Epic Games announces multiplatform publishing partnerships with studios behind Control, Limbo, and The Last Guardian

[EllipsisBreak]

I do want to give Epic props for their relative transparency on this. I have no recollection of seeing an actual publicly-visible number in a publisher agreement before. Of course, that also means I'm not in a great position to say whether this number is good, but I suspect that it is.

And allowing the developers to keep all the copyrights is unambiguously a good thing. I applaud that too.

 

[texhnolyze]

Epic launches publishing label, signs creators behind Control, Inside, and The Last Guardian

An impressive lineup.

www.theverge.com

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I'm having a hard time believing this lol. I guess we'll see.

 

[Deleted member 63832]

Hahaha, this is so stupidly good. Guaranteed job security, all logistics handled, PLUS you get a cut of sales? My fucking god. Imagine arguing against this in any shape or form.

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Yea devs get to actually make a game and get paid for doing so.

I bet everyone involved in this is very happy.

 

[1er tigre]

I'm guessing "multi-platform" doesn't include platforms like Steam…

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It includes PC.

 

[diablogg]

This is basically epic giving devss a HUUUGE bone but at the expense of the customers on PC because its gonna be exclusive to EGS and EGS as we all know is soo barebones and well trusting epic with your games when you already have given up physical rights to that game and epic's low priority on the customer part..its actually a detriment to the customer. Those of you who don't give a shit about how your games might end up in the future or don't care about features and just 'think of steam and other PC clients as launchers', good for you i guess..

Also I don't think epic are doing this just for the kindness in their hearts for devs after all they mostly don't take games on EGS until its at least exclusive to their store for a year.. they just want these devs to make EGS exclusive versions of their games and promote the store. Locking them down to exclusively developing on PC is gonna cost a lot so imo thats why they didn't enter an exclusive contract.

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How does this come at the expense of PC customers? These upcoming games from these 3 studios would literally not exist if it wasn't for this deal. I agree with you that EGS launcher is generally shit and Steam is a much more desirable, feature rich client, but I can only view this as a net positive for PC gamers. The choice is either no game or a new game be funded and exclusive to Epic, I know what option I'd pick every time even while loathing the idea it will be exclusive to Epic.

 

[LaTasse]

I think it's a way more interesting way of using their money than just grabbing soon-to-be-released games on Steam and making them exclusives for a year. I look forward to see what's next for those studios.

 

[Liha]

I hope that Remedy tries something completely new.

 

[Deleted member 3294]

I hope that Remedy tries something completely new.

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Tbh I'd like to see some sort of follow-up of Control, though I'd take something that's set within the same world. Gimme an X-Files-like game where you play as one of the FBC's agents finding objects of power.

 

[Iron Eddie]

How does this come at the expense of PC customers? These upcoming games from these 3 studios would literally not exist if it wasn't for this deal. I agree with you that EGS launcher is generally shit and Steam is a much more desirable, feature rich client, but I can only view this as a net positive for PC gamers. The choice is either no game or a new game be funded and exclusive to Epic, I know what option I'd pick every time even while loathing the idea it will be exclusive to Epic.

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Epic obviously wants to be a bigger player in the PC store market and this is one way they can do it. It makes sense for them to be Epic only on PC just like how Bethesda is on some games, Microsoft is on some games, Blizzard is on some games and EA is on some games. That's the nature of having an open platform on the PC, there are no rules.

Good news in all of this is the PC will get these games as will console owners. If Sony or Nintendo got them guess what? No PC, If Microsoft got them guess what? No other consoles.

 

[Rendering...]

I'm all for this as long as there's no dumb platform exclusivity in any form.

 

[AshenOne]

How does this come at the expense of PC customers? These upcoming games from these 3 studios would literally not exist if it wasn't for this deal. I agree with you that EGS launcher is generally shit and Steam is a much more desirable, feature rich client, but I can only view this as a net positive for PC gamers. The choice is either no game or a new game be funded and exclusive to Epic, I know what option I'd pick every time even while loathing the idea it will be exclusive to Epic.

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Well tbh even if not for epic IMO at least 2 games from gen design and playlabs would've found other pubs.. its not like Epic was the only option for them tbh..going with epic was just the best deal for them to take as epic was giving them the most money and freedom out of all the other options. Do you really think no one would want to publish games from these devs? Then answer is No. Epic just gave them the most freedom and money. So No i can't really agree that these games wouldn't be possible without Epic.

Now with EPIC out of everyone else getting this deal, PC users who buy AAA paid games will be get shafted as they use steam while the devs get a great deal out of it and so do the console users... thats how it is with this publishing deal. Honestly personally I don't care for either of these games outside of gen design's games which I really wanted to try since way back, that would be now EGS exclusive. Its a small loss still for me.. however if epic start doing it with other games that I love.. I'll just stop supporting these devs instead of buying their games. Iam not gonna spend my money on a game just to donate money to developers due to how i feel about trusting epic with my games and not having any features or quirks that steam has. Epic's business practices pollute PC gaming for me and idc about any dev or w/e if its Epic doing it..now if it was any other publisher outside of Epic or MS or Sony.. I'd be totally fine with it.

