Epic Games Store - the console war comes to PC

[V_K]

GOG also didn't receive all the backlash Epic is getting, so I doubt Valve is bothered enough to actually do any countermeasures.

"Backlash" as if some dudes on internet can change people buying habits when they have to make decision to buy their favorite game or not.

As long as Epic does not make idiotic moves like introducing daily playing limit or outright incompetence where games can't even launch all of talk about "features" will not matter when at the end of the day you can't play game you are interested in.

Simply put most of people don't give a flying fuck about store they buy in. They just want to play game.

Which is why it's precisely in Valve's interest to show these devs the extent of backlash that happens when they go Epic exclusive.

Only if it actually matters, i.e. sales are effected. Just because there's a lot of complaining on forums and twitter doesn't mean that actually has any real effect on the bottom line.

Well, if you look at the screenshots, the review bombing filter has filtered out close to 6k reviews - in under a week. Given that the total of Borderlands reviews is about under 100k in 7 years, that's not an insignificant number that is bound to affect the bottom line.

 

[JarlFrank]

I disagree. Before steam could just ignore the whinging, but now a lot of those complaining devs can run to epic if steam doesn't coddle them now.

Um, but Borderlands developer has already run to Epic, that's the reason the review bombings are happening.

And steam wants them back, and to retain the devs still on its platform, as such, they must play ball as it were. Or I suspect at least, that they are worried and feel as if they must play ball or the consequences could be disastrous for them. Epic is the first true competition they've had in a long fucking time. And no, GoG was never good or big enough to be actual competition, and GoG wasn't engaging in practices like epic, so far as I know.

The whole anti-review bombing algorithm had been introduced into Steam a few weeks ago so the Borderlands case isn't a specific thing they're doing to please Borderlands publisher. It's an algorithm that has been implemented in general - if a game suddenly gets an influx of bad reviews, people at Steam check the contents of the reviews, and if the contents have overwhelmingly nothing to do with the quality of the game itself - including complaints about developers acting like dicks on social media, stuff like that - the reviews won't count towards the total positive/negative review percentage.

Yes this was likely done as a response to the Epic store's opt-in reviews and the whole "BAWWW REVIEWBOMBING" cries of retarded journos, but it's not singling out Borderlands specifically here.

 

[J_C]

I disagree. Before steam could just ignore the whinging, but now a lot of those complaining devs can run to epic if steam doesn't coddle them now.

Um, but Borderlands developer has already run to Epic, that's the reason the review bombings are happening.

And steam wants them back, and to retain the devs still on its platform, as such, they must play ball as it were. Or I suspect at least, that they are worried and feel as if they must play ball or the consequences could be disastrous for them. Epic is the first true competition they've had in a long fucking time. And no, GoG was never good or big enough to be actual competition, and GoG wasn't engaging in practices like epic, so far as I know.

The whole anti-review bombing algorithm had been introduced into Steam a few weeks ago so the Borderlands case isn't a specific thing they're doing to please Borderlands publisher. It's an algorithm that has been implemented in general - if a game suddenly gets an influx of bad reviews, people at Steam check the contents of the reviews, and if the contents have overwhelmingly nothing to do with the quality of the game itself - including complaints about developers acting like dicks on social media, stuff like that - the reviews won't count towards the total positive/negative review percentage.

Yes this was likely done as a response to the Epic store's opt-in reviews and the whole "BAWWW REVIEWBOMBING" cries of retarded journos, but it's not singling out Borderlands specifically here.

Exactly. And as much as I agree with gamers telling the developers that they suck, I think review bombing older games is unfair to that game. And sometimes review bombing is missing the target, for example when they bombed the older Metro games, despite those being published by another corporation, not the one which pulled the Epic Store exclusivity.

 

[True Ukrainian]

As long as Epic can bribe devs to go on their platform, Valve will be forced to react regardless of whether or not there is a consumer backlash. The backlash will eventually die down and if Epic can ride out the first wave of it and keep bribing devs, they will manage to start seizing market share since they have exclusivity of product.

 

[DalekFlay]

Well, if you look at the screenshots, the review bombing filter has filtered out close to 6k reviews - in under a week. Given that the total of Borderlands reviews is about under 100k in 7 years, that's not an insignificant number that is bound to affect the bottom line.

What people loudly protest online and what they actually do are often two very different things.

 

[Perkel]

Well, if you look at the screenshots, the review bombing filter has filtered out close to 6k reviews - in under a week. Given that the total of Borderlands reviews is about under 100k in 7 years, that's not an insignificant number that is bound to affect the bottom line.

7k people who protest out of 100s of thousands if not milions if definition of insignificant.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I disagree. Before steam could just ignore the whinging, but now a lot of those complaining devs can run to epic if steam doesn't coddle them now.

Um, but Borderlands developer has already run to Epic, that's the reason the review bombings are happening.

And steam wants them back, and to retain the devs still on its platform, as such, they must play ball as it were. Or I suspect at least, that they are worried and feel as if they must play ball or the consequences could be disastrous for them. Epic is the first true competition they've had in a long fucking time. And no, GoG was never good or big enough to be actual competition, and GoG wasn't engaging in practices like epic, so far as I know.

