Luisfius told me about this...

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/195975/Linden_Lab_acquires_distribution_service_Desura.php
http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/10/second-life-maker-linden-lab-buys-desura-for-games-distribution-plans-to-keep-it-open/

... am I the only one that sees this as a very bad thing(TM)?

I'm not sure of the significance of this move, but from what (admittedly little) correspondence I've had with Linden Labs' Rod Humble, I don't expect this to be any kind of death knell for Desura.

hmmmmmmmmmmm

Second Life for Linden Labs? If LL didn't buy them cheap, they will stick to it as a distribution platform which they can become a cash cow.

Woah! What does this mean for Moddb?



edit:
Not looking forward to scavenging all the good files from that service. :/

Pardon my ignorance but what is good about Desura? I've heard it mentioned here a few times but don't really know what it is. Is it like Steam?

If anything bad happens to Desura, don't blame the buyer, it's their property now. Blame the seller.

That news was so out there I seriously checked to see if it was April.

It is a digital download store, focusing a lot on indies and also have a general DRM free approach. It does have a client like steam, but it is optional to use. 98% of their games are DRM free installers you can download from their website.

They also hosts ModsDB and you can install and manage mods from there through their client.

Basically, it is the indie DRM free underdog.

That would highly depend on what aspect you wish to emphasise for the discussion. Like Steam it's a game store and distribution platform, and has a client you can install and play games from. Unlike Steam it also provides DRM free versions, and the client isn't required, and there's virtually no barrier to entry, so indie devs can put their games on Desura without any problem. Desura also provides an API similar to Steamworks (but will less functionality) which developers can integrate with their games.

The short of it is, Desura is for indie devs who can't get on any other store, like GOG or Steam.

My thanks to the both of you. It sounds like a very worthwhile platform.

To be honest Desura has been going down the drain for some months now imho. They basically opened the "alpha funding" thing to every crappy indie game made in flash over a weekend, and it shows.

This isn´t looking good. I doubted initially and was about creating a topic asking what´s going on. So seems true. Errh, I am going backup everything, just to prevent.

Well take me as an example. I own hundreds of games on Desura. Linden Labs could decide to stop me from being able to download those games more than 3 times without paying or stop me from downloading them at all or not let the game makers upload patched versions any more or they could just flat out turn off the service.

Even if they don't do anything bad now it's quite common for big firms to buy up smaller ones, mess about with them, end up misjudging it and losing customers so mothballing the whole company.

Basically I won't buy another game on desura now. I'll go for steam or gog.