Moreover, in direct communications about Dead Realm 3BlackDot proudly touts the YouTubers' involvement. Gamasutra received an email from a company representative this week that read, in part, "Evan Fong (VanossGaming – 13.7 million subscribers), Tom Cassell (TheSyndicateProject – 9.1 million subscribers) and Adam Montoya (SeaNanners – 5.4 million subscribers), all partners and co-creators at 3BD, joined forces to create the first multiplayer PC game that was created by an influencer network specifically for the YouTube community." (It then goes on to tout the number of unique views YouTube videos made about the game have garnered since its release, "all with zero marketing spend.") It may well be an honest oversight. The FTC's revised disclosure guidelines for YouTubers are relatively new, as is the fact that Let's Play videos can serve as effective ads for games, and both Cassell and Montoya have previously published videos (albeit weeks or months ago) in which they speak briefly about being involved in the development of Dead Realm.
"The reason is obvious: Knowing about the connection is important information for anyone evaluating the endorsement." "If an ad features an endorser who’s a relative or employee of the marketer, the ad is misleading unless the connection is made clear," reads the FTC's endorsement guide. Gamasutra has contacted multiple 3BlackDot representatives to verify whether or not the company is aware of the FTC's expectations and ascertain whether it has any plans to comply, but received no direct response to that question. This is important because both Syndicate and SeaNanners have published multiple videos of themselves excitedly playing Dead Realm without clearly disclosing their financial ties to the game's publisher, seemingly defying the FTC's strict guidelines for how YouTubers should disclose paid endorsements (coincidentally, the UK Committee of Advertising Practices published a similar set of revised guidelines this week in an effort to enforce transparency among YouTubers producing advertorial videos.) The rise of YouTubers has definitely affected how many developers make games, but Dead Realm is a special case: it's published by 3BlackDot, the "influencer-driven" entertainment startup founded last year by ex-Machinima staffers in conjunction with YouTubers Tom "Syndicate" Cassell and Adam "SeaNanners" Montoya. "We developed this game to not only be fun to play, but also fun to watch," reads an excerpt of the game's description on Steam. In particular, the game has proven popular among YouTubers, in part because it's explicitly designed to be played in front of an audience.