Epic Games Store - the console war comes to PC

[Rahdulan]

I wouldn't be surprised if CD Projekt negotiated long and hard before agreeing to sell Cyberpunk on Steam right away.

Speaking of CDPR I wonder if launching Thronebreaker on Steam so soon was always the plan or if they were disappointed by initial sales and gave into panic. I don't remember any earlier statements on the matter.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I wouldn't be surprised if CD Projekt negotiated long and hard before agreeing to sell Cyberpunk on Steam right away.

Speaking of CDPR I wonder if launching Thronebreaker on Steam so soon was always the plan or if they were disappointed by initial sales and gave into panic. I don't remember any earlier statements on the matter.

It was promoted as a GOG exclusive, but released on Steam 3 weeks after release once it became clear that the exclusivity hurt sales.

https://af.gog.com/news/release_thronebreaker_the_witcher_tales?as=1649904300

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, a brand new adventure set in the world of The Witcher, is now available on PC, exclusively via GOG.com.​

^ highlight theirs, not mine

https://www.gamewatcher.com/news/thronebreaker-the-witcher-tales-is-not-coming-to-steam

As it turns out, CD Projekt RED have decided against releasing Thronebreaker on Steam, and Gwent's standalone singleplayer offshoot will now be released as a GoG exclusive. Unless 'PC version ONLY on GOG.COM' reads otherwise in some odd way?

Up until now, we've kind of expected for Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales to follow the usual CD Projekt RED release schedule, where the game would simultaneously come out on every major video game marketplace, or that perhaps they'd stagger the game's release on other services a bit.

This has now been proven wrong, however, with the launch of Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales' pre-order website, which very obviously points out that the game will be an exclusive GoG release.

It is a bit early to say whether CD Projekt RED are pulling a Bethesda or an EA on us, and if this sort of approach will affect whether Cyberpunk 2077 won't be coming to Steam, but it does stand to reason that they could conceivably do something of the type with the amount of hype that their upcoming FPS/RPG has garnered so far.​

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...ty-hurt-thronebreaker-sales-cd-projekt-admits

CD Projekt's attempts to forgo Steam with the release of Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, have fallen short after the publisher admitted sales did not live up to its expectations.

The narrative-driven RPG released last month exclusively on GOG.com, the DRM-free digital distribution platform owned by the publisher.

Despite receiving positive reviews, it suffered from releasing on a platform that is "incomparably smaller" than the defacto PC storefront Steam.
​

 

[Lutte]

Only large AAA publishers can afford eschewing steam. Long term, indies who try the Epic exclusive act will be hurt and filled with regrets unless they get a really large amount of money from Epic as a bribe for doing so.

Even so, Bethesda for now was merely experimenting with Shelter (a mobile game nobody asked for on PC) and 76 (which flopped hard). It remains to be seen if the next TES, Starfield or Doom truly eschews steam. It seemed likely since there's no page for the next Doom on steam and they usually appear before preorders even starts, but there's still time for them to reconsider, particularly as their other recently published games flopped (Dishonored 2, Prey, which I both liked, but did terrible wrt sales) so can they really afford a decently selling but still less than optimal Doom?

Ubishit still releases games on steam, although they require installing their own launchers after installation. Clearly they've calculated that not selling the games on steam would be a loss.

EA.. probably doesn't care that much for PC sales. Many of their biggest hitters are mostly console hits, like their sport games. Despite that, it has become the most credible Steam competitor after they started opening the shop to other developers.

The only argument for Epic's store as a whole is a bigger cut for the devs. If that translated to sales it could work, but as a piece of software their launcher is a pile of shit and the only audience it has, the fortnite player base, isn't exactly the most open to indie type games like hardcore platformers (see: Super Meat Boy's free release) or boring indie walking sims. I don't actually think indies are going to be successful on this. Fortnite kids are not the typical indie game audience. I hope for Rebel Galaxy Outlaw's devs getting a nice bribe out of this because the sales aren't going to be great. They wouldn't be that great even if they were on steam to begin with.

For me, it'd take a seriously unavoidable greatest hit before I even consider installing this chink garbage.

Moreover, Epic's only argument, the better cut for devs, is already being attacked by competitors who are intent on undercutting further. Discord is offering a better deal for devs who don't care about the exposure but care more about the % they squeeze. They started the argument with a price war they will not win. And discord has a larger userbase than fortnite kids.

