The Walking Dead Season 4 on PC is moving to the Epic Store; Epic funding dev (Steam season pass owners will still get final episodes on Steam)
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I never said Steam has a monopoly, I said Epic doesn't. Epic might think they need to buy exclusives in order to compete. It's the same thing about the Xbox thread going on about next generation. Many don't think they can compete against the PS5 and neither system has even been released. It is this mindshare that is very hard to overcome. The next Xbox could have 6 awesome launch titles and the PS5 have 2 but still get outsold. Same thing with the Epic store, it too could be just as good as Steam but not get nearly as many sales. So maybe they feel they need to be super aggressive and secure deals. That doesn't not equate to a monopoly.
It also takes two sides to make these deals but of course we only want to view them selfishly. Maybe the developers want Epic store to succeed because of the 30% split the other stores take.
Yes, that would be a monopoly because that would be the only way to get orange juice. Epic is not taking your PC options away to buy other games. They are simply going after a few titles. That does not make a monopoly in the digital store for the PC. Steam is not going to suffer.
Do you think Steam always had regional pricing? Do you think PSN and XBL always had regional pricing? It will be fixed. We also see consoles in Brazil be very expensive, so not everything is perfect.
China is also blocking other games and items like iPhones so lets pretend everything is perfect there either.
Well, he only bought oranges. You can still buy apples.
That's your argument.
Following your logic, it isn't a monopoly because there's plenty of other fruit in the world for people to buy.
Just a reminder that some/most of these are timed exclusives.
It doesn't change the larger landscape of the discussion happening here, but it's important to be specific that some of these games (like Hades, Satisfactory, Ashen, and likely more/all) are timed exclusives, not true exclusives.
Don't want to mislead anyone in to thinking these games are only ever available on the Epic Store, because that's not true.
It doesn't change the larger landscape of the discussion happening here, but it's important to be specific that some of these games (like Hades, Satisfactory, Ashen, and likely more/all) are timed exclusives, not true exclusives.
Don't want to mislead anyone in to thinking these games are only ever available on the Epic Store, because that's not true.
My argument is you can buy the game on the PC and the PS4 and the Xbox One. Nobody is stopping you from playing on the PC. Your argument is the launcher.
Yes there is. can I play Spiderman on the PC? Can I play Bayonetta 2 on the PC? So tell me again this hardship you face by getting a free launcher and regional pricing compared to buying a whole new piece of hardware or playing this on your PS4 or Xbox One?
Regardless, that doesn't help the PC Gaming market at all. It also takes away that people can choose where they want to buy the game for a set amount of time.
1, Probably. If that's not the case then redirect my complaints to games like Satisfactory or SMBF which definitely would have.
2, Most of these games are 12 month timed exclusivity. That will at least give a future option to those of us who don't want to or cannot support the Epic store, but I don't think that defeats my point. I am against any and all attempts to create arbitrary walls designed to reduce consumer choice, and there is no real debate about if that is happening or not here.
Sure, permanent exclusivity would be worse, but it's still an awful business practice.
I never said it didn't - I'm just giving specifics so no one is mislead. That's why I said it didn't change the landscape of the discussion as a whole.
To answer your questions with the information available to everyone and no bias:
1. We don't know. Skybound Games had announced they would finish the season before the information on Epic exclusivity came about, but we don't know if this deal preceded that announcement.
2. We don't know. Most of the exclusive deals on the Epic Store are for 12 months.
It's an awful practice that has been going on for decades. Now that Steam is making billions of dollars of course others want to get a slice of the pie and will make aggressive moves to try and persuade gamers there. It is no different than what we already see on consoles for generations and no different that deals we see on Mobile like Mario on ios.
I totally agree with all of you that only 1st party should be driving exclusivity to show off your product but that is fantasyland.
Did you look at what a car looked like when it released back in the day?
Come on dude, we're not 2003 anymore...
Remember when consoles were becoming more like PCs and it turns out PC is the one that is becoming like a console?
Yup, money will do that. The reason why I am bit more lenient is because to me it's just a launcher. I don't have to buy a piece of hardware that is hundreds of dollars to play an exclusive game. Yes it sucks for regional pricing and features we take for granted but that's still a lot less hardship for me. I also know it will get better just like how Steam got better over time.
We have seen a huge rise in other launchers the last few years and it's going to continue.
Paid exclusivity is just the means to bend the customers to fit into your business model/agenda.
They should put the games on every launcher/store and adjust pricing for the reduced feature set of their service. That would be good for consumers and competition.
They should put the games on every launcher/store and adjust pricing for the reduced feature set of their service. That would be good for consumers and competition.