 

[Iron Eddie]

Well tbh even if not for epic IMO at least 2 games from gen design and playlabs would've found other pubs.. its not like Epic was the only option for them tbh..going with epic was just the best deal for them to take imo as epic was giving them the most money and freedom out of all the other options. Do you really think no one would want to publish games from these devs? Then answer is No. Epic just gave them the most freedom and money. So No i can't really agree that these games wouldn't be possible without Epic.

Now with EPIC out of everyone else getting this deal, PC users who buy AAA paid games will be get shafted as they use steam while the devs get a great deal out of it and so do the console users... thats how it is with this publishing deal. Honestly personally I don't care for either of these games outside of gen design's games which I really wanted to try since way back, that would be now EGS exclusive. Its a small loss still for me.. however if epic start doing it with other games that I love.. I'll just stop supporting these devs instead of buying their games. Iam not gonna spend my money on a game just to donate money to developers regardless how i feel about trusting epic with my games and not having any features or quirks that steam has. Epic's business practices pollute PC gaming for me and idc about any dev or w/e if its Epic doing it..now if it was any other publisher outside of Epic or MS or Sony.. I'd be totally fine with it.

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Cool. So long story short is Epic Store/launcher is so terrible that no matter how good the games are you just can't enjoy them.

Nobody likes the Epic Games Store, frankly. I would not surprised if all the developers involved are working off the assumption that the Windows version will earn nothing.

Of course, this assumes that Epic intends to prop up their store for the three+ years these games will take to develop. The alternative hypothesis is that this is an alternative means of diversifying Epic's income away from Fortnite and UE4 licensing, which would allow Epic to walk away from the EGS.

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You seem to be over-simplifying things. Nobody is going to argue Epic is better or even as good as a store like Steam. The question is how strict are PC gamers that will not allow themselves to enjoy a game no matter how good it is if that or the console is their only choice? 10% of all PC gamers? 80%?

 

[Delusibeta]

How does this come at the expense of PC customers? These upcoming games from these 3 studios would literally not exist if it wasn't for this deal. I agree with you that EGS launcher is generally shit and Steam is a much more desirable, feature rich client, but I can only view this as a net positive for PC gamers. The choice is either no game or a new game be funded and exclusive to Epic, I know what option I'd pick every time even while loathing the idea it will be exclusive to Epic.

Click to shrink...

Nobody likes the Epic Games Store, frankly. I would not surprised if all the developers involved are working off the assumption that the Windows version will earn nothing.

Of course, this assumes that Epic intends to prop up their store for the three+ years these games will take to develop. The alternative hypothesis is that this is an alternative means of diversifying Epic's income away from Fortnite and UE4 licensing, which would allow Epic to walk away from the EGS.

 

[dude]

Man, that contract is AMAZING. And I'm interested in all of these games. You go Epic. I don't like your store, but you earned me buying these games there if you choose not to release them on Steam.

 

[Zero-ELEC]

Epic launches publishing label, signs creators behind Control, Inside, and The Last Guardian

An impressive lineup.

www.theverge.com

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I mean, all that implies is that they will be published in other platforms, such as consoles, nothing about any other PC store-launcher.

 

[AshenOne]

Cool. So long story short is you can't enjoy games unless they are on Steam. Have fun with that.

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No thats not a correct tldr...

The correct tldor is epic is polluting the PC gaming space with exclusive deals and while its a great get for devs, it absolutely comes at the cost of the customer's experience due to epic's barebones launcher and storefront. Supporting devs and epic with this deal would be adding more ammo to all of the things i hate about epic's endeavors and its harm to PC gaming.

This is as much as 'i want the game to be on steam because it offers the best experience for me as a customer' and 'Epic polluting PC gaming with exclusivity deals and their hypocritical head Tim Sweeny's philosophies'. So yeah I'd rather not have this deal happen with Epic out of all of companies.

I mean, all that implies is that they will be published in other platforms, such as consoles, nothing about any other PC store-launcher.

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It would be indeed generous from Epic if they just introduced a publishing label and giving full room to devs with no exclusivity BS. Thats the best case scenario for Devs, Console and PC gamers.

 

[Nintendo]

No thats not a correct tldr...

The correct tldor is epic is polluting the PC gaming space with exclusive deals and while its a great get for devs, it absolutely comes at the cost of the customer's experience due to epic's barebones launcher and storefront. Supporting devs and epic with this deal would be adding more ammo to all of the things i hate about epic's endeavors and its harm to PC gaming.

This is as much as 'i want the game to be on steam because it offers the best experience for me as a customer' and 'Epic polluting PC gaming with exclusivity deals and their hypocritical head Tim Sweeny's philosophies. So yeah I'd rather not have this deal happen with Epic out of all of companies.

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How does this come at the cost of customers? These games would not exist without Epic. This is a win for the devs as well as the customers. Epic is funding 100% of the development. This isn't just an exclusivity deal.

You'd rather have no games than 3 Epic published games?

 

[Iron Eddie]

No thats not a correct tldr...

