Going from 1 to 2 might be dramatic but it still isn't good
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Epic launches digital games store with 88% revenue going to developers
- Thread starter Bundy
- Start date
Lmao
You mean the outdated shitty memes dumbasses still believe, not based on actual experience?
Plenty of indie developers aren't happy enough with Steam, something like itch.io is already a quite appealing alternative for many.
Steam Support has improved a lot in the last 5 years. People still make the same comments even when given facts.
Maybe in the past, but that hasn't been the case for years. Which year are you living again?
So, you emailed them instead of using the support function on the client/site?
For a long time there was only MS charging for online access. Sony and Nintendo weren't. MS were still very successful so obviously people weren't that bothered because they had options. Do you recall that for the longest time PC games were $10 cheaper than console games? That was because the publishers of games on PC didn't have to pay a platform royalty of close to $10 to Sony/MS/Nintendo, which third party publishers had to do with every disc regardless of which retailer sold it. Despite not being a closed platform, PC gamers did in fact tolerate the price of games going up from $50 to $60 in parity to console games. Thanks to that competition on consoles, MS now includes Games with Gold with Live Gold, with dozens of free games each year included when previously consumers got nothing.
Factually speaking, it didn't go from "1 to 2", but do keep spreading dumb outdated memes when we have the literal stats to prove the opposite.
Beep bop boop. Generating a response for the Epic digital store thread now.
Beep Boop.
Adding the word "competition."
Beep bop bop.
Here you go!
"Finally, Valve gets some competition. Steam has been going downhill fast!"
Please enjoy your randomly generated response about the new Epic Game's store thread.
Beep Boop.
Adding the word "competition."
Beep bop bop.
Here you go!
"Finally, Valve gets some competition. Steam has been going downhill fast!"
Please enjoy your randomly generated response about the new Epic Game's store thread.
User Banned (3 Days): Trolling over a series of posts; previous infractions
Stats supplied by themselves. Always trustworthy.
Dozens of free games that most of the users dont give a crap about and that they are used to hide the fact that you are paying for online (the difference in money Sony is making now with PS+ when compared when it was optional is quite telling in that most users just want to play online not the "free" random games whose quality has been dipping).
Vs stats pulled from your ass and single point memory.
I am going with Steam is not going to try and lie to us and the developers on both their user numbers and support stats
Actually, PC games generally still launch at $50. Divinity: Original Sin, Pillars of Eternity 2, X4: Foundations just recently, and so on.
It's console multiplats which now often launch at $60.
Also, you are completely ignoring my central argument of what is and is not actual platform competition that benefits the customer.
Tell me again how I benefit from having to buy a game on an inferior platform.
The last time I openend a support ticket was sometime last year (or early this year) and it wasn't a problem, but simply why a game was only listed as "Partial Controller Support" on the store page even if it was completely playable with a controller. It had a separate launcher but it looked like that was also navigatable with a controller, so I was confused.
Basically a completely superfluous and pretty esoteric support request.
They got back to me after a few hours with an actually helpful answer that explained the reason (the launcher was navigateable with a controller but only Xinput and not DirectInput, I think).
Refunds have taken an hour or 2 at most before they are processed.
Those are my experiences with their support team and they have been positive. But let's continue to mindlessly repeat old tales from years ago.
Oh come on, now Valve is lying about stats? That's the hill you want to die on?
I mean itch.io just barely makes money to break even. No Indies are abandoning Steam to go itch.io exclusive.
And one of the good things about itch.io I that it doesn't have curation. You can put anything in there. And that's great. But Epic seems to want to go the dumb "curated" approach. This, by definition is anti-indie, and no indie dev is going to focus that much on a platform that might not even accept them all.
LMAO sure buddy. Now tell us about the rest of your libertarian beliefs.
I contacted them via customer support. They didn't reply. That was my experience. Has it changed? Some say so. I haven't experienced that since I haven't had to bother with them for awhile now. If something happens again I shall find out. If I have a good positive experience I will surely remark as such. If not, same.
What's completely inane is how extremely common the "all competition is good" attitude is in these threads when it has been demonstrated false by years (close to a decade, in some cases) of Steam "competitors" which have done absolutely nothing for consumers other than forcing them to use a generally technically inferior, always less featureful, and -- in several cases -- now defunct infrastructure and platform rather than their preferred option.
By paying for platform exclusivity.
Which is unequivocally never a move that benefits consumers.
Impressive that they actually answered something so specific that quickly.
By paying for platform exclusivity.
Which is unequivocally never a move that benefits consumers.
I think I know that game :P
Impressive that they actually answered something so specific that quickly.
Yeah, that would be good as well. I never paid attention to this stuff before but 30% is exorbitant.
Do you remember when Steam had a curated approach and all we heard about indies was how unfair it was?
How Steam was selecting winners and not allowing great games to go in?
Cause I do. Opening the store has let to more indies not having to go with indie publishers to go into Steam as the curation process is much more streamlined and cheap.