Honestly it doesn't matter one bit that console exclusivity costs people more money than PC store exclusivity. It's not a comparison that matters at all in this discussion. The question is what Epic store exclusivity costs consumers, and it's clear that's it's not just a launcher.
What does this have to do with literally anything? People in China can buy the games if they're on Steam. They can't if they're on the Epic store. And it's not even that the Chinese government is blocking the Epic store, Epic just isn't selling its games to China.
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Epic's effort has been the most laziest effort and most cancerous among all the other stores that have been introduced so far.. and dare i say, it has somewhat equaled or surpassed even GFWL with its shitty practices.
I actually think that their philosophy is that keep the storefront dev. friendly as much as possible while ignoring user convenience and features and only appeal to customers through its exclusives. I also see them introducing a subscription soon in order to lure more people.
I actually think that their philosophy is that keep the storefront dev. friendly as much as possible while ignoring user convenience and features and only appeal to customers through its exclusives. I also see them introducing a subscription soon in order to lure more people.
Of course it's a comparison. You think these companies owe you anything on the PC that's different on consoles? It's all related to videogames, there are no rules because you think it's unfair.
China has it's own set of problems so bringing them up is kind of laughable to begin with. Like I said before, give it time and Epic will be fixing a lot of these issues.
If it's as bad as you think it is then it will eventually fail and developers will realize quickly not to bother.
I haven't played or bought the Final Season yet and was kind of turned off of doing so once all the TT closure stuff was going down. But is there any save game stuff that gets imported from previous seasons into the Final Season? And how would that work if you've previously gotten the other seasons through Steam but now are forced to get the Final season through Epic? Is it just done through your Telltale account?
Also, all of these launchers and Epic moneyhatting exclusives can just stop. Or at least give me a reason to use your crummy, emaciated launcher besides hiding exclusives on it Epic. I guess if Epic is fronting actual development money to help the final season get made, that's good but all of this moneyhatting and launchers sprouting like weeds, fracturing the PC landscape is a net negative in the long term.
Also, all of these launchers and Epic moneyhatting exclusives can just stop. Or at least give me a reason to use your crummy, emaciated launcher besides hiding exclusives on it Epic. I guess if Epic is fronting actual development money to help the final season get made, that's good but all of this moneyhatting and launchers sprouting like weeds, fracturing the PC landscape is a net negative in the long term.
Consoles are a completely different animal. The platform holders rely on physical hardware: lots of R&D, distro, production, etc. I can understand 1st party efforts to be exclusive, but 3rd party stuff should never be exclusive, that's just a low effort quick hack.
It being harder to play exclusive games on consoles has no bearing on the problems that Epic buying exclusivity is bringing to the PC market and consumers. To argue that otherwise is disingenuous. As has been said many times, in many threads, it's not "just another launcher", and perhaps you should educate yourself about them.
And there's nothing laughable about bringing up China and I'd like to hear you explain why it is. People in China can play games on Steam. They cannot on the Epic store - and not through any of their own fault. Why should anyone in China - one of Steam's biggest markets in the world - tolerate hoping Epic launches in their region?
Stop making excuses for the console makers. Games are games and if these companies can find a deal they will, regardless of the platform. You as a consumer should be more upset you have to buy additional hardware than a free launcher on the PC. You think as digital sales increase on consoles that exclusive deals are going to go away?
Why should anyone in China tolerate a lot of things? It's also disingenuous on your part to think Epic store will always be this way.
It has been around for a long time, but that's mostly on consoles. Not so much on PC until Epic and Discord (although Microsoft have tried it briefly as well, and were criticized for it back then too). This is partially because the PC crowd has historically been pretty good about preventing shitty practices from taking off , for example you can see the early GFWL plans and the resulting boycott. The fact that it has taken off on consoles is one of the things that I don't like about that market, and I also don't believe that just because it is widespread means that it should be accepted. If that was the case, things would never improve and consumers should generally want things to get better, not worse.
If Epic funds the project then it is reasonable to demand some form of exclusivity. Reasonable, not good.
Why can't the Epic store launch in China right now then? Along with the rest of the world it's launching in. Your bizarre defence of the Epic store is plumbing new depths. Do you even have a point other than "it could be worse guys; I believe Epic can improve some day"?
Everything you said is perfectly reasonable and hard to argue. The truth is when money is involved it's never going to be all about us the consumers. Epic and others see a viable market on the PC, especially with how much money Steam makes. So of course they want part of that action and those slimy practices unfortunately are taking place on the PC.
