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Epic launches digital games store with 88% revenue going to developers
- Thread starter Bundy
- Start date
Ubisoft do it on the store they own. Why would they outright discount their stuff on a third party store?
It's not the same.
I was hoping I'd see a fresh coat of paint on the launcher when it was updating, but it's still the janky-ass app I'm used to. Hopefully this changes when this is fully rolled out.
I hope they commit to better Discord integration so we can get some better LFG features, but most devs seem to ignore that API, unfortunately.
Still exciting news. On a similar note, Discord's Library feature is good at detecting other games and listing them all in one place for you to launch them from. No itch.io support yes, though.
I hope they commit to better Discord integration so we can get some better LFG features, but most devs seem to ignore that API, unfortunately.
Still exciting news. On a similar note, Discord's Library feature is good at detecting other games and listing them all in one place for you to launch them from. No itch.io support yes, though.
Yeah and realistically it wouldn't even be 10% because those sites can't survive on a 2% margin. They may not even be able to survive on the full 12%. They have to pay their employees, server space, customer service, taxes etc too.
There's nothing good at all for customers and businesses with this 12% cut. It's only good for (some) developers. No one here should be for this.
No but seriously, try to explain your point.
How am I as a consumer that buys a game on Steam am "working" for Valve?
From The Verge:
Here are Sweeney's answers to some of your most likely burning questions:
Here are Sweeney's answers to some of your most likely burning questions:
- No, there's no store-wide DRM, though game developers can add their own.
- No, Epic doesn't plan to add social components like game streaming or forums.
- Yes, Epic will help devs take advantage of online features in their games (presumably things like chat, matchmaking, and cloud saves, though they weren't mentioned by name).
- Yes, the Epic Store will offer refunds — initially through customer support, though an automated, 14-day, no-questions-asked return policy should follow soon.
- Yes, it'll be available outside the US, in "most countries in the world except for China and where prohibited by US law, such as North Korea and Iran."
You know that EA moved all of their games on Origin where they get 100% and customers got nothing? You know that Bethesda moved Fallout 76 to Bethesda launcher and customers got nothing? You know that Activision moved CoD on Battle.net and customers got nothing?
Do not approve. Hope it flops like the Discord and Twitch initiatives have thus far.
Everybody wants a storefront but nobody wants to provide the features like Steam does.
Everybody wants a storefront but nobody wants to provide the features like Steam does.
If Epic makes a Linux client, I may check it out. As it stands, Steam gives me to much value to step away from them.
No but seriously, try to explain your point.
How am I as a consumer that buys a game on Steam am "working" for Valve?
Something something user interaction like tagging games and reviewing them as well as earning/mining Steam cards and reselling them on the marketplace creates value/revenue for Valve -- I'm guessing. Oh the horror.
I scanned through the thesis to find a concrete place where that point is made but couldn't find the jump to free labor myself.
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What, exactly, do they need to "step up" to?
- Their platform offers by far the most features to both customers and developers. (And it does so for free to gamers, including e.g. unlimited cloud space and of course online gaming)
- Until just now, it was also the major platform with the best revenue share. Arguably, it still is (it's not like Epic launcher is major outside of a single game).
- They offer great support to open standardization processes, and also pay several open source developers simply for continuing to contribute to their own open source projects.
- They never pay for exclusivity. That's actual consumer choice. Which much of the "competition" seems to be hell-bent on eliminating.
- When they introduce a new client-level feature, they take great care to make it available and useful to as much of your existing library as possible. That's a real development nightmare, but it means that when you bought a game on Steam 10 years ago then you can now use features like in-home streaming or Steam controller rebinding seamlessly with it.
Now, with that said, we can talk about the impact on developers, which might be positive in some cases because of more competition on revenue share.
The thing is, I don't think console platform holders will bite.
They don't care that everything people are forced to pay monthly fees for on console is free on PC, they didn't care back in the days that PC didn't have a royalty share at all while consoles did, and they'll continue to happily charge their 30% plus recurring customer fees. If I'm wrong then I'll be ecstatic, but I doubt it.
And that's before getting into the issue of whether it is at all a good idea for the industry as a whole to split PC eyeballs and interest across many storefronts.
But I'm sure an actual indie developer will have a perspective on that:
I see.
But they give me:
- Steam Input
- Steam In house streaming
- Steam Play
- Proton
Hope they have proper regional pricing. That's the one thing that makes Steam unbeatable for me (and no, defaulting Malaysian buyers to the Singapore store is not it EA)
https://www.gameinformer.com/2018/1...e-with-88-percent-revenue-going-to-developers
It also wont be available in China:
And curated:
https://www.gameinformer.com/2018/1...e-with-88-percent-revenue-going-to-developers
It also wont be available in China:
And curated:
Epic Games now deprived thousands of players , They introduced politics into the gaming industry That's a Shammmehttps://www.gameinformer.com/2018/1...e-with-88-percent-revenue-going-to-developers
It also wont be available in China:
And curated:
So it seems the criticism is more regarding the need to have more launchers, than the business implications? My argument was never on usability.
No one here should be for devs earning more money? Devs invest that money into more and/or bigger games.
Me neither, now they come crawling back, supported by a shady Chinese megacorp? Ehhhh. The hole they have to climb out of isn't quite as deep as Microsoft's but I don't plan on installing and supporting any new launchers for the time being and nothing I've read so far benefits me as a consumer, we've already got enough bare-bones clients that started with big promises of a glorious future. We're at a point where more stores just add more clutter and there's a real danger of customers getting confused. Which won't help anyone, especially not indies longing for 'discoverability', whatever that means these days.
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All of Epic's newer games are already available exclusively through their launcher—this is about a store for third party games.