Opening the store has let us to have more than 30 notable releases (those are hyped) every month, as well as even more smaller and bigger games that can be truly great.
Curation is pretty good, as long as you are the one inside. The life outside is pretty cold.
So this is how Tencent takes over the Western markets...
All things being equal, if you wanted to buy an Indie game on PC, why not give them the bigger cut on Epic's store? I'm all for this. It's strengthening the position of Indie developers. Strengthening Indie developers will lead to another evolution of gaming as they are the ones taking gameplay risks. Other stores will have to invest, evolve, cut deals to 3rd party devs and innovate to compete.
All things being equal, if you wanted to buy an Indie game on PC, why not give them the bigger cut on Epic's store? I'm all for this. It's strengthening the position of Indie developers. Strengthening Indie developers will lead to another evolution of gaming as they are the ones taking gameplay risks. Other stores will have to invest, evolve, cut deals to 3rd party devs and innovate to compete.
Sure, competition is good but, unless they go the scummy anti-consumer way, which is purchasing exclusives like Discord did, failing miserably, and limiting people power and options in doing so, I don't see how they could even remotely bother Steam.
Valve managed to make people accept the idea of DRMs by giving in return a whole range of tools and instruments, features, social aspects and the freedom to purchase and sell a game wherever you please (even directly from the developer). On the other side, we have GOG, that pushed their service on the ideology that games should never be behind a DRM. Users of both platforms have huge libraries on both sites and enjoy the service they offer. In the light of that, how do you expect people to switch to a third different platform that will, at best, offer the same features of the two?
I know I won't. If they force me to have my PC games scattered around a gazillion different clients, I'd just go drm-free when possible.
Valve managed to make people accept the idea of DRMs by giving in return a whole range of tools and instruments, features, social aspects and the freedom to purchase and sell a game wherever you please (even directly from the developer). On the other side, we have GOG, that pushed their service on the ideology that games should never be behind a DRM. Users of both platforms have huge libraries on both sites and enjoy the service they offer. In the light of that, how do you expect people to switch to a third different platform that will, at best, offer the same features of the two?
I know I won't. If they force me to have my PC games scattered around a gazillion different clients, I'd just go drm-free when possible.
I disagree that 30% is too much, seeing how much stuff Valve actually does for dev/publisher, as this post by Zexion shows. I mean, even just by this: "- allowing devs to generate FREE game keys to sell on their own website or competing 3rd party keystores. This didn't only give us cheap games, but also wonderful stuff like Humble Bundles", that 30% is fine, as you can sell those keys where ever you want and ignore that 30%.
Lmao
When you're so desesperate to keep believing outdated memes and start believing in tinfoil hat dumbassery
Usually fee is calculated after removing any external fees (Payment fees and VAT)
People have asked about benefits to consumers.
Q: What are you doing to make the Epic Games Store more attractive to consumers?
Tim Sweeney: Among other things, the store will also feature one free game every two weeks throughout 2019. Epic is funding these free releases so players can experience the wide range of creative works that will be available.
Q: What are you doing to make the Epic Games Store more attractive to consumers?
Tim Sweeney: Among other things, the store will also feature one free game every two weeks throughout 2019. Epic is funding these free releases so players can experience the wide range of creative works that will be available.
AWWWWWWWWW yeah we're at the fake news(fake stats?) phase now bois.
I mentioned earlier that I just released my 2nd title on Steam. Specifically, I released it on November 30th. It's a small arcade-style action/puzzle game with 8-bit style graphics and audio--meant to be a throwback to games of the 1980--for Windows and Mac. In other words, it sounds like a typical under-$5 indie game.
This was actually not a new game, but a game that I'd originally released on itch.io back in June 2017. This re-release added cross-platform support for Xbox/PS4/Switch/Steam controllers, plus Leaderboards, Achievements, cloud saving...basically, it added a lot of features that Valve provides to their developers at no extra charge, and that make the experience better for gamers.
Outside of a YouTube trailer visible on the game's Store page, and my own "company" Web site, I have done no promotion for this game.
All of that being said...
In the game's first day on Steam, I sold twice as many copies as I had sold over the entire period of time it was on sale at itch.io (17 months + 1 week).
So I'll reiterate my earlier point. Did itch give me a greater percentage? Sure. But on Steam I can deliver a better game to a more engaged audience. If Epic can offer a similar feature set to what Steam does, as well as a large, engaged audience, and responsive support, then yeah, I'll release my stuff there too. But it's going to take them a lot of effort to get there.
People have asked about benefits to consumers.
Q: What are you doing to make the Epic Games Store more attractive to consumers?
Tim Sweeney: Among other things, the store will also feature one free game every two weeks throughout 2019. Epic is funding these free releases so players can experience the wide range of creative works that will be available.
Q: What are you doing to make the Epic Games Store more attractive to consumers?
Tim Sweeney: Among other things, the store will also feature one free game every two weeks throughout 2019. Epic is funding these free releases so players can experience the wide range of creative works that will be available.
