Submitted via IRC for SoyCow7671
Epic vows to support 'Ooblets' studio following exclusivity harassment
Indie studio Glumberland, developer of cute and quirky life simulator Ooblets, announced its decision to sign a PC exclusivity deal with Epic Games last week. It essentially secured the company's future, but it has has also become the target of widespread harassment as a result of locking its PC title to the Epic Games Store.
Glumberland's original announcement of the exclusive was light-hearted, saying "this is all low-stakes video game stuff we're dealing with here" and that it was "[n]othing to get worked up about." The exclusivity deal will bring some much-needed cash to the project, as the developers explained on Twitter: "I know this is a hot-button issue for some folks but getting some funding is going to make a huge difference for Ooblets."
A certain section of the gaming community reacted to the announcement with unbridled fury, however, unleashing a wave of harassment onto the studio's two developers. The extreme reaction included someone faking a screenshot purporting to show developer Ben Wasser, who is Jewish, saying "gamers would be better off in gas chambers."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Saturday August 10 2019, @12:06PM
They posted a disingenuous and condescending blog post, got criticized for it, and then the game dev continued to have a hissy fit on Discord:
https://imgur.com/a/7du1ztj [imgur.com]
Now they are crying about harassment or whatever after having thoroughly kicked the hornet's nest.
Actually, Epic has made a wave of these deals as they try to chip away at Steam. This is just the textbook example of how not to tell everyone you sold out. The previous worst example was Shenmue 3 [reddit.com].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]