Wales Interactive: YouTuber requested $17,600 for coverage
Soul Axiom dev shocked by demands
A developer from Wales Interactive, the studio behind Soul Axiom, Master Reboot and Infinity Runner, has shared a recent experience where an unnamed YouTuber asked for thousands of dollars to feature a game.
Ben Tester shared his experience on Reddit and asked the development community if they had experienced similar requests.
"On one of my normal PR rounds I received an email from a very popular YouTuber with a few million subscribers offering to have one of our games featured on their YouTube channel for a rate of either $17,600 for 2-3 talking points or $22,000 for 2-3 talking points AND a description link.
"Upon reading this my jaw dropped. Is this real? Are there developers out there that pay that sort of money to have their game featured in one video?"
The news comes as popular gaming YouTuber Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg passed 10 billion views on YouTube and The Federal Trade Commission settled charges against Machinima for deceptive practices involving YouTube personalities.
"I must stress that I emailed the YTer first to ask if they would like to receive a free code for our game to play for their channel," added Tester.
"The YTer did NOT mention anything about making a 'positive' promotion nor was this a scam from a fake YTer. Finally I'd like to state that I refused the offer."
The Reddit thread prompted a response from YouTuber slowbeef, who also shared concerns about this type of request.
“I don't like this trend, and I want to do what I can to spread the word about it. Game developers shouldn't be exploited like this and most every Let's Player I've talked to about this agrees that it's disgusting.”