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I actually don't hate Epic Game Store
- Thread starter Bufbaf
- Start date
But competition? Surely somehow this is competition and it helps make steam better or something? /s
It's the exclusive boys-club feel of the whole damned thing that rubs me the wrong way. Epic and the developers and industry people telling us how all this is great for the industry but it's great for the already established and reputable and those with personal connections with Epic employees. Basically fuck everyone else except for the select few.
Yeah, I don't buy their PR.
We are going for an employment rate of 100%, not by creating jobs, but by killing the jobless
This is amazing.
Indeed. It is cringeworthy to see so many clamor for "curation" as if it's some kind of benefit. Where on earth did this idea come from? It really does confuse me when people say nonsense like "buried under tons of asset flips" - this simply does not happen. I suppose it's a lot easier to accept than "the game I made actually wasn't one of the best" for the devs who stir up this narrative, the "indiepocalypse" etc. They can't think like that, so obviously their game wouldn't be curated away, just the shit no-effort ones like Assault Android Cactus, Opus Magnum and ... wait :(
It's an odd one for sure because it doesn't really line up with my experience at all and I'm sure many others. What I find is that good games are buried by great ones. Because PC is almost infinitely backwards compatible, you're competing against a HUGE library that spans multiple "generations". While, for example, on Switch early on in the system's life I could settle for something mediocre to have to play on it, on PC you instantly have access to all the best games from today and yesteryear provided you have the proper hardware. The thing that's keeping me from playing new releases that aren't doing super fresh stuff in their respective genres is that there are an innumerable amount of other games that do. Discovery tools on Steam and community recommendations have gotten me to add nearly 300 games to my wishlist. When will I ever find the time to play all of those? I won't. Especially considering I already have 500 more unplayed games on my library.
I do think that a very strictly curated store like Epic's has value. Like others have said, you go there and everything is definitely above a certain level of quality. If you're super casual and just want to quickly pick a something up and you don't already have a massive wishlist elsewhere, limited choice makes things easier.
I am really interested to see how the store will do and operate once they open things up by the end of this year. How will publishing work? How many games will be added weekly? What will be featured on the landing page? I can wrap my head around their current plan, but it's hard to imagine how their very narrow approach will adapt to a much larger number of games on the service.
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Those are games that uses the Unreal Engine, not games made by Epic Games.
Surely there are 30 or so games made by epic on that list though.
So yeah, it is a little dumb to say Epic are "now only known for Fortnite"
I'd say it's more than a little dumb, it's moronic. Epic is one of the most influential forces in the entire industry, precisely because of the Unreal Engine, and related programs like Epic MegaGrants.
They're not gonna fix it either, if they haven't changed their stance on that you already know what you want, when you go the Epic Games Store.
It is worth to note that Epic has been giving grants to all sort of organisations for a long time, way before they got huge with the Fortnite money, so they are not just doing this for the publicity. Epic MegaGrants is just their latest iteration.
So yeah, it is rather mind blowing to see people saying that they do nothing to contribute to the gaming industry.
You want to delay games by six months before they hit steam? Generally in PC land we are used to things taking 10 years. If anything Epic are making games come to steam quicker by opening up their wallets for no particularly good reason.
So thanks Epic, keep pissing away that fortnite cash and I'll see those games when they show up a bit later on.
So thanks Epic, keep pissing away that fortnite cash and I'll see those games when they show up a bit later on.
Oh it is and it will, sadly our brains are not big enough to understand Tim's grand plan. Trust him, it will trickle down eventually.
This situation is perfectly fine for Epic because they want to court big developers and publishers but I am honestly baffled as to why smaller devs think that supporting an exclusive club is beneficial to them.
That's how it feels like. Games are not selling as well as expected so let's ostracize most developers so that those who remain will have better sales.
Developers spent years complaining about Valve's strict curation which had the result of big profits for a lucky few and starvation for everyone else. Eventually Valve let everyone in and now developers want to go back? It's just crazy, it makes zero sense for 90% of them.