 

[Metro]

It seems like, going forward, all Bethesda titles will be exclusive to their platform for at least a certain period of time. Rage 2 is not listed to sale on Steam. Despite their current failings, I haze zero doubt that millions will flock to buy TES6, Starfield, Fallout 5, etc. As VD said, it makes sense for Bethesda to reap 100% of early (pre-order and non-discounted sales) and after six months or a year they can get their 50% off sales from Steam (such that Valve's cut is not as noticeable as it would be off of a 100% price).

 

[JarlFrank]

Crushed under the weight of "Increasing store taxes"? I'm pretty sure Steam's slice of the pie has only gone down since they said they'd reduce it at certain milestones, and I'm also pretty sure that Steam's 30% is a hell of a lot less than making physical copies and distributing them to actual stores. Sure, Epic takes less of a cut, but it seems strange to act like the 30% from Steam means games can't be profitable. And of course that's not even mentioning dodging "Timed exclusives are anti-consumer" with the answer of "Let me answer that by saying we only take 12%!". I mean shit, even at my most Steam-rabid it's not like I didn't want games to show up on shit like GoG too. I may prefer Steam but what kind of a fucker do you have to be to WANT exclusives, let alone try justifying them?

Pretty much sounds like very entitled developers to me. The ones complaining about Steam this recent year have been mostly mediocre indie devs who consider all the pro-consumer features of Steam to be terrible.

"Refunds mean that my 30 minute gameplay-less walking simulator gets refunded by everyone who finished it and I don't get to keep any of my sales!!! It's Steam's fault for introducing this feature, not my fault for making a game that isn't worth playing for more than 30 minutes!! How dare they allow consumers to refund something they don't like!!"

"People have been review-bombing my game on Steam!! Steam is a terrilbe store with terrible customer service because they don't police the forums and review sections enough!! They shouldn't allow people to post negative reviews this easily!! It's totally Steam's fault and not my fault for making a shit game or drawing the wrath of gamers towards me by acting like an asshole online!! Such a toxic community!!"

etc etc

You know who hasn't complained about Steam? Larian, Obsidian, CD Projekt (despite having their own store, too), Ubisoft (despite having their own store, too), not even inXile blame their recent flops on Steam's "toxic community" or have raged against refunds. Neither have successful indies who made quality games, like the devs of Age of Decadence, Underrail, ATOM RPG, etc etc etc complained about Steam as an "unfriendly" platform.

All the devs who are hugely in favor of Epic's store do not just cite the lower cut as a reason they approve of it, but also the lack of forums, the option to not allow reviews for your game, etc etc. Essentially things that "protect" a developer from consumer backlash for shipping a shitty product. The kinds of devs who publish mediocre, generic indie trash and feel personally insulted when people give them bad reviews.

I haven't seen any real developers complain about Steam, nor have I seen any real developers be overly enthusiastic about the Epic store.

As for consumer friendliness, Steam has forums and reviews and user-written guides and the modding workshop and an integrated chat function and many other features that are convenient for the user.
GoG has launcher-independent installers, no DRM, reviews and forums.

The Epic Store has... ????????????

 

[rusty_shackleford]

The Epic Store has... ????????????

chinese spyware

 

[ultra loser]

Your windows 10 and iphone send all your data to NSA anyway, if I have to pick I prefer Mao Zedong knowing what games on my PC I have pirated over obongo knowing that. China won't put me in jail.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Your windows 10 and iphone send all your data to NSA anyway, if I have to pick I prefer Mao Zedong knowing what games on my PC I have pirated over obongo knowing that. China won't put me in jail.

Use Linux you dork

 

[Morgoth]

Why not release your games both on the Epic Store and Steam simultaneously and price the latter higher to offset Valve's cut? That might incentivize gamers to go for the Epic Store while still giving loyal Steam customers an option to buy.

This store exclusive bullshit better be flopping.

 

[Reinhardt]

China won't put me in jail.

You will just mine bitcoins for them.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Why not release your games both on the Epic Store and Steam simultaneously and price the latter higher to offset Valve's cut? That might incentivize gamers to go for the Epic Store while still giving loyal Steam customers an option to buy.

This store exclusive bullshit better be flopping.

That'd probably piss people off even more than exclusivity. Exclusivity still irritates a lot of people but it's more commonplace for consoletards so it's an easier pill to swallow for the world as a whole. Little Johnny seeing his $60 game show up on Steam for $70 would rile him up a lot more than finding it's only sold on Epic. Plus he would (Rightly) lash out at the developers for it rather than Epic.

