Well that's it folks, Desura has been acquired by Linden Lab the makers well known for the Second Life game.
Press Release is below:
Source: http://www.lindenlab.com/releases/linden-lab-acquires-desura
So maybe this will help Desura improve their service, I have been hearing complaints from quite a few developers on the time it takes them to get things done.
Not only that but maybe this will also speed up their rather needed re-design which the now previous owner Scott has said is being worked on?
What would be interesting is to see how they manage the desktop client since it's open source (Desurium). Will they keep to that or will they go their own way? This will be very interesting to see how it plays out.
I have reached out to Linden for clarification on the client to see if they plan to do anything with it.
Thanks to Neil on twitter for letting us know!
UPDATE: Scott Reismanis from Desura posted the following statement in our comments section:
ANOTHER UPDATE: Desura themselves have now put out their own statement on the acquisition:
Update 3: Message to us from Peter Gray Manager, PR & Communications
Press Release is below:
QuoteSAN FRANCISCO – July 10, 2013 – Linden Lab, the makers of shared creative spaces including Second Life, Patterns, Creatorverse, Versu, and dio, today announced that it has acquired Desura, a digital distribution service for PC gamers. The service will continue uninterrupted for current customers and the team and technology become a part of Linden Lab.
Desura puts the best games, mods, and downloadable content from developers at gamers’ fingertips, ready to buy and play. The free Desura application can serve and patch games, mods, and add-ons directly for customers around the world. Developers and publishers can share news, images, videos, and other content through their profiles, while every member of the Desura community can post comments, submit reviews, and upload screenshots from their own playing experiences. Desura also demystifies user-made mods and add-ons for games by making them as easy to find and install or update as professional titles.
“Desura’s talented team, thriving business, and impressive technology are a great fit for Linden Lab,” said Rod Humble, CEO of Linden Lab. “This acquisition gives us a global platform for serving creative developers of all kinds, and we’re looking forward to growing both Desura’s global community of gamers and its fantastic portfolio of thousands of games, mods, and other content. Our aim is to invest and support the Desura team in making it the most open and developer-friendly platform in the world.”
The acquisition is Linden Lab’s second of the year and follows the company’s acquisition of Blocksworld, an iPad game soon to be released globally.
About Linden Lab
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, Linden Lab makes shared creative spaces that inspire and empower users to explore and share their creativity with others.
In 2003, the company released Second Life, the pioneering virtual world filled by the unique creations of its users, who can build anything they can imagine, socialize with others from around the world, and share or sell their creations in a thriving real-money marketplace.
Linden Lab has now expanded its portfolio to include four new digital entertainment products, including Patterns, a new 3D universe for users to shape; Creatorverse, a tablet and mobile game that allows users to set their creativity in motion; dio, a new shared creative space on the web; and Versu, an interactive fiction experience that makes the reader a part of a living story.
For more about Linden Lab, its products, and career opportunities please visit LindenLab.com.
Source: http://www.lindenlab.com/releases/linden-lab-acquires-desura
So maybe this will help Desura improve their service, I have been hearing complaints from quite a few developers on the time it takes them to get things done.
Not only that but maybe this will also speed up their rather needed re-design which the now previous owner Scott has said is being worked on?
What would be interesting is to see how they manage the desktop client since it's open source (Desurium). Will they keep to that or will they go their own way? This will be very interesting to see how it plays out.
I have reached out to Linden for clarification on the client to see if they plan to do anything with it.
Thanks to Neil on twitter for letting us know!
UPDATE: Scott Reismanis from Desura posted the following statement in our comments section:
QuoteRest assured this means big things for Linux and Desura as a whole. For a while we have been held back with limited resources available. The addition of employees to the team will allow us to improve the client, support more games, so expect significant progress to be made over the coming months
ANOTHER UPDATE: Desura themselves have now put out their own statement on the acquisition:
QuotePublishers, developers and gamers - you may have seen in the news recently that Desura has been acquired by Linden Lab. This marks an important milestone in the company's history - with much to come.
If you've read Techcrunch, Gamasutra, GamesIndustry, Gamespot, GamingOnLinux, Joystiq, Destructoid (and more) today, you may have seen the news that Desura has been acquired by Linden Lab, the makers of shared creative spaces including Second Life, Patterns, Creatorverse, Versu, and dio.
For our community of gamers, publishers, and developers, rest assured Desura shall continue running uninterrupted. Long term, expect plenty of polish as we continually strive to innovate and differentiate ourselves as we have done in the past with our Linux client, alphafunding, mod support and self-publishing for developers. We have big plans and many ideas to explore, and the resources we now have as part of Linden Lab will allow us to do just that.
Our aim remains to put great games, mods, and downloadable content at the fingertips of players - and we look forward to doing this in a greatly expanded manner and challenging ourselves to grow with the games we support.