With all due respect you are not on the inside making these deals so how can you conclude to know better? As a consumer it'ss not good but for them it may be.
To be fair, they've existed way before EGS. Titanfall being exclusive to origin really held it back sales wise. Same about Forza being tied to Microsoft store (this one still hurts, release it on steam, please).
Developers want curation but only if they're the ones that get in; I think people forget they're just companies trying to make a buck.
Multiple better stores exist, EGS barely has the content because i
I don't think anyone including myself is saying they do nothing to contribute to the game industry especially with the unreal engine but all my posts are specifically referring to the egs which i stand by isn't a good thing especially with how they are handling it and the exclusives.
People usually don't care if you are the publisher/developer and you use your own store unless you're Bethesda (shit launcher).
Y'know, it's good that these developers got money up-front to offset the cost of development, but I wonder, have any developers released a game on epic, and discussed how much the exclusivity deal has affect their sales?
There's only so much money you can make doing buisness exclusively on a controversial storefront, and I'm worried this is gonna end up biting these developers in the ass eventually. Not all of these games are gonna convince people to buy on Epic, and there have been enough basic foibles to deter people thus far.
I guess thankfully some are also selling on consoles, and they only have PC exclusivity, but many are not, and will be heavily affected by public opinion, and will likely lose out heavily on first-week sales.
There's only so much money you can make doing buisness exclusively on a controversial storefront, and I'm worried this is gonna end up biting these developers in the ass eventually. Not all of these games are gonna convince people to buy on Epic, and there have been enough basic foibles to deter people thus far.
I guess thankfully some are also selling on consoles, and they only have PC exclusivity, but many are not, and will be heavily affected by public opinion, and will likely lose out heavily on first-week sales.
Hate is a strong word.
Let's say I strongly dislike the Epic Game Store. Generally they seem to be against long term consumer interests. The free games are nice but are also a fleeting thing. Their negative PR campaigns against Steam are so transparent too, it just makes them look bad.
I would be happy for devs that they are benefiting if it did not come at my expense. I am not a dev so I'll look after myself first, which is what these devs are doing, and not tone down the bickering thank you very much. As a consumer the two tools if we don't like something are not spending our money and our bickering and I'll happily exercise both.
Let's say I strongly dislike the Epic Game Store. Generally they seem to be against long term consumer interests. The free games are nice but are also a fleeting thing. Their negative PR campaigns against Steam are so transparent too, it just makes them look bad.
I would be happy for devs that they are benefiting if it did not come at my expense. I am not a dev so I'll look after myself first, which is what these devs are doing, and not tone down the bickering thank you very much. As a consumer the two tools if we don't like something are not spending our money and our bickering and I'll happily exercise both.
I have been boycotting the EGS. The free games are so clearly just buying an install base for an otherwise poor quality platform. Their supposed reasoning (even if taken at face value) has nothing to do with me and what benefits me as a player.
The free games, are a trade: take free games, in exchange Epic can tell publishers/investors they have 100M users.
In the short term, maybe that's good. You get some (mostly older) games, most of which you probably won't play because there's always too many good games on your list. In the long term it means the games you're most excited about will be restricted to a primitive PC gaming portal. EGS is a huge step back in integrated features, more comparable to EA Origin than Steam. It's like going from PS4 system features to PS2 level. Most of what Steam offers at an API level across all games is just gone on EGS. It's only built to be a store, a downloader, and a launcher. Even in those tasks it's barebones.
I think the best thing to do for the health of PC gaming *from a players perspective* is to not install EGS, uninstall it if you have it, and delete your account.
The free games, are a trade: take free games, in exchange Epic can tell publishers/investors they have 100M users.
In the short term, maybe that's good. You get some (mostly older) games, most of which you probably won't play because there's always too many good games on your list. In the long term it means the games you're most excited about will be restricted to a primitive PC gaming portal. EGS is a huge step back in integrated features, more comparable to EA Origin than Steam. It's like going from PS4 system features to PS2 level. Most of what Steam offers at an API level across all games is just gone on EGS. It's only built to be a store, a downloader, and a launcher. Even in those tasks it's barebones.
