Developers using Desura for digital distribution aren’t being paid for the games they’ve sold through the service — but a new blog post from its head of developer relations promises remedies to the situation.
It seems as though Bad Juju, which acquired the platform from Linden Lab late last year, has not reliably been paying developers since that time.
In a months-old Reddit thread, indie developer Dust Scratch Games complains of not being paid — but later writes that Desura remedied the situation after being contacted: “… if you were expecting payment between October and December 2014 and still haven’t received anything, I would contact them ASAP.”
Some developers in that thread report that they were paid after reaching out to Desura; others say that their requests were met with no response. It’s not just on Reddit, either — a Gamedev.net forum post from January points to the same problem. Another developer has gone as far as to post about these issues on Desura itself.
Today’s blog post from Desura management attempts to explain the problems and offers developers multiple points of contact to have their problems addressed.
“The acquisition of the company last year has presented us with a number of very difficult issues to tackle, and we have been clearing those hurdles as efficiently as we are able. This has been compounded by the office being relocated, and by the current hospitalization of our CEO,” writes Lisa Morrison, Bad Juju’s head of developer relations.
That doesn’t quite explain things, so Gamasutra reached out to Morrison for more:
“The short answer, is that there have been delays. It’s not a refusal to pay, just a lot of issues that piled up and created a backlog. It’s something we’re already working to remedy. Desura does not have any automation in place, and hasn’t since day one,” she told Gamasutra in an email.
“We have to look into a system for it ourselves, but that is far easier said than done. That was compounded by issues with the acquisition, moving offices, and now our CEO being hospitalized. We just have to work with our devs that are stuck in the queue and get this fixed.”
Our recommendation is that if you have a game on Desura, check your accounts — and then send a message over if you’re owed money. Contact details for that are available in Morrison’s blog post.