Another thing about the exclusivity, the main sticking point with this is that it's exclusivity on PC for a third party storefront. People are annoyed when Bethesda/EA/Valve/Ubisoft/CDPR pick up their ball and go home and sell their shit on their own platforms, but it doesn't stir up much outcry because it's generally agreed that if people want to sell their own shit exclusively on their own store that's their thing. The part that's really fucking annoying here is Epic trying to scoop up games that are unrelated to them. Not just incentivizing people to come to their store with more favorable pricing, actually fighting for exclusivity deals. When a game ends up exclusively on Steam it's not because Valve's holding anyone hostage, it's because they want that huge audience at Steam and all the generally useful shit Steam offers (Stats and sales tracking, achievements, easy user made guides, cloud saves, easy to push patches and even beta patches or old patches, etc etc etc). And people can still nag the developers to get off their asses and cut a deal with GoG. GoG's still got some issues in that it often gets patches slower than Steam, but at least they're offering something different. At least provided they keep offering the DRM free installers and don't completely succumb to Galaxy.

 

[Projas]

Why not release your games both on the Epic Store and Steam simultaneously and price the latter higher to offset Valve's cut?

I'm fairly sure that's not allowed under Steam's terms and conditions.

 

[GrainWetski]

Why not release your games both on the Epic Store and Steam simultaneously and price the latter higher to offset Valve's cut?

I'm fairly sure that's not allowed under Steam's terms and conditions.

Pretty sure that's only for actual Steam keys.

 

[LESS T_T]

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...ur-of-the-epic-games-store-for-the-division-2

Ubisoft forgoes Steam in favour of Epic Games for The Division 2
Epic and Ubisoft to partner on "additional select titles" throughout the year

Shots have been fired today in the digital distribution platform war as Ubisoft shuns Steam in favour of Epic Games.

While the recently launched Epic Games Store hasn't had much trouble attracting smaller indie developers, this exclusive agreement on such a high-profile AAA title represents a serious coup over Steam.

Furthermore, it has been announced that Ubisoft and Epic will partner on "additional select titles" over the coming year.

The partnership will see PC version of The Division 2 available only on the Epic Games Store, and directly from Ubisoft.

Ubisoft confirmed that pre-orders placed on other platforms would be unaffected by the decision.

Epic is working with the publisher to integrate digital rights management software Uplay with its own online services.

With Epic taking only a 12% cut of sales -- compared to Valve's 30% cut with Steam -- it's become an attractive prospect for developers and publishers.

"We aim to provide the most publisher-friendly store, providing direct access to customers and an 88% revenue split, enabling game creators to further re-invest in building great games," said Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic.

Chris Early, vice president of partnerships at Ubisoft added: "We entrust Epic to deliver a smooth journey for our fans, from pre-ordering the game and enjoying our Beta to the launch... Epic continues to disrupt the video game industry, and their third party digital distribution model is the latest example, and something Ubisoft wants to support."

That's a blow to Steam.

 

[Sranchammer]

Damn, these boys ain't playing!

 

[unfairlight]

Yeah, like anyone gives a fuck about ubishit anyway. They sell on consoles, not PC.
All this will do is piss off consumers.

 

[LESS T_T]

Yeah, like anyone gives a fuck about ubishit anyway. They sell on consoles, not PC.
All this will do is piss off consumers.

Three games out of the top twelve earning games in 2018 on Steam were Ubisoft games.

 

[theSavant]

I think if they get really dangerous to Steam, Steam will simply reduce his cut as well.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Why not release your games both on the Epic Store and Steam simultaneously and price the latter higher to offset Valve's cut?

I'm fairly sure that's not allowed under Steam's terms and conditions.

I don't think that would be legal in many countries.


Maybe Ubisoft hopes for people who "upgrade" from Fortnite to the Division?

 

[Belegarsson]

You know, the thing about all these Epic Games bribing developers nonsense stuffs don't bother me. What bothers me is suddenly, there's a surge of idiots float to surface and praise Epic for "diverging Steam's monopoly in PC gaming".

