Epic Games Store - the console war comes to PC

[Pika-Cthulhu]

Garrys Mod BR with grav guns and objects. BR through head trauma and OH&S violations

 

[Mark Richard]

If Steam committed to a permanent 88% revenue share for all developers and publishers without major strings attached, Epic would hastily organize a retreat from exclusives (while honoring our partner commitments) and consider putting our own games on Steam.

That’s a loaded question! But Epic will stay the course. 30% store dominance is the #1 problem for PC developers, publishers, and everyone who relies on those businesses for their livelihood. We’re determined to fix it and this is the one approach that will effect major change.

Whether Steam relents or not, Epic aren't going to stop establishing their beachhead with the most efficient means available to them. Epic's constant attempts to portray themselves as a multi-billion dollar champion of the people are getting increasingly absurd. Two massive corporations are going to war, and each would like nothing more than to monopolise the market. That's how corporations work! It's hoped this conflict will increase our value as customers and we'll see some benefits, but that would be a byproduct of Epic's actions, not the intent. It's like Epic are trying to take credit for the dog getting to eat because some food spilled off the table while they were gorging themselves.

 

[GrainWetski]

ePiC Gamer sure is subtle.

 

[DalekFlay]

They're just quoting the dev, who is surely just fulfilling the exclusive agreement's PR clause. Would be more believable if he said they don't think they lost enough sales to counter the higher revenue, but what he actually said was just PR B.S.

 

[Jenkem]

When Epic gives you guaranteed sales that you would otherwise not have gotten, then yes, your game will sell "way above expectations."

 

[Alienman]

I'm thinking they actually include those "sales" when they mention how much it sold.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1121218551342350336

Tencent Epic says that if Valve matches its 12% cut and some other conditions then it will stop buying exclusives.

If Steam committed to a permanent 88% revenue share for all developers and publishers without major strings attached, Epic would hastily organize a retreat from exclusives (while honoring our partner commitments) and consider putting our own games on Steam.

The key “no major strings attached” points are: games can use any online systems like friends and accounts they choose, games are free to interoperate across platforms and stores, the store doesn’t tax revenue on other stores or platforms (e.g. if you play Fortnite on iOS+PC)...

More “no major strings attached”: if you play the game on multiple platforms, stuff you’ve bought can be available everywhere; no onerous certification requirements. Essentially, the spirit of an open platform where the store is just a place to find games and pay for stuff.

That’s a loaded question! But Epic will stay the course. 30% store dominance is the #1 problem for PC developers, publishers, and everyone who relies on those businesses for their livelihood. We’re determined to fix it and this is the one approach that will effect major change.

Why are they so focused on the number '88'?

 

[Infinitron]

Details: https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/23/world-war-z-passes-1-million-copies-sold-in-a-week/

World War Z passes 1 million copies sold in a week

Zombie games can still bring in big sales, as publisher Focus Home Interactive and developer Saber Interactive announced today that their co-op shooter World War Z has passed more than 1 million copies sold since its April 16 launch on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It accomplished this despite not being on Steam — it’s an Epic Games Store exclusive for PC. This is a fantastic showing for Saber, the New Jersey-based studio that put out Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn and NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 last year.

Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch said that World War Z is better than he’d thought it would outside the U.S. and that at its peak, World War Z had 70,000 concurrent players during launch week. Our Dean Takahashi thinks it could appeal to fans who enjoy games like Left 4 Dead and other co-op shooting experiences.

“Overall the U.S. and EU have been equally strong in sales. We have had 70,000 people playing at once across all platforms, with very similar distribution among PC (Epic Games Store), PS4 and Xbox. What surprises us is the fact that sales outside of the U.S. on the Epic Store have been so strong, with the U.S. being only one quarter of sales.”

World War Z is a third-person co-op shooter. In the campaign mode, up to four people can work together to take on the hordes of zombies. Multiplayer has what Saber calls “PvPvZ” which is players-vs.players-vs.-zombies. Your squad takes on another group of players while both hold off rampaging zombies. And remember: These are the fast-moving zombies of the film, which can move about in great herds, and not the slower walking dead of the original novel.

Earlier this month, Focus Home and Saber Interactive strengthened their relationship. The excellent performance of World War Z shows Focus Home’s faith in Saber was justified.

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/pres...r_1_million_units_in_first_week_of_launch.php

Saber Interactive and Focus Home Interactive's World War Z sells over 1 million units in first week of launch

Future updates with new content and improvements planned for the fast-paced co-op shooter on PlayStation®4, Xbox One and Windows PC

Saber Interactive, in partnership with Focus Home Interactive, has announced that World War Z, the action-packed co-op shooter inspired by Paramount Pictures’ blockbuster film, has sold more than 1 million units since it launched last week on PlayStation®4, Xbox One and Windows PC.

