Freebie Info - Symmetry [ENDED]

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Today, for you:

[HEADING=2]Symmetry [https://www.gog.com/][/HEADING]

Symmetry will be free at GOG until April 5th at 1pm UTC. To get it, just go to gog.com, find the giveaway banner and click the big green "Get It Free" button. The goodies will show up in your library a moment later. Luckily, the banner is actually at the top of the page this time instead of somewhere in the nether regions.

Spoiler: store page description

A research spaceship reaches an abandoned planet. Nothing is what it seems here and the situation quickly slips out of control. Can the crew manage to survive and get back home?

SYMMETRY is a survival management game set in a retro- futuristic, sci-fi universe. Your main goal is to manage the crash survivors and help them withstand the desolate, extremely cold environment in order to fix their spacecraft and escape. The non- obvious plot is accompanied by an atmospheric musical score and graphic design that sustains the harsh and mysterious ambience.

Survivors? life functions crucial to their existence, such as eating, resting and mental health need to be taken care of. Extreme circumstances may force crew members to develop new skills like botanics or power plant operations, that weren't necessary in their Earthly life. Gathering all the parts required to repair the spaceship becomes a race against time, as extreme weather conditions and life-threatening supernatural activities become more and more present.

Have a look if interested and enjoy.

 

[Hawki]

You know, genuine question, does the game developer have any say as to when their game goes for free? Are they compensated or anything?

Like, if I'm a AAA developer, I can see the worth of letting one of my games go free, under the basis it'll get people into the series and buy more of it, but if I've only developed one game, and one day Epic decides to make that game free, then it might get more people playing it, but it doesn't help my wallet.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

You know, genuine question, does the game developer have any say as to when their game goes for free? Are they compensated or anything?

Like, if I'm a AAA developer, I can see the worth of letting one of my games go free, under the basis it'll get people into the series and buy more of it, but if I've only developed one game, and one day Epic decides to make that game free, then it might get more people playing it, but it doesn't help my wallet.

I very much doubt Epic, Humble, Steam or GOG can just decide to make a game free willy nilly.

In the case of Epic's freebies, they usually happen when a game launches on their platform, likely as a form of promotion. I haven't found any reliable source on it, but it's pretty much certain that Epic negotatiates an agreement with the developers and/or publisher (especially if the publisher is a big boy). I'd say the dev/pub is then paid on a per download basis. Or they're offered a fixed lump sum upfront for x number of keys.

Epic then calculates the cost of the freebie against the number of new customers they expect to gain from it. The developer/publisher then does the same, while also weighing it against the risk that letting a store offer their game for free will devalue that game in the eyes of the customer. Which is probably the reason why freebies are usually older games, and why they often coincide with sales and/or the release of a new game or new dlc. The old game already made most of its revenue anyway, but maybe giving people a free taste can serve as a springboard to spending on the rest of your catalogue.

Not sure how it works for Humble or GOG, but it's likely very similar. As for Steam, I don't think Valve are the type to walk up to devs/pubs to ask for promotional freebies. Seems more likely it'll be the other way around, the devs/pubs are the asking party and Valve is all "Ok fine, whatever". Mind you, I don't think Valve makes any money of those.

Exception is of course if say Ubisoft gives one of their games away on Uplay. Both are their own property, so all they need to do is basically set the price to zero.