We will see how much resistance it gets but the fact it's free I'm not sure many care. Of course other countries have every right to be upset even more so.
I don't know. Why can't Nintendo offer a comparable online service to Sony and Microsoft?
China is banning other things that aren't banned in other places though and as I said Epic will improve things over time.
Yea i pretty much know that but still this whole thing will continue for atleast one or two years before everyone realizing how shit it really is.. A lot people on the PC side will suffer a huge inconvenience and other issues due to this.
This post needs to be quoted again and again. Along with a link to MetaCouncil, where people don't have to deal with the usual, staff-sanctioned, bullshit seen in every PC thread on this forum. And yes, the admins are fully aware that this happens and don't care. It's a shame because there are other parts of this forum that are fine, but PC discussion here is virtually worthless.
Wow, this is some trash. I was waiting till completion to buy the game, now I'm locked out of buying it on Steam. Fucking Epic shitholes. Guess I can still buying it on console, at least.
yup ive pretty much given up on any form of normal discussion in pc threads outside of the main OT here, and after having countless messages and nights of going back and forth with various mods and admins on this very subject i frankly cannot be bothered anymore, and yes metacouncil is far and wide a much nicer place to talk about pc gaming, we clearly arent the problem if none of this shit happens there
Do I need one? I already explained why it's happening and you have yet to explain why people tolerate other things in China and don't want to get your hands dirty talking about the same pratices taking place in Mobile and game consoles. Thinking the PC is some tropical paradise where everyone can swim naked and do drugs while being left alone.
I don't see it as much of an inconvenience. I just install the launcher. Inconvenience to me would having to buy new hardware.
Give it time and you're probably right unless Epic wakes up and plans to make it better.
They want a competitor that challenges Steam with pro-consumer tactics.
Making games exclusive is anti-consumer.
Planning to expand Fortnite's singular account across multiple platforms to all Epic store games at the end of next year is pro-consumer.
Yep*, timed exclusive. 12 months.
*Offer valid on Era and Era Clear platforms.
No, you've yet to explain what possible defence Epic has for not launching its store in China. You embarrass yourself further with every post. I'm out.
Why are we comparing it to the console ecoystem constantly? Aren't developer-user dynamics quite different between the two?
I mean there are paid subscriptions that lock you out of discounts and free games and plenty of other stuff iam not bothering to quote thats pretty different.
PC users pay a lot sometimes for buying their rigs and traditionally expect things to get easier from then onwards when it comes to digital stores...
The precedent set by Valve and MS or Sony in the digital space is radically different. You cannot directly compare the two.
You should look at the PC digital space through the eyes of a PC user thats used to it.
'User convenience and user accessibility' helped curb piracy on PC to a large extent and helped make the russian and chinese markets previously infested with pirates paying customers to a large extent through Steam. Its all thanks to valve's approach and philosophy.
So basically they are already more pro-consmer than what we see on the console level.
The only thing embarrassing is this level of entitlement that somehow everything should be on a level playing field and you ringing up China is ironic. First you can't fathom why consoles are allowed to be compared even though the real commodity here is the software.
No, you look at it from the software space. Where the value is. That is where the leverage is being met head on. You are going on and on about a launcher that isn't as good as Steam or GOG and acting like that's now a crime when hardware that can cost hundreds of dollars is being used as leverage to exclude others.
Not once have I said what Epic is doing is good but it just seems some of you don't want to hear anything, just pitchforks.
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Am I misunderstanding something that everyone seems to see and I don't?
If epic didn't fund this, there would be no season 4. But people are complaining about it being on a different store as if there was another option epic is preventing from being a reality.
That other option is the game not existing I guess
If epic didn't fund this, there would be no season 4. But people are complaining about it being on a different store as if there was another option epic is preventing from being a reality.
That other option is the game not existing I guess
Yes in that case. Regarding the PC space though, there are a ton of features Valve offers that makes their launcher so much better than any first party console that Epic has to offer multiple pro-consumer features to be seen as valuable.
That's in accurate. Netflix has made the effort to get one more episode made but originally it wouldn't have involved the entire team nor would they have funded two episodes which probably would've allowed the story to breathe better.
It's not exactly like the Bayonetta situation.
I'm ignorant, so can anybody explain this backlash to me? How does this negatively affect someone who has a gaming PC? They can still get the game as they would on Steam but just on a different application at the same price point. The only inconvenience is installing a new storefront right? This doesn't look anywhere near as anti-consumer as making something exclusive to a console where the gamer has to purchase a brand new console for the game.
It's on most reselling sites for 21 dollars. But the chance those are stolen are super high so it's up to ya to get it from em.