I know you're not very good at logic or math, but you realize what curation is, right? By definition it will leave games out. By definition some indie Devs will left out. This is a fact.
The question is what will those be. Will it be games that have been bundled over and over again and everyone has? Will it be AAA games? Will it be some small Indie games no one heard before? Will it be a mix?
Origin did that too with, till they stopped. And some devs on Steam give away games for free, same as HB with Steamkeys.
If thats the only benefit it has over other competitors, thats not enough.
I use BPM a lot to play on my TV.
I use controllers, that I can configure to my liking to play on my TV.
I can actually make pocket change just by owning games.
I can open a guide in the Overlay to check out Collectible guides or Walkthroughs on my TV.
I can stream with a button click.
I can buy 18+ games that this launcher wont have.
I can share all my games with my wife or relatives.
She can then play them on her Macbook or thanks to Proton on Linux.
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I wonder how many of those games will be well-known and sold indie titles that everyone practically owns already, or even AAA games from few years ago? I don't see them giving really new games for free. I mean, you could also look how Sony is doing with PS+, not all of them games they give for free are good. Sure, there's the occasional Yakuza there and here, but generally they seem to be bit more of a middle of a ground indie titles with scores around 6-7.
But that free game will probably make few people check the place out, even if the quality will vary a lot. And if I'm reading that right, they're just gonna do that for next year and stop doing it?
I have like 100 games on GOG, i never bought a thing there or played game from GOG. Giving free games does nothing except make users wait and not buy.
Because you won't find it there, since the store is curated.
If this is your take away from the thread then you need to pay more attention.
It's also a bit disengenious. Those free games are not benefits, they are a time limited promotion that will go away after 2019. When asking about benefits I expect to see something that will always apply through the life of the platform.
well, with them having "curation" many of those games just won't be on the platform at all.
And if you want to give indie games a better cut, you should be using itch.io instead.
Have you ever used windows store or heard about games for windows live? MS had their chance.
Q: What are you doing to make the Epic Games Store more attractive to consumers?
Tim Sweeney: Among other things, the store will also feature one free game every two weeks throughout 2019. Epic is funding these free releases so players can experience the wide range of creative works that will be available.
Honestly, free games doesn't attract me at all. I have a huge backlog so anything free that's not on my wishlist is useless. Especially true for some people if there's no steam trading cards.
What would get me is the same fuctionality that steam provides. Controller integration, achievements, friend list, workshop support, the ability to purchase games from other stores, the ability to play offline, the amazing recommendation engine all helps me to stay on steam.
Yup.
Tim Sweeney: Among other things, the store will also feature one free game every two weeks throughout 2019. Epic is funding these free releases so players can experience the wide range of creative works that will be available.
Honestly, free games doesn't attract me at all. I have a huge backlog so anything free that's not on my wishlist is useless. Especially true for some people if there's no steam trading cards.
What would get me is the same fuctionality that steam provides. Controller integration, achievements, friend list, workshop support, the ability to purchase games from other stores, the ability to play offline, the amazing recommendation engine all helps me to stay on steam.
Yup.
Wow, so I posted that they're going to give away a game for free every 2 weeks in 2019. There have been 5 responses to that so far, all of them complaining. That's 24 games for $0.00, that you don't have to download or play, and still every response is complaining. Amazing.
To be a competitor you actually have to want to compete and none of them wanted to.
Because that benefit doesnt entice new players. Origin did it (and abandoned it). Steam is doing it. HB is doing it. GOG is doing it.
You quoted a "benefit" of the plattform, but it isnt a benefit of the plattform if it just runs 1 year. Like BernardoOne said. Its a promotion, not a benefit of the client.
A benefit would be all games on there would be playable on Mac or Linux.
Or something like a "renting" system that no other competitor has.
Or also Family sharing that other clients have.
And of course you can criticise it. If Epic gives away Slaughtering Grounds or games that everyone who has a PC already literally might have.
When did gamers get so greedy? Literally complaining about free games. And this is quite clearly a benefit. It may or may not be time limited, doesn't matter, it's still a benefit.
I have (it's dreadful), and the reactions to Spencer's comments that they were really targeting on improving the store next year on here have been met with nothing but scepticism and irony. I'd like healthy competition as well, but all you got was 'will MS games also still come to Steam?!' This was not because people want to keep their library in one ecosystem.
I personally believe more competition is always good, as I've stated on many occasions. As long as we don't end up with every publisher having their own subscription service, that is. Epic does not want that so that's good.
I'm vaguely worried the increasing diffusion of the PC marketplace will make more developers (big and small) say screw it, and just not bother with a PC version. They already have to bake in additional control schemes and graphical options, now they have to repackage the application for, what, 5 different storefronts?
Can't it be both for many users, depending on how much you value those 'freebies'? Not that I think it's a particularly unique benefit but I can see how someone would see that it's a benefit to their using this particular store.