The correct tldor is epic is polluting the PC gaming space with exclusive deals and while its a great get for devs, it absolutely comes at the cost of the customer's experience due to epic's barebones launcher and storefront. Supporting devs and epic with this deal would be adding more ammo to all of the things i hate about epic's endeavors and its harm to PC gaming.

This is as much as 'i want the game to be on steam because it offers the best experience for me as a customer' and 'Epic polluting PC gaming with exclusivity deals and their hypocritical head Tim Sweeny's philosophies. So yeah I'd rather not have this deal happen with Epic out of all of companies.

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That's fine and your choice. Videogames have always been a free marketplace and if this means Remedy and the others are more financially stable then great. I will not punish developers who want to make games without the worry to peddle and beg for crowdfunding and other ways to get their titles done. Same goes for Insomniac with Sony or the others who joined Microsoft. You are free of course to judge them from the comforts of your keyboard at home without any investment or risk whatsoever, but again you as a consumer have the power to voice your opinion/concerns. Of course the other option is to put out your own money and time and do your own deals while developing games and see just how easy it is.

 

[Rosebud]

You'd rather have no games than 3 Epic published games?

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I prefer the games existing, but if they were Epic exclusive (no console release) I wouldn't buy them even if I love the studios.

People can choose where to spend their money, it's not that polemic.

 

[Delusibeta]

You seem to be over-simplifying things. Nobody is going to argue Epic is better or even as good as a store like Steam. The question is how strict are PC gamers that will not allow themselves to enjoy a game no matter how good it is if that or the console is their only choice? 10% of all PC gamers? 80%?

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Well, if you take ResetEra to be a representative sample (we're not, we're waaaay more pro-Epic than the general PC gaming public) about 4%?

 

[Iron Eddie]

Well, if you take ResetEra to be a representative sample (we're not, we're waaaay more pro-Epic than the general PC gaming public) about 4%?

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is that supposed to be a joke? The poll asked if you would pay the same between Epic and Steam. Of course most would choose Steam. That's not what I asked.

 

[AshenOne]

How does this come at the cost of customers? These games would not exist without Epic. This is a win for the devs as well as the customers. Epic is funding 100% of the development. This isn't just an exclusivity deal.

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Since you literally asked the same or nearly the same thing like the previous poster I'd quote my previous post for you.

Well tbh even if not for epic IMO at least 2 games from gen design and playlabs would've found other pubs.. its not like Epic was the only option for them tbh..going with epic was just the best deal for them to take as epic was giving them the most money and freedom out of all the other options. Do you really think no one would want to publish games from these devs? Then answer is No. Epic just gave them the most freedom and money. So No i can't really agree that these games wouldn't be possible without Epic.

Now with EPIC out of everyone else getting this deal, PC users who buy AAA paid games will be get shafted as they use steam while the devs get a great deal out of it and so do the console users... thats how it is with this publishing deal. Honestly personally I don't care for either of these games outside of gen design's games which I really wanted to try since way back, that would be now EGS exclusive. Its a small loss still for me.. however if epic start doing it with other games that I love.. I'll just stop supporting these devs instead of buying their games. Iam not gonna spend my money on a game just to donate money to developers due to how i feel about trusting epic with my games and not having any features or quirks that steam has. Epic's business practices pollute PC gaming for me and idc about any dev or w/e if its Epic doing it..now if it was any other publisher outside of Epic or MS or Sony.. I'd be totally fine with it.

Click to shrink...

 

[Nintendo]

Since you literally asked the same or nearly the same thing like the previous poster I'd quote my previous post for you.

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I don't think genDesign would've gotten a publishing deal with such freedom and ownership of the IP with any other publisher. But hey, you do you. I want to support letting devs do whatever they want, plus job security and stability without pressure from the publisher.

 

[Lazybob]

Well, if you take ResetEra to be a representative sample (we're not, we're waaaay more pro-Epic than the general PC gaming public) about 4%?

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That was about if something was available for both at the same price and not exclusivity though. Also lol about it being more pro-epic here. Maybe more pro epic then reddit where any positive opinion would get buried but it's pretty negative here (for good reasons).

 

[mortadelo]

Well tbh even if not for epic IMO at least 2 games from gen design and playlabs would've found other pubs.. its not like Epic was the only option for them tbh..going with epic was just the best deal for them to take as epic was giving them the most money and freedom out of all the other options. Do you really think no one would want to publish games from these devs? Then answer is No. Epic just gave them the most freedom and money. So No i can't really agree that these games wouldn't be possible without Epic.

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So you'd rather support a developer that had his games compromised by a publisher than when they can follow their vision independently, just because you don't like the store?

 

[AshenOne]

I don't think genDesign would've gotten a publishing deal with such freedom and ownership of the IP with any other publisher. But hey, you do you.

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Again... I also said in that post of mine that they would STILL be getting funded for their games just not with as much freedom and money they're getting from Epic.

Also previously you said this:

These games would not exist without Epic.

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And now it being possible just not with this much freedom and ownership of their IP which i already covered in that post of mine :)

So you'd rather support a developer that had his games compromised by a publisher than when they can follow their vision independently, just because you don't like the store?

