Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

The Return of Desura

Posted by Rampant Coyote on November 9, 2016

1desura_headThis was announced a couple of weeks ago:

OnePlay Buys Desura And Indie Royale Brands, Will Resurrect Both In 2017

From the legal paperwork I received, all the bankruptcy stuff is done, and I am never, ever going to see the money the owed me. So for me, personally, this isn’t good news, its just news. It’s a new company with residual accounts and the old brand name.

Now, I own a lot of games on Desura that didn’t get Steam versions, and fortunately I haven’t had any problems playing them or getting access to them during their time in limbo, but I haven’t tried too hard. Right now, they cannot guarantee all games will be available to people from their old accounts. As a developer, maybe… MAYBE… I’ll consider working with this new OnePlay-owned Desura. If I see the benefit. And if I can get more regular payments that don’t have to add up to $500+ for disbursement.

Once someone is at the helm and we are able to work things out, then I can decide whether or not to remove Frayed Knights. I haven’t been able to do so, so I had to just jack up the price to a point where nobody would try and buy it from Desura during their bankruptcy.

I fear Steam having such an overwhelming near-monopoly on PC games sales. These days, you all but have to work with Steam. Just like Amazon for e-Books, its the 800 pound gorilla. And honestly – they are pretty good to work with. If Gabe is immortal and never sells out, maybe it will stay that way for a while. But otherwise, I think it needs competitors – even small ones – nipping at its heals to keep it honest and reasonably fair. Maybe the new Desura can be one. We’ll see.


Filed Under: General - Comments: 2 Comments to Read



  • MalcolmM said,

    I’m buying fewer games lately outside of Steam. A few Humble Bundle offerings but that is about it.

    For people outside of the US buying on Steam can be cheaper. For almost all the games I am interested in (non AAA games) Steam eventually offers the same discount as the other sites. But Steam charges me in Canadian dollars and the exchange rate is almost always more favourable than what Paypal or my credit card offers me. The bottom line is games are often significantly cheaper on Steam for me even when the discount is the same.

  • Rampant Coyote said,

    I still prefer them on GOG.COM if all things are equal, although that’s being less and less of an advantage for newer releases. In the past, though, GOG.COM offered more freebies … at least for older titles.

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