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There's a lot of really garbage publishers out there these days, especially high profile ones like EA, Paradox (good lord the DLC), Starbreeze. These publishers will find any and every way to nickel and dime their customers. DLC, Microtransactions, you name it, they'll stoop that low.

These devs are not only awesome, but they're allowed to be awesome. Coffee stain could have ran this game into the ground after it's success but they didn't, they let the devs do what they do. The amount of free stuff we got that could have been yet another DLC, they didn't.

So lets raise a beer to Coffee Stain.

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over 2 years ago - /u/GSG_Jacob - Direct link

Originally posted by Ansollis

Eh, publisher-wise, not a fan. They succumbed to the Epic store bs with Satisfactory for a year. Pretty anti consumer

While I’m definitely no fan of Epic acquiring exclusivity, please don’t blame indie developers for accepting such a deal. Making games is a very costly, time consuming, and risky endeavour, and if you can alleviate that risk with a timed exclusivity deal, guaranteeing you success and continued operation - it’s downright silly not to accept it. Often the next project is very dependant on the succes of the previous one, and if you can make sure that you’ll succeed, your game will most likely also be better for it. I totally get that it sucks from a consumer POV, but it’s a safety net in a risky industry.

over 2 years ago - /u/GSG_Jacob - Direct link

Originally posted by dogs_wearing_helmets

While I don't personally have a big issue with timed exclusivity deals like that, surely can you see that "doing this anti consumer thing is fine as long as you get lots of $$$$$" is a pretty poor argument.

Yeah, but the thing is that it's not "get lots of $$$$$" it's more "guarantee stability and ensure a sensible setup for the future" in most cases. It's not a get-rich-quick scheme - it's not free money. The Epic deals are guaranteeing a certain amount of sold copies, so essentially they're offering you a set advance, that they'll recoup if the game sells. It's not extra money in any way.
Also, consider that when you make games, you're not making a single cent until people can actually buy it.
So, Epic is offering you a somewhat guaranteed success for not putting your game on Steam first. Launching a game on Steam is by no means a guarantee of success, no matter how good your game is. Discoverability is low, marketing is expensive, and there is an insane amount of games being released every day.
The worry that this game might be your last is somewhat eliminated by taking such a deal, and that is why I personally feel that there's a lot of sense for indie developers to do so. As a consumer, I think it sucks that I can't get all my games on Steam when they are released, but I will never fault the developer for choosing that stability.