Personally, I'm actually quite excited to see how their approach works out. It sounds like they're planning to employ more actual staff - rather than algorithms - to help sort though the games, and the way they're designing the store to avoid the worst bits of Steam - review bombing, forums with garbage moderation - really appeals to me. Plus, developers should make more money, overall - selling game keys on discount sites accounts for a tiny proportion of overall sales, so even getting '100%' of the revenue there isn't enough to make up the difference on the 70/30 split - which I like.
I have no loyalty to Valve whatsoever, so while I appreciate the convenience of having most of my games in one place - and, to be clear, I have a lot of fucking games on Steam - I'm always interested in Steam alternatives.
Seem''s good for developers , but as a consumer it does nothing for me.
Features like regional pricing etc already listed in this thread before, Steam is 10 years ahead of epic launcher, Not to mention the amount of userbase Steam has.
Also I am not so sold on their PC commitment after they made comments of "PC piracy drove us to consoles". What if Fortnite stops being their cash cow how will that effect me.
On steam I still have all my game's I have bought since 10+ years ago still with me, Can I put that amount of trust on this new launcher? hell no.
Unless this in some major way benefit's me as a consumer compared to steam I will be staying away from epic launcher.
Features like regional pricing etc already listed in this thread before, Steam is 10 years ahead of epic launcher, Not to mention the amount of userbase Steam has.
Also I am not so sold on their PC commitment after they made comments of "PC piracy drove us to consoles". What if Fortnite stops being their cash cow how will that effect me.
On steam I still have all my game's I have bought since 10+ years ago still with me, Can I put that amount of trust on this new launcher? hell no.
Unless this in some major way benefit's me as a consumer compared to steam I will be staying away from epic launcher.
Or they spend poorly and go out of business. Or they pocket the extra money for themselves. You don't know how they're going to handle more money.
But yes no one should be in favor of the consumer having less options to buy games and cheaper prices in favor of higher prices and fewer storefronts.
Sweeney seems uninterested, but I guess they might put in a minimum effort in case some devs that sell on their store decide to release Linux versions of their games.
Yeah, really. The argument that devs should make less money on their games in order to support the business of resellers is kind of... ridiculous?
Anyway, about time someone stepped up and did this. The 30% cut is crazy for companies who have thriving online marketplaces like Valve, Apple, etc.
Have you been living under a rock for this past decade? Studios, especially AA sized ones, are shutting down left and right, profitability is a real struggle all across the board except for the cash cows at the absolute top, your FIFAs, CoDs, GTAs and Fortnites. The cost, risk and complexity of games development has increased, yet the prices have not risen. Its actually cheaper than ever if you take inflation into account. In short, we have got games that are bigger, more ambitious and with higher production values than ever before, and it has cost us nothing becuse the downsides have been absorbed by the creators, and you are whining about a storefront that potentially helps those very people? You dont ever realise how spoiled you are. You dont have to use it, but dont whine about its existance.
You said more stores are good for consumers. I just fail to see how I profit from having to deal with another store.
But why would i fragment my library on PC even further with yet another storefront/launcher? Pass.
Yeah the question I still have is how it benefits me, the consumer. It's yet another launcher now that still fractures all my games.
Then what's your argument ?
Believe it or not, competition is tough between games. This isn't a price issue. This isn't a store issue. This is an offer issue.
And the competitors which famously said they are going to consoles because of PC piracy.
And are only coming back because Valve showed the way to combat it by releasing a good product AKA Steam.
As usual, this thread has become the target of concerned individuals who wouldn't know the first thing about the PC, or what actual competition looks like from their closed-platforms.
Well said.
Well said.
It still kind of is despite its faults. Nobody else has stepped up.
Bingo.
It will take a long time for Epic Store to be as useful as Steam. But I do think they will get there, unlike the other competitors.
Ah yes, the Chinese way of doing things: run thin margins that will undercut the competition until their venture becomes the only option remaining, then change things to whatever the Chinese government requires. "Wait, isn't this about Epic? What do the Chinese government have to do with it", you ask. Tencent owns 40% of Epic, enough to make any important decisions like this and they can just continue to buy stock if needed.
Competition is good, and Valve certainly needs it. The likes of Microsoft Store and Origin Client and whatnot, in regard to providing actual competition they have all been kind of a joke truth be told. Yet, this move by Epic is rather worrisome to me because I've seen Chinese companies doing this sort of thing over and over in other industries and it never ends up well to anyone but the Chinese government. If their store becomes the next Steam, it's quite likely everything within will be heavily censored and everything you do recorded and sent upstream like other branches (Xiaomi, Lenovo, ZTE, and Huawei) do already. That's a scary thought.
Competition is good, and Valve certainly needs it. The likes of Microsoft Store and Origin Client and whatnot, in regard to providing actual competition they have all been kind of a joke truth be told. Yet, this move by Epic is rather worrisome to me because I've seen Chinese companies doing this sort of thing over and over in other industries and it never ends up well to anyone but the Chinese government. If their store becomes the next Steam, it's quite likely everything within will be heavily censored and everything you do recorded and sent upstream like other branches (Xiaomi, Lenovo, ZTE, and Huawei) do already. That's a scary thought.
It's literally +1 storefront, not fewer storefronts, and it isn't higher prices. Even in your worst case scenario it isn't higher prices, it's sale prices that maybe aren't as deep. I don't get the love for one business that's a storefront while having disdain for another business, the developer. Both exist to make money. The developer is the only one that's using the revenue to make more or bigger games for you though.
On one hand, I have a store that has regional pricing and regular sales, along with a client that provides a lot of useful features that I can't find in any other (or at least, not as well implemented). On the other, I can do charity for a game developer.
Mmm, wonder which option should I pick...
So you just said in a round about way, Overall prices would benefit higher because same base prices + less discounts.
AKA higher prices. Which consumers will download the store client for this?
