Anyone using gamedistribution.com as a publisher?

[mazoku]

I am new to having arcade sites and I have few questions. 

[Capitaine Herlock]

I have published games on itch.io but in the context of Game Jams

[AlgoGames]

Check out this thread. People have had not so great experience with gamedistribution.com. Its no advice just an FYI

 

Edit: I just realized that the original thread was also created by you. Anyways, I guess you already have the information which I was trying to pass on.

[erezson]

Yes, I think they're good for publishers

[Prozi]

My two cents/My story:

Registered at gamedistribution.com game `Vikings Village Party Hard` in AUGUST 2017

Read that I need revenue on the level of 50 Euro before they pay me. OK. Then we wait 60 days OK.

I haven't received ANY payments so far.

Attaching screenshot from paypal (incoming transfers selected, Euro, none as you see)

Attaching screenshot from their old system as you can see it was well above 50 Euro even before 2018 January

This should get you thinking about the GD Franchise.

 

[Prozi]

Update:

 

They paid me after I emailed them like 10 times

Will continue using it

 

This is fragment from my paypal:

 

Uwaga od użytkownika Orangegames Holding B.V.
Vooxe/Tunnl August € 48,11, September € 17,27, October € 11,82, November € 10,90, December € 5,22 payment 2017!
Szczegóły
Nadawca: Orangegames Holding B.V.93,32 EUR
Opłata-ujemne 3,06 EUR
Suma90,26 EUR

[gonzos]

Does anyone have problem with upload on GameDistribution.com?

I have following problem: Root folder of zip file doesn't include index.html or manifest.json.

even if I have index.html in root folder.

[Antriel]

It's badly worded. They mean to convey that 

if(!file.contains("index.html") || !file.contains("manifest.json")) throw "Bad zip file";

That is: you are missing manifest.json. No idea why they started requiring it though. Doesn't have too much sense for html5 games, although I guess certain parts do.

[gonzos]

On 10/7/2018 at 4:40 PM, Antriel said:

It's badly worded. They mean to convey that 

if(!file.contains("index.html") || !file.contains("manifest.json")) throw "Bad zip file";

That is: you are missing manifest.json. No idea why they started requiring it though. Doesn't have too much sense for html5 games, although I guess certain parts do.

And how to manifest.json have to look? There isn't explanation on their how to implement API web page? 

 

According your code above it means "one of"- I see logical or ||

[Antriel]

1 hour ago, gonzos said:

And how to manifest.json have to look? There isn't explanation on their how to implement API web page? 

I just googled and used the first thing I found and it worked. https://app-manifest.firebaseapp.com/

1 hour ago, gonzos said:

According your code above it means "one of"- I see logical or ||

Yes, if either is missing, then the package is invalid. The same as:

if(!(file.contains("index.html") && file.contains("manifest.json"))) throw "Bad zip file";

 

[Frozennnn]

Im using gamedistribution but i will delete all my games, they pay me the first times but from may they dont pay me again i talk with them and say that they are delayed but never pay me again.

I upload more than 50 games in all this months.

Be carrefull with this guys.

Cheers

[Prozi]

On 10/16/2018 at 6:46 PM, Frozennnn said:

Im using gamedistribution but i will delete all my games, they pay me the first times but from may they dont pay me again i talk with them and say that they are delayed but never pay me again.

I upload more than 50 games in all this months.

Be carrefull with this guys.

Cheers

I can confirm that they pay a lot less after time like 100x less

[Nagval333]

On 10/19/2018 at 2:24 PM, Prozi said:

I can confirm that they pay a lot less after time like 100x less

Hey Prozi  Last time you said that you will continue using them.  For now you suggest not to deal with them? I just planned to upload more games on their portal... ?

Maybe the payment decrease occur after them stop featuring games on some of categories... What about impressions/gameplay ratio etc?

[Prozi]

Well Judge for yourself 3 dollars per month is not too much but maybe they changed the api or sth or Im doing something wrong

 

But I see their ads in my game and all they give is about 3$ per month this is ridiculous

 

Maybe i am doing something wrong and you will have more luck

 

I am just honestly telling my case

 

[erezson]

I'm a publisher and having games that I distribute also by GD.

I can confirm that in the last 6 month you need to approach them to get the payment - but at least you get, and their minimum payment is low, not like others who can say minimum $500

About eCPM - it dropped. since the beginning of the year it really dropped. on my website BIBIB.net I used to have 0.13 CPC (EURO) and it dropped like hell. I also see it with the games I distribute on other websites. I can't point on the reason, ADS.TXT or Google taking too much control on the market, maybe drop of value in the entire industry. Don't know. But I've heard about it from some publishers and developers.

[Ailton]

I was their member since summer 2017, both as a publisher and developer, and always had problems with payment. For each payment I had to beg several times in order to be paid. But, since August 2018 even that doesn't help anymore. Dozens of emails, and dozens of dummy answers, but no money arrived.

Stay away from GameDistribution!

[AntonBel]

16 hours ago, Ailton said:

I was their member since summer 2017, both as a publisher and developer, and always had problems with payment. For each payment I had to beg several times in order to be paid. But, since August 2018 even that doesn't help anymore. Dozens of emails, and dozens of dummy answers, but no money arrived.

Stay away from GameDistribution!

Thanks for this info.   I was planting my game to this site and after reading this stop doing  this.   Also they do not answer to my technical problems emails.    I think this is same story as with merketjs site.   

