One of my top 10 games of last year is a MS Windows Store exclusive.
I’m only vaguely aware that Windows Store games are still a thing. They’re basically just Xbox games that you can sometimes also play on PC, right?
Also, seems like a valid analogy.
yeah, that’s the long and short of it. Windows store is a nightmare, though. At least in every other product I can figure out how to install my games.
Funny but true. I got Minecraft to play with my children a while ago and I stumbled on the user interface… Took me a while to realise that Microsoft puts the Install button on a rather circumspect position on the top right of the screen, rather than popping a window in your face.
Going back to the topic… this is the second crowdfunding project in recent memory which I have been disappointed by how the last stretch of the project was carried over. There have been plenty of disappointments, but floundering somewhere along the way is to be expected. Stuff happening right before the delivery will always leave a sour taste.
Finding a publisher, like HBS did with Battletech, was totally okay and good. But then, releasing the game to dozens of youtubers who didn’t back the game or anything… after a two year period of development was, in my opinion, not a class act. Not something to have a massive chip on my shoulder, but just made me realise that crowdfunding has inevitably become a very transactional affair.
In this case Snapshot approached Epic that then acted pretty much as a publisher (advancing capital to polish and further develop the game). That would be okay too, honestly. Reneging on fulfilling the rewards as stated during the campaign was borderline but totally correct as this was a Fig crowdfund that has different rules.
But saying - scratch that, putting in writing! - that they would be happy to get 100% refunds… well, this project campaign almost didn’t make it. They were very clear that the game would not happen if the Fig campaign didn’t succeed. Was that bullshit? In any case, the attitude is definitely quite shitty, and I would expect that any future crowdfunding campaign with Julian Gollop as the figurehead will not end well.
Also, for some reason, there’s several store pages and you have to find the right one for any product you have. It’s a real mess.
Well, Epic doesn’t control the near monopolist OS that shoves ads in your face with each patch, so not quite.
That ship had long sailed, it just happened to be a game you liked.
I hope you are not arguing that so as long as you are not a monopoly, it’s ok to be part of an initiative that forces a store usage on unwilling backers.
No, just that it could be worse if it were Microsoft. I’m still waiting to see if I can play future inXile and Obsidian’s games either natively or with wine. If they were a preorder, I’d be pretty pissed.
Did they say they won’t show up on steam?
I don’t think anyone knows yet. They bought them, so I can’t even be mad.
I’m all for publishers fully funding development for a proprietary platforms and requiring exclusivity, they are after all, taking on the associated risks. Kinda sucks for us who don’t have all the gaming consoles out there, but that’s how capitalism works, the least bad of all bad systems out there and all that.
But what’s happening here is very different from exclusive publishing contracts developers get into when looking to kickstart (pun intended) their gaming idea. I’m from the same camp that was actively looking forward to buying this on launch day who is now removing them from my wishlist. Speaking just as a bystander.
I remember when people got upset when Kickstarter games didn’t get finished.
Boardgame kickstarters than ran into the issue that shipping was not always included in the backers price.
I understand that people would like the game on the platform that was originally stated but is it really equal to a game that did not get finished?
Why does it have to be equal to unfinished games?
The anger seems a bit unbalanced to me, being annoyed vs the hatred that has erupted.
That ship had long sailed, it just happened to be a game you liked.
Liked, and backed, and filled quite a few forms with feedback during the backer beta. Yet, as I said, I am not mad, just disappointed.
Compared with some of the ragestorms on the Internet today, that’s mild weather. But surely Julian Gollop would be high today in the target list of the killer robot bees. So much hate around, people should just form bands like Nine Inch Nails or EyeHateGod and leave the Internet alone.
Yeah, as I said up thread, I backed Phoenix Point to help it get made, not for the digital distribution channel. I don’t get the anger, and yes, I’ve been following all this. I don’t even have the Epic launcher installed yet. One year exclusivity, Snapshot get a cash injection and there’s a refund process if you’re not happy with it. They’re such bastards.
A Marxist might say, “consumers get pissed when the curtain of commodity fetishism is thrown back and the ugly machinations of capitalism in the raw are revealed. Far better to pull the curtain back and hum along happily in our alienated, proletarian lives.”
A neo-con might say, “Suck it up, buttercup. Capitalism works this way–it’s not money for nothing, it’s money or nothing! You don’t like it, start your own company!”
The average gamer just says, “Um, I’d like to be able to buy games without having to navigate a bajillion different store fronts, funding systems, and sets of expectations.”
No one is getting what they want :)
You get a cookie mr Wombat!
The irony here is that Epic’s store atm only supports Windows while Steam actually did something for Linux gaming.
Not to mention that I wouldn’t ever trust Epic not to abuse a strong market position if they ever achieve it through their store. I mean we probably all had the same fear with Steam but considering their market position they have been as good as a store/gaming platform could possibly be.
Steam is imo already the best case scenario for consumers here and Epic certainly doesn’t approach this market in any way to make someone think that they could be an improvement. Maybe for developers, at least in the short to medium term (let’s see how much money Epic is willing to through at this whole thing and if they can gain any significant market share) but for consumers? I don’t see it.
Same with Mac. Something Phoenix Point was promised for. Maybe they can still release it on the Mac App Store? No one probably cares of course.