As an outsider to the absolute derision which some on social media platforms have for Epic Games, I am endlessly confused by it all. While I can understand someone’s desire not to give money to X company or Y person money; it is still confusing the lengths some will go-to when it comes to the hatred toward the Epic Games store. I mean, giving away Alan Wake, For Honor, and Gnog for free this Thursday? Charlatans. Then again, given this topic, it may not be wise to joke about someone’s hatred.

At the very tail end of last week, it was announced Glumberland had teamed up with Epic Games to release their new game Ooblets as an Epic Games Store exclusive at launch. It was the announcement by one of the game’s developers, Ben Wasser, that riled many up on Thursday. What seemed to annoy so many people was how Wasser wrote the blog post, in one way you could take it as a joke that was taken the wrong way; on the other hand, you could see it for what it was. Those who saw it as the former claim it to be condescending, though it is hard to be condescending when you are hitting Epic with the same metaphorical stick.

The phrasing, in particular, that had/has some in vexation is in the “Angry at Epic, us, the world?” section. Which states: “I don’t expect much of our uniquely-lovely community to fit into this weird anti-Epic contingent, but I figured I’d share our thoughts and have an open conversation about the issues.” When speaking about the anti-consumer claim, Wasser says, “This is the most common complaint about Epic, but I don’t think people have really thought it through,” going on to state HBO, Hulu, Netflix, most TV channels, and earlier in the post, games consoles, all have exclusives that aren’t complained about as much.

Since then, both Rebecca Cordingley and Ben Wasser have received angry comments from people through social media. To this effect, Cordingley and Wasser have tried to fan the flames, as has Epic Games after Tim Sweeney tweeted: “In response to community feedback, I have reviewed the tone of the Ooblets exclusivity announcement and wish to make the following official statement: IT WAS AWESOME!” In response to this, one commented, “I don’t blame them for taking the money [… Though,] You & Epic have done nothing but sow division & bad will in the PC gaming community ever since you started forcing gamers to your store.”

Cordingley then responded to a screenshot posted online, in which Wasser states, “At the end of the day, it’s open to whoever wants to support the Patron, we don’t need the money from there now though.” To this, Cordingley said, “That comment was in response to a claim that we were scamming Patreon backers by waiting till August 1st to make the announcement (which is not the case). We were simply explaining the reasons it wouldn’t make sense for us to do that.” Though many continued with comments of “Chinese spyware,” “I’m pirating the game for this,” and claiming Glumberland “lied,” when stating they plan to release on Steam.

This is where one would like to make note of Wasser’s statement on behalf of Glumberland in the announcement. Here he states, “we’ve signed with Epic for PC launch exclusivity. It’s incredible news for us and I’m hoping you all can be excited about it, too.” If this statement is held to be true, then much like Shenmue 3‘s exclusivity deal, Ooblets will release on Steam at a later date.

However, given the backlash, Wasser claims someone has created a fake screenshot and video which claims to be evidence of the former, in which both show Wasser claiming “Gamers would be better of in gas chambers.” Sunday Wasser addressed these by saying, “[I] Obviously never said that, and as a Jewish person, this one really hurt to see being spread around.” To which some have said, “The others are true though, right?” in response to the other comments Wasser has made to those questioning the decision to be a timed PC exclusive for the Epic Games store.

This is where some, such as those in Malaysia, stated they don’t have their currency represented as part of the Epic Game store, while Steam does so. This is an understandable reason to question such a decision. When a man posted a heart-wrenching story of how little he has, meanwhile, he has been supporting the Ooblets Patreon, Wasser simply replied to all with similar stories, “No amount of difficult life experiences make it okay to demand that you get a game.”

This among Wasser’s more personal responses such as, “I wish we didn’t take an Epic deal so we would have to care what all the entitled toxic gamers think.” Along with someone stating the blog post may not have come off as intended with, “No, I think the toxic entitled gamers took it as directed at them.” Neither of which comments are going to stop the issue at hand.

Ultimately, I think the blog post was intended to be a joke at the impending hatred that was to come their way. Since then, Wasser has leaned into the comments as Andy Kaufman would have, though Wasser doesn’t have the expected nature of doing the unconventional thing for a smile or laugh. In my opinion, this has been the downfall of Wasser’s crowd control following the backlash. Only once the “gas chamber” comments from some forum crawler were brought to light did Wasser break character.

Since the announcement Rami Ismail, developer of Nuclear Throne, tweeted (Warning: strong language) about Fortnite player Ninja moving to Mixer being considered a good decision; and yet Glumberland’s is not, somehow. This sentiment was also shared by Mike Black, developer of Dead Static Drive, comparing the 90s “console wars” to how players have reacted to the announcement. On a personal level, I agree with both fans and developers; that Ben Wasser did not have to respond in such a way, though his announcement was fairly amusing and didn’t deserve the backlash it did receive.

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