Desura was once listed alongside Steam and GOG as one of the better places you could buy games online. Over the last few years the brand, which also includes Indie Royale, exchanged hands a few times, before ending up with Bad Juju Games. Sadly, this is where the situation devolved, with Bad Juju failing to pay developers before itself going bankrupt. Now, an outfit called OnePlay has swooped on Desura’s assets, with plans afoot to bring it back to life.
To quell speculation, OnePlay has put together an FAQ on its website regarding the acquisition. The company, which originally started out in game rentals before moving to a digital operation, has decided to build an “all new platform for [its] websites” before bringing Desura back online, which is slated for early 2017.
For customers of Desura’s previous incarnation, the FAQ states that OnePlay is “working hard to try to get your old Desura account back alive” with the proviso that it “will let you know if [OnePlay] fails to do so”.
Not the most encouraging words, especially as it goes on to mention it doesn’t “have a timeline” for this process.
What isn’t clarified in the FAQ is if developers will finally be paid. It’s hard to say how much is owning, but if it drove Bad Juju to bankruptcy, it must be a non-trivial sum.
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2 responses to “OnePlay Buys Desura And Indie Royale Brands, Will Resurrect Both In 2017”
The whole Desura disaster is really shitty, but I can’t see how anyone could hold the new owners responsible for the sins of the previous ones.
One presumes that they can’t guarantee anything because they need to negotiate rights with game developers who are already weary of getting burned. I can imagine that if the devs insist on getting paid for debts to the previous management there’s not going to be a deal.
It’s a tough (if not impossible) market to get a foothold in, due to Valve’s near monopolistic dominance, but I for one aren’t going to join the inevitable chorus of sceptics who chime in every time someone decides to have a go.
Presumably OnePlay is under no obligation to pay those developers, since Bad Juju most likely still owns the debt. You’d hope that the developers would see some money from the sale of the Desura / Indie Royale businesses though.