"Saber is extremely thrilled by the performance of the game on all platforms. On the PC specifically, we are performing way above expectations thanks to the support we have received from the Epic Games Store” said Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch. 'Moving forward, we’ll continue to work on growing the game and its community with new improvements, stability updates and bonus gameplay content, beginning very soon with a special new mission for the Tokyo episode.'

Powered by Saber’s dynamic Swarm Engine™, World War Z unleashes hundreds of fast-moving, bloodthirsty zombies – able to move and strike as one collective herd as well as break off into individual attackers – at a time on players. Choose from six distinct classes and an arsenal of deadly weapons, explosives, turrets and traps. Outlive the dead through intense four-player co-op campaign missions around the world, including New York, Jerusalem, Moscow and Tokyo, and battle both zombies and real human opponents in competitive, team-based Players vs. Players vs. Zombies (PvPvZ) multiplayer.

World War Z is currently available digitally and at most major retailers on PlayStation®4 and Xbox One for $39.99, as well as Windows PC via the Epic Games Store for $34.99. This game is rated M (Mature) by the ESRB. For more information, visit http://wwzgame.com, and follow the game on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WWZGame, Twitter @WWZTheGame, and Instagram @WWZGame.

 

[Plaguecrafter]

Why are they so focused on the number '88'?

He's baiting. He knows 12% is hardly sustainable and is poking Valve to lower their cut, which they will most likely not do. If they do, it's more power to Epic.

I mean, why would you make a store, invest so much money in it, make some high-end partnerships, and then suddenly abandon it when your competition does something? Makes no sense. And him saying that on Twitter really means nothing. It's basically like me saying I'll amputate my arm if somebody gives me 10 million dollars. Not bluffing at all. Nope. No sir.

 

[Alienman]

Because he is a champion of developers

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

Details: https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/23/world-war-z-passes-1-million-copies-sold-in-a-week/

World War Z passes 1 million copies sold in a week

Zombie games can still bring in big sales, as publisher Focus Home Interactive and developer Saber Interactive announced today that their co-op shooter World War Z has passed more than 1 million copies sold since its April 16 launch on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It accomplished this despite not being on Steam — it’s an Epic Games Store exclusive for PC. This is a fantastic showing for Saber, the New Jersey-based studio that put out Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn and NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 last year.

Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch said that World War Z is better than he’d thought it would outside the U.S. and that at its peak, World War Z had 70,000 concurrent players during launch week. Our Dean Takahashi thinks it could appeal to fans who enjoy games like Left 4 Dead and other co-op shooting experiences.

“Overall the U.S. and EU have been equally strong in sales. We have had 70,000 people playing at once across all platforms, with very similar distribution among PC (Epic Games Store), PS4 and Xbox. What surprises us is the fact that sales outside of the U.S. on the Epic Store have been so strong, with the U.S. being only one quarter of sales.”

World War Z is a third-person co-op shooter. In the campaign mode, up to four people can work together to take on the hordes of zombies. Multiplayer has what Saber calls “PvPvZ” which is players-vs.players-vs.-zombies. Your squad takes on another group of players while both hold off rampaging zombies. And remember: These are the fast-moving zombies of the film, which can move about in great herds, and not the slower walking dead of the original novel.

Earlier this month, Focus Home and Saber Interactive strengthened their relationship. The excellent performance of World War Z shows Focus Home’s faith in Saber was justified.

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/pres...r_1_million_units_in_first_week_of_launch.php

Saber Interactive and Focus Home Interactive's World War Z sells over 1 million units in first week of launch

Future updates with new content and improvements planned for the fast-paced co-op shooter on PlayStation®4, Xbox One and Windows PC

Saber Interactive, in partnership with Focus Home Interactive, has announced that World War Z, the action-packed co-op shooter inspired by Paramount Pictures’ blockbuster film, has sold more than 1 million units since it launched last week on PlayStation®4, Xbox One and Windows PC.

"Saber is extremely thrilled by the performance of the game on all platforms. On the PC specifically, we are performing way above expectations thanks to the support we have received from the Epic Games Store” said Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch. 'Moving forward, we’ll continue to work on growing the game and its community with new improvements, stability updates and bonus gameplay content, beginning very soon with a special new mission for the Tokyo episode.'

Powered by Saber’s dynamic Swarm Engine™, World War Z unleashes hundreds of fast-moving, bloodthirsty zombies – able to move and strike as one collective herd as well as break off into individual attackers – at a time on players. Choose from six distinct classes and an arsenal of deadly weapons, explosives, turrets and traps. Outlive the dead through intense four-player co-op campaign missions around the world, including New York, Jerusalem, Moscow and Tokyo, and battle both zombies and real human opponents in competitive, team-based Players vs. Players vs. Zombies (PvPvZ) multiplayer.

