Indie devs say they were offered ‘exposure’ (not cash) to port games to Tesla vehicles

Elon Musk’s car company, Tesla, once reached out to game designer Sam Barlow about possibly putting his game Her Story into its cars. According to Barlow, Tesla didn’t offer money, but instead said it would be good exposure for the game.

Tesla has run video games within its cars before, most notably Cuphead. It can only be played while the car is parked. Tesla has also been working on Steam integration with its vehicles and a demo is apparently coming soon. Barlow suggests, though, that some developers weren’t offered pay to partner with Tesla.

“Tesla once reached out to ask to put Her Story in a car. I asked how much they would pay for the license and to cover the engineering work—they suggested zero, that I consider the exposure I would get,” Barlow explains on Twitter. “Her Story in a car remains one of the sillier ideas I’ve heard.”

The co-founder of Panic, Cabel Sasser, also chimed in, saying that Tesla reached out about doing the same with Untitled Goose Game as well.

Tesla once reached out to ask to put her story in a car. I asked how much they would pay for the license and to cover the engineering work- they suggested zero, that I consider the exposure I would get

— Sam Barlow 🧜‍♀️ Project C & D (@mrsambarlow) October 31, 2022

Barlow’s story came as a response to reports that Musk, who just purchased Twitter, would require those with verified accounts on Twitter to pay up to $20 a month to keep the status.

Her Story first launched in June 2016 for PC, Android, and iOS. Since then, Barlow has released new games such as Telling Lies in 2019 and Immortality in August. Her Story follows a young British woman (played by actress Viva Seifert) being interviewed about her missing husband. The player must search a desktop computer database by looking up terms and watching clips in order to piece together her story.