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No. If you've read my previous post which iquoted again for the previous poster, I said the deal is not the problem..Epic being that publisher is. I've also stated the harm in supporting Epic for PC gaming in general. This is my post.

Well tbh even if not for epic IMO at least 2 games from gen design and playlabs would've found other pubs.. its not like Epic was the only option for them tbh..going with epic was just the best deal for them to take as epic was giving them the most money and freedom out of all the other options. Do you really think no one would want to publish games from these devs? Then answer is No. Epic just gave them the most freedom and money. So No i can't really agree that these games wouldn't be possible without Epic.

Now with EPIC out of everyone else getting this deal, PC users who buy AAA paid games will be get shafted as they use steam while the devs get a great deal out of it and so do the console users... thats how it is with this publishing deal. Honestly personally I don't care for either of these games outside of gen design's games which I really wanted to try since way back, that would be now EGS exclusive. Its a small loss still for me.. however if epic start doing it with other games that I love.. I'll just stop supporting these devs instead of buying their games. Iam not gonna spend my money on a game just to donate money to developers due to how i feel about trusting epic with my games and not having any features or quirks that steam has. Epic's business practices pollute PC gaming for me and idc about any dev or w/e if its Epic doing it..now if it was any other publisher outside of Epic or MS or Sony.. I'd be totally fine with it.

Click to shrink...

 

[N.47H.4N]

Well done Epic.

 

[Nintendo]

Again... I also said in that post of mine that they would STILL be getting funded for their games just not with as much freedom and money they're getting from Epic.

Also previously you said this:



And now it being possible just not with this much freedom and ownership of their IP which i already covered in that post of mine :)

Click to shrink...

They'd still not exist. Maybe we'd have games from those devs but most likely very different games.

 

[Ploid 6.0]

Well tbh even if not for epic IMO at least 2 games from gen design and playlabs would've found other pubs.. its not like Epic was the only option for them tbh..going with epic was just the best deal for them to take as epic was giving them the most money and freedom out of all the other options. Do you really think no one would want to publish games from these devs? Then answer is No. Epic just gave them the most freedom and money. So No i can't really agree that these games wouldn't be possible without Epic.

Now with EPIC out of everyone else getting this deal, PC users who buy AAA paid games will be get shafted as they use steam while the devs get a great deal out of it and so do the console users... thats how it is with this publishing deal. Honestly personally I don't care for either of these games outside of gen design's games which I really wanted to try since way back, that would be now EGS exclusive. Its a small loss still for me.. however if epic start doing it with other games that I love.. I'll just stop supporting these devs instead of buying their games. Iam not gonna spend my money on a game just to donate money to developers due to how i feel about trusting epic with my games and not having any features or quirks that steam has. Epic's business practices pollute PC gaming for me and idc about any dev or w/e if its Epic doing it..now if it was any other publisher outside of Epic or MS or Sony.. I'd be totally fine with it.

Click to shrink...

We have to remember, picking the right publisher is very important. It looks like Epic is giving them a lot of freedom. Insomniac made a deal with EA and I can't see how that didn't influence Overstrike becoming FUSE with it's next gen shaders muted colors. I still want to know how Insomniac felt about Overwatch's success. The reason they gave for going realistic colors, and visuals (it was going to be a violent game with blood) made no sense when TF2 had exploding body parts. Thankfully Microsoft allowed them to get colorful and wacky again, then they made another amazing Ratchet and Clank.

Right now Overstrike doesn't exist, even though it got a publisher, and funded. Scale Bound doesn't exist, though apparently that was on Platinum, they are taking the blame. We'll have to wait to see if these games come to light, especially Gen Design's.

 

[Filipus]

Why would it still be shitty? This is great. They're 100% funding the games and marketing and letting devs keep the IP's.

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Im glad someone like Rami is coming out and saying this, it's frustration to see the hot takes people have (specially on Era which should be a place of educated people).

Epic has been doing AMAZING job on all fronts of helping the gaming industry. They have made a competitive webstore (sure, hate it all you want), they have Epic grants (legit giving away money for nothing), they develop Unreal and give GREAT DEALS to Indies on its usage and now this. Funding a game and letting the developers keep the IP? That alone is crazy good.

We have somehow created this mindset that these companies are evil and EVERYTHING they do and will do is bad.

Reminds me of EA making amazing Indie deals to literally help the industry and people were angry at that. Crazy.

 

[AshenOne]

They'd still not exist. Maybe we'd have games from those devs but most likely very different games.

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Games change in development. Thats how game dev. is. Sure, I'd love to support devs with no strings attached and to see their vision fulfilled for their games honestly but without Epic in the picture. The harm or the negative disruption they already brought to PC gaming would just get amplified with these deals and Epic will just use this as fuel to their already shitty exclusivity deals.

We have to remember, picking the right publisher is very important. It looks like Epic is giving them a lot of freedom. Insomniac made a deal with EA and I can't see how that didn't influence Overstrike becoming FUSE with it's next gen shaders muted colors. I still want to know how Insomniac felt about Overwatch's success. The reason they gave for going realistic colors, and visuals (it was going to be a violent game with blood) made no sense when TF2 had exploding body parts. Thankfully Microsoft allowed them to get colorful and wacky again, then they made another amazing Ratchet and Clank.

