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Why I turned down exclusivity deal from the Epic Store (developer of “DARQ”)

Helios

Member
From :

A bit of background
I’m an indie developer, just launched my first title “DARQ.” I worked on it for over 3.5 years, mostly solo, with occasional help of a few talented contractors. It was in top 50 most wishlisted games on Steam before it launched.


What happened
On July 27th (Saturday) I uploaded a new trailer anouncing Steam launch date. On July 30th (Tuesday) I was contacted by the Epic Store, proposing that I enter into an exclusivity agreement with them instead of releasing DARQ on Steam. They made it clear that releasing DARQ non-exclusively is not an option. I rejected their offer before we had a chance to talk about money.

[I will share a screenshot of this communication below- I hope the Epic Store won’t mind, since the exchange was polite and professional, and I was not asked to keep it confidential]

Why I rejected their offer
Before I get into this, I would like to emphasize that I’m not speaking on behalf of other developers. Every indie studio has a unique story and has to deal with unique set of obstacles. The following reasons are mine and mine only. Rejecting such offer happened to be right for my game, but might not be right for other games / studios, as their goals and long-term plans might differ from mine.

  • I like money, and getting some upfront payment on top of guaranteed revenue sounds great. But although I’m a first time developer, I’m very serious about working in this industry for a very long time. I had just announced DARQ release date on Steam - pulling the game off Steam a few days after Steam release date announcement would forever ruin the credibility of my studio. I woud like for my customers to have confidence that my word means something, especially when making announcement as crucial as release date / platform. Turning down the Epic exclusivity offer might have been a foolish decision in the short term, considering the amount of money that might have been involved. When thinking long term, however, this was an easy & obvious decision to make (in my case).
  • DARQ was listed on Steam since late 2018. A lot of Steam users added DARQ to their wishlist and patiently waited for its release date for almost a year. Pulling the game off Steam, especially so close to the release date, would surely make a lot of DARQ fans unhappy. Apart from the moral issues involved, would it be worth it if given a large sum of money? Consider Amazon’s history — the company remained unproffitable for many years by ALWAYS putting their customers first. They had made many decisions in the past that were extremely pro-customer, even if it meant leaving money on the table (for which they got a lot of criticism from Wall Street). Now, Amazon is one of the biggest companies in the world, and it’s because customers know Amazon will always be on their side. Their refund policy has always been the industry standard, and their delivery promise was always fulfilled to the best of their ability. Will I make less money on Steam than I would have by accepting the financial guarantee from the Epic Store? Probably. But it’s a fair price to pay for establishing an ongoing trust between my studio and its customers. Unfold Games (my studio) is here to stay, and DARQ is just the beginning.
  • It was important to me to give players what they wanted: options. A lot of people requested that DARQ is made available on GOG. I was happy to work with GOG to bring the game to their platform. I wish the Epic Store would allow indie games to be sold there non-exclusively, as they do with larger, still unreleased games (Cyberpunk 2077), so players can enjoy what they want: a choice.
Ooblets
Coincidentally, the day after I rejected their offer (July 31st), Ooblets’ developers announced that they accepted the exclusivity deal from the Epic Store, which caused quite a lot of controversy. At the time, I decided not to participate in the controversy and keep my stance on the Epic Exclusivity deals to myself. However, I noticed that more and more people started asking me if I was about to do the same. Ultimately, I decided to mention that I had rejected the Epic exclusivity deal, so the community can rest assured DARQ is still coming to Steam and GOG. I was not going to turn it into a news story and did not contact press to attract attention to this matter.

Earlier Today
Now that numerous media outlets made my Epic’s deal rejection veeery public, I found myself tagged in a tweet addressed directly to Tim Sweeney:
1*-s7nk5VDb-vUiwQvxXRjQQ.jpeg


Needless to say, I never intended to become the face of the Epic Store exclusivity controversy. But since I’m tagged directly in a response to Tim Sweeney’s tweet, I felt I should at least make my stance clear.