World War Z is currently available digitally and at most major retailers on PlayStation®4 and Xbox One for $39.99, as well as Windows PC via the Epic Games Store for $34.99. This game is rated M (Mature) by the ESRB. For more information, visit http://wwzgame.com, and follow the game on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WWZGame, Twitter @WWZTheGame, and Instagram @WWZGame.

 

[Metro]

Easy to perform above expectations when you have no expectations. I mean... it's a Focus Home Interactive title. Also, that one million is total units and not PC? Considering the bulk is probably console sales that is an underwhelming number.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

has passed more than 1 million copies sold since its April 16 launch on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It accomplished this despite not being on Steam — it’s an Epic Games Store exclusive for PC.

Weird how they only release the total figure and not the figure per platform.

 

[StrongBelwas]

I hate to defend EGS but they did

Congratulations to Saber Interactive on selling over 250,000 units of World War Z so far on the Epic Games store! WWZ, Satisfactory, Anno 1800, Metro Exodus, Tom Clancy's The Division 2 and so many more games made this a record weekend for Epic Games store.

I have no interest in co-op shooters so I don't know if that number is good or shit for the genre. I know the usual order is PS4 >PC>Xbone for multiplats so that does seem like a bit of decline unless the Xbox numbers are awful.

 

[fantadomat]

It could be an inclusion of the guaranteed sales.

 

[Mustawd]

I would expect online shooters to do well on the Epic Game Store. That really is nothing new.

 

[Reinhardt]

It could be fun if epic paid for some exclusive and all retarded kids abandoned fortnite for new game.

 

[Gerrard]

A record weekend on EGS is like a record in Paralympics.

 

[hpstg]

The PC is Microsoft's bitch since time immemorial. It will eventually become Valve's bitch.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I hate to defend EGS but they did

Congratulations to Saber Interactive on selling over 250,000 units of World War Z so far on the Epic Games store! WWZ, Satisfactory, Anno 1800, Metro Exodus, Tom Clancy's The Division 2 and so many more games made this a record weekend for Epic Games store.

I have no interest in co-op shooters so I don't know if that number is good or shit for the genre. I know the usual order is PS4 >PC>Xbone for multiplats so that does seem like a bit of decline unless the Xbox numbers are awful.

Interesting that it has so many copies sold yet so few players
Kingdom Come: Deliverance sold 300k units in its first two days and became the most simultaneously played singleplayer game on Steam surpassing Skyrim and Witcher 3 with 92,268 players.

Yet WWZ -- a game that includes multiplayer elements -- barely managed a peak of 70k across all three platforms combined despite selling 1 million copies in a week. KCD didn't break a million copies sold across the same platforms until two weeks after its release.

“Overall the U.S. and EU have been equally strong in sales. We have had 70,000 people playing at once across all platforms, with very similar distribution among PC (Epic Games Store), PS4 and Xbox. What surprises us is the fact that sales outside of the U.S. on the Epic Store have been so strong, with the U.S. being only one quarter of sales.”

 

[DalekFlay]

The PC is Microsoft's bitch since time immemorial. It will eventually become Valve's bitch.

Valeve's attempts to move everything to some kind of Linux deal are extremely slow going, if they're still moving at all. And that ignores the literal decades of Windows games that would never be ported over. PC gamers will always be Microsoft's bitch in the end. It's honestly one of the biggest corporate missteps of all time that Microsoft basically handed Valve the financial keys.

 

[cosmicray]

Valeve's attempts to move everything to some kind of Linux deal are extremely slow going, if they're still moving at all. And that ignores the literal decades of Windows games that would never be ported over.

Which is why they're investing in Proton/Wine.

 

[hpstg]

Valeve's attempts to move everything to some kind of Linux deal are extremely slow going, if they're still moving at all. And that ignores the literal decades of Windows games that would never be ported over. PC gamers will always be Microsoft's bitch in the end. It's honestly one of the biggest corporate missteps of all time that Microsoft basically handed Valve the financial keys.

This is very true. Valve is trying to get back the "open platform", as they call it, by trying to shift everything to Vulkan. If Stadia catches on at least partially, it will mean that all new AAA games will be written for Vulkan.

The decades of Windows games is kind of misleading, especially seeing how WINE is actually more compatible with old Windows stuff, than Windows itself. The usual issue is the performance disparities in AA and AAA, at around the time of release.

Which is why they're investing in Proton/Wine.

This seems like a meme, only it is not. Eventually the games that will need Proton will be the minority, and then it's basically game over for Windows in the home. They have no reason of existing outside work after gaming is taken.

 

[DalekFlay]

If someday I can play all my old games on a free Valve OS then I'll be happy to partake. I'll just believe it when I see it.

 

[hpstg]

If someday I can play all my old games on a free Valve OS then I'll be happy to partake. I'll just believe it when I see it.

Don't you have to attempt it first?