I apologize. I feel bad about misleading people in the comment section for a while, now. I feel pretty foolish about not paying attention to the adds on the giveaway page. I mean in not putting 2 and 2 together. Of course, that also means that those who criticize GOTD on their software selection have a better argument.
But, now that I've read the developer statement, I still think it's not exactly what it seems. Meaning no deception, but that it's still a little vague. For example, Online Armor reportedly may have given away 12,000 copies on GOTD recently. Or at least in the thousands. GOTD bought thousands of copies retail? And they;re supposed to get all that back in the occassional hit off the website? Especially considering all us "something for nothing" types? That can't be right. It would mean what the developers were paying for this advertising would be a HUGE outlay. And, really, circular cash flow. From a small developer, with low cash flow, in many cases. I was in broadcasting. I know a little about ad rates. Maybe there guaranteeing to buy 1 copy. Then the cash flow would be going the way it would have to go for the project to survive. And it would make more sense as to why they would be occassionally dealing with small fish.
Unless, they're either paying a HIGHLY discounted bulk rate, or there gambling on, say, six failures a week, hoping to strike it big on the 7th. Like Online Armor. It still makes me wonder about them buying 1,000s of copies, but, theoretically, those methods could work. Still, GOTD would have to be desperate to put up some of these amateurish softwares and then compensating at a retail rate per copy, hoping to get lots of hits later. And why wouldn't the game manufacturers want to use this if they were getting paid retail for every copy? Do sites like Gametop do that? If not, why can't GOTD compete? It seems almost a no lose if the developers are getting retail.
I'm not trying to be argumentative or critical, but I'm still not sure I've got a good picture how this project works. I imagine what I've asked is what most developers ask before they sign the agreement.