[bestgames]

I have same experience.. Gamedistribution doesn't want pay money.

[Ailton]

@bestgames, haven't you read my comment? I emailed them many times, but with no result. They always say that they're just about to pay, that their financial department is understaffed, mentioning technical difficulties. This comment above, from their support, is exactly an example: canned excuse and mild promise that things will be sorted out. And so goes on for months. I have sent my account info to that exact email several times, but no avail.

[bestgames]

On 1/9/2019 at 11:36 AM, Ailton said:

@bestgames, haven't you read my comment? I emailed them many times, but with no result. They always say that they're just about to pay, that their financial department is understaffed, mentioning technical difficulties. This comment above, from their support, is exactly an example: canned excuse and mild promise that things will be sorted out. And so goes on for months. I have sent my account info to that exact email several times, but no avail.

Hello,
I also have bad experience with Gamedistribution, they don't pay me my revenues from April 2018 to this day 2019 - and yes this is lot of money (over 10k Euro). I also write them but response from their support team is still same.. only excuses and lies eg. their system does not work or that accountant have not time.. I want mention that this company is not from Amsterdam in Netherlands, officially is from Turkey, YES... lies lies and lies, it's just a whole fraudulent company as PONZI scheme...

I heard and have info that Gamedistribution owned by OrangeGames accumulate funds, it’s over 8M - 10M€ (yes, millions euro on their AdSence account). Btw. Their company last year bought game developer Habbo. https://venturebeat.com/2018/05/17/orangegames-acquires-majority-stake-in-habbo-developer-sulake/ .. You can now understand why they need steal so many money.

I wrote them to all mails, but got only excuses and lies.

@Ailton  I think that this company is a huge scam similar to Ponzi scheme, and NO this is not cute response.. I published over 50 games with hundreds hours of hard work and I didnt get any money...

[GameDistribution Support]

Hi all,

Sorry to see that some of the developers have had a poor experience with delayed payments.
But to make this clear, everybody that uses gamedistribution.com will be and has been paid!

We made a big payment round in the last few days to get back on track again so nobody has been or ever will be scammed out of their hard earned money.
We strive to get these payment delays sorted and hope this will be a thing of the past soon.

Best,

Gamedistribution Team

[Lakshay]

I don't think they're good for developers, But they can be good for publishers.

 

[GameDistribution Support]

On 1/18/2019 at 3:27 PM, Lakshay said:

I don't think they're good for developers, But they can be good for publishers.

 

Hi Lakshay,

 

We are actually do very well for the developers AND the publishers as they all get an equal share of the revenue!
So there is no more benefit for a publisher or a developer, we all make the same great shares for as long as your game is live with us. ?

Cheers,
The GameDistribution.com Team

[ShrewdPixel]

I love a good online mystery. (a guilty pleasure of mine, I must admit.)

So I decided to do some digging. pro style.

Here's what I found:

As for the origin of the company being in Turkey, there is some credibility to that, as can be seen on their LinkedIn account. (See Screenshot)

They also have taken some serious liberties on their Github account, like with Phaser. (Not forked, straight up lifted- see link and screenshot)

Their domains are protected from whois search for registrar info with a solid lock, so it would cost money to actually find any previous records.

And the venturebeat article linked to above is valid, so they obviously are not strapped for cash in any way that would prevent them from paying devs.

Finally, to address their complaint to bestgames above to not give out their personal info, maybe a better solution would be to just pay the devs that have been helping you make so much money that you can buy other companies with it?

I've provided screenshots because I've noticed their account on here is actually following these threads. (You can see that on people's profile pages, you know?)

I hope that helps people with their assessment of their available options for online distribution.

EDIT -- February 4th 2019:

I've recently noticed that they've taken a sudden interest in my online profiles after this post. (See screenshot) And I don't think it's to see if I want to submit games.  

Edited February 4, 2019 by ShrewdPixel
Updated after GameDistrubution Started checking out my online profiles

[bestgames]

@ShrewdPixel Yes, exactly! Gamedistribution is not a reliable company! Their monthly revenue is millions euro .. and do not want to pay developers, this is stupid! 

Gamedistribution is Turkish based company. GD owner https://www.linkedin.com/in/eerturk/ and in 2017-2018 was  acquired by Orange Games.

https://tunnl.com/#team

They earn millions euros and they don't want pay a few hundred bucks?? Their business model is based on 33% revenue share with fixed rate = this mean when you will have more, more games as publisher and your games will serve more ads impressions Gamedistribution will earn more money than you. This is classic PONZI scheme where they get 68% Adsence earnings - throught DoubleClick actually Google AdManager. Now their company has investment fund called "Azerion" https://www.azerion.com/, you canunderstand why they don't want pay or pay after half year. (https://www.zonebourse.com/ADUX-23160243/actualite/AdUX-a-leve-1-5-million-d-euros-Azerion-a-22-4-27642661/)

They just need over €10M -  €50M on investments and developers / publishers are for them only "money makers".

Some example:

Gross revenue €100 = Adsence give them €68, They take €38 as fee and your revenue will be €30 (their system "optimization" system Tunnl calculated your revenue 2x smaller than your real/actual revenue from Google Adx ads) = if it pays you at all HAHAHA @GameDistribution Support, after they have €68 and you nothing...

With more, more ads impressions their system Tunnl started calculated smaller and smaller revenue, 2x smaller, 3x smaller (on 1,000,000 impressions you will earn almost the same revenue as on 4,000,000 impressions, but they get many more money)