A new game from Mobious, the delightfully cheerful Outer Wilds, is the latest title to ink an exclusivity deal with Epic for their sales platform on PC. Developer Mobious Digital has teamed up with publisher Annapurna Interactive to deliver on this new game, but it’s not all good news for some fans.
In an update on the game’s fig page (via Resetera), the company behind the title revealed the plan to have the game be out first for some platforms, with other releases following later. “Outer Wilds will first be released on Xbox One and on PC via the Epic Games Store, with additional platforms coming later,” the developer said in their statement.
Outer Wilds is a new adventure title born from a Fig crowdfunding campaign which promised to deliver a quirky and unique adventure through time and space. The crux of the game is a mysterious time loop that the player seems to be trapped within, and the whole story is presented via a series of simple puzzles and looping narrative beats. It’s a very unique title both from writing and visual perspectives, so it got some immediate good press and hype, leading to a successful backing campaign.
Going into further detail, the developer wanted to make it clear that their first and foremost commitment is to their fans and backers. And that this deal will help them deliver on the promise that they made to those people. “With Annapurna Interactive, Xbox, and Epic to support us and keep our small studio running long enough to ship the game at the level of quality that it is today. Each of these partnerships has enabled us to make the game better and more accessible for everyone who will play it.”
The plan was to drop the game in 2016 originally, planning to release the title on PC, Mac and Linux via Steam. And while the plan to expand to more platforms like consoles is a good move, the exclusivity deal has caused some backlash. And while many gamers and press outlets are calling this out as an example of something not to do, maybe Mobios can turn this negative perception around by delivering on an amazing game.
