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Independent developer, Unfold Games has just released its first title – the ambitious and dreamy Darq adventure horror and adventure game. Just before its release, Epic Games approached the developer and offered him an exclusive deal. Unfold declined the offer and cited several reasons.
The developer noted the timeline of his refusal of the exclusive Epic Games Store agreement on this Medium post, confirming that the publisher had approached the tiny independent studio a few days after announcing its date of output, for both Steam and GOG.
Three days later, the independent developer (almost entirely developed by Wlad Marhulets) was contacted for an exclusive contract. Even before Wlad talked about numbers with Epic, he refused the sale.
Marhulets said that although he likes "the money and the upfront payment in addition to the guaranteed income," he had just announced the release date of the game for Steam and GOG. Since this is his first game, removing the game from Steam would "ruin forever the credibility" of his studio.
"I am very serious about working in this industry for a very long time," said Marhulets. "I had just announced [the] Release date of Darq on Steam – remove the game of Steam a few days after [making a] The announcement of the release date would forever ruin the credibility of my studio. "
He added, "I would like my clients to make sure my word has meaning, especially when they make [an] announcement as crucial as [a] release date / platform. Rejecting the Epic exclusivity offer could have been a senseless short-term decision, given the amounts involved. When one thinks of the long term, however, it was an easy and obvious decision to make ( in my case). "
Darq has been listed on Steam since the end of 2018 and has finally been approved for a GOG version as well.
"It was important for me to give the players what they wanted: options," said Mahulets. "Many people have asked that DARQ [be] made available on GOG. I was happy to work with GOG to bring the game to their platform. I hope that the Epic Store will allow the non-exclusive sale of independent games, as they do with larger and still unpublished games (Cyberpunk 2077), so that players can enjoy what they want: a choice. "
Several games have quickly abandoned a release of Steam for the exclusive Epic Store, while others have been listed for Steam for some time and have later become exclusive.
What do you think about the whole problem? Should consumers have as many options as possible? Sound off in the comments below!
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