I think the best thing to do for the health of PC gaming *from a players perspective* is to not install EGS, uninstall it if you have it, and delete your account.
I think you misunderstood my post. I'm not talking about the developers that take these deals, I'm talking about small developers that will most certainly be excluded if the EGS gains traction. They are rooting for Epic against their own interests.
These people being primarily other developers. Mostly of the small developer variety who will be pushed out of the market and lose their livelihood if a tightly curated store like EGS becomes the main way of distributing games on PC.
The Epic Store is good for developers that are paid to use it and neutral at best for anybody else.
Best case scenario is, you don't care about any store features, you don't care about shitty business practices and you are not having a bad time using the Epic Store.
Best case scenario is, you don't care about any store features, you don't care about shitty business practices and you are not having a bad time using the Epic Store.
I think the tight curation is only temporary, mostly out of necessity. I can see them opening up more and more as they gain a bigger marketshare. Same with the exclusivity deals and the free games. They only exist to force EGS into the market. Once the customers are there, there will be no need for them anymore.
Then those that make it into the store will lose the benefits of curation, right?
File this logical fallacy into the same category as "Epic need to do exclusives because there's no way they can match Steam's features" whilst also saying "Valve have been resting on their laurels for years".
Yes, definitely.
How is it a logical fallacy? Are you confusing me with another poster?
Epic won't be offering discoveribility/visibility for games that make it there, so yeah only those chosen benefit from it.
Others have to go via their pay 5-20% to streamers to get any visibility (or that is their plan according to Galyonkin)
I'd imagine this means it's more like Humble Widget, you just get link you can sell game with until it's profitable to display your game on their limited slots on front page. Similar to how Valve's initial plan for Steam Direct was.
He means that the OP's position (games get more exposure due to the limited number of titles) and your position (Epic will eventually open up and let a lot more games in) are contradictory because you can't have both at the same time.
Of course, nobody is claiming that. I just think the strict curation (and thus the exposure benefit) is temporary.
A company wanting to sell their games exclusively on their launcher is understandable.
The games Epic's locking down as exclusives aren't their games.
Yep, thinking about it, you're entirely right, it's on a whole other level.
I can blame EGS to try to be relevant in the market, but damn if I hate exclusive shenaningan on PC.
i know they've said that they're eventually going to add a lot more games but has epic said they're actually going to open up like steam?
i guess it doesn't really matter since they backtrack and go against basically every statement they make
i guess it doesn't really matter since they backtrack and go against basically every statement they make
Yeah, there's no way to actually know what they're going to do until the time comes.
I actually have a bit of doubts with this regard.
Nowadays devs expect to be paid to get on the EGS. Once that stops, people are probably going to be pissed for one since Epic didn't allow then to get in on the good times.
Second, at that point, they basically break their talking points about visibility issues that can seen on steam. Right now, mainly new titles on epic store get the exposure. All they're doing is being hypocrites if they open it up.
Maybe they should get some Amazon tech that recommend things based on what games you played or looked at on the store pages, like steam which I'm sure is why they are ok with you buying steam only games on key resellers. Who knows what Steam does with all that data outside of recommends, but like Google it's valuable I'm sure.
I say maybe they should but I hope they really don't. I tried finding out if I could block info from valve on google, and when I'm tempted to click a cute puppy video on youtube I put it in incognito because I'm tired of youtube recommending me more cute animal videos. The age of advertising in the internet age is getting worse and worse with AI and whatever algorithm that make it so effective. When it comes to game stores I know what I want if I'm going there to buy something.
I say maybe they should but I hope they really don't. I tried finding out if I could block info from valve on google, and when I'm tempted to click a cute puppy video on youtube I put it in incognito because I'm tired of youtube recommending me more cute animal videos. The age of advertising in the internet age is getting worse and worse with AI and whatever algorithm that make it so effective. When it comes to game stores I know what I want if I'm going there to buy something.
