Another day, another wave of outrage over an Epic Games Store exclusivity deal: but this time it seems the discourse surrounding the topic is significantly worse. Following the announcement of a timed exclusivity deal for Ooblets last week, the studio behind the indie title has received a wave of abuse from those angry with the decision – and the explanations provided in the studio’s blog post.
Despite anticipating some hostility, Glumberland said the two-person team “couldn’t have guessed the scale of what it would feel like to be the target of an internet hate mob”, with the developers receiving “thousands if not tens of thousands” of threats (via GamesIndustry.biz). Developer Ben Wasser, meanwhile, had to quash rumours of fake screenshots which some claimed were ripped from the Ooblets Discord.
Tim Sweeney initially responded to the outcry with a slightly taunting (and probably inflammatory) tweet, but Epic has now released a statement to condemn the harassment of developers and the deliberate spread of misinformation.
Source: Eurogamer Epic condemns "disturbing trend" of harassment following Ooblets exclusivity deal