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Epic launches digital games store with 88% revenue going to developers
- Thread starter Bundy
- Start date
As much as it mildly annoys me to have my PC games split across different platforms, more competition is good. I can't see myself buying games there though unless they can offer me something substantial that Steam or GOG can't. Incentivizing developers is great, but it's only half the battle.
LOL, I'm not looking forward to it, but devs will want the biggest share of profits possible.
I can see it happening.
It's kinda not, when these launchers exist solely for the main company's major tentpole game that is exclusively available only on that platform.
When stores like Humble and GOG exist that offer DRM free services and different types of pro consumer rules and features: good for the consumer. When the Epic Launcher and Bethesda launcher pops up and the only way to buy Fallout/Fortnite is to use their launcher (which usually means losing out on support and services you'd get on other store fronts- like Bethesda refusing refunds on Fallout 76, etc.) then that's less of a good thing for consumers. Especially if the storefront is not open to all devs, which seems to be the case for this announcement until further in 2019.
This is where I pretty much scratch my head and say "okay but what about the consumer, the PC player?" You hear devs going "why should so and so dev/studio get an easy payout but not me" or "we should be compensated more". I understand that and in that part I agree. However, have you noticed anything on what a dev says or a company opening a games store says about how the consumer benefits from this so called "competition"? Yeah, me neither. I wonder if Epic will also allow devs to generate keys to sell on other stores for free cuz if not, that's definitely gonna affect sales that benefit the consumer.
They already have their own store for a 100% split and no DRM.
Also how involved will Epic be in running the backend of the store to make sure updates to non-epic games are swift and without issues. And what other features will there be for developers beyond a lower store fee.
CliffyB has not been involved with Epic games in years.
Edit: Oh, it was said by Mike Capps. He also stepped out from his post years ago.
It isn't.
It a positive factor. But we're customers, and our main priority should be that the product we want to buy is packaged in a way that we're comfortable with.
Reminder of features steam has that most other storefronts don't:
- allowing devs to self-publish their games without annoying policies or mandatory exclusivity
- offering devs a full set of features (steamworks, drm, vac etc) but NONE of these features is mandatory
- allowing devs to generate FREE game keys to sell on their own website or competing 3rd party keystores. This didn't only give us cheap games, but also wonderful stuff like Humble Bundles
- devs are allowed to integrate their own client or ecosystem (uPlay for example)
- easy mod support through workshop
- early access
- fully automated refunds for EVERY game
- regional pricing
- they support DRM-free games
- family sharing
- universal controller support
- cross-buy and cross-play between every popular OS (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- user reviews
- personalized store page
- personalized discovery queue
- wish list
- developer pages
- curators to find the games you may like instead of Valve deciding what's a good game and what isn't
- Steam Link
- Big picture mode
- Steam controller to play PC games on the couch
- Offline mode
- Steam sales
- Trading cards
- Free cloud saves
- ...
- allowing devs to self-publish their games without annoying policies or mandatory exclusivity
- offering devs a full set of features (steamworks, drm, vac etc) but NONE of these features is mandatory
- allowing devs to generate FREE game keys to sell on their own website or competing 3rd party keystores. This didn't only give us cheap games, but also wonderful stuff like Humble Bundles
- devs are allowed to integrate their own client or ecosystem (uPlay for example)
- easy mod support through workshop
- early access
- fully automated refunds for EVERY game
- regional pricing
- they support DRM-free games
- family sharing
- universal controller support
- cross-buy and cross-play between every popular OS (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- user reviews
- personalized store page
- personalized discovery queue
- wish list
- developer pages
- curators to find the games you may like instead of Valve deciding what's a good game and what isn't
- Steam Link
- Big picture mode
- Steam controller to play PC games on the couch
- Offline mode
- Steam sales
- Trading cards
- Free cloud saves
- ...
As customers we better hope this doesn't take off. A 12% retailer cut would kill off grey market sites and small retailers like GMG because when the base line is 12% they can't offer much of a discount as they're already cutting things close with that small of a margin. That means LESS competition and higher prices for us.
But yaydevs publishers get more money!
But yay
Oh, right, also an ios version of this is happening approximately never since that is a closed platform.
Because... ?
Not only grey market but also white one.
CDPR already has their own storefront where they get a 100% split?
They're probably gonna put their games on there like they do on steam, but i don't see why CDPR should be in any way particulary interested in this.
How so? With a cut like this we won't be able to buy games with a -25% discount before release from 3rd party sites like GMG. If the cut becomes industry standard it'll probably kill all those sites.
GOG has a DRM-free policy which is good for consumers, we don't know what's Epic stand on this. What about an automated refund feature like Steam? That's good for consumers.
It's too early to tell if this store will actually be good for consumers or just another inconvenience with exclusive content but lacking features.
Yea sure but they also would like the consumers to actually buy their product no? And people won't just flock there due to this announcement. So far aside from the revenue share thing, epic are doing absolutely nothing that stands out. So far only real competition for steam is Good Old Games(GOG). Thats it.
Another barebones store that is offering me nothing and trying to ride on their one-trick poney.
