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Epic Games Cutting 870 Jobs, 16 Percent Of Its Workforce, also selling Bandcamp (kotaku.com)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[-] [email protected] 202 points 2 years ago

TiL Epic had purchased BandCamp

[-] [email protected] 101 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Selling Bandcamp

Thank god, keep your grimy paws off my music, Sweeney.

[-] [email protected] 49 points 2 years ago

Monkey's paw: Google buys it

[-] [email protected] 31 points 2 years ago

At the same time, Epic is divesting itself of Bandcamp, a deeply strange acquisition in the first place. It’s being sold to Songtradr.

Not today, monkey's paw.

[-] [email protected] 31 points 2 years ago

Tomorrow: Songtradr joins the Koch Media family

[-] [email protected] 21 points 2 years ago

In the not too distant future:

Today we’re announcing we’re ending support for Bandcamp and merging it to YouTube music….

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[-] [email protected] 14 points 2 years ago

I might be jaded, but I'd wager that whoever buys it, is going to be worse than having Epic as a rich daddy who is focused on and making money through his core business and doesn't really know what to do with Bandcamp. Entities that buy it are almost certainly going to squeeze harder at the expense of user experience.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago

Why don't we buy it?

Could this be a kickstarter?

[-] [email protected] 75 points 2 years ago

Yeah, people speculated that this was coming.

Also, why the hell do they own bandcamp, lol.

[-] [email protected] 31 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I dunno, company that sells digital content for young people buys company that sells other digital content for young people. I can see the synergy there. Epic Games Store and Bandcamp aren't that far apart.

[-] [email protected] 41 points 2 years ago

Wait.... They sell games? I thought, they'd just gift you some every week!

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

Lol same my entire Epic library is all the free games I get every Thursday like today.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

And there's like 300 of them. With Steam, I had to buy my way into a Buridan's donkey position where I don't play anything because I have too much. My man Sweeney made me jaded for free.

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[-] [email protected] 57 points 2 years ago

Thank fucking god they're selling Bandcamp before they had a chance to ruin it🙏

[-] [email protected] 45 points 2 years ago

Now it'll go to some private equity vampire who will really ruin it

[-] [email protected] 12 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

It went to Songtradr, who are mostly a music licencing company. So I'm guessing that at least initially things are going to stay the same but that musicians are going to get nagged into letting Songtradr put their stuff up on their big licencing store. And then enshittification, because that's how absolutely everything is going.

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[-] [email protected] 43 points 2 years ago

They're also increasing the price of V-Bucks to try to get even more money out of Fortnite players.

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[-] [email protected] 40 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The Bandcamp sale is hopefully good news. Songtradr looks like they're just in the music business and don't (from their Wikipedia page) have any obviously dodgy investors.

[-] [email protected] 20 points 2 years ago

Narrator: No dodgy investors... Yet.

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[-] [email protected] 14 points 2 years ago

They also bought 7digital.com this year, which is a site I sometimes buy MP3s from since they have a better selection of mainstream record-label stuff than Bandcamp (no Amazon MP3s here in Canada).

[-] [email protected] 20 points 2 years ago

Godot seeing both Unity and Epic implode in the same month: "now's the time"

[-] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago

That's some... That's some... Epic layoff.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

The second good news for Godot today and I'm here for it

[-] [email protected] 26 points 2 years ago

People are losing their jobs. Their families are going to be in serious distress. I don't wish layoffs on anyone.

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[-] [email protected] 14 points 2 years ago

How does this help Godot?

[-] [email protected] 15 points 2 years ago

I guess that since Epic owns Unreal Engine that bad news for Epic means good news for Godot?

I don't think that Epic is going to want to divest from Unreal considering how much money it makes.

I also don't think that it's a zero-sum game. As a developer I want Unreal (and Unity) to be great so it creates more competition. Unreal has led the way in a lot of cool gaming tech that Godot is picking up.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 2 years ago

Epic actually invested in Godot with their MegaGrant. Godot is also available on the Epic store.

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The effects of the SVB bankruptcy are still rippling out.

Also, I thought Apple owned Bandcamp.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I think this might have more to do with the beating that Epic took from Apple in court. The 2021 decision in favor of Apple, of their lawsuit for anti-competitive behavior was upheld this year. That was not cheap to litigate that and was a major loss for Epic.

I think the Bandcamp sell off is a good indicator of all of this. Epic obtained Bandcamp in March 2022, to explicitly have their IAP system integrated into it. Google shut them down and told them they would start collecting the 30% usual due. Epic filed suit and Google gave them an exception for the time being with the agreement that 10% would be held in escrow until the conclusion of the trail. With many of the arguments in the Apple case similar to Google's case, I'm pretty sure Epic sees the loss coming from a mile away.

All in all, what I think can be drawn from this. Epic made a big bet on "their store" and that's fading away with mobile devices locking people into a marketplace that is "distinctly not Epic". While putting such a bet wouldn't normally kill a company, Epic sextupled down on it and I think how hard they went for "their marketplace" is what's done them in.

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[-] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago

SVB has nothing to do with this, it's crazy that people think that SVB is a cause and not a symptom.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago

I think you’re thinking of GarageBand.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

or Bootcamp

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

It's funny really. They probably could continued growth had Tim Sweeney just swallowed his pride and accepted the 30% commission rate. Instead, the game has a nearly non-existent prominence on mobile because of it.

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this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023

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