks. Calling us toxic manbabies, because we don't want to download free software just to play their game. Screw these developers.
If you ask, what engine I'll be using instead? I'll go with Godot.
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Epic’s Statement on Misinformation & Abuse
8.6.2019
We at Epic Games have often shared our views about the game business and companies in it, and we support the entire game community’s right to speak freely and critically about these topics, including the topic of Epic, our products, and our store. When everyone shares their earnest views, the best ideas ultimately prevail.The announcement of Ooblets highlighted a disturbing trend which is growing and undermining healthy public discourse, and that’s the coordinated and deliberate creation and promotion of false information, including fake screenshots, videos, and technical analysis, accompanied by harassment of partners, promotion of hateful themes, and intimidation of those with opposing views.
Epic is working together with many game developers and other partners to build what we believe will be a healthier and more competitive multi-store world for the future. We remain fully committed, and we will steadfastly support our partners throughout these challenges. Many thanks to all of you that continue to promote and advocate for healthy, truthful discussion about the games business and stand up to all manners of abuse.
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/news/epics-statement-on-misinformation-and-abuse
Misinformation? Kind of like how Sweeney told us Windows cloud would steal our games? That he is working toward a multi-store world?
There are fake screenshots and videos about Ooblets, but there is no denying that the blog post and many of the real responses from the dev are a clear display of douchebaggery.
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https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-08-05-ooblets-dev-received-thousands-of-hateful-threatening-messages-over-epic-exclusivity
https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-addresses-ooblets-outrage-with-statement-on-misinformation-and-abuse/
And there are already two articles trying to spin the story into something else and present the devs as victims. News flash, asshole: nobody really cares about you going to EGS, it just means one less game to buy. The actual problem was your whataboutism and condescending and insulting attitude towards your customer base.
But I think he already knows that very well and is now trying to paint himself as a victim. If you behave like an asshole towards people that pay your bills and call them names, you should not be surprised if they talk back. Funny thing is, if he just wrote a decent blog statement saying that they are moving to EGS and blah blah, there would be no story from all of this. But I suppose it was too much to ask from him to act like a decent human being.
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https://kotaku.com/epic-pledges-to-support-developers-after-intense-harass-1836981633
Another one to add to the heap of spin doctors.
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To summarise my scattershot replies to the various sub-threads : Goddamnit Ooblets, you were supposed to be the one light-hearted drama-free niche game we were looking for.
This couldn't have gone more awry if the game was painted black, had a fuse poking out of it, and had Wile E Coyote struggling to light a match at the other end. Oof.
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Sorry for bringing this topic back to life but one of the devs, Perplamps (The one who's been snapshoted from lots of the Discord stuff) made a response article after 5 days.
His Response Article
While yes, the devs of the game doesn't deserve the harsh comments like racist stuff and the likes of those topics.
Just sucks that they can't let the topic just stay radio silent for more than a week.
And I liked how one of the comment stated it best: "Those who cast fire receive fire."
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That’s why we were totally unprepared for the attention we got from the broader gaming/internet community, which was fueled by a deep misunderstanding of the tongue-in-cheek tone as condescending and patronizing
See, this is the part that I find perplexing. English isn't my native language so certain things may be lost on me sometimes. However, when I read the initial announcement, the first thing I felt from it were toxicity, malice, and resentment. Like they hate their userbase. There was no sense of tongue-in-cheek humor or sarcasm and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. But ok.
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Especially in light of the tweet they posted when they made the announcement:
Okay, so we did the thing!
The thing people get angry about.
But maybe don't get angry about it?
They knew very well that they would be on the receiving end of some backlash, and the way they worded that press release, they set the tone by being very condescending about it and preemptively calling anyone who disagree with their decision as entitled.
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"So yeah, let me just tell you even more how toxic, entitled and baby ALL of you gamers are"
GG dev. Yeah, not much sympathy here when even your damage control post is trying to directly attack your userbase over a few individuals. AGAIN.
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And a final thanks to our friends at Epic, who are not only giving us the resources to make the game even better than we could have ever hoped, but are also showing us unwavering support. A lot of companies would’ve left us to deal with all of this on our own, but Epic has been by our side as our world has gone sideways. The fact that they care so much about a team and game as small as us proves to us that we made the right call in working with them, and we couldn’t be more thankful.
That's pretty amazing. If it was Steam, it would have done nothing I reckon.
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Any details on what that unwavering support might be? They didn't specify. I can say that I support research against all kinds of diseases by typing this and technically I wouldn't be wrong. It is some kind of support just by saying it, after all.
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As far as I know, their "support" consisted in posting this statement
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What??. supporting a toxic developer who harassed and insulted his fans is a good thing to praise now ??
And of course, they will support them. By doing that they show how toxic of a dev can you be to your fans, you're always welcome in Epic because they're creating a monopoly where devs are always the winners rather than having a balanced win-win to devs and consumers alike.
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If it was Steam, it would have done nothing I reckon.
Then again, since Valve is against this type of exclusivity deal, they wouldn't have been in this situation to begin with.
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Or maybe Tim Sweeney just really hates his users as much as these guys?
Assholes flock together and all.
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I know quite a few people were looking forward to this game, so thought it was worth making a thread for:
https://ooblets.com/2019/07/we-did-the-thing/
They've also locked the Ooblets sub-Reddit forum so no one can complain there.
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