Game Distribution on GG.com
by Eric Preisz · 01/30/2011 (10:37 pm) · 96 comments
The best part of my job is reading comments and seeing the posts of happy customers. This blog; however, is part of the job that I don't enjoy: delivering bad news. On February 1st 2011, we will no longer have the distribution rights to deliver, sell, or give away most of the games on our store. I regret to inform the community, that we will be removing these games from the store between now and midnight January 31st.
There is the potential that we can get these rights back by the end of the night tomorrow –but it is unlikely. We will do our best to bring back as many of these games as possible since we are free to engage in new publishing agreement with whomever we like.
We also no longer own the IP rights to Marble Blast Gold, ThinkTanks, and Rack ‘Em Up Road Trip. Therefore, those games will also not be available in our store and it is unlikely that they will return.
We regret the short notice and hope you all understand that our desire to keep the store is not a factor in our ability to keep it active. If you are still hoping to put your game in our store, we are still open to reviewing it.
~Eric Preisz
CEO, GarageGames, LLC.
P.S This particular issue only affects games. We still retain the rights to deliver all of the other products ( Genre Kits, Tools, and Art Packs ) available on GarageGames.com.
About the author
Manager, Programmer, Author, Professor, Small Business Owner, and Marketer.
#2
01/30/2011 (10:54 pm)
Unfortunate but it happens, good luck with getting the rights back. 
#3
I seem to recall that when installing Marble Blast Gold, it checks the licensing information online. Will we be losing the ability to install the software with your loss of distribution rights? Who owns it?
01/30/2011 (10:54 pm)
That really sucks, but GG will be able to come up with something new.I seem to recall that when installing Marble Blast Gold, it checks the licensing information online. Will we be losing the ability to install the software with your loss of distribution rights? Who owns it?
#4
01/30/2011 (10:57 pm)
@Joe - That's a bit of a gray area, but I don't think there will be any issues with us continuing the hosting of the DRM. 
#6
@Eric: Sad news, but where one door shuts another can open... errr or something like that.
01/30/2011 (11:33 pm)
@Maxwell: Now that's the spirit!!!@Eric: Sad news, but where one door shuts another can open... errr or something like that.
#7
01/30/2011 (11:47 pm)
I think a lot new nice games are on the way for GG :) 
#8
01/31/2011 (12:13 am)
Sad news, but I've always been here for the tech, so long as that stays, I'm happy. 
#9
A new challenge awaits for gg.
01/31/2011 (12:29 am)
It's not really bad news, a new start requires new games....A new challenge awaits for gg.
#10
01/31/2011 (1:19 am)
This probably isn't relevant but I was going to ask about Rokkitball, I've never played it but it looks good. Has it gone forever or is there a chance we could use it as a Torque template game? 
#11
01/31/2011 (1:19 am)
TorquePowered destroyed the games list when they bought GG, I think its about time to repopulate the list with indie-developed games again!
#12
Does this also mean that the Master Server for these games, specifically ThinkTanks, will remain down?
If so, is there anyway I could get the Master Server code? I host multiple servers from a data center and there are still a large number of players that play TT and we would really hate to see this game die because of the master. I've used many other resources posted as a master and wrote one myself, but they just don't work well..servers keep disappearing.
Thank you.
http://www.planetthinktanks2.com/forums/
01/31/2011 (4:30 am)
Sad news indeed...Does this also mean that the Master Server for these games, specifically ThinkTanks, will remain down?
If so, is there anyway I could get the Master Server code? I host multiple servers from a data center and there are still a large number of players that play TT and we would really hate to see this game die because of the master. I've used many other resources posted as a master and wrote one myself, but they just don't work well..servers keep disappearing.
Thank you.
http://www.planetthinktanks2.com/forums/
#13
I mean, I have my own site to host and sell my games on. I'd be happy to help out other Torque users so we could all cross-promote each other, but with GG.com there'd be a site that people would definitely go to specifically to find good indie games.
01/31/2011 (5:39 am)
I'm more concerned with Torque users being able to create games and sell them on garagegames.comI mean, I have my own site to host and sell my games on. I'd be happy to help out other Torque users so we could all cross-promote each other, but with GG.com there'd be a site that people would definitely go to specifically to find good indie games.
#14
I'm still confused that people entered into contracts for software sales with GG/TP and didn't keep contact info up to date. GG mentioned having trouble contacting some of the add-on authors and now it appears that some of the game developers are just as elusive. Weird. Over the years I've learned to keep my gmail account active regardless of what other contact methods I have in place just for things like this - so people always have a guaranteed way to contact me. Of course, my daughter points out that somehow I show up all over Google anyway....
01/31/2011 (6:23 am)
Hear hear, Dave! To me, that seems like the best thing (besides the engines, of course) to keep up and going. A big part of the problems indies face is distribution and the store is a huge help. Not to mention marketing....I'm still confused that people entered into contracts for software sales with GG/TP and didn't keep contact info up to date. GG mentioned having trouble contacting some of the add-on authors and now it appears that some of the game developers are just as elusive. Weird. Over the years I've learned to keep my gmail account active regardless of what other contact methods I have in place just for things like this - so people always have a guaranteed way to contact me. Of course, my daughter points out that somehow I show up all over Google anyway....
#15
01/31/2011 (6:27 am)
Personally this isn't really too big of an issue with the price point at $99 give it a few months and you will see many new and extravagant games popping up utilizing the torque tool-set. 
#16
01/31/2011 (6:59 am)
Out with the old, in with the new. Any plans to heavily promote a new, upgraded marketplace? 
#17
That's good news! :)
01/31/2011 (8:29 am)
So there is enough room now to put our new games up this year?That's good news! :)
#18
It's not realistic for license holders to expect that all things will not be affected by license limits and the community discussed that very thing between November and January.
While it is sad we lose some Show-Case games for the store front, the community is working hard on generating replacements.
Might I suggest a Poll to ask community members if they'd be willing to work on a first GG Community Built game for the store front?
Maybe the completed game could be used as a Beginners / Intermediate Tutorial to generate a game from start to finish ( needs heavy docs or video )...
Might this idea be the first of it's kind in a Game Engine Community ?
The amount of talent in this community is astounding..
01/31/2011 (9:38 am)
@Eric: I feel relatively sure that the majority of Torque licensed members are happy with your efforts to keep GG and Torque alive. It's not realistic for license holders to expect that all things will not be affected by license limits and the community discussed that very thing between November and January.
While it is sad we lose some Show-Case games for the store front, the community is working hard on generating replacements.
Might I suggest a Poll to ask community members if they'd be willing to work on a first GG Community Built game for the store front?
Maybe the completed game could be used as a Beginners / Intermediate Tutorial to generate a game from start to finish ( needs heavy docs or video )...
Might this idea be the first of it's kind in a Game Engine Community ?
The amount of talent in this community is astounding..
#19
01/31/2011 (9:38 am)
Great mentalities everyone! Thanks for the support. 
#20
Gish is my favorite game from the list I think, and it's only $10 on Steam... etc.
I say take down the page and leave it down until there's a very compelling reason to bring it back.
01/31/2011 (9:40 am)
I don't see this as "bad news" at all... The games page on this site has long seemed a mishmash collection of mostly OLD games. There's some great stuff in there, but no real reason to continue to highlight it for sale... GG.com isn't really the venue.Gish is my favorite game from the list I think, and it's only $10 on Steam... etc.
I say take down the page and leave it down until there's a very compelling reason to bring it back.
Associate Steve Acaster
[YorkshireRifles.com]