I’m seriously a little scared to share the following screenshot (given that Tim Sweeny has infinite monetary power and connections in the industry to completely destroy me and my game — which I trust he won’t be compelled to do, I’m just a first-time indie developer after all), but here’s my conversation with the Epic Store representative. It was nice, polite, respectful, professional, but it also contradicts what Tim Sweeney seems to be advocating for:
1*YW8HKZCAxiFigsVHsVTu3A.jpeg


I wish there wasn’t a double standard and indie developers were given an equal oportunity to sell their games across multiple store fronts, so the players can enjoy what they seem to want the most: a choice.
 
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Generic

Member
I wish the Epic Store would allow indie games to be sold there non-exclusively, as they do with larger, still unreleased games (Cyberpunk 2077), so players can enjoy what they want: a choice.
Not accurate, there are a lot of upcoming indie games set to be released both on Steam and Epic Store.
 

Caffeine

Member
is that how they are targeting them from the steam most wishlisted. buy up the games people want to grow your store into a dominating position. Whens that fortnite money gonna end.
 
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johntown

Banned
Good to see devs are able to see how anti-consumer EGS really is.

I am more understanding of indie devs taking these deals though but glad this guy is thinking about his fans and long term.
 

Shifty

Member
Now that there is a class act from top to tail.

He draws some great parallels to Amazon and the way they developed their business- while you have the Ooblets devs burning every bridge they can outside of their little 'our community' bubble, this guy is actually playing the long game and trying to build a trustworthy brand.

HA HA HA HA HA at Tim bigging up GOG Galaxy for all the wrong reasons as well. Good though it may be, it's a band-aid for a problem that he's helping proliferate.
I have no doubt that it will be used as an excuse to be lax on implementing certain store features later down the line, as per Epic's "spread everything too thin" M.O.

Not accurate, there are a lot of upcoming indie games set to be released both on Steam and Epic Store.
I'm not sure this argument holds any weight given that the EGS representative literally said:
We aren't in a position yet to open up the store to games that simship.
In their email response. If nothing else, it clearly isn't a universal policy.

Why no GoG version, though?
From the OP:
A lot of people requested that DARQ is made available on GOG. I was happy to work with GOG to bring the game to their platform.
If it's not there already, I'd expect it to be in the works based on this statement.

is that how they are targeting them from the steam most wishlisted. buy up the games people want to grow your store into a dominating position. Whens that fortnite money gonna end.
Yup, it's dead obvious that Epic has staff browsing Steam to figure out what hot titles to snipe, rather than just going out and soliciting indies that have games that aren't tied to a store yet.

Or, god forbid, commissionning some indies to build 'first party' EGS titles from the ground up and sidestepping this exclusivity shitshow altogether.
 
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LordRaptor

Member
Not accurate, there are a lot of upcoming indie games set to be released both on Steam and Epic Store.

There are a lot of indie titles that are eventually being released on Steam once the timed exclusivity has expired.
That's not the same thing at all.
 

Hudo

Member
it was released on GoG too.

DARQ on GoG
Now that there is a class act from top to tail.

He draws some great parallels to Amazon and the way they developed their business- while you have the Ooblets devs burning every bridge they can outside of their little 'our community' bubble, this guy is actually playing the long game and trying to build a trustworthy brand.

HA HA HA HA HA at Tim bigging up GOG Galaxy for all the wrong reasons as well. Good though it may be, it's a band-aid for a problem that he's helping proliferate.
I have no doubt that it will be used as an excuse to be lax on implementing certain store features later down the line, as per Epic's "spread everything too thin" M.O.


I'm not sure this argument holds any weight given that the EGS representative literally said:

In their email response. If nothing else, it clearly isn't a universal policy.


From the OP:

If it's not there already, I'd expect it to be in the works based on this statement.


Yup, it's dead obvious that Epic has staff browsing Steam to figure out what hot titles to snipe, rather than just going out and soliciting indies that have games that aren't tied to a store yet.

