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Epic launches digital games store with 88% revenue going to developers
- Thread starter Bundy
- Start date
What is a Artifact?
Nothing but a miserable pile of game code.
Apparently. And it's not like In the Valley of Gods isn't coming next year. So guess Valve still makes games. Even if they make really slowly and rarely, but they still do make games. And it's not like Epic Games has made many games lately either. But yeah, competition is good.
So consumers should ignore a lack of parity in their own features and be content that developers get more money?
With how huge Fortnite has become it turned into the perfect Trojan horse for this maneuver. I was surprised that up til this point Epic's own back catalog wasn't available on their launcher, but this seemed like an inevitable outcome.
I hope not. As I said, lower store cuts means lower discounts on 3rd party stores.
Then why not argue this with any other storefront, as with every single one of these threads there's a large amount of sites with the same cut as valve, yet we love to act like Valve is the anti-christ here
Sure, I already have a account because of the excellent shadow complex remake. Why not?
I mean, it's also good that Android will receive another option of store, so no need to upgrade my cellphone if Google drop support in some version.
I mean, it's also good that Android will receive another option of store, so no need to upgrade my cellphone if Google drop support in some version.
I know it doesn't have anything to with the discourse, but people here whining about eventual Epic exclusives is like... man, do you realize money is needed in order to fund games, right? That money has to come from somewhere, this ain't charity. I have no issues with platform-exclusive games as long as the devs can make the game they want to be. I get it's annoying to install kajillions of launchers on the computors, but that's the free capitalist market for you.
Ha ha. As someone that has first-hand experience of this recently I have to disagree. I get that standards of customer service vary from place to place but an organisation that has no chat, no phone support, no complaints procedure and no method of escalation whatsoever cannot be considered to have good customer service on a structural level. That's before you even get to how the reps actually treat you when submit a ticket to the ether.
My one experience with their "customer service" was enough to kill any thoughts I ever had about going PC so I hope this Epic thing takes off.
Invested too much on steam and don't want more launchers at all personally. It's great for devs but no way I am shifting unless they provide some amazing regional pricing and other features like steam does.
But hey on the plus side Valve may get serious about making amazing games again.
But hey on the plus side Valve may get serious about making amazing games again.
Sounds good to me. Steam desperately needs the competition. Hopefully they can get off the ground with a reasonable featureset.
The revenue split in particular seems really big to me. Valve's recent move to appease big developers was a huge middle finger to mid-sized or smaller devs--a signal that now more than ever, a legitimate Steam competitor is necessary. (And unfortunately, as GOG continues to cosy up to the alt-right, they seem less legitimate than ever.)
Don't mess this up, Epic.
The revenue split in particular seems really big to me. Valve's recent move to appease big developers was a huge middle finger to mid-sized or smaller devs--a signal that now more than ever, a legitimate Steam competitor is necessary. (And unfortunately, as GOG continues to cosy up to the alt-right, they seem less legitimate than ever.)
Don't mess this up, Epic.
If you really want to support developers, buy from itch.io. This is a nice announcement but doesn't mean much of anything as the launcher itself is limited and there's very little in terms of their feature set.
They have a long way to go before making this announcement mean something substantial.
They have a long way to go before making this announcement mean something substantial.
That's a really big deal for devs, but as others have pointed out the value needs to be given to consumers to get them to switch platforms.
Maybe we'll see a glut of exclusive content for Epic Store versions to incentivize people to buy there?
Maybe we'll see a glut of exclusive content for Epic Store versions to incentivize people to buy there?
All of this reworking of platform holder % could be a key thing in the industry going forward
I wonder which console maker will rework theirs first.
Nintendo would be wise to do so to attract more third parties but I have a feeling Xbox will and Sony last
I wonder which console maker will rework theirs first.
Nintendo would be wise to do so to attract more third parties but I have a feeling Xbox will and Sony last
Oh boy, just what we need more of on the PC plateform, more excusive content tied to specific stores to 'compete'
That's great. But people aren't going to abandon Steam for this as a favor to the devs. They need to offer something to the consumers that Steam dosen't.
That's not really unheard of, given itch.io and arguably GOG.
It seems weird to handwave any new store that can't immediately match Valve's 15-year feature set as "bad for consumers" or whatever.
Good. Valve needs competition in this market.
Since I only use Steam as a launcher rather than for its features, as long as I can get Football Manager, Civ, and whatever new sim or 4X games that I'm interested in on Epic's storefront, I'll gladly shift my PC purchasing to them.