The whole anti-review bombing algorithm had been introduced into Steam a few weeks ago so the Borderlands case isn't a specific thing they're doing to please Borderlands publisher. It's an algorithm that has been implemented in general - if a game suddenly gets an influx of bad reviews, people at Steam check the contents of the reviews, and if the contents have overwhelmingly nothing to do with the quality of the game itself - including complaints about developers acting like dicks on social media, stuff like that - the reviews won't count towards the total positive/negative review percentage.

Yes this was likely done as a response to the Epic store's opt-in reviews and the whole "BAWWW REVIEWBOMBING" cries of retarded journos, but it's not singling out Borderlands specifically here.

It's a shit decision either way. Warning potential customers about the behavior of the developers of a product is a legitimate review of a product.
If we had to solely review the product then Beamdog's creations would be a lot more popular here.

 

[JarlFrank]

The reviews will still be posted and available to read though, they just don't factor into the overall rating.

Not defending that new system, but it's not as drastic as some make it out.

 

[Dexter]

The reviews will still be posted and available to read though, they just don't factor into the overall rating.

You can still see the Overall rating too, they've just hidden it away behind a bullshit Option hidden in various Submenus. You have to click on your Username at the top right, click "Store preferences" and change the "REVIEW SCORE SETTINGS" further down the page via "Edit Preferences" to "Include reviews from all Steam purchases in Review Scores".

As I said in the other topic, maybe the new review system might prove to be a blessing in disguise, recent negative reviews are quickly forgotten and often barely dent the overall score as new reviews start coming in again, but the new "SCUMBAG DEV" symbol is forever visible there as a Warning.

But who needs user reviews anyway? Certainly not the publisher of Duke Nukem Forever, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Battleborn and Borderlands 3:


Oh, and the new Algorithm apparently didn't get their new "GOTY ENCHANTED" Edition either: https://store.steampowered.com/app/729040/Borderlands_Game_of_the_Year_Enhanced/

 

[V_K]

Well, if you look at the screenshots, the review bombing filter has filtered out close to 6k reviews - in under a week. Given that the total of Borderlands reviews is about under 100k in 7 years, that's not an insignificant number that is bound to affect the bottom line.

7k people who protest out of 100s of thousands if not milions if definition of insignificant.

Not comparable. 7k people who were bothered enough to write a protest review translates to a much larger number of people who keep their dissatisfaction to themselves, but will vote with their wallet. Just like the supposed millions of players only translated to 90k Steam reviews in 7 years.

 

[abija]

Valve should allow devs to block reviews, just mark it clearly in every listing.

Dexter think about it, it's a much better tool than that star on product page.

 

[Dexter]

Valve should allow devs to block reviews, just mark it clearly in every listing.

Yes, what a Store with over ~30000 games (as of now) that basically allows almost every developer on after paying $100 really needs is a feature for devs to block customer feedback and any sort of indication of product quality, so humble salesmen like our friend the Randy Pitchfork can sell his Shovelwares unmolested - this would instill trust and emphasize that only quality wares are being sold. Why didn't Amazon, Ebay, Walmart, the Apple App Store, Google Play and all the other big Online Stores come up with such a great idea? How comes a revolutionary autistic genius like Tim Sweeney has to come up with that?

 

[GrainWetski]

Dangerous Driving, the latest premium EGSclusive is out. Apparently it doesn't even have any soundtrack at all.

https://www.gamerevolution.com/review/521511-dangerous-driving-review

In another example, Dangerous Driving lacks any form of free play or versus modes at this time. An online component will (hopefully) come during the first month of release, but there’s only one way to play on launch day. Dangerous Driving also lacks a soundtrack, choosing instead to implement Spotify integration to let you play your own tunes. If you’re not a Spotify subscriber, you’ll just have to put something on in the background yourself. These are more minor annoyances, but they all add up.

If you’re playing on a computer, the problems don’t end there. Dangerous Driving is currently an Epic Games Store exclusive title. This usually wouldn’t impact a review in any way, but the client’s lack of features makes this PC release strictly inferior to its console counterparts. Since the EGS currently doesn’t have achievement support, neither does Dangerous Driving. This is excusable, but the additional lack of online leaderboards is the real bummer. Not being able to compete with friends for bragging rights is killer in a single player experience all about speed. In a game this barebones, the lack of these features really stands out.

 

[DalekFlay]

Not comparable. 7k people who were bothered enough to write a protest review translates to a much larger number of people who keep their dissatisfaction to themselves, but will vote with their wallet. Just like the supposed millions of players only translated to 90k Steam reviews in 7 years.

You realize Metro 3 was a huge success, right? That EA didn't run back to Steam? The number of people who care enough to boycott the game is likely super small, as passionately as you feel about it.

 

[Plaguecrafter]

Dangerous Driving, the latest premium EGSclusive is out. Apparently it doesn't even have any soundtrack at all.

https://www.gamerevolution.com/review/521511-dangerous-driving-review

In another example, Dangerous Driving lacks any form of free play or versus modes at this time. An online component will (hopefully) come during the first month of release, but there’s only one way to play on launch day. Dangerous Driving also lacks a soundtrack, choosing instead to implement Spotify integration to let you play your own tunes. If you’re not a Spotify subscriber, you’ll just have to put something on in the background yourself. These are more minor annoyances, but they all add up.

