this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2023
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[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

As you said, it was 2005. Physical sales were the norm.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I like how they ignore that it saved the company and Valve didn't reach out to them to make demands. Introversion was about to go out of business, were on benefits ("on the dole"), and their deal with Valve saved them.

But that's exactly the same as paying for Borderlands 3, a huge fucking game whose company wasn't about to go out of business is exactly the same.

Via Wikipedia about Introversion Software:

Darwinia was eventually released in March 2005, but despite a strong opening weekend, sales soon slipped too low to sustain the company. Within six months, the developers were back on UK government benefits until November, when they contacted Valve "on a whim"[10] to try to set up a digital distribution deal on their Steam platform. Valve responded enthusiastically and, following a 14 December 2005 online launch, digital sales, which exposed the game to a new, global audience, kept the company going through to the release of their third game, DEFCON.

I found elsewhere that said they only sold 6000 copies before contacting Valve, but I can't verify that it's true.

Yeah, exactly the same as massive games with huge followings like Borderlands 3. /s