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Comment on Fallout 3: GOTY Edition is free to keep for the next 24 hours on the Epic Games Store

brawleryukon@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

And before you even go there, yes, it was a long time ago, no, they haven’t really done it since then. But the discussion here is about whether or not Epic did it first, which they did not. By about a decade and a half.

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Voyajer@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Darwinia still sold copies through their site. Steam didn’t even support macos or linux back then yet the game did and that was how you got those versions. It wasn’t exclusive.

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- brawleryukon@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Tell me you didn’t click the link without telling me you didn’t click the link.
  
  Darwinia still sold copies through their site.
  
  Straight from the linked forum post:
  
  As part of the launch and Steam’s exclusivity, we will no longer be offering Darwinia as a download option from our site, although it will still be possible to purchase shipped boxed copies. At Valve’s request we will also be removing the demo from our site for about a month.
  
  So, yes, they were still selling boxed copies - because it was 2005 - but Valve made them stop selling digital copies from their own site and even made them take down their own demo.
  
  It wasn’t exclusive.
  
  Again, same quote as above:
  
  As part of the launch and Steam’s exclusivity
  
  Not sure how you’re getting “it wasn’t exclusive” from a post that explicitly says that they signed their game up for Steam exclusivity.
  
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  - Voyajer@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    As you said, it was 2005. Physical sales were the norm.
    
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    SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Nice way to ignore that it saved the company and Valve didn’t reach out to them to make demands. Introversion was about to go out of business, were on benefits (“on the dole”), and their deal with Valve saved them.
    
    But that’s exactly the same as paying for Borderlands 3, a huge fucking game whose company wasn’t about to go out of business is exactly the same.
    
    Via Wikipedia about Introversion Software:
    
    Darwinia was eventually released in March 2005, but despite a strong opening weekend, sales soon slipped too low to sustain the company. Within six months, the developers were back on UK government benefits until November, when they contacted Valve “on a whim”[10] to try to set up a digital distribution deal on their Steam platform. Valve responded enthusiastically and, **following a 14 December 2005 online launch, digital sales, which exposed the game to a new, global audience, kept the company going through to the release of their third game, DEFCON. **
    
    I found elsewhere that said they only sold 6000 copies before contacting Valve, but I can’t verify that it’s true.
    
    Yeah, exactly the same as massive games with huge followings like Borderlands 3. /s
    
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    brawleryukon@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yes, and Valve was trying to establish their upstart digital store against the big established sales leader by buying exclusive distribution rights to a game they didn’t make…
    
    🤔
    
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finishsneezing@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Since you are really nitpicky here: The people you replied to did say „exclusives“ and „games“, so…

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- brawleryukon@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Careful you don’t throw your back out helping them move those goalposts!
  
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