Update 3: Message to us from Peter Gray Manager, PR & Communications
QuoteHi Liam,Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Thanks for your email! Today we're not announcing specific plans for the service, but as Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble noted in the press release, "Our aim is to invest and support the Desura team in making it the most open and developer-friendly platform in the world.” It's also worth noting that Linden Lab supports Linux with Second Life and has a strong belief in the future of the OS going forward.
Best,
Peter
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Desura really needs a better client, I hope this acquisition improves things.
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Well this is a shocker, I wonder what this means for Linux. A lot of times when companies buy-out someone, the product disappears in 6 months to a year. They recently bought an iPad game, so I'm guessing they were looking for some distribution service.
I'm just gonna throw this out there: I'm guessing that Desura will become a place where you can buy their products and services. I think they will transition away from the Steam-like service it is now, and to something more self-serving.
I think this is a good time to download your stand-alone games from Desura and not buy anything else until their intentions are crystal clear.
I'm just gonna throw this out there: I'm guessing that Desura will become a place where you can buy their products and services. I think they will transition away from the Steam-like service it is now, and to something more self-serving.
I think this is a good time to download your stand-alone games from Desura and not buy anything else until their intentions are crystal clear.
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Could be good. Interesting how the things work out. Does current staff at Desura will continue as they were or can we expect eg. quicker auth process (currently only in AUS timezone). Better PR to promote not only new games will be amazing. Will Linux will be a thing ?
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Well, it is still a bit early for anyone to get panicky yet. It is not as if Linden Labs has been hostile to Linux in the past, so I think we should just wait and see what happens with regards to everything. That being said, when I have the opportunity I might just download the few games I have on there that are not from Humble Bundle just in case, and I might just wait for a bit before buying anything new. Just in case.
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Cheeseness 
Jul 10, 2013
Wow, that's super surprising.
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There are linux programmers currently working on LL, as they offer a linux version for their Second Life client.
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The port of Second Life was originally developed by Ryan C. Gordon, although I do not know who is currently maintaining it.
http://icculus.org/news/news.php?id=2571
http://icculus.org/news/news.php?id=2571
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Another thing to remember is that some of the code for Second Life has been released, so I do not think they will move to close up Desurium, especially with the large role the community has assumed with it. So I think we should be good, looking at everything.
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Hey guys, Scott here from Desura. Rest assured this means big things for Linux and Desura as a whole. For a while we have been held back with limited resources available. The addition of employees to the team will allow us to improve the client, support more games, so expect significant progress to be made over the coming months
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Thanks for the clarification Scott, I have added it to our article. :)
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I have now updated the article yet again as Desura themselves have now put out a statement, which gives us a shout-out by the way. ^_^
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I think this is a good time to download your stand-alone games from Desura and not buy anything else until their intentions are crystal clear.
And a good time to back up the CD keys, and to be thankful because Desura is not Steam.
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Wow! This is huge news! A little scary, of course. Their unique mix of features has fit my needs, and I've been a pretty strong supporter of Desura since the first Linux beta client. I've invested considerably into my game library there, and I'm sure that I'm not alone in being somewhat concerned about what this means, so it's really great to see Scott address us here, personally!
If a member of the team, or an employee of Linden Labs, chooses to drop by this thread again, I'd be very pleased to have answers to a few questions.
The first was addressed by Scott himself, regarding the future of Linux support. It would be good to have a few details there, but his presence and brief statement is very encouraging, and indeed, much more than I'd expected.
Secondly, I'd like to know what role the founders have in the new entity (i.e., Scott, Henley, Protektor, etc.). They've worked really hard building this site and the community around it; I'd feel better knowing that their vision was being enhanced rather than replaced.
Thirdly, I'm curious what effect this transition will have on the other DesuraNET properties (e.g., IndieDB, ModDB & the new SlideDB). Were all of them purchased, or just the Desura service itself? And, if they were all purchased, what will their future be?
Lastly, those of us whom are members of the community probably have some nifty constructive criticism/advice. I surely do! Will a specific avenue be opened for these sorts of comments? Or should we do what we usually do, which is post on the Desura forums (or just e-mail Scott directly :P)...
If a member of the team, or an employee of Linden Labs, chooses to drop by this thread again, I'd be very pleased to have answers to a few questions.
The first was addressed by Scott himself, regarding the future of Linux support. It would be good to have a few details there, but his presence and brief statement is very encouraging, and indeed, much more than I'd expected.
Secondly, I'd like to know what role the founders have in the new entity (i.e., Scott, Henley, Protektor, etc.). They've worked really hard building this site and the community around it; I'd feel better knowing that their vision was being enhanced rather than replaced.
Thirdly, I'm curious what effect this transition will have on the other DesuraNET properties (e.g., IndieDB, ModDB & the new SlideDB). Were all of them purchased, or just the Desura service itself? And, if they were all purchased, what will their future be?
