This isn't about providing a platform of tools. Uplay does that, and Uplay is fine. This is about limiting the stores you can buy this at. This is like if Smash Bros Ultimate was entirely exclusive to nintendo. You know how Nintendo rarely discounts the prices of their games? Imagine if Nintendo said, you can only buy Smash Bros Ultimate through the e-shop. You can't buy it through amazon, or walmart, or anything, and just to drive the point home, you can't even use cards bought at other stores to load points into your eshop. You have to give your money directly to nintendo, they will decide the price forever.
Obviously, smash brothers isn't being sold like that. I can go to walmart and get it for the MSRB. Or I can go to a store on boxing day that is trying to vye for my patrionship and is selling it at a discount. Or I could go into the used market and buy it there, directly from another owner, who might sell it for even cheaper. Because there are many stores to choose from, I win, because I get a better price.
Epic is doing my smash brothers ultimate hypothetical with these games. They are paying so that they are the only store that will sell these games, stifling the marketplace. Steam doesn't work like this. What you call "launchers" and what people are referring to as "Steam" and "Epic" are actually a bunch of different things all rolled into one. On one end, the thing that consumers interact with to give money to, is steam the store. There is also Steam, the host. Steam, the host, is where you download games from. To download a game from steam, the host, you need to use Steam, the client, which is a launcher that also has a bunch of tools built in, like key remappers or linux translators. Thing is, you don't need to buy your game from steam, the store, to use steam, the host. And the way it's set up is that in order to download a game from steam, the host, you need to enter a unique pin number into steam, the client. That pin number is generated by developers using a tool valve provides. Developers, way from steam, the store, and steam, the client, when they are making their game, can make a huge number of keys, then they decide where they go. They can put their keys on steam, the store, or give them to other stores like amazon or gamestop.com or whatever. Once a consumer has that key, they functionally have the game. That key, regardless of where they got it from, enables them unlimited lifetime downloads from Steam, the host, using Steam, the client.
You never have to give money to Valve or use steam, the store in this situation. To understand this further, Ubisoft has a similar thing. Uplay is a host for games, and also a store, and also a client that lets people download their games. Uplay and Steam play nicely together. Steam, the store, sells Uplay keys. Uplay, the store, can also sell steam keys. When Uplay sells steam keys, Valve doesn't see a dime. Similarly, when Steam sells Uplay keys, Ubisoft doesn't see a dime... but since most uplay games are from ubisoft in the first place, they still are happy. When I launch a game that uses Uplay from steam, it opens Uplay up in the background, which then launches the game.
Now you might be saying, well what's the big deal about the launchers. In PC Gaming, launchers actually integrate into games. Uplay, the client, for example, has it's own achievement system, and it's actually superior to steam, the client, achievement system. Uplay, the client, achievement system is unique because when you earn achievements, you can turn those points into money to be used on Uplay, the store. So there is actually incentive to buy a Uplay, the client, version of a game. Similarly, Steam, the client, has things like Steam Proton, which lets you run windows games in Linux, or things like Steam Input, which lets you rebind gamepads.
Now, these features between clients actually play nicely. I can launch a Uplay, the client, game from within steam, the client, and Steam's features, like Steam Input, will follow to uplay, the client. There are actually clients that block this, like Microsoft's.
Epic announced three things, basically. That they are launching an epic game store, an epic client, and an epic hosting service. Nobody gives a fuck if people use epic's hosting service. I honestly couldn't care less. Similarly, if I needed to use epic's client to download and play the game, but the client integrates seamlessly to steam, I also don't give a shit. From what I've seen, it appears that's the case and you can integrate Epic's stuff into steam alright.
What's being discussed, which has never happened with steam, is Epic, the store, making a game exclusive. THAT is anti-consumer. It's not just about "downloading another launcher." Nobody gives a shit about that really. It's about being forced into a single vendor setup, where Epic is basically paying money to keep games out of other people's stores. This is more than just not being on steam, the store. This is also, presumably, not being on amazon.com, or gamestop.com, and so forth. The actual competition that matters, the competition that actually drives PC gaming. It is these fringe stores that haven't been the steam store since steam has existed that has made PC gaming so awesome. These stores create real competition, where multiple outlets are selling the same product and I, as a consumer, pick the one that treats me best. There will be no grey market for epic games, no organic market of keys. They control the transaction, they're the only entity you can go through to get these games, which, a week ago, otherwise were going to come to many stores.
That is why it sucks.