Click to shrink...

I mean I get your point but the game would STILL be there with or without epic but idk to how much degree it would've changed during development but again it would've been much possible without Epic still. Epic and shitters like Tim Sweeny are like a plague to me, I'd rather avoid it at all costs. The problem is the company supporting these devs and its effects on PC gaming. Nothing else is the issue.

 

[Deleted member 39479]

This is amazing and exactly what Epic should be doing. Really happy for all 3 dev teams.

 

[AshenOne]

Im glad someone like Rami is coming out and saying this, it's frustration to see the hot takes people have (specially on Era which should be a place of educated people).

Epic has been doing AMAZING job on all fronts of helping the gaming industry. They have made a competitive webstore (sure, hate it all you want), they have Epic grants (legit giving away money for nothing), they develop Unreal and give GREAT DEALS to Indies on its usage and now this. Funding a game and letting the developers keep the IP? That alone is crazy good.

We have somehow created this mindset that these companies are evil and EVERYTHING they do and will do is bad.

Reminds me of EA making amazing Indie deals to literally help the industry and people were angry at that. Crazy.

Click to shrink...

Again this deal is GREAT for developers. I doubt anybody is denying this but Epic's antics and its effects on the openness and options core of PC gaming are fucking disgusting. Do you really think they've made a competitive webstore that doesn't even have a fucking shopping cart. They JUST after months and months added wishlists.

Honestly your comments really come out as ignorant and uneducated tbh.. this is not to take a jab at you or anger just giving your words back to you that you imo without proper thinking said about people including me, have for months have debated and counted time and time again not one, not two, not three but several features, quirks and functionally that a top of the line PC digital platform like steam offers and even real 'competent' stores like Origin, GOG have shopping carts which is pure basic thing EVERY store not only needs but has.

Considering how active and money throwing Epic have been on the PC market with these business deals after more than a year or two, their store is still horribly behind Steam and still not on par with other PC digital stores/launchers like GOG, uPlay and Origin. This shows their priority when it comes to the customer. Why Not will people shit on them, you really need to ask instead of posting your thoughts without listening to most people's concerns and issues with epic, tim sweeny and their anti-consumer exclusively business deals in PC gaming. What you're seeing is only the one side of the coin with their 'generosity' for devs. Do you know that mostly Epic would NEVER let any indie game on their PC store were it not exclusive to it for a year? Ideally if they truly cared for devs they'd just let them publish on the platform that has the most audience for paid games which is steam and a newly made steam on which those indie devs can get their games on and enjoy lots of visibility since the store is NEW.. but nope all of them nearly EXCLUSIVE.

 

[Mentalist]

Well tbh even if not for epic IMO at least 2 games from gen design and playlabs would've found other pubs.. its not like Epic was the only option for them tbh..going with epic was just the best deal for them to take as epic was giving them the most money and freedom out of all the other options. Do you really think no one would want to publish games from these devs? Then answer is No. Epic just gave them the most freedom and money. So No i can't really agree that these games wouldn't be possible without Epic.

Now with EPIC out of everyone else getting this deal, PC users who buy AAA paid games will be get shafted as they use steam while the devs get a great deal out of it and so do the console users... thats how it is with this publishing deal. Honestly personally I don't care for either of these games outside of gen design's games which I really wanted to try since way back, that would be now EGS exclusive. Its a small loss still for me.. however if epic start doing it with other games that I love.. I'll just stop supporting these devs instead of buying their games. Iam not gonna spend my money on a game just to donate money to developers due to how i feel about trusting epic with my games and not having any features or quirks that steam has. Epic's business practices pollute PC gaming for me and idc about any dev or w/e if its Epic doing it..now if it was any other publisher outside of Epic or MS or Sony.. I'd be totally fine with it.

Click to shrink...

in theory "most money and freedom" means the devs get to take the most risks and create stuff that's not cookie-cutter, AND take their time polishing the games without crunch, because Epic has an infinite moneypile with the Fortnite logo on it.

If they were to be signed by some AAA publisher that's run by a board of directors and is responsible to its shareholders to maximize profits every quarter, we'd be more likely to see executive meddling, deadlines and pressure put on the devs to amke the game as profitable as possible and to appeal to as many people as possible.

So obviously, "in theory" Epic's scenario should result in better more interesting games. Lack of some storefront features that I'd have preferred to have on Steam is a relatively small price to pay for getting better games, imho.

 

[Deleted member 3294]

Well tbh even if not for epic IMO at least 2 games from gen design and playlabs would've found other pubs.. its not like Epic was the only option for them tbh..going with epic was just the best deal for them to take as epic was giving them the most money and freedom out of all the other options. Do you really think no one would want to publish games from these devs? Then answer is No. Epic just gave them the most freedom and money. So No i can't really agree that these games wouldn't be possible without Epic.

