2026

What about this quote has any bearing on Epic creating a store? Windows literally created a version of Win10 that can only install software through the Windows store. Being concerned that MS would use their OS monopoly to make that compulsory, rather than optional, is a completely valid fear. Epic is not capable of acting as a “universal middleman”, and they haven’t forced anything. If anything, the Epic Store is the logical endpoint of that earlier discussion, where his company, like any other, is able to build a business around distributing software.

And, frankly, Valve had the same exact fears. Where do you think SteamOS and Proton came from?

2027

Wake up sheeple! The Chinese are feeding the Epic Game Store customer information into their organ harvesting machines!!!

2029

Literally nobody here has a problem with Epic having a store.

2030

Well, technically, his point still stands. That comment came when there were rumors (stupid rumors imo) about Windows OS not allowing the installation of any software, like an Apple phone in where every software has to go through a single way to be downloaded and installed.

Developers still have the freedom he comments, they can publish on Steam, they can sell games on a little web, or they can make a deal with Epic. His point was always about freedom for developers, not freedom for consumers. Like this part?
so that any user without any friction can install applications from any developer,
he is talking user freedom to be able to install the Epic Store. Maybe at that point he had the idea already of making a store, which is why hated the idea of MS forbidding that…

2031

I’m skeptical Hearts of Iron 4 or other games that include alternative histories of modern CPC China would be asked to come on the Epic platform.

Hell, I believe PDS is on the record to that extent regarding Steam distribution in China. My concern is increased Chinese ownership leads to those values creeping out into foreign markets, rather than staying at home. No thank you.

2033

This is right. The Chinese government has learned that direct, open coercion doesn’t work for Westerners since it causes backlash. However, what does work is simply never introducing things into the conversation in the first place, or tweaking the conversation, or sending their social media army to change the topic and drown out voices etc. The more directly connected a company is to the Chinese government, the more you’ll see these things happen. It’s bad enough with companies that want to enter the Chinese market – it’s far worse when there’s actual Chinese ownership.

2034

Well that’s a relief, we know HOI V won’t be an Epic exclusive. Good thing we have other stores to buy games on.

2035

Just to follow up on this. A dev or someone associated with the project said that every single backer could refund right now and the studio would still be in the black.

Hopefully Epic will give them another cash injection for their next project since the backer route is now a non-starter. I wonder if Epic will keep supporting studios past the initial year if their games don’t perform well on the Epic store.

2036

Why does Epic think this tactic will make us like them? We don’t buy non-exclusive games on Origin/Uplay, and those companies haven’t bribed devs to come over (yet). If you want to compete and have lots of spare money:

  1. Provide near feature parity with Steam.
  2. Give people the games they already have on Steam on Epic as well, like GOG does with its Connect program. GOG can’t afford to do it much, but Epic can.
  3. Make it a better user experience than Steam (e.g. ‘curation’)
2037

As long as they charge less then steam, I will shop there. That’s all that is necessary.

2038

Good for you. Greenmangaming et al already do that, and they can’t compete.

2039

GMG just sells keys, they aren’t trying to compete.

2040

Can’t they? Why not? There is nothing wrong with having more competition, especially if that competition can reduce prices for consumers and increase revenue for developers.

You talk about features, but in the end, only two things are important.

1). Is it available?
2). Does it fit my budget?

If I have a PC, and the game is on Epic, the game is available. There barrier to entry is not a new PC or console, it’s not a subscription. It’s a webstore.

And if it’s available, I will buy it when the game fits my budget. So, if it goes on sale on Epic first or sold cheaper on Epic, that’s where I am going to buy it.

The rest is just mumbo jumbo sales crap. Like a moon roof on a car. Sure, it’s neat, but if it’s too pricy, I don’t care about the moon roof. If the care doesn’t run, I don’t care about the moon roof.

In the end, we are talking about a completely elastic commodity, and in those cases, the market will decide.

In the meantime, I am in favor of having more markets available in the long term, which means robust independent stores that aren’t reliant on Steam’s largesse.

I have seen companies rely on YouTube, or Facebook, or Amazon, and when the terms of service change, or when something profitable occurs, they get wrecked by the very platform they rely on (especially on Amazon). So, you will forgive me if I don’t trust the long term viability of Greenman Gaming, or Gamergate, or fanatical, and would prefer to have more services compete directly with Steam.

2041

I think at this point the plan is pretty clear:
Ignore any consumer backlash until you reach critical mass so that even negative voices won’t really matter in the end/have not much of a choice.
I mean this approach does often enough work, let’s see if it can in this case but I’m certainly rooting for it to fail like any other approach that treats consumers in this way.

2042

It should be noted that GreenManGaming (and many other key resellers) only have cheaper games by reducing their margins. For the most part publishers still get 70% of MSRP while GMG is just taking 10% or so to fuel a lot of their discounts. It’s not easy to sustain that and in fact in their IPO filings they have yet to be profitable and they have an EBITDA margin of 3%, which from my understanding is their operating costs are extremely close to matching revenue.

So a lot of these key resellers don’t seem to have a clear path towards a profitable storefront, even if you put them in the same category as Steam and Epic’s store.

2043

I always wondered what GMG’s business model was. I kinda figured the mafiya was using it to launder money in the west.

2044

This worked for Captain Marvel.

2045

Another one

At least in this case it wasn’t ‘stolen’ from Steam, it was announced just today.

2046

Now developers aren’t even listing their games on Steam, how the hell am I supposed to wishlist it.

2047

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