Digital Distributor Desura Late With Dev Payments
Payment to come, they insist
Desura is one of the lesser-known digital distributors, but for a fair while it was a fine way for small developers to sell their games without struggling through the gatekeeping of Steam or other stores. It's behind the Indie Royale bundles too. In recent months, though, it's been less kind for developers. Some have been waiting months for payment for sales, and many who asked what was up didn't receive replies. Which is worrying.
Now Desura's owners have come out saying there are "delays" and "issues" they need to correct but they really honestly will pay everyone.
Folks have been grumbling about late payments since, well, around the time Bad Juju Games bought Desura from Linden Labs last November. Have a shufty at this Reddit thread to see devs months behind and failing to get a response. It took until yesterday, when that thread started getting passed around the Internet a lot more, for Desura to publicly comment.
Bad Juju's head of developer relations Lisa Morrison said in a statement yesterday that the late payments "have stemmed from a number of factors coming together in a bad way". She added, "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." What those problems are, why developers should suffer for them, and why they've been so bad at communication, she doesn't say. Their CEO is hospitalised right now, which is apparently making resolving things worse.
"We are not refusing to pay you, this is a promise," Morrison said, addressing developers. "There are delays, and issues which need work to correct, but we will absolutely be paying all accounts due."
Linden sold Desura to Bad Juju in November 2014, just over a year after they themselves had bought it.
If you're a dev selling games on Desura, I'd recommend taking a look at Itch.io, which I've heard nothing but good about. Heck, if you're selling your game anywhere, look at Itch too.