Lastly, those of us whom are members of the community probably have some nifty constructive criticism/advice. I surely do! Will a specific avenue be opened for these sorts of comments? Or should we do what we usually do, which is post on the Desura forums (or just e-mail Scott directly :P)...
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Cheeseness Jul 11, 2013
Scott's said elsewhere that IndieDB, ModDB and SlideDB will remain under the DBolical banner, so that answers that part at least ^_^
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Thanks for letting us know Scott, wish you all the best.
I really do hope this gives you guys enough resources to get more than 0 people in on your desktop client (Desurium), that is unless you are moving to 100% web based stand alone downloads?
I really do hope this gives you guys enough resources to get more than 0 people in on your desktop client (Desurium), that is unless you are moving to 100% web based stand alone downloads?
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Hey, thanks Cheese!
Now that you've mentioned that, I felt it worth searching a bit, and found this, which pretty much corroborates those sites remaining independent.
I really liked how integrated the three sites were (four, with SlideDB), and now wonder if those site integration features will need to change. I suppose it's a bit early to be wondering about that, seeing that right now, nothing has changed whatsoever.
Now that you've mentioned that, I felt it worth searching a bit, and found this, which pretty much corroborates those sites remaining independent.
I really liked how integrated the three sites were (four, with SlideDB), and now wonder if those site integration features will need to change. I suppose it's a bit early to be wondering about that, seeing that right now, nothing has changed whatsoever.
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I don't think I'll be participating in any sort of Desura boycott. I don't think Linden Labs are a bad company, nor are they bad for Linux gaming (they've continued maintaining their own Linux client software, seem quite permissive with their SL members, are generally against DRM, etc). Also, I already regularly back up my standalone Desura installers and CD-keys, so I'm not personally too worried about that.
With luck, some long-standing troubles can be resolved by these Linden funds and resources, like improvements to marketing and promotion, including sales banners. Also, I know that the Humble folks have been aggressively courting newly Kickstarted game projects, and have been extremely helpful to dozens of projects, arranging for them to continue pre-orders/alpha-funding, as well as distributing digital rewards.
Desura has a messaging problem which we've discussed at length in this community, regarding their game installers, where there is still the misperception that the desktop client is required for all games, where it is actually only required for a small number of games. Well, a very small number of my games, anyway (I'll have to check; last I looked, it was one single game). That sort of erroneous perception is tough to combat without any marketing resources. I can't even count the number of folks I've had to explain that to, having to resort (unfortunately) to referring to it as Desura's "GOG.com mode".
Another example would be to once again bring Desura keys to Humble Bundles, like the ubiquitous Steam keys. That was a cost burden that Desura simply couldn't justify, but it was awesome marketing. I was drawn to them because of it originally which is somewhat ironic since I'd known about ModDB and IndieDB for some time before finally learning about Desura from a totally unrelated game bundle.
And, of course, the Mac desktop client (along with assorted client bug fixes and improvements, many from Desurium). Anyway, these suggestions are far from revelatory, and this is almost certainly the wrong place for me to voice them.
With luck, some long-standing troubles can be resolved by these Linden funds and resources, like improvements to marketing and promotion, including sales banners. Also, I know that the Humble folks have been aggressively courting newly Kickstarted game projects, and have been extremely helpful to dozens of projects, arranging for them to continue pre-orders/alpha-funding, as well as distributing digital rewards.
Desura has a messaging problem which we've discussed at length in this community, regarding their game installers, where there is still the misperception that the desktop client is required for all games, where it is actually only required for a small number of games. Well, a very small number of my games, anyway (I'll have to check; last I looked, it was one single game). That sort of erroneous perception is tough to combat without any marketing resources. I can't even count the number of folks I've had to explain that to, having to resort (unfortunately) to referring to it as Desura's "GOG.com mode".
Another example would be to once again bring Desura keys to Humble Bundles, like the ubiquitous Steam keys. That was a cost burden that Desura simply couldn't justify, but it was awesome marketing. I was drawn to them because of it originally which is somewhat ironic since I'd known about ModDB and IndieDB for some time before finally learning about Desura from a totally unrelated game bundle.
And, of course, the Mac desktop client (along with assorted client bug fixes and improvements, many from Desurium). Anyway, these suggestions are far from revelatory, and this is almost certainly the wrong place for me to voice them.
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Thanks for letting us know Scott, wish you all the best.
I really do hope this gives you guys enough resources to get more than 0 people in on your desktop client (Desurium), that is unless you are moving to 100% web based stand alone downloads?
Yes, please. I'd be very pleased if it was 100% web based with game installation handled thru a browser plugin for convenience like the gnome-shell extensions site does, but with a direct download option too. Give it a shot, please!
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Thank you Scott, that clears things up a bit.=)
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I don't think I'll be participating in any sort of Desura boycott.
I do not think anyone brought up the idea of boycotting Desura, but rather that they wanted a bit more information to be released before investing in it again. In my mind that information has now become available, so I am quite happy with how things stand at present. :)
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