This is sounding a bit like a broken record. If you’re a PC gamer then you know for the longest time the best source to obtain your video game titles and connect with a community would be Valve’s Steam. This was partly due to the lack of real competitors entering the market so when Epic Games provided some real substantial competition against Valve, there was a quick division online. Epic Games Store was quick to provide gamers access to a marketplace to purchase games though as the storefront continued to grow in users, there was plenty of criticism over the lack of features in comparison to the Valve Steam storefront.
While Epic Games have charted out a road map to eventually add these features gamers wanted, they also went out to strike up deals with developers. These deals were essentially exclusivity on the PC platform which ultimately delayed video game titles from releasing into the market on Steam. We don’t know the fine details for certain deals, but these deals have had plenty of gamers upset and taken to the internet to bash the storefront and express their concerns to the developers.
However, according to the Ooblets developer, Glumberland, its become less of a concern and more of harassment.
Glumberland is a small indie development team that consists of just two people. The developers have received thousands of hate mail regarding the temporary exclusive deal, but its with this deal that Glumberlands was able to secure funding stability for the studio’s upcoming release. Tweeting out, the duo developers plead for fans to calm down though it’s uncertain how much it helped at the moment.
Apparently, the amount of hate that the developers were receiving prompted an official statement to go out from Epic Games on the matter. At any case, those that are blatantly harassing the developers certainly don’t paint a pretty picture of the community or industry. While it’s not completely foreign to see this type of behavior go out to big-name AAA video game titles or massive development studios, the amount of hate a small two-person indie studio is enduring I can imagine must be soul-crushing.
Source: Epic Games, Games Industry