Or, god forbid, commissionning some indies to build 'first party' EGS titles from the ground up and sidestepping this exclusivity shitshow altogether.
Thanks guys. It seems that I haven't search GoG thoroughly enough. Mea culpa.

Still don't quite get why Steam is so much better, it's still locking games behind an unnecessary account.
 

theHFIC

Member
Thanks guys. It seems that I haven't search GoG thoroughly enough. Mea culpa.

Still don't quite get why Steam is so much better, it's still locking games behind an unnecessary account.

personally i think when people say steam in this instance they generally mean the concept of steam, gog, other platforms. as far as i know, steam has never mandated a game only launch on their platform. a lot of developers choose to go that path, but the option always exists for them to use as many platforms as they want.
 
Not accurate, there are a lot of upcoming indie games set to be released both on Steam and Epic Store.

What games are those? That Epic rep explicitly said they won't do simultaneous releases for indie titles, so unless you can name some examples I'm gonna call bullshit on that.
 

Pejo

Member
This dude gets some applause from me. Straight up classy all the way around and shows a very very rare respect for his fans. I will be looking up Darq after this.
 

Domisto

Member
Totally agree with the devs choice.

Epic needs to secure it's exclusives much earlier in their production, rather than poaching near finished games close to release. Actually contribute to finding and nurturing talent.
 
"I woud like for my customers to have confidence that my word means something, especially when making announcement as crucial as release date / platform."

A man with integrity. And doesn't throw others under the bus in the process.

I may have to buy his game.
 
Massively dickish move. Another indication that they really just want Steam's piece of the pie rather than some sort of benevolence towards the market, as repeatedly claimed.

That is my issue with Epic. It's not that they want to get their piece of the pie. Everyone has a right to try and establish their business. It's the absolute mockery of anything resembling honesty.

On the one hand claiming that they are the white knight coming to the rescue of the poor beleaguered developers. When in truth, they're simply:

iu
 

Skyfox

Member
The financial success of Fortnite really went to their head.
And Fortnite was nothing until it ripped off PUBG

The guys who made Too Human blamed them for destroying their game too.

Epic games definitely have an image problem at the moment. They seem to lack ethical standards.
 
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ultrazilla

Member
Well damn. Now I have to buy DARQ. What a nice dude.

Was on my Wishlist already. Gotta go buy it right now! :messenger_horns: :messenger_sunglasses:

I also realize that this(as mentioned above and something I thought of when I first read about this....) is a huge PR move for him.

It's the classic "David vs Goliath" story in that the "little good guy defeats the giant evil guy". Since he's basically a one man studio,
I give him credit for doing his best to leverage his position here.

ALSO: Bought! I had Steam Wishlisted when it first hit. Love me creepy, atmospheric side scrolling games like Little Nightmares, Limbo, Inside...DARQ will
be a great fit!


Cheers to Wlad!! :messenger_sunglasses:
 
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Fbh

Member
LOL, hasn't their narrative been that their store is all about giving more choice and options to the players to fight the evil Steam monopoly? Funny then how they go from wanting to make this game an exclusive to not even wanting to put it on their store the moment the dev says he isn't interested in exclusivity.

It's not really my type of game but I wish him luck. My opinion of any devs that put their games on GOG is instantly higher
 

Demigod Mac

Member
Good on Unfold. I hope this gets Epic to change their tactics on exclusives. Don't seize a title if it's already been announced for other distro platforms.
Epic's tactics remind me of Microsoft in the early OG Xbox days. It seemed like no upcoming title was safe - Microsoft could at any time swoop in, drop a few moneyhats and snap up a game you were looking forward to on your platform.
Rumors floated about constantly about Microsoft securing exclusivity to big-name titles MGS2, Final Fantasy, etc. A title wasn't safely on your platform until it was on store shelves.
 
I had just announced DARQ release date on Steam - pulling the game off Steam a few days after Steam release date announcement would forever ruin the credibility of my studio.

I respect that developer's integrity, I'm sure he gave up a lot of cash in order to stick to his principles.

