Epic Games has formally denounced the “harassment of partners, promotion of hateful themes, and intimidation of those with opposing views,” following a deluge of “thousands, if not tens of thousands of hateful, threatening messages” sent to the developer of Ooblets, the colorful creature-collecting game.
In a blog post published on July 31, Ben Wasser, one of only two developers on Ooblets, announced that studio Glumberland had signed a PC launch exclusivity deal with the Epic Games Store. Ooblets is just the latest in a string of exclusivity deals announced since the Epic Game Store’s inception.
“Because Epic doesn’t yet have the same market share as their competitors, they offered us a minimum guarantee on sales that would match what we’d be wanting to earn if we were just selling Ooblets across all the stores,” Wasser wrote of the deal. “That takes a huge burden of uncertainty off of us because now we know that no matter what, the game won’t fail and we won’t be forced to move back in with our parents (but we do love and appreciate you, parents!). Now we can just focus on making the game without worrying about keeping the lights on. The upfront money they’re providing means we’ll be able to afford more help and resources to start ramping up production and doing some cooler things.”
Though it’s clear from the blog post’s language that Glumberland expected some amount of negativity, in the days since, Wasser and fellow developer Rebecca Cordingley say they have received “thousands, if not tens of thousands of hateful, threatening messages” expressing anger over their decision to make a deal with Epic.
In subsequent tweets, Wasser stated that a fake screenshot of him writing “gamers would be better off in gas chambers” was being distributed, along with an allegedly fake video showing him deleting the comment.
“I couldn’t have guessed the scale of what it would feel like to be the target of an internet hate mob,” the studio wrote in a Patreon supporter post, according to GI.biz. “I already had a lot of empathy for other targets of previous hate mobs, which is why we wanted to address that sort of thinking in our announcement, but I had no idea it was this bad.”
Epic Games took it upon themselves to issue a statement on Monday, formally denouncing the alleged harassment Glumberland says its received.
“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.”
The matter of Epic Games Store exclusivity has become a contentious one for multiple game developers and publishers. Epic Games has slowly but surely been establishing deals with more and more studios, securing the rights to blockbuster games that otherwise would normally have released on Valve’s Steam platform. Borderlands 3, the Outer Worlds, Remedy’s Control, Maneater, Afterparty, and many more comprise the list of upcoming exclusives. Epic also landed Ubisoft’s The Division 2 as a PC exclusive, with Ghost Recon Breakpoint to come.
As for people upset with the Ooblets team, some appear to be concerned about how they will pay for the game when it releases if the Epic Games Store doesn’t support their country’s currency, among other concerns. Epic has previously released an ongoing Trello board to document what improvements they make to the store and a rough timeline of when those changes will be implemented. Epic recently implemented support for Brazilian currency, but still plans to add support for additional currencies in the next 4-6 months.
Some have also taken umbrage with the tone of Glumberland’s initial announcement, implying it was dismissive of Patreon or potential customers’ concerns. In the announcement, Glumberland suggests that instead of getting upset over their deal with Epic, people could turn their attention to matters like climate change, human rights abuses, or Twitter’s new interface.
IGN has reached out to Glumberland for more information.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has previously stated that exclusives are the “only strategy” that can disrupt Steam’s 70/30 revenue split and the status quo of PC gaming retail.
Ooblets currently does not have a release date, but previous posts made by Glumberland on the game’s Steam page suggested they were nearing an early access goalpost well before their deal with Epic.
