Fwiw they’re just collecting a paycheck. Sure it’s scummy for them to not reject the businesses offering them the money but tbh I really don’t blame them - I’d probably take the cash too.

Depending on the channel size sponsored ad reads can deliver upwards of multiple thousand per video for the creator. If you see multiple channels with the same ads, it’s bc the company advertising got a big budget approved, that’s it.

Imo just skip the ad reads (or get sponsorblock) and forget they exist. Usually the creator doesn’t even give a fuck who’s paying them or why. They are victims of the system too, not maliciously peddling garbage. I do wish they didn’t have to peddle anything, but here we are.

You do realize those are usually exclusive for only a year, right? So EGS pays them out for a year of exclusivity and then the devs are free to launch on steam and others.

The thing is, often if they don’t get that first infusion of cash from a deal with EGS (or another investor) they don’t get to complete or even launch the game at all. So it never would make it to the other markets.