Sometimes you just have to put your money where your mouth is. Unfortunately, this is not my kind of game. Instead of buying the game and letting it gather dust in my library, I'll be gifting a STEAM copy to somebody who actually wants to play this.

So if you want to "win" a copy of this game and maybe write a short review for NeoGAF, let me know here. I'll send you a PM and gift you a copy over STEAM.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Well, it was obvious this was not about improving their service as GOG does, but about making other services worse and shit-talk about the biggest player (even though GOG does the same, what a joke).

I'm all for free games if they want to give them and whatever pro-consumer, but not these shitty anti-competition practices that end up being very anti-consumer
 

Herr Edgy

Member
Brilliant marketing technique. Gamers will eat this up.
That's my take on this too.

It felt like an honest piece until he stated his reason for him doing his statement now.
"I never wanted to be the face of the contoversy (you aren't; lofty aspirations?) but since I was tagged by a random on twitter I had no choice"

This is him trying to justify the statement; he knows what he is doing and that is capitalizing on a great business opportunity. He also knows that what he's doing now isn't quite honest, so he is trying to justify himself to potential critics, but he just made it worse. There is nothing wrong with not accepting the Epic deal, and there's nothing wrong with making use of that fact either. It's business. But it's nothing more than that.

In any case, looks like a neat little game.
 

A.Romero

Member
Congrats to the dev. Glad they revealed the reason.

Many people still don't get that what EGS is trying to do isn't really intended to improve the industry.

I'm hoping this turns in higher sales for then, doesn't matter if you are using this as a marketing decision or not.

I hope EGS desists soon. It's just stupid.

Sweeney can rub a duck 😎
 

John Day

Member
My respect always go to those who sweat to bring their vision come forth. And my respect to this developer too.

I understand that Epic wants to jump into this in their own way, but i am so glad developers are standing their ground even if it potentially cost them.

And thanks Helios Helios for posting about this!
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Video gaming.

The industry when two sides try to work out a deal, and when one walks...... they tell the whole world what happened.

100% class.
 
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AND OF COURSE



Jason Schreier throwing an independent indie developer under the bus because he wants so suck up to big corporate business. So much for his incessant twitter whining about EGS caring for small developers. When the opportunity arises to actually support an indie developer, he immediately resorts to smearing him with unproven assumptions. Not only that, by insinuating a self-serving motive that is contrary to the developer's claims, Schreier tacitly implies that he is outright lying.

Is is just me, or should journalists be a lot more careful when making such statements? Schreier outright damaged that developer's reputation with that tweet for the sake of his blue-eyed adulation for Sweeney. It's never good when journalists become active participants in video-game turf wars, when they should be representing the situation in all its nuanced glory.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Jason Schreier throwing an independent indie developer under the bus because he wants so suck up to big corporate business. So much for his incessant twitter whining about EGS caring for small developers. When the opportunity arises to actually support an indie developer, he immediately resorts to smearing him with unproven assumptions. Not only that, by insinuating a self-serving motive that is contrary to the developer's claims, Schreier tacitly implies that he is outright lying.

Is is just me, or should journalists be a lot more careful when making such statements? Schreier outright damaged that developer's reputation with that tweet for the sake of his blue-eyed adulation for Sweeney. It's never good when journalists become active participants in video-game turf wars, when they should be representing the situation in all its nuanced glory.
It depends.

There's two front to journalism.... impartial articles (just state the facts in a story), and editorials (opinions).

The problem with the internet with millions of small articles, tweets and any joe blow can claim to be a journalist is that facts and opinions are jumbled up.

In traditional news print, journalists writing opinion pieces would be in the editorial section. With the net, it's like everything goes in any post.
 

Hinedorf

Banned
The most entertaining part I find about this is somebody equating the Epic Store to having the future potential of a company like Amazon.

ByaNFTjCIAA4x_V.jpg
 

DonF

Member
Respect. The game looks sick, super unique.

Scummy practices by EPIC.

Good for you for standing up against their hypocrisy.
 
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