Epic Games Buying Bandcamp Is Another Death For The Independent Internet

thegamer.com:

Epic Games just purchased Bandcamp, making for one of the smaller gaming acquisitions in a year that, just two months in, is already echoing with the screeching gears of capitalism. This is not as monumental, nor will it have as far reaching consequences as Microsoft buying Activision, but it's in the same sphere of monopolisation, commodification, and the erasure of spaces for independent art to thrive.

When big companies buy up smaller companies, a little piece of the internet's creativity, ambition, and raw punk edge dies. It can be a lucrative payday for those involved in setting up these small companies, for those who have toiled to build something great, something that has grown from nothing into one of the most unique spaces on the internet, but all of us lose out a little. Epic Games say Bandcamp will remain independent, but that cannot ever be true in acquisitions like this. Even if it continues in a business-as-usual manner most of the time, when a multinational corporation is signing the cheques and asking for progress reports, that's going to change your decision making.

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What was most troublesome about all of this was the statement Bandcamp released confirming the acquisition. "I'm excited to announce that Bandcamp is joining Epic Games, who you may know as the makers of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, and champions for a fair and open Internet." I mean... what? The first two, sure. You hear Epic, you think Fortnite. But "champions for a fair and open Internet"? Who on Earth knows Epic Games as that, aside from Epic themselves? In the very first paragraph from Bandcamp following the acquisition, Epic is already using the company as a