The Outer Worlds goes Epic Games Store-exclusive (also Windows Store)

[CyberWhale]

What do you define a "level playing field" as? What is Steam doing that is preventing this from existing? Has Steam done something to hinder the existence of GOG, Itch.io, Kongregate's Kartridge, Discord's Game Store, Amazon's Digital Game Store, RobotCache, Microsoft Store, EA's Origin, Epic Store, etc.,?

Steamworks, a service offered in exchange for platform dependency, has kept many multiplayer games from being released on GOG et al.

That's not Steamworks, that's developer's laziness.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

What do you define a "level playing field" as? What is Steam doing that is preventing this from existing? Has Steam done something to hinder the existence of GOG, Itch.io, Kongregate's Kartridge, Discord's Game Store, Amazon's Digital Game Store, RobotCache, Microsoft Store, EA's Origin, Epic Store, etc.,?

Steamworks, a service offered in exchange for platform dependency, has kept many multiplayer games from being released on GOG et al.

But it's a choice made by the developer, not a requirement to use the Steam platform.
To the best of my knowledge — with the way Steamworks works there would be no way for them to provide it as a platform neutral middleware because it directly uses Steam's servers for many of its features.

 

[Fairfax]

 

[Atlantico]

I honestly don't understand how anyone, Chris Avellone included, can think that Obsidian management has anything to do with this decision, at all.

Obisidian is 100% owned by Microsoft. They have neither the obligation nor the *incentive* to attempt to squeeze out extra profits on a platform which Microsoft doesn't own.

There's nothing in it for Obsidian to make the Epic deal. Good money in it for Take2. In fact, this isn't the only Take2 game that's going Epic exclusive.

Even if there was profit in it for Obsidian (and there isn't), it isn't their call to make anyway, they're not the publisher. They don't have a say in how the game is distributed, they don't pay for the distribution or negotiate for it.

That's what the publisher does.

Obsidian is following through a contract made when they were an independent developer, which at the time needed financing and distribution help from a publisher. Said publisher then decided to make a deal with Epic, a reseller.

Simple as that. Clearly not so simple for everyone, but what can you do?

 

[Black]

although it does make for a better underdog story

 

[Infinitron]

I honestly don't understand how anyone, Chris Avellone included, can think that Obsidian management has anything to do with this decision, at all.

He's probably just being a dick, but somebody should hop in there and mention that the other Private Division game, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, went Epic-exclusive too. It's not a coincidence.

 

[drgames]

Tags: Obsidian Entertainment; The Outer Worlds

Despite enjoying an extremely positive debut and having the marketing muscle of not one but two major publishers in its corner, the powers that be have apparently decided that The Outer Worlds must make moar money. At their GDC keynote today, Epic Games announced that The Outer Worlds will be launching on the Epic Games Store, which offers an an advantageous revenue share. It won't come out on Steam until a year afterwards. The game is not quite an Epic-exclusive however, since it's also launching on Microsoft's own Microsoft Store platform, and on consoles of course. There's no fancy trailer or press release for this announcement, just this tweet:

​

As you can see from the replies, many people are upset about this. Patrice Desilets' Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, another Private Division title, was also announced as an Epic-exclusive at the keynote, so it appears to be a publisher decision. If you're an Epic-hater at least you've got the Microsoft Store option, although that means dealing with UWP or whatever it's called.

There is no honor among thieves.

 

[Arnust]

 

[Black]

It is coming to steam.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

Doesn't this mean he also waited around for weeks without telling the devs since he also knew?

 

[santino27]

I honestly don't understand how anyone, Chris Avellone included, can think that Obsidian management has anything to do with this decision, at all.

He's probably definitely just being a dick, but somebody can hop in there and mention that the other Private Division game, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, went Epic-exclusive too. It's not a coincidence.

FTFY. I like MCA, but the more he continues to go after Obsidian at every opportunity, the harder it is to buy into his 'life is amazing, I'm so happy, nothing could possibly trouble me' vibe.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I honestly don't understand how anyone, Chris Avellone included, can think that Obsidian management has anything to do with this decision, at all.

