Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: DotA 2, valve

Is Valve Cheating Artists Over 'Dota 2' Skins?

Compete is reporting today that artists who are developing skins for Dota 2 are getting cheated by Valve out of profits earned through the store for their designs. The complaints stem from a subreddit where a collection of artists have put their collective complaints under a single username and voiced their concerns over the way the current monetization system is handled and how the artists themselves aren't receiving a fair amount for the work they're doing to help promote the game's in-system content. What's more, apparently the company aren't giving away any hard numbers of what those skins earn, and are failing to tell the artists when they're being paid for their work.

The article and the subreddit go into further depth over the way the system works and how screwed up it is, but to put a small bow on top of this massive package, artists should earn a fair wage regardless of what they create. If the contracts in place cap the limit of their earnings and they agreed to it, that's one thing. But if the payment system is cumulative and has a specific percentage of it, then the company needs to fork over the hard numbers to show that's the amount an artist earns for their work without a blind deposit and nothing to back up the amount. If they're not getting the info and fair payment they believe they should be receiving, then it's time for all of them to drop their work and hold back from creating anything new until their questions are addressed.

What are your thoughts on the situation? Do the artists have the right to demand this info and be paid accordingly to those findings, or does the company reserve the right to withhold the info for their own records as part of the agreement?

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