Now with EPIC out of everyone else getting this deal, PC users who buy AAA paid games will be get shafted as they use steam while the devs get a great deal out of it and so do the console users... thats how it is with this publishing deal. Honestly personally I don't care for either of these games outside of gen design's games which I really wanted to try since way back, that would be now EGS exclusive. Its a small loss still for me.. however if epic start doing it with other games that I love.. I'll just stop supporting these devs instead of buying their games. Iam not gonna spend my money on a game just to donate money to developers due to how i feel about trusting epic with my games and not having any features or quirks that steam has. Epic's business practices pollute PC gaming for me and idc about any dev or w/e if its Epic doing it..now if it was any other publisher outside of Epic or MS or Sony.. I'd be totally fine with it.

Click to shrink...

We don't actually know if these games would exist without Epic even if they could have found other publishers who are interested, because other publishers may not give them full creative control or the right to the IP, or as much funding. If they went with a publisher that wouldn't give them full creative control, they likely wouldn't be making the same games as they're making now.

I'm also not convinced Gen Design, Playdead, or Remedy could have easily found another publisher. While their games are successful, they're also niche and most publishers don't publish the kinds of games they make. The only two big ones that I can think of would maybe be Sony and Microsoft, and if either of them published this it'd come to even less platforms.

 

[ThereAreFourNaan]

We don't actually know if these games would exist without Epic even if they could have found other publishers who are interested, because other publishers may not give them full creative control or the right to the IP, or as much funding. If they went with a publisher that wouldn't give them full creative control, they likely wouldn't be making the same games as they're making now.

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It's an unknown. We can't say these games would have existed without this, but we also can't say they wouldn't have. It would depend case by case, although it's still not really much of an argument against this to say that they probably could have gotten less (economically) good deals even without this, that doesn't make it less attractive of an offer for them. Conversely it's not necessary to frame this as "games that definitely couldn't have ever happened except for ____".

Like we don't know, but it also doesn't really matter.

 

[truncated_pachyderm]

Here's where there seems to have been a miscommunication. EGS is drastically inferior to Steam. It doesn't have family sharing. It doesn't have universal controller support. You can't stream your games to other devices. There's no integrated mod support. It doesn't work on Linux. There's no support for different currencies, and not nearly as much support for payment methods that are typical in other parts of the world. There are no gift cards.

There are many, many problems we used to have in PC gaming that we don't have to deal with anymore because Steam solved them. By keeping a game off of Steam, Epic is reintroducing those problems.

EGS launched without basic functionality. They didn't even have a search bar at the time. And while they've been gradually improving since then, it's just been a slow series of baby steps. Recently, they finally got around to adding a wishlist. And even that is incomplete. It won't notify you if games go on sale or anything. That's planned for later. Baby steps, toward a long term goal of maybe eventually having the basics down. That's what's so frustrating about all this.

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It does not do the same as Steam as it features far less. Thats like saying the Switch Onlinesystem is the same as PSN/XBL, because "you can go online".

On Steam I can share screenshots with my friends.
I can play games on Linux.
I can use over 100 officially supported controllers.
I can stream the games to my android devices and TV natively.
I can use it on my TV without any hassle (BPM).
I can share the games with my wife, so she can play them on her Macbook.
I can install mods with 1 click.
I can play coop games with a friend even if that friend doesnt own them (Steam Remote Play).
I can stream the game directly with 1 button click.
I can put games in a shopping cart.
Achievements.
etc.

Inb4
"No one is using those features".

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This is basically epic giving devss a HUUUGE bone but at the expense of the customers on PC because its gonna be exclusive to EGS and EGS as we all know is soo barebones and well trusting epic with your games when you already have given up physical rights to that game and epic's low priority on the customer part..its actually a detriment to the customer. Those of you who don't give a shit about how your games might end up in the future or don't care about features and just 'think of steam and other PC clients as launchers', good for you i guess..

Also I don't think epic are doing this just for the kindness in their hearts for devs after all they mostly don't take games on EGS until its at least exclusive to their store for a year.. they just want these devs to make EGS exclusive versions of their games and promote the store. Locking them down to exclusively developing on PC is gonna cost a lot so imo thats why they didn't enter an exclusive contract.



Steam is this all-in-one-place digital platform on PC while epic lacks the bare minimum features and quirks of what a standard launcher and storefront on PC has..not to mention they have NO forums(they are pretty gotdamn useful for fixing user fixes and reporting bugs directly to devs), no reviews for the most part, NO SHOPPING CART(just think how lowly they prioritize the end-user experience) while steam has not only got the basic features for a competent launcher/storefront in place but also has a plethora of other quirks and features that make steam a whole other ecosystem INSIDE the PC platform.

• Steam Marketplace for in-game items
• Steam Input - Native support for ANY type of gaming controller and it can be used not only for steam games but also non steam games
• Inhome streaming
• Broadcasting your game and have others watch you play for it has a whole section dedicated to it
• Forums
• Reviews
• A community hub for each Steam game that has walkthroughs, achievement guides, etc

So this is the stuff just from the top of my head thats exclusive to steam in terms of the many features it offers its users.

Now can you seriously call steam just a launcher?

Now this s not for you.. but

Honestly the people who are veterans to PC gaming and yet call steam a launcher only show themselves as uneducated, ignorant people on the matter who just don't realize whats infront of them and yet they just call it as they wish lol.