He's probably definitely just being a dick, but somebody can hop in there and mention that the other Private Division game, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, went Epic-exclusive too. It's not a coincidence.

FTFY. I like MCA, but the more he continues to go after Obsidian at every opportunity, the harder it is to buy into his 'life is amazing, I'm so happy, nothing could possibly trouble me' vibe.

 

[Arnust]

"When it comes to broad-based entertainment offerings, you are better placed to be where the consumer is, rather than indicating to the consumer where they need to be. If your focus is solely on capturing retail margin, then you have to be very convinced you're going to be a great retailer. That's not something that's in our DNA" Take2 CEO, apparently 2 months ago or so

 

[Vault Dweller]

I honestly don't understand how anyone, Chris Avellone included, can think that Obsidian management has anything to do with this decision, at all.

He's probably just being a dick, but somebody should hop in there and mention that the other Private Division game, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, went Epic-exclusive too. It's not a coincidence.

Do you really think that Obsidian had zero say in it? That it's some nobody Take2 can do with as they please? And I suppose it's a coincidence that it's the only Epic "exclusive" that's going to be released on Windows Store? How thoughtful of Take2.

 

[Infinitron]

Do you really think that Obsidian had zero say in it?

No, I don't necessarily think that: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/108935-the-outer-worlds-wont-launch-on-steam/page-6#entry2147146

And yes, I can imagine Feargus phoning his bosses at Microsoft to protest about PD's decision and being told "Fuck it, just give them what they want as long as it's on our store too" by some out-of-touch suit.

 

[Atlantico]

Do you really think that Obsidian had zero say in it? That it's some nobody Take2 can do with as they please? And I suppose it's a coincidence that it's the only Epic "exclusive" that's going to be released on Windows Store? How thoughtful of Take2.

Yes, I expect Obsidian had a publishing and financing deal made with Take2. I expect that deal to be quite solid, Take2 aren't some second rate publisher, making their first contract.

It's no coincidence that Obsidian are also allowed to distribute the game themselves, on their own platform - which would have been the Obsidian website but is now Microsoft.

You can't not shill for Steam, you're one Epic Steamtard.

 

[Aravan]

Doesn't this mean he also waited around for weeks without telling the devs since he also knew?

It could mean what you suppose. It could also mean that he didn't put the pieces together of what had occured until after the fact. It could mean that he was contractually (or eethically) obligated to conform to the management structure (ie chain of command) and not "go behind" someone else's back. He could also be lying in an attempt to stir up drama.

Kind of have to take the person as a whole when considering their word. I'll let you make your own call without beating you over the head with mine.

 

[Mustawd]

What's funny is that piracy doesn't poof out of nowhere. Someone buys the game, cracks it, and makes it available to others. There are the people who pirate their games, and the people who have enabled piracy. And these people have literally no reason to do so, because they already own the game.

What?

You’re talking about ONE aggregate bought cooy to benefit tens to hundreds of thousands.

tens to hundreds of thousands of zero revenue owners of a game. Wtf are you talking about?

 

[jf8350143]

What do you define a "level playing field" as? What is Steam doing that is preventing this from existing? Has Steam done something to hinder the existence of GOG, Itch.io, Kongregate's Kartridge, Discord's Game Store, Amazon's Digital Game Store, RobotCache, Microsoft Store, EA's Origin, Epic Store, etc.,?

Steamworks, a service offered in exchange for platform dependency, has kept many multiplayer games from being released on GOG et al.

Then other platforms should offer the service as well if they want compete. Did steam do something to prevent others from do so?

They as platforms should provide better or more services to consumers to attract them, in this case include both publishers,developers and players. They as platforms should not just burning money to "force" their consumer to use them.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Do you really think that Obsidian had zero say in it? That it's some nobody Take2 can do with as they please? And I suppose it's a coincidence that it's the only Epic "exclusive" that's going to be released on Windows Store? How thoughtful of Take2.