Steam is great for me as a consumer, other stores need to do WAY MORE.
Even GoG despite having a great stance (NO DRM) does not offer me enough value to select them vs Steam.
Steam is great for me as a consumer, other stores need to do WAY MORE.
Even GoG despite having a great stance (NO DRM) does not offer me enough value to select them vs Steam.
Consumers do a lot of the work that Valve as a platform should do. Valve is basically using our labor to create more profits for themselves. There's a whole PhD thesis about it that you can read at your leisure if you're interested in how Steam exploits its consumers: https://digital.library.ryerson.ca/islandora/object/RULA:6820/datastream/OBJ/download/Distributing_productive_play__a_materialist_analysis_of_Steam.pdf
That's ok with devs making more of the margin they'll pass the savings on to us!
Yet another thing. Doesn't Valve have a large amount of middleware that developers can use?
88% cut yet games will still be $60 on it no doubt for multiple reasons.
I think it's too late for Epic to compete with Valve anyway, Steam has too many exclusives at this point & Japanese devs especially have got comfortable with Steam & pretty much see Steam as PC gaming.
I think it's too late for Epic to compete with Valve anyway, Steam has too many exclusives at this point & Japanese devs especially have got comfortable with Steam & pretty much see Steam as PC gaming.
Yes, I'm well aware of the existence of GOG. However, I can see them wanting to expand to more storefronts that might offer better deals for them as a developer.
Especially if it is one supported by other well known developers like Epic.
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Bingo.
Same thoughts for me. Steam is providing me a ton of features that I pretty much require, so it remains my go to ecosystem.
I have a fair bit confidence in Epic to be a supporter of the PC ecosystem and moving the platform forward long term, as I do with Valve, so it's great to see them step up - but so far the features aren't even close and I'd need to see how stable and supportive Epic are over time.
While it's awesome that epic provide such a high margin for devs, it's not something that I as a customer can benefit from and I dont see it as my "responsibility" to go for the store that offers devs the biggest cut, without offering me utility and benefits as a customer.
Really hopeful that Valve / Steam will try to compete in future with such a split, but with all they invest in and sheer scale of operation, I doubt they will go as far of a split. As long as Valve/Steam keep piling on features that give me greater utility and enjoyment, that's probably ecosystem seeing the brunt of my game purchases
Good times!
If any developer is reading this i would like to hear how much are you willing to cut your percentage to offer good deals that PC market was enjoying last 10 years? Have you ever wonder why there are threads on Era that talk about 20% off pre-orders on PC? If you are giving (and this is big if because we don't know will Epic allow selling games outside Epic Store) 12% to 3rd party distributor. max they would be willing to offer customers is 5% off. How many people will go for that deal and how many will just laugh?
It's developers who get more money - sites like these lessen the need for publishers, as developers can self-publish.
I'm way too deep into Steam and I love its features too much so I won't be jumping on the Epic Store but I hope they do well.
Ok, this could be big.
Especially if they link it to the Fortnite launcher: they could have 200+ million possible buyers, lots of which already set their payment methods.
Especially if they link it to the Fortnite launcher: they could have 200+ million possible buyers, lots of which already set their payment methods.
Battle.Net was a thing before Valve even showed Half Life 1 off, but sure it's a shitty monopoly.
Developers AND customers.
Steam Input and Steam Inhome streaming
Steam Play for Linux for example.
Lmao I completely forgot in Linux. Epic is still pretty anti-linux despite Sweney hating MS move on the UWP.
Again that's just super for them but what about us? I like getting 20-28% off most games. I don't want to pay even more money for games.
This is only great news if it leads to tangible benefits.
If this makes games 10% cheaper, that's an immediate and obvious benefit, but I'll bet you it doesn't make games any cheaper for us.
If publishers and development houses invest the extra money they make in improving conditions for their workers, that's great both for their staff, but also for all of us, who will get to play better games made in more human conditions. But I bet they wont.
What will happen is that this extra money will add an extra percentage point onto some shareholder's dividend, or executive's bonus.
The only space I see this doing genuine good is for small studio indie developers, who might see a greater return in a shorter timeframe and hopefully get to keep the lights on.
If this makes games 10% cheaper, that's an immediate and obvious benefit, but I'll bet you it doesn't make games any cheaper for us.
If publishers and development houses invest the extra money they make in improving conditions for their workers, that's great both for their staff, but also for all of us, who will get to play better games made in more human conditions. But I bet they wont.
What will happen is that this extra money will add an extra percentage point onto some shareholder's dividend, or executive's bonus.
The only space I see this doing genuine good is for small studio indie developers, who might see a greater return in a shorter timeframe and hopefully get to keep the lights on.
Unless Epic is funding the games themselves. All major games will still be publisher driven. Unless you think self-publishing funds multi-year development projects?
88 is often used by neo-nazis as another way to say "Heil Hitler" because H is the 8th letter of the alphabet so 88 is HH.
CD Project Red has their own storefront already and they will get the 80% from Valve anyway.
I don't see any reason, why the would switch.
Being on 3 or even 4 store fronts (if they go Play Anywhere with the Xbox Version) is just to much.