Your Games, Your Freedom
DEGA Store is a censorship-resistant and permissionless game store where only you have the power to stop yourself from selling your game. You can buy whatever game you want, and as long as you have your receipt (proof of purchase), your purchased games will always be with you. DEGA Store isn't here to be the middleman; it's here only to ensure that ultimately both the buyer and seller call the shots with each other without interference.
Censorship-resistance
We can't delete your account, nor can we properly delete your store or your game product pages. Additionally, we can't stop you from selling your games or prevent people from buying whatever they want.
Permissionless
You do not need our permission to create an account, sell, or post anything.
Moderation
While we can't delete your account, pages, or posts, or stop you from selling your games and preventing people from buying them, we can mark, hide, or block pages and posts. However, all moderation efforts can be bypassed by sellers and buyers. This results in both censorship resistance and quality control.
Interconnected stores
Game producers can set up their own store on their website that they control, and their game products will appear both on their site and on DEGA Store. So, even if we block a game from being sold, it can still be purchased on the producer's site.
Multiple payment methods
You will have the ability to sell your games using any payment method that we can integrate into DEGA Store's system. Bitcoin will, of course, be implemented, and depending on the technicalities of traditional payment systems, they will also be integrated. If one service denies you, another would be available for you to set up, and so on.
(Implementation is one aspect; your setup of each payment method is another.)
No revenue split
Since we are not a middleman between the buyer and seller, and payment setup is handled by the seller, the game producer receives 100% of the sale, and DEGA Store does not take a cut. DEGA Store's revenue stream is generated elsewhere.
No single-point of failure
Since DEGA Store does not control account creation or manage them, and only has copies of pages, posts, and builds (assuming the studio has set things up correctly), it is not the one selling games or acting as an intermediary between the buyer and seller. Therefore, any attempt by a third party to pressure DEGA Store to stop a game producer from selling their game is impossible, even if DEGA faces the threat of having its banking services revoked.
Essentially, think of DEGA Store as a browser. Furthermore, in the event that DEGA Store goes under, sellers can still sell their games, and the store would remain functional (there would just be a small hiccup period of a worse user experience until sellers reconfigure/reset up their store with the same system).
A domain is not needed, and backend reconfiguration and setup by the seller using their own resources can be done, ensuring that sellers can get out of relying on DEGA Store.
Proof of purchase
For every purchase, you receive an encrypted receipt. As long as you have that receipt, it proves that you bought a specific game from a specific game producer, and it will always be attached to your account and cannot be removed.
Ownership clarity
To have clear wording regarding what the game producer is selling. Are they renting you their game with an unspecified date for revoking access (licensing), or are they genuinely trying to sell you a game so that you own a copy? Regardless of whether it is being sold or rented, you will clearly know what is being offered (more so that the best stores out there).
No DRM
DEGA Store will not have its own Digital Rights Management (DRM). Game producers can implement their own DRM; however, there will be a checkbox that they can tick if they do have it, so you would be informed.
Game launcher
A launcher designed to manage your games and installations, featuring continuously growing implementations.
Backup builds
Users have the ability to back up or mirror the game builds of the games they purchased and can play those builds. However, there is no guarantee that older builds of a game will work, as it depends on the developers of the game and how it was set up.
No forced updates
If there is an update for a game, you will be informed and given the option to update it. You will not be prevented from playing the game if you choose not to update, assuming this is possible based on how the game was developed (meaning that if the game developers make older builds unplayable).
Mod support?
The return of (and modernization of) physical game copies?
Isn't this too good to be true?
On the surface, it may seem that way, but not in reality. It's not all sunshine and rainbows; it still requires considerable effort to make things work, even for the game seller behind the scenes. However, if everything is done correctly and as this continues to grow, it will improve, and freedoms will become more powerful.
Is all of this possible?
Yes, many of the systems that will be developed for DEGA Store have already been developed and implemented in a different project. The only system we are not 100% sure about is the multiple payment methods system, as we have not explored that yet. However, we are optimistic about it and will update this answer with good news in the future.
Since you aren't taking any cut from game sales, not even 1%, how are you able to make money to sustain DEGA Store?
Developers need storage and bandwidth for their game builds, as well as reliable speeds, so we will be providing that. Essentially, we are focused on building a strong backend infrastructure. This forms the initial core of our business model, and there are additional revenue streams to be implemented.
When will this go live?
We are currently focused on a different project, and DEGA Store is certainly a larger endeavor than it. As soon as that project begins generating profits with decent margins, a percentage of those profits will be allocated to fund the development of DEGA Store, or we may seek investors to support it. However, please keep in mind that what is developed for that project will most likely be utilized for DEGA Store, so with that in mind, you can assume that we are already building it. We are in the final stages of planning, and the frontend design is being developed in our free time whenever possible.