Fair enough, I don’t mean to infer “complete irrelevance” with anything. I just mean to emphasize that we’re a fairly niche group that are far more passionate about gaming than most (most of my gamer buddies wouldn’t create an account and post here even if I offered their favorite beverage to do so.)
Only time will tell if the Epic Games Store will succeed long term and I appreciate the differing perspectives here, even if I don’t agree.
stusser
3445
Once you get people to give you their credit card number, you’re in. At that point you’re a completely viable option to Steam. Sure, they stick with Steam if all else is equal, but if you offer incentives, coupons, cheaper prices, etc, you’ve got another sale.
This is why Epic is paying through the nose for exclusives in their first year. They want people to hand over their credit cards.
Nesrie
3446
If getting a credit card was all that a store needed to win their customers, Origin. UPlay and Windows Live would already be good competitors for Steam. They’re not.
stusser
3447
They could be. If Origin offered incentives, cross-promotions, etc, to buy games there rather than Steam they would find some success. Thing is, EA and Ubisoft don’t care about that stuff, those stores exist to avoid the 30% Steam cut on their first-party titles. And Windows store is all sorts of incompetent at the basic stuff.
Nesrie
3448
Well it’s been like five minutes since good ole’ Microsoft declared they’re all in with PC gaming, no really this time. I say we’re about due for another.
fdsaion
3449
I have the gut feeling that that part of the intent of the EGS is to attempt to rebase price expectations, i.e. avoid Steam-style sales.
LockerK
3450
It’s sad, because at one point I was really interested in a Borderlands 3. But there are enough Pitchford-related reasons that even when it comes to Steam I’m not sure I’ll be picking it up.
fdsaion
3451
RE: BL3, I don’t actually expect it to be a good game either, and might not have picked it up on Steam either.
IMO, BL1 and BL:PS were both poor games, with only BL2 really standing out. Though this probably should go into the BL3 thread.
stusser
3452
I never got into BL1 but BL2 was a faaaaantastic game. Hopefully they improve on it even further. If not well then sure, BL3 won’t kickstart the Epic store like they hope.
If this ideal future comes to pass, cool cool cool that would be nice, assuming it is in foreseeable future and not few decades from now.
There are other possible futures though. Maybe Epic store will fail to convince people to buy non-exclusives, so Epic will keep doing exclusives for years. And then Valve might start doing paid third party exclusives too. And smaller third party stores like GOG, GMG, Fanatical etc close shop since they have nothing to sell. And maybe piracy will be again on the rise. etc
Not saying this “worst timeline” is more likely than your ideal one, but it’s not impossible.
KevinC
3454
Since you’re repeating this, who are you directing it at? I don’t feel like the people in this thread that dislike the store are saying they represent the greater population, just expressing why they’re not happy with Epic.
LMN8R
3455
FWIW - years ago I remember someone showing that the infamous Modern Warfare 2 boycott image was photoshopped - that the original actually had different games in it. But that image is so engrained in gamer circles these days that it’s impossible for me to go back and find proof.
But regardless, the more apt comparison here is the fact that Metro: Exodus and The Division 2 have apparently sold incredibly well through the Epic Games Store.
Enidigm
3456
The major publishers are all trying to move to their own platforms anyway. EA did this a while ago. Activision is starting to use Battle.net, for better or worse. Uplay store has finally reached the point where it’s becoming the first point of sale for Ubi games (it’s still a mix of storefront + Steam link for older games and actual launcher for new games).
Honestly the only thing I’ve actually found eyebrow raising was Epic trying to get kids to root their Androids and install Fortnite around the Google Play store. That was literally just “hey kids, take the chance of f’ing up your phone so we don’t have to pay 20% fees to the download store!” because as far as I can tell (and I haven’t looked very hard tbh) doing this offered no advantage to the kids doing it. All it did was make Epic more money.
Enidigm
3457
I’m a broken clock but this is because the Fortnite generation (13-16 year olds) are a new market and don’t give a crap about their Steam library, because they don’t have a Steam library.
And it annoys people that Epic is so on point with their pivot toward services with that group to no end, it seems.
I mean, really, this is Caesar in Gaul level stuff today. Epic lucked into becoming a generational moment by salvaging a dead game with generic, cartoonish graphics into a billion dollar win, and they’re rolling those billions into trying to keep winning. The audacity and decisive confident nature of their play into the PC space is much of what causes such pushback. They’re the brash “newcomer” that rolls into town and within a year is running the place, and the marketplace is changing faster than most peoples’ ability to adapt.
But that’s because they’re running on kid time, not adult time. They’ve only got a year or so to capture that 13-16 year old market before they move on to the next thing.
jsnell
3458
There is no need to root the phone for installing apps from outside the Play store. It’s just enabling app install permissions for the alternate app store, using the normal Android security system.
It the same thing you had to do to get the Amazon store. I just wish there were more safe platforms on Android. It’s not a walled Garden, but it feels like it is.
And then there is Bethesda, who is coming back to Steam, heh.
Nobody in particular, but also anyone disheartened by the negativity (e.g. devs here who are professionally invested.) Nothing new I suppose, as I feel like those repeating their animosity towards Epic are a broken record, just as those repeating their support.
I accept many of reasons people are unhappy with Epic, but some accurate statements are blurred with inaccurate ones. To give examples: I understand the phrase “inferior product” when discussing Epic’s store and Steam from a features comparison but not “Epic abandoned PC gaming” (I accept that statements were made in the past, but that’s not a continual notion) or that Tencent/China have mechanisms in place that influence customer privacy or such.
I thought they said Exodus sold 2.5 times more than Last Light over the same period - which to me doesn’t seem all that impressive given the vastly bigger hype and marketing behind Exodus. And Division 2’s sales were praised on uplay, not Epic? Unless I am misremembering.
I wonder, if the sales are brag-worthy, why would they not be bragging about them. Why is the only figure they released this vague Exodus 2.5x.
Epic has not shared a single sales figure other than that 2.5x multiplier for Metro Exodus.
I am very interested in seeing what happens next year, when these exclusive games start to return to Steam, will the publishers/developers be asking full price for year old games?