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I agree that Steam has many useful features. I use Big Picture Mode more than not, and I've certainly benefited from some of the Steam Workshop mod integration as well. In-home streaming is also useful, and I am somewhat of a Steam Controller evangelist. Let me be clear: I love Steam!

I'm sure I am not the first person to point out that you can pretty easily use all of these features with Epic Games Store titles. There's really no tinkering to be had here - you simply add the affected title to your Steam library as a non-Steam shortcut, and controller support, Big Picutre Mode, and in-home streaming work just as well as they do for Steam games. I can't speak to whether in-game streaming works as I've never tried it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

So for Epic Games, you can easily add them to Steam in order to use Steam's controller support, in-home streaming support, and Big Picture Mode. I suppose Epic could devote resources to developing their own solution for these things, but I suspect they probably made the same choice I would: people can easily use Steam for those features, even with Epic games, so why do the same work again?

As for mod support, forums, and reviews: I hear ya. Those would be nice for some people to have. I think mod support is much more useful than forums and reviews. I don't personally find any value in those things, and I would argue many others don't, but I see the argument that "less is less." I'm sure Epic has done some exceptional market and user testing to determine that these are just not functions most Steam users engage with, and therefore aren't necessary for their store front. Mod support in particular is something that most people still turn to ModDB or NexusMods for, so once again, I'm not sure there's much value in Epic recreating something here.

I think it's also worth calling out Steam for neglecting many of the features you mention. When's the last time Big Picture Mode got an update? Steam Controller itself was abandoned as well, although Valve seem to be providing some updates for the controller support emulator.

 

[Deleted member 3294]

It's an unknown. We can't say these games would have existed without this, but we also can't say they wouldn't have. It would depend case by case, although it's still not really much of an argument against this to say that they probably could have gotten less (economically) good deals even without this, that doesn't make it less attractive of an offer for them. Conversely it's not necessary to frame this as "games that definitely couldn't have ever happened except for ____".

Like we don't know, but it also doesn't really matter.

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Yeah, regardless what this deal means for the developers matters more than what it means for the consumer.

 

[Filipus]

Again this deal is GREAT for developers. I doubt anybody is denying this but Epic's antics and its effects on the openness and options core of PC gaming are fucking disgusting. Do you really think they've made a competitive webstore that doesn't even have a fucking shopping cart. They JUST after months and months added wishlists.

Honestly your comments really come out as ignorant and uneducated tbh.. this is not to take a jab at you or anger just giving your words back to you that you imo without proper thinking said about people including me, have for months have debated and counted time and time again not one, not two, not three but several features, quirks and functionally that a top of the line PC digital platform like steam offers and even real 'competent' stores like Origin, GOG have shopping carts which is pure basic thing EVERY store not only needs but has.

Considering how active and money throwing Epic have been on the PC market with these business deals after more than a year or two, their store is still horribly behind Steam and still not on par with other PC digital stores/launchers like GOG, uPlay and Origin. This shows their priority when it comes to the customer. Why Not will people shit on them, you really need to ask instead of posting your thoughts without listening to most people's concerns and issues with epic, tim sweeny and their anti-consumer exclusively business deals in PC gaming. What you're seeing is only the one side of the coin with their 'generosity' for devs. Do you know that mostly Epic would NEVER let any indie game on their PC store were it not exclusive to it for a year? Ideally if they truly cared for devs they'd just let them publish on the platform that has the most audience for paid games which is steam and a newly made steam on which those indie devs can get their games on and enjoy lots of visibility since the store is NEW.. but nope all of them nearly EXCLUSIVE.

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My comment is ignorant and uneducated? You just proved my entire point! Nowhere in my post did I talk about how the practices to making a competitive storefront where good for consumers. I said and I quote "sure, hate it all you want" because a lot of the hate is justifiable. BUT you are discrediting all their efforts and GREAT things they have done for the industry. It's not just this deal that is great, they have been AMAZING all around.

These devs are accepting all these deals because they are GREAT deals financially and it helps these studios. Yea, sucks for you to have to use a crappier storefront, it's great for the gaming industry because it provides stability in a very volatile industry.
If publishing to steam was that worth it then Epic wouldn't be making the deals they have done. This whole "catalog of features" that the store is missing means crap to developers when the deals is the thing deciding if they stay afloat or not. Anti-consumer, sure. Pro-dev? Absolutely. And right now I think the consumer sacrifices are worth it for a lot of people.


I would love to see what's YOUR plan on making a competitive storefront. Do you really think that having feature-parity with steam (which is an enormous task) would make it a competitive store? I don't understand the reality people live in.

 

[AshenOne]

My comment is ignorant and uneducated? You just proved my entire point! Nowhere in my post did I talk about how the practices to making a competitive storefront where good for consumers. I said and I quote "sure, hate it all you want" because a lot of the hate is justifiable. BUT you are discrediting all their efforts and GREAT things they have done for the industry. It's not just this deal that is great, they have been AMAZING all around.

