Continuing Expansion of User-Generated Content Platforms Beyond Second Life, Linden Lab Acquires Desura

Desura is a digital distribution platform for user-generated game content like mods and screenshots, and also indie developer-made PC games; originally launched in 2009 from an Australian game company, it's now owned by someone else: Linden Lab, which just announced the acquisition for an unreported sum.

Curiously, I was just recently talking about Desura with a 12 year old Russian kid who read my game design book, and was thinking of uploading his 3D game project there. "It's a Steam-like game portal where you can buy game digitally," he told me solemnly. And yeah, the game development tools look pretty good. So this is Linden Lab's third PC-based UGC platform (after Second Life and Patterns), and follows on the heels of other recent Linden product launches/acquisitions: Blocksworld, Creatorverse, and Versu (for iOS), and Dio (for the web). With so many new products and purchases, one of them is bound to stick. Right?

Desura video demo after the break:

Desura M&B Player Intro Video - Desura

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Comments

[Bixyl Shuftan]

"With so many new products and purchases, one of them is bound to stick. Right?"

That does seem to be Linden Lab's other-than-Second-Life strategy.

[Adeon Writer]

Desura? I was under the impression that was a Steam competitor, just focused more on indie developers.

I have no idea if that's true or not, but that was my impression.

[Adeon Writer]

To append: Aha, I thought it was them. I have two games from that service. Purchased because I wanted the games, but they weren't available on Steam.

[Metacam Oh]

Throw enough turds at the wall eventually it will be brown.

[Ezra]

This can only help Desura.

Say what you want about Linden Lab, but one of their few undeniable achievements is creating and maintaining trusted user-to-user economies. Second Life is one of few entities in the last few years I deal with on the regular that hasn't had to send out mass emails saying reset password, cancel credit cards, we're sorry for days of downtime, etc. etc.

Linden Lab is a great company to host user-to-user anything that involves money and 99.9% uptime.

I love this move much more than Patterns and all that other stuff. Occasionally Linden Lab falls off the wagon by trying to be a creator instead of doing what they do best, enable creators. They need to leave things like Patterns and Linden Realms alone and instead focus on Second Life and now Desura.

[2013]

@ meta spoken like the delusional sandboxer you once was.

[Frans Charming]

Wow. I wonder if LL is working on something that they wanted to use this kind of technology but Valve/steam couldn't accommodate them.

[Metacam Oh]

@1993 Empty words from someone who cannot put a name behind the insult.