Sounds like a bit of fear mongering thinking Epic will somehow erase other options out there if they don't sign with them. How far are you really going to try and stretch things to try and get your views across?
Hate is a strong word, I just like Steam and I don't want to support a store that doesn't have the features that Steam has and even less support the whole "buying exclusives" thing.
I might eventually, but right now I just don't care.
I might eventually, but right now I just don't care.
If you feel like I'm stretching things, present your argument. Let's say that Epic manages to become the dominant force of digital distribution on PC. How many games do you think that the store will have available and what is that future like for small developers?
As long it has not a big influnence on how good a game is, I don't see why a store should be the main reason why I don't want to play it. I don't like exclusivity, but at least it is easy to handle on PC. In the end you still can play everything on one system and with one launcher (most of the time).
You're the one trying to present your own argument with no actual evidence anything like that will ever occur. Steam will remain dominant for a very long time and the only reason why it wouldn't would be is if Epic ever turns out to be a better store, not by spending money going after key titles.
Your argument makes no sense and is only proposed by you in attempts to gain alliance in not supporting Epic. Most people know it's not a very good store and is mainly used for gaining free games and exclusives. So how do you go from there to being a dominant store,? Seems like you're just throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks.
You just said why would anyone use it and now you're proposing it could be the dominant store?
"To me" Nvidia being the only way to play certain games would be splitting the PC into exclusives, or AMD/Radeon. I say this because I don't really limit myself on this open platform, I would even buy games on Microsoft store if I wanted one.
Gsync monitors was a thing I was not going to touch because I want the option of buying a Radeon card and thankfully Nvidia folded and now allow Freesync monitors to work on their cards. I'm no fan of Nvidia's raytracing solution and even if I was I wouldn't buy into it yet since it still looks like it's in a lab rat or guinea pig testing situation with early adopters. I can easily wait until a more open solution that works on any card comes much further down the line where the performance hit isn't so big, or it's worth having that hit.
Gsync monitors was a thing I was not going to touch because I want the option of buying a Radeon card and thankfully Nvidia folded and now allow Freesync monitors to work on their cards. I'm no fan of Nvidia's raytracing solution and even if I was I wouldn't buy into it yet since it still looks like it's in a lab rat or guinea pig testing situation with early adopters. I can easily wait until a more open solution that works on any card comes much further down the line where the performance hit isn't so big, or it's worth having that hit.
I don't oppose the concept of the Epic Games Store, but I think they should be funding development of games from the ground up in return for exclusivity, not snatching games from Steam at the last minute.
The sad thing is: not a single one of those tweets is new information.
It feels like there is this tedency that - the more you're aware of the whole situation - the more you will probably not support the EGS. The same goes also the other way: beeing less informed (or you simply don't care) makes it more likely that you will accept or support the EGS.
You can't explain all those "I'm a console gamer but you PC folks will now listing to what I think beeing a PC player should be like, and you guys better agree with me" posts with pure randomness. There have been too many of these posts in the last 8 months and it's usually the non-PC players that will go for a hard EGS defense.
The problem with selling to a company instead of selling to the market is that it may only be a one time deal. Epic could decide that your game did not garner enough interest for them to invest in your next project. And since you never "sold to the market" in the first place... you might not have a market to fall back on after that first game. You got a nice stack of cash to support your first project but if there was no genuine interest gained or nurtured with consumers... what are you going to do in the future? In the most extreme cases, developers have actively pushed consumers away by going back on their promises. So now they have a negative reputation going forward instead of a neutral one. So option B is definitely not certain to set developers up for the future.
I for one only play on the PC so please don't speak on behalf of the whole PC community thinking we should all share the same views. Content is king, just like it is on consoles, and Epic knows it is the best way to gain traction by getting exclusives. On top of that they will throw in some free games and hopefully more sales. I don't think you will find many, or even very few, who think the Epic store is the best place to get games from. If a game is on there and nowhere else or won;'t be for a long time then chances are they will use it.