No email validation would help explain the countless password reset requests that I get from Epic. My email address is the very straightforward first.last at gmail and there’s a kid out west who keeps using it to sign up for stuff. I wonder if his parents know about that tattoo?
The sequel to Retro City Rampage, Shakedown Hawaii, is now an Epic Store exclusive launch on PC.
Race to the bottom has begun.
The windows store is now taking a 5% cut, if you get there directly from a web search. They take a 15% cut if you reach a title’s page from a MS property like browsing or searching in the store.
https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2019/03/06/updated-microsoft-store-app-developer-agreement-new-revenue-share/
Edit: One notable complication is it doesn’t appear to apply to, umm, games. So, errr… nevermind?
LMN8R
1829
Yeah, games open up a huge can of worms since you need to consider Play Anywhere games, the ability to buy Xbox-only games from the Windows Store (if you change default search filters), and so forth.
A developer for Trine 4 confirmed on Steam that Trine 4 will not become a stealth Epic store exclusive before release. It will be available on Steam (and possibly other stores) on release.
You can thank Epic for making this the dominant question for every new announced upcoming release through 2019. It’s the new Thanks Obama.
It doesn’t use the Unreal engine, so they have a lot more flexibility.
Syzygy
1832
It’s not a question of flexibility but less incentive to make the change as the per unit engine royalties aren’t written off.
I expect the stream of exclusives to slow down as Epic have probably gone through a larger store announcement/establishing war chest and will be ramping down to a smaller ongoing budget.
Bluddy
1833
Alternatively, they budgeted their war chest and are going to continue making tempting offers to Indie devs by studying Steam’s data to find the games with the most expressed user interest. Steamspy’s guy is useful for that.
Shouldn’t be too hard, since Steam allows you to see the most wishlisted games.
https://store.steampowered.com/search/?filter=popularwishlist
I am amused at whatever Valve did to Metro Exodus, as it doesn’t show up anywhere unless you specifically search for it.
It’s not completely clear, but from the wording of this statement, it seems there’s a bit more to the Ubisoft and Epic deal.
Sadly we have to announce [to] you that Ubisoft will not allow digital third party stores, such as Gamesplanet, to sell Division 2 after its release on March 15th 2019. After this date, the game will digitally only be available through Ubisoft’s Store and another exclusive digital store. This will also be true for all upcoming game content such as Season Pass, Extensions, etc.
draxen
1836
Wow, that’s a huge win for Epic if if it’s true. The UBISoft catalog is no small thing.
EDIT: Ah, it’s only for The Division 2 (so far)
This would be more believable if they’d stop smiling and jerking off when breaking the news.
I don’t really understand the impetus behind this decision. Yes the 88% split is great, but The Division 2 is a real GaaS title that they expect to be financed via microtransactions for the next ~2 years. Initial sales matter, but they should be balanced against ongoing revenue.
Without knowing how much Epic paid them up front, it’s impossible to assess the economics.
You think they’re paying off giant studios like Ubisoft and AAA titles like TD2? I would be surprised by that.
I would be very surprised if they’re not.
It’s giving money to their direct competitors, not an indie darling. I don’t see it.
Perhaps they’re guaranteeing minimum revenue from the store, I can see that. But not a direct payoff.
Epic’s direct competitors are whoever’s making a Battle Royale game, Unity, and Steam. But, sure, I’m not distinguishing between outright payment and guaranteed minimum revenue. It could well be the latter.
jsnell
1844
Ubisoft has been willing to experiment with how they sell games on the PC (e.g. just almost randomly varying how long a game would be exclusive to UPlay before being put for sale on Steam). My guess is they’re going as all-in as they can on the Epic store for the D2 launch just to see how well it works out. And if it doesn’t work well, they’ll start rolling it back bit by bit.
Tman
1845
So, I decided to try out Epic with the Free Slim Rancher.
the problem is, it won’t download it.
All I have is this:
With no forums, or no place to ask, I’m left wondering wtf?
