3176

I guess? I figured they were working on Gears of War and its sequels, and that franchise was a famous Xbox exclusive. I didn’t take it personally.

3177

It’s not a grudge. It’s a package. It’s combined with with their abhorrent behavior today. It’s weird that you keep trying to take snippets of counter-arguments and then making a conclusion based on just that. That’s why we keep going back and forth here. The pro-Epic groups doesn’t actually want to hear what the other group says, at all which is why someone shows up and says something completely false every other week to get it all started again.

3178

That would be… ironic?

Checks with Alanis Morissette…

Yes, ironic.

3179

Those of us in the industry can’t let the outliers dominate our thoughts. Some people will continually vomit emotional nonsense and they’re not a microcosm of reality. Most people will shop where they please, when they please, while a small but vocal minority will hold grudges and spout unsupported claims to validate their perspectives.

3180

You were just fucking wrong and can’t even admit it.

3181

I don’t really see that?
I have no objection to people justifying their disinterest in the platform because of

  1. features they like on Steam
  2. Concerns about security (even if I disagree)
  3. Wanting to keep their games in one place
  4. Not wanting to support exclusives, even for a brief time.

I mean, fine? I’m not talking around any of that.
It’s statements like ‘Epic abandoned PC Gaming’ that are objectively false that I am responding to.
It’s the idea that not shipping something on a platform for business reasons for a period of years should mark you with a scarlet letter.

Am I not allowed to respond to those? This isn’t cherry picking. I’m not saying anybody has to use the Epic store. Whatever! Do what you want! But I am responding to statements that I think are objectively false.
Take it or leave it I guess?

3182

I gave data, you didn’t. And now you’re demonstrating emotions while using strong fucking adjectives! ;)

3183

I believe this has something to do with the anthropomorphism of brands.
e.g. Steam is viewed as a “good guy”, Epic is viewed as a “baddie” or even, Steam is viewed as “my friend” and Epic is viewed as “my enemy” (to take it to an extreme).

I find this both really strange and also grudgingly admit that I’m occasionally guilty of it too.

https://www.digitaldoughnut.com/articles/2016/january/anthropomorphism-of-brands-humanizing-our-compani

3184

They actually did. It’s been mentioned before, right above. It’s not made up. They made this a very public statement about their views on PC.

You’re not just asking people to use another store front, you are asking customers to put their trust in Epic Game before they’ve earned it. They have not earned that trust. You want people to believe they’re going do things that haven’t done. Believe in apologies they walk back. Listen to statements that are outright lies.

Epic didn’t start at zero, but they had a chance to prove they could enter the market in a way that was friendly to developers and customers. They chose not to do that. Epic Games had a chance to compete in the market years ago, when it was hard, not guaranteed and they weren’t loaded with Fortnite cash. They didn’t.

This is a company that chose consoles in the past and they’re pushing a console like market into the PC realm. We shouldn’t be surprised with this, but yes, I am disappointed, and nothing they have done recently, has shown an ounce of consideration for customers. You can’t even trust what they say at this point. He or anyone else will just walk it back later.

3185

I think we all understand that on the engine side they continued support (I even mentioned that in my comment).

Though this thread is focused on the store-front and digital distribution. I wouldn’t describe it as gamers holding a grudge. If a consumer is concerned about longevity of access to their games library long-term the historical trends lean in favor of Valve at the moment since they stayed when the times were tough and big publishers saw the PC market as a risk proposition. Based on that I am more inclined to trust them with my games library into the future when Epic stopped even trying to release their games for a while in the PC market.

3186

It’s clear they didn’t make games on PC for a while? Who is disputing that? Certainly not me.
But they clearly make PC stuff now, have been doing for some time, and do tons to foster development on PC?

The argument here still clearly seems to be ‘they didn’t make stuff on pc for a while and we are still mad about it’.
Am I wrong?

If I’m not wrong, why is it worth bringing up?

3187

There’s a pretty clear difference between shipping a game and running a storefront - they are different businesses. It feels strange to correlate them.

3188

That’s how I read it too, and people took it as a personal betrayal for some reason and started throwing the word fucking around to show they mean it.

3189

Well, they didn’t do themselves any favors by repeatedly saying during that time that PC gaming was dead and consoles were the future of gaming. Sometimes it’s not just what you do but how you go about doing it.

3190

They knew the metrics, that was a calculated decision at the time. Console hardware stagnation combined with Steam and the rise of esports titles like LoL and CS:GO really did revitalize PC gaming.

The heads of Activision and EA have said much more offensive stuff than that, and yet nobody is seriously talking about boycotting them.

My favorite Kotick quote: “The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games.”

3191

I’m… kind of sure that’s not the spin on the language that they used and you’re inflaming it.
And can we all agree that maybe PC and console markets obviously go in cycles and that smart businesses respond to them?

3192

So if I don’t make an RPG for a while because nobody seems to be buying RPGs, and I say “so, we’re stepping out of the RPG market for a while because nobody seems to be buying them” and do something else for a while, and then the market heats back up a few years later and I come back… am I betraying some kind of trust?
I just seriously do not get this line of reasoning at all.

3193

I like the cut of your jib, tbaldree, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

3194

Sweeney quote:

“Yesterday’s PCs were for people that were working and later playing games, even if those games were lower-end ones. There will always be a market for casual games and online games like World of Warcraft. But at the end of the day, consoles have definitely left PC games behind,”

3195

Notably, he omitted the word ‘forever’.