Yes, I expect Obsidian had a publishing and financing deal made with Take2. I expect that deal to be quite solid, Take2 aren't some second rate publisher which is making its first contracts.

Just because there's a publishing deal doesn't mean that Take2 can do whatever they fucking want. That's not how these things work. Not to mention there's leverage - the IP itself, which is enough to give Take2 a reason to treat Obsidian as a partner rather than an indentured servant who has no say in this matter.

 

[Sigourn]

What's funny is that piracy doesn't poof out of nowhere. Someone buys the game, cracks it, and makes it available to others. There are the people who pirate their games, and the people who have enabled piracy. And these people have literally no reason to do so, because they already own the game.

What?

You’re talking about ONE aggregate bought cooy to benefit tens to hundreds of thousands.

tens to hundreds of thousands of zero revenue owners of a game. Wtf are you talking about?

What? I said that the funny thing about piracy is that it is enable by people who already bought a game. It makes sense for pirates to pirate a game they don't own. What doesn't make sense is someone who already bought the game to engage in illegal activity for others to benefit from.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

Do you really think that Obsidian had zero say in it? That it's some nobody Take2 can do with as they please? And I suppose it's a coincidence that it's the only Epic "exclusive" that's going to be released on Windows Store? How thoughtful of Take2.

Yes, I expect Obsidian had a publishing and financing deal made with Take2. I expect that deal to be quite solid, Take2 aren't some second rate publisher which is making its first contracts.

Just because there's a publishing deal doesn't mean that Take2 can do whatever they fucking want. That's not how these things work. Not to mention there's leverage - the IP itself, which is enough to give Take2 a reason to treat Obsidian as a partner rather than an indentured servant who has no say in this matter.

Fair enough, but to the extent Obisidian’s publishing deal gave them any say in the matter, they handed that say over to Microsoft when they sold the company. Why would Feargus be the guy making this call for Microsoft?

 

[Mustawd]

What's funny is that piracy doesn't poof out of nowhere. Someone buys the game, cracks it, and makes it available to others. There are the people who pirate their games, and the people who have enabled piracy. And these people have literally no reason to do so, because they already own the game.

What?

You’re talking about ONE aggregate bought cooy to benefit tens to hundreds of thousands.

tens to hundreds of thousands of zero revenue owners of a game. Wtf are you talking about?

What? I said that the funny thing about piracy is that it is enable by people who already bought a game. It makes sense for pirates to pirate a game they don't own. What doesn't make sense is someone who already bought the game to engage in illegal activity for others to benefit from.

Oh I misread.

Anyways you’re wrong. It makes perfect sense. If cracking games is a hobby and you enjoy the attention why not?

Also, there are ways to make money off of cracking games. No one says you have to put it on a torrent website.

 

[Atlantico]

ust because there's a publishing deal doesn't mean that Take2 can do whatever they fucking want.

They can do whatever the fuck the deal says they can do. That's exactly "how these things work". Since you're not privvy to the contents of said deal, perhaps you should tone down the obnoxious attitude.

Not to mention there's leverage - the IP itself, which is enough to give Take2 a reason to treat Obsidian as a partner rather than an indentured servant who has no say in this matter.

Obsidian is now a Microsoft company. There will be no more deals with outside publishers, from now on everything from Obsidian will be published and financed by Microsoft. There is no incentive for Take2 to consider any future "partnership" with Obsidian, there's no "future partnership" to be had.

This is Take2 and Obsidian fulfilling a contract made when Obsidian was an independent developer. Microsoft isn't going to be using Take2 to publish their IPs going forward, of that you can be sure.

 

[Mustawd]

They can do whatever the fuck the deal says they can do. That's exactly "how these things work". Since you're not privvy to the contents of said deal, perhaps you should tone down the obnoxious attitude.

Many times deals have unenforceable language. It’s up to other party to contest it. Also, one party might take actions that are not outlined in the deal at all. Or there may be a grey area where contesting might be an option.


You’re right in that none us know what is in the agreement. So I suggest we ALL take your advice and stop pretending we know.