Valve has been building and supporting Steam for like what, over 15 years? It has built in mod support, it has discussion board which is the quickest way to troubleshoot issues you have in a game and usually a very good place to discuss story or various subjects about (lesser known) games themselves, it has very good and functional friend list and chat/group chat system, it paved the way for QoL features in PC gaming like taking screenshot, FPS counter, one button invite/join multiplayer session, it has Big Picture and Steam Link which is incredibly useful for people who occasionally wanna get lazy like me. And then there's stuffs like Linux advocate with Steam Play, Steam OS, Steam Machines even though most of them didn't take off; amazingly customizable storefront where you can search games based on their tags, categories, discovery queue, curator (I wouldn't have tried Telepath Tactics had it not been recommended by codex curator), people who have way too much free time can even customize their own library with grid view. And of course refund that can be requested through like 4 clicks, straight inside the client. Valve did everything to cater to their own userbase, and despite not being the perfect client, I can safely say it's the most customer friendly one.

Meanwhile the Epic Games Store had a lot of potential to build off Steam's foundation, but Epic chose to push out a barebone client that doesn't really have anything new to offer. All their talk is about how much revenue developers get by selling games through them. They preferred having their dick sucked by developers instead of sucking customers' dick, which means they can't give less fuck about customers' comfort since they have enough fuck you money to bribe developers. I don't blame the devs because a lot of them probably needs Epic's money to fund their projects, but oh boy it's difficult not to label Epic "pathetic" after these moves.

The Division 2 joining the list sets a very dangerous precedent. More AAA devs switching to Epic means less way for customers to know what bullshit the dodgy ones are hiding behind their "games" since there's no convenient forum, clear refund policy and user reviews, so they will have an easier time to get away with whatever can cause a mass outrage. But then again people made a huge fuss about Forza Horizon 3 and it's a Windows Store exclusive so time will tell.

 

[Rahdulan]

Meanwhile the Epic Games Store had a lot of potential to build off Steam's foundation, but Epic chose to push out a barebone client that doesn't really have anything new to offer. All their talk is about how much revenue developers get by selling games through them. They preferred having their dick sucked by developers instead of sucking customers' dick, which means they can't give less fuck about customers' comfort since they have enough fuck you money to bribe developers. I don't blame the devs because a lot of them probably needs Epic's money to fund their projects, but oh boy it's difficult not to label Epic "pathetic" after these moves.

I think the sad fact is some of the features above are seen as negatives by publishers and devs precisely because they give customers more options and freedom. Reviews? B-but what if they're negative reviews and our game isn't seen as 10/10 GOTY masterpiece? I would legit think that's just some contrarian satirical nonsense had "toxic reviews" and similar garbage opinions not popped up online and people holding such views weren't entirely sincere. Informed customers are always a detriment to any and all industries that want to peddle shit to you. Add a closed-off store with no competition and you have a recipe for disaster.

 

[Alienman]

The smart decision by Ubisoft would be to release it on both platforms. So going from that, the amount of money EPIC is offering much be damn huge for Ubisoft to even consider to bite.

 

[Perkel]

Valve has been building and supporting Steam for like what, over 15 years?

Good fuck them and their 15 years.

Steam was launched as DRM bullshit for half life 2. For half its life it was shit bloatware that barely run.
Since 2-3 years you can't even stop updates anymore because they decided people "should update their games" which means fuck modding.
Since DOTA only thing they care about is how to fuck you out of money.
Since start they never allowed to sell their own games on any other platform.

I welcome new stores and competition.
This will be a good lesson for velve jews that customers aren't your bitches.

In the end we will reach same place we had decades back. Companies will have their own stores and you will be launching exe.
Discord already basically killed their social platforms and it is not connected to any platform holder.

Anyone selling game in 2019 already knows that releasing game on steam doesn't mean sales. You need social interaction or maybe some small pr campaign to sell something. Gone are the days where you could release a game and it would sit for days sometimes week on new releases because how few games were released.

And it is all for the better. Because game developers need to first establish community around their game to sell something instead of larping jew on street selling sousages.

 

[Viata]

I welcome new stores and competition. I also welcome less DRM, so it's easy for me to pirate the game.

 

[ultra loser]

Valve has been building and supporting Steam for like what, over 15 years?

15 years and it still won't start on the first try after you turn on your PC. Process hangs on "Connecting steam account", you have to kill it manually and relaunch. When it finally launches you are stuck with a busy cursor icon like it's mining bitcoins in the background for no reason. I looked up these issues on the internet and I'm not the only one who has them.
Software worth billions and they don't care about fixing it, what do they even do at work, it's not like they are busy making video games.