Since I only use Steam as a launcher rather than for its features, as long as I can get Football Manager, Civ, and whatever new sim or 4X games that I'm interested in on Epic's storefront, I'll gladly shift my PC purchasing to them.
You can see the "15 year feature set" already now and start working on a store that can match it instead of working like its 2004 again. The Epic Launcher right now didnt really develop in the 2 years since I have used it for UT and free Shadow Complex...
On the other hand in those 2-3 years on Steam you get an almost 90% coverage of Linux games on Steam, a whole VR plattform, a customizable controller config set, good DS4 support and Streaming was added in the last 2 years IIRC. Along with Steam Link in TVs and as an Android App....
Also as a dev I'd rather you buy from Steam even with the 30% cut so you can potentially leave a review and boost visibility via their algorithm. Having to deal with 20 other storefronts that aren't steam is going to be such a headache.
Good on Epic for their announcement, now time to kick it into high gear and make their launcher and services at least as good as Steam.
Good on Epic for their announcement, now time to kick it into high gear and make their launcher and services at least as good as Steam.
Isn't that semi-risky?
If the Fortnite money dries up and their store hasn't grown massively can they afford to run at 12%?
Exactly, Epic's launcher is a joke compared to Steam. Unless game prices will be significantly lower than on Steam (you know, because of the 12% cut) I don't see a reason to buy there.
Another featureless store that will be largely irrelevant to most PC gamers. Not that interesting.
How is that weird ?
When OnePlus released their first phone, was it a Edge, no camera, no touchscreen phone ?
In every single other markets and industries competitors comes with on par feature and lower prices... Or sometimes better features AND lower prices.
Why should we, here, be the ones to make a move in the hope they catch up ?
Good for the developers but means nothing to me as a customer.
I don't understand some people's obsession with wanting there to be some kind of "downfall" of Steam. Actually I do, they tend to not actually use steam so don't have a clue about why steam is so popular.
I don't understand some people's obsession with wanting there to be some kind of "downfall" of Steam. Actually I do, they tend to not actually use steam so don't have a clue about why steam is so popular.
That's how things work. If you enter a business customers expect you to be able to compete. No one's going to have sympathy for you if you can't match what the leader is doing.
If that's too hard for them well maybe they shouldn't have done this.
The thing is, unless a new launcher has a clause that says every single game on it must be drm free I can't see what a new launcher could possible offer me to switch over from steam.
The main point of steam is that I and the store has such a huge collection of games in one place.
The main point of steam is that I and the store has such a huge collection of games in one place.
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Honestly, I don't see much reason to use this myself. Like, the 30% cut isn't the bad thing so many make it out to be. Is that and some paid exclusives their entire sales pitch? What are they doing for curation? What other features will the client have, like cloud saves or community features? And like others have mentioned, will they have good discounts and sales on third-party stores via keys, when they seem to be taking the bare minimum to keep it afloat? I don't actually see the "competition" here.
I'm going to predict what we'll see a lot of on the store will be small indie titles using Unreal 4.
I'm going to predict what we'll see a lot of on the store will be small indie titles using Unreal 4.
So its wierd to compare a company that is outright declaring itself a Steam Competitor to Steam's features? Itch.io isnt marketing itself as a steam-killer. Also every other store doesn't even work to get 5 years of Steam's feature set, much less 15 years. And yet Steam is always the 'lazy' one.
Steam still has the only real store-wide no questions asked refund policy. Where is Epics?
How is that ?
What other launchers brought to the table ?
Then again, I wont be popular with devs from ERA, but lower cut for stores means no more discounts from 3rd party stores.
The point was that we could buy games with 20-25% discounts. If 88% becomes the norm, we can say goodbye to that.
Only if games are available in all stores. If Epic and Tencent are going for exclusivity like Sweeney already admitted, we'll get more fragmentation instead of actual competition. As long as Epic's launcher doesn't get the feature set that Steam already has for years, this is actually a drawback for most of us.
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Good for them. I won't ever buy anything from them because of this statement:
https://bit-tech.net/news/gaming/pc/epic-pc-piracy-drove-us-to-consoles/1/
The first thing needed for me to invest in an ecosystem is trust in the company running it and I don't trust Epic.
https://bit-tech.net/news/gaming/pc/epic-pc-piracy-drove-us-to-consoles/1/
The first thing needed for me to invest in an ecosystem is trust in the company running it and I don't trust Epic.
Dunno how anyone can say this with a straight face. There's already half a dozen launchers and they have added nothing to the table for the consumers.
Probably Epic wants to make a deal so good for devs, that they could be tempted to release their games only on the Epic store, which will "force" players to get on. I doubt this would ever happen but can't blame them for trying.