These devs are accepting all these deals because they are GREAT deals financially and it helps these studios. Yea, sucks for you to have to use a crappier storefront, it's great for the gaming industry because it provides stability in a very volatile industry.
If publishing to steam was that worth it then Epic wouldn't be making the deals they have done. This whole "catalog of features" that the store is missing means crap to developers when the deals is the thing deciding if they stay afloat or not. Anti-consumer, sure. Pro-dev? Absolutely. And right now I think the consumer sacrifices are worth it for a lot of people.

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Ok. So you now say that you were totally speaking from a developer's perspective from start to end which you should've clarified because when you put 'oh hey they made a competitive webstore(hate it all you want)'.. it really seemed to me like you saying its a competitive storefront no matter how shitty it seems to you and that it still is competitive for the customer and the developer when you were only talking from the opposite perspective.

Now, a decent part of my post to you was to explain how it doesn't even compare properly to the minimum standards of how a competing storefront should be in the PC ecosystem. It doesn't matter if its from the developer's or customer's perspective.. it lacks even the basic complete feature set or functionalities to call it a competitive. Now if you call epic making exclusive deals to forcibly lure people on to egs as competitive then thats another thing and it doesn't make it a 'competitive' storefront. Epic are just using exclusivity deals to lure people. Now they could've just made a simple storefront for customers to buy their games with no features at all and by your logic it still be competitive due to epic's deals...thats not how it can compete with a juggernaut like steam when the thing itself is raw, barren it itself is in no shape to be competing with a full fledged digital content platform such as steam..or even another storefront/launcher. Just by buying out games and adding to your store... how can you say A company is competing with X company when A company has nothing appealing to compete with the X company which is a juggernaut.

 

[EllipsisBreak]

I agree that Steam has many useful features. I use Big Picture Mode more than not, and I've certainly benefited from some of the Steam Workshop mod integration as well. In-home streaming is also useful, and I am somewhat of a Steam Controller evangelist. Let me be clear: I love Steam!

I'm sure I am not the first person to point out that you can pretty easily use all of these features with Epic Games Store titles. There's really no tinkering to be had here - you simply add the affected title to your Steam library as a non-Steam shortcut, and controller support, Big Picutre Mode, and in-home streaming work just as well as they do for Steam games. I can't speak to whether in-game streaming works as I've never tried it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

So for Epic Games, you can easily add them to Steam in order to use Steam's controller support, in-home streaming support, and Big Picture Mode. I suppose Epic could devote resources to developing their own solution for these things, but I suspect they probably made the same choice I would: people can easily use Steam for those features, even with Epic games, so why do the same work again?

As for mod support, forums, and reviews: I hear ya. Those would be nice for some people to have. I think mod support is much more useful than forums and reviews. I don't personally find any value in those things, and I would argue many others don't, but I see the argument that "less is less." I'm sure Epic has done some exceptional market and user testing to determine that these are just not functions most Steam users engage with, and therefore aren't necessary for their store front. Mod support in particular is something that most people still turn to ModDB or NexusMods for, so once again, I'm not sure there's much value in Epic recreating something here.

I think it's also worth calling out Steam for neglecting many of the features you mention. When's the last time Big Picture Mode got an update? Steam Controller itself was abandoned as well, although Valve seem to be providing some updates for the controller support emulator.

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Assuming everything works smoothly and the external games don't do anything weird that interferes with Steam, yes, you can get some of Steam's functionality that way. Some. You will not get family sharing, or the mod manager (which I don't think you're giving enough credit; that thing is fantastic and popular), or anything related to download management (for example, last I checked, EGS has no bandwidth limiter), or anything related to currencies, payment methods, or gift cards. Probably more. There's always something I forget. Best case scenario, this is a half measure.

Steam Input and Big Picture Mode were last updated today, according to the patch notes.

Steam Controller is indeed discontinued, which was almost certainly because people had stopped buying them. They had to do a fire sale to move the remaining inventory. Exact same thing happened to the dedicated Steam Link hardware after it became redundant. At some point, I think there was a little evidence that Valve might be planning a second controller, but who knows.

 

[sredgrin]

Origin doesn't have carts despite being used as an example of a store that does lol. Almost like the cart thing is a weird bad faith talking point that nobody actually cares about.

 

[Ploid 6.0]

For games I don't use carts, I can see situations where people would need them (buying a game and getting all it's dlc in one go), but for me I wouldn't even do that. I tend to play games and figure out if I want more of it much later.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Here is to hoping against hope the PC versions of these games don't remain locked on such an abysmal storefront for all eternity.

 

[Prine]

Honestly sounds Epic is the best place to nurture and support these studios, hats off to them.

 

[dreamfall]

This is fucking massive - so excited for those three development teams, their games are some of my favorites!

 

[The Spoony Hou]

What a shame.

 

[Jobbs]

The main thing I want to see from EGS is big picture mode. That's the only really key Steam feature for me.

That said, great on them.

Origin doesn't have carts despite being used as an example of a store that does lol. Almost like the cart thing is a weird bad faith talking point that nobody actually cares about.

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Btw Eshop doesn't have a cart either! How am I supposed to live!?!?

 

[Kalamour]

This is a great move by Epic, I hope it succeeds. This I can get behind.

 

[newmoneytrash]

What a shame.

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it's good actually