Epic Games Store - 88% split goes to devs

Lunarstorm · 2019-10-09T14:06:45.365Z

The Verge – 9 Oct 19

Unlike Blizzard, Epic Games says it won’t ban players for political speech

Woke Fortnite

KevinC · 2019-10-09T14:08:24.315Z

Lunarstorm:

Sometimes a major shareholder only invests for the sake of profit and doesn’t have any input or veto power, they simply earn a percentage of a profit.

This is true but you have to admit that holding a 40% stake in a company gives your voice a lot of sway.

Lunarstorm · 2019-10-09T14:09:11.621Z

KevinC:

you have to admit that holding a 40% stake in a company gives your voice a lot of sway.

No, I don’t. It gives them a lot of profit, but not sway.

KevinC · 2019-10-09T14:10:37.639Z

Then how do you explain ESPN and other sites that are censoring themselves at the behest of their Chinese investors?

AK_Icebear · 2019-10-09T14:15:17.334Z

As mentioned in the other thread, I welcome that statement from EGS but I expect they will eventually have to cave. In any case I look forward to them being tested on it. Unfortunately I’m also not confident that Steam would do any different…

Regarding the silent shareholder - those don’t exist in China. There is evidence earlier in this thread to the contrary on Tencent…

Telefrog · 2019-10-09T14:15:25.672Z

Bravo to Epic for that stance.

Perky_Goth · 2019-10-09T14:16:39.844Z

I’m guessing deals with ESPN are recurring publicity agreement, while Epic is a once and done investment. For the moment, at least.

roguefrog · 2019-10-09T14:22:20.516Z

cpugeek13:

Right, the Chinese government and US government are pretty much the same thing.

No. They are not, unless you are a real piece of shit troll. As bad as America is under Trump, the CCP is actually the Orwellian nightmare.

AK_Icebear · 2019-10-09T14:22:48.433Z

Is it relevant that Epics statement was specific to Fortnite, not generalized to EGS?

Lunarstorm · 2019-10-09T14:41:48.371Z

AK_Icebear:

Is it relevant that Epics statement was specific to Fortnite, not generalized to EGS?

No, I don’t think so. An official statement on company stance should hold throughout, regardless of product.

legowarrior · 2019-10-09T14:49:42.369Z

ESPN is a company that is barely holding on right now. So, like any vulnerable company, or person, it is much more craven then it should be. They need as much investment as possible.

Maybe Epic will be in the same position one day. But there is a gulf of differences between Epic and ESPN.

One seems to be trending down, the other trending up. One has a huge war chest of money, while the other seems to be losing money hand over fist.

One is 80% owned by Disney, the other is 40% owned by Tencent.

cpugeek13 · 2019-10-09T14:52:14.305Z

roguefrog:

Right, the Chinese government and US government are pretty much the same thing.

No. They are not, unless you are a real piece of shit troll. As bad as America is under Trump, the CCP is actually the Orwellian nightmare.

Since I guess it wasn’t obvious enough, I was being sarcastic. I have been living in China for about 10 years, and have actually met people here who believe that the US is about as democratic and free as China (which is to say, it’s not), and that its us who are ignorant.

roguefrog · 2019-10-09T15:05:09.524Z

Slow clap well then.

jsnell · 2019-10-09T19:41:51.366Z

Telefrog:

While Gabe and his partners are (probably) free to do what they want, would they thumb their nose at a Chinese ban?

Well, they’re working on launching a special ultra-censored version of Steam for China.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-08-21-valve-talks-steam-china-curation-exclusivity

No, wait. I didn’t mean to write “ultra-censored version”. I meant a version with a “much better experience for Chinese customers”. Valve are such nice people, looking after the Chinese people by adding some curation.

KevinC · 2019-10-09T20:18:43.265Z

I don’t have major issues with China restricting what games are sold in their market (I mean, I don’t like it, but it’s their country). They already do so now. I have problems when they start policing what Americans and others can and can’t say.

When Blizzard, the NBA, or others start being the extraterritorial footmen for the CCP, that’s where my personal line is. Put another way, if there’s a Steam China or Epic Qatar and they have games “appropriate” for their market, fine. But if Valve started to blacklist or go after devs outside the Chinese market because they said something the CCP didn’t like? Fuck that.

CraigM · 2019-10-09T20:27:37.445Z

waves vaguely in the direction of all of this

TurinTur · 2019-10-09T21:55:35.508Z

KevinC:

I don’t have major issues with China restricting what games are sold in their market (I mean, I don’t like it, but it’s their country). They already do so now. I have problems when they start policing what Americans and others can and can’t say.

/Scratches head

But both things are intrexicably linked. They are policing what Americans can say or do by restricting what games are sold in their market, or threatening to do so.

It works because companies really really want to sell in China. You may not have major issues if they can’t sell in there, but they really care.

legowarrior · 2019-10-09T22:14:53.757Z

I don’t know. The German market limits the use of Nazi stuff in games. Hasn’t really impacted the games sold in the US all that much.

ShivaX · 2019-10-09T22:18:25.198Z

TurinTur:

But both things are intrexicably linked. They are policing what Americans can say or do by restricting what games are sold in their market, or threatening to do so.

Not really. Germany bans a ton of violence and has forever. Yet we still had… every game ever.

TurinTur:

It works because companies really really want to sell in China. You may not have major issues if they can’t sell in there, but they really care.

It’s an issue, but it’s also fairly easy to get around in most cases. “Chinese” versions of games have always been a thing. It’s usually just a couple art asset changes here and there.

I’ll grant you that it can become an issue if the studios start really chasing Chinese money, but the only alternative is overthrowing the CCP, which isn’t going to happen. Or banning all trade with China and we’re seeing how well even a taste of that is working out.

KevinC · 2019-10-09T22:46:35.340Z

TurinTur:

But both things are intrexicably linked. They are policing what Americans can say or do by restricting what games are sold in their market, or threatening to do so.

There’s a difference between a Chinese store vs telling Valve or Epic that they need to remove a developer’s game globally due to them saying critical of the CCP. Same with them trying to get the NBA to muzzle anyone associated with the league and making sure they don’t say anything they disagree with.

As mentioned, Germany censors some game content from games sold there but they didn’t try to go after individuals that included a Nazi flag in a video game sold outside they’re market.

Could China try to leverage a China Steam store to pressure Valve to muzzle employees or third party developers? Yes. And IF Valve caved to that, I’d just be as pissed at them. Built making a Steam China storefront on its own? Whatever.