If you’re playing on a computer, the problems don’t end there. Dangerous Driving is currently an Epic Games Store exclusive title. This usually wouldn’t impact a review in any way, but the client’s lack of features makes this PC release strictly inferior to its console counterparts. Since the EGS currently doesn’t have achievement support, neither does Dangerous Driving. This is excusable, but the additional lack of online leaderboards is the real bummer. Not being able to compete with friends for bragging rights is killer in a single player experience all about speed. In a game this barebones, the lack of these features really stands out.

With all the copyright issues going on left and right these days, I'm not surprised they don't have it. Plus, I can imagine getting licenses for the songs has to cost a pretty penny.

 

[Ismaul]

the new "SCUMBAG DEV" symbol is forever visible there as a Warning

While the presence of the * symbol should make one wary about the dev, you can't just draw conclusions from it, especially not "SCUMBAG DEV". All you know is that the game was review bombed. Could be the devs are scumbags, but it could also be that retards attacked the wrong target by mistake, or that SJWs are protesting against something they view as offensive (this might even be a positive). You still gotta check it before you judge. But I appreciate Steam's new system telling me there was a review bombing and when, so I can check out why.

 

[V_K]

Metro 3 was a huge success

Citation needed. AFAIK no sales figure were released aside from "2.5 times more than the previous game which had virtually no marketing".

That EA didn't run back to Steam?

If they already got their cash through the guaranteed sales deal, why would they? Besides I'm pretty sure the deal they signed with EGS implies some huge penalties if they did that.

 

[markec]

Metro 3 was a huge success

Citation needed. AFAIK no sales figure were released aside from "2.5 times more than the previous game which had virtually no marketing".

A AAA game with massive marketing and exposure selling 2.5 times more, in a similar time period (which means at launch), then a mid tier game with no marketing sounds like a flop to me.

 

[abija]

Yes, what a Store with over ~30000 games (as of now) that basically allows almost every developer on after paying $100 really needs is a feature for devs to block customer feedback and any sort of indication of product quality, so humble salesmen like our friend the Randy Pitchfork can sell his Shovelwares unmolested - this would instill trust and emphasize that only quality wares are being sold. Why didn't Amazon, Ebay, Walmart, the Apple App Store, Google Play and all the other big Online Stores come up with such a great idea? How comes a revolutionary autistic genius like Tim Sweeney has to come up with that?

I really doubt they would all agree to disable reviews, or that salesmen like Pitchfork would do it when everyone else doesn't. Disabled reviews on a game would be a huge warning, same as would with any product doing that now on the stores you mentioned.
Even worse if you rightfully hide them on rating based listings.

 

[flyingjohn]

Metro 3 was a huge success

Citation needed. AFAIK no sales figure were released aside from "2.5 times more than the previous game which had virtually no marketing".

A AAA game with massive marketing and exposure selling 2.5 times more, in a similar time period (which means at launch), then a mid tier game with no marketing sounds like a flop to me.

It is even worse.The devs are referencing last light original,not redux.
And a big chunk of last light sales were physical,so the 2.5 times gets even lower.
They are lucky if they even sold 1/3 of the redux numbers.

 

[Reinhardt]

or that SJWs are protesting against something they view as offensive

You mean SJWs bought game?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Valve should allow devs to block reviews, just mark it clearly in every listing.

Dexter think about it, it's a much better tool than that star on product page.

I agree with this, it makes it clear which games to simply avoid buying at all

 

[MuscleSpark]

It's a shit decision either way. Warning potential customers about the behavior of the developers of a product is a legitimate review of a product.
If we had to solely review the product then Beamdog's creations would be a lot more popular here.

Reviews don't have to be legitimate, they just have to be on-topic. Or rather the majority(?) have to be on-topic within a certain time-span.
There's nothing stopping everyone from imitating the Chinese and leaving thousands of "colors too washed out" reviews.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

It's a shit decision either way. Warning potential customers about the behavior of the developers of a product is a legitimate review of a product.
If we had to solely review the product then Beamdog's creations would be a lot more popular here.

Reviews don't have to be legitimate, they just have to be on-topic. Or rather the majority(?) have to be on-topic within a certain time-span.
There's nothing stopping everyone from imitating the Chinese and leaving thousands of "colors too washed out" reviews.

Yeah, I assumed as much. People will just leave reviews like "epically bad game"

 

[DalekFlay]

A AAA game with massive marketing and exposure selling 2.5 times more, in a similar time period (which means at launch), then a mid tier game with no marketing sounds like a flop to me.

It is even worse.The devs are referencing last light original,not redux.
And a big chunk of last light sales were physical,so the 2.5 times gets even lower.
They are lucky if they even sold 1/3 of the redux numbers.

Lots of assumption hoops you guys are going through here to justify Steam fanboy wanking. Honestly if it WERE true that you HAD to be on Steam to succeed it would be even more reason for some competition to be desperately needed.