-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries drops Steam and will be available exclusively on EGS [yes, please read STAFF POST]
- Thread starter Deleted member 8196
- Start date
Problem with this is that MechWarrior is a game that is going to live and die on the strength of the community and the mods on offer. As far as I know Epic still don't support mods on the store.
As per usual people will say how great it is for the game and for the developers whilst the consumer gets a worse experience.
As per usual people will say how great it is for the game and for the developers whilst the consumer gets a worse experience.
Eh, this has happened a few times with other EGS games like Dangerous Driving etc. The controversy brings attention, which makes sense.
The money hat is definitely calculated so that even if every backer gave you middle finger with refund you would still be in plus. I actually think one developer said exactly that.
Yes. The money compensates for the refunds.
It does not compensate the loss of goodwill or the long term customer base.
Russ did say they've talked to Microsoft about MW5 on Game Pass.
Mechwarrior 3 is one of my favorite pc games of all time and I was waiting for this to come out before supporting it but they made my choice for me, It sucks because I was looking forward to it but never seen the need to post in that thread.
I believe I recall for Shenmue Tim said they'd cover refund fees. I took that to mean they'll cover refunds even outside of the bulk deal the publishers are likely getting. Goodwill is abstract money. It's slightly obfuscated and takes time to pay dividends so it's probably really easy to not worry about it in the face of immediate money. A bird in the hand and whatnot.
Still pretty much the same game. Honestly, if they didn't get exclusives, there wouldn't be any reason to use the Epic Store over something else.
I thought i would not be able to resist buying games on EGS. Turns out I can. One more game added to the list of games ill be missing I guess.
One thing to keep in mind is that this particular company and game started without Steam in mind. They had their own launcher for years and only joined with Valve near the last leg of their first Mechwarrior game, MW:Online. They were never really wedded to Steam and lots of the player base didn't care that it was even an option.
So I understand why they would think they wouldn't be as affected by taking sides in this and accepting an exclusivity deal. But they probably didn't help themselves.
So I understand why they would think they wouldn't be as affected by taking sides in this and accepting an exclusivity deal. But they probably didn't help themselves.
The only example i know is phoenix point, where it was stated that even if they had refunded all the orders they would still be in the black
I think a lot of devs are banking on the incredibly short memory that the internet has
The issue here is that most people don't actually have a problem if games are sold elsewhere than steam. They do have a problem with the epic store in particular.
Because those fucks buy exclusivity.
Make EGS your primary store, give minor incentive, whatever, that's fine. But not letting folks choose where they buy stuff is fucking idiotic, all for some short term cash gain.
Sigh... plenty of games exist solely on Steam, but none are being tied down out of exclusivity deals. I would hope as a journalist you would think more critically about the difference instead of trolling with "hell yeah" comments.
Well this was said in Phoenix Point Discord, Phoenix Point went from crowdfunding to Epic exclusive.
I don't know how many ended up asking for a refund in the end, but Gollop said this back then.
"We sent an email to all our 47,000 backers on Tuesday informing them about the Epic deal," he said. "The following day we had 1300 requests for refunds. The day after it increased to 1600. We don't anticipate that more than five to six per cent of our backers will actually request refunds in the long run."
And we don't know how many people are skipping games because of the exclusivity, but I think based on how much Ubi's sales on their own platform have increased after going from Steam to EGS, people ain't too eager to buy from Epic.
Last edited:
PGI has been kind of iffy with their playerbase, and may be considered the kind of company to jump on a moneyhat in a second. I understand the anti-exclusivity sentiment though.
Most people don't have a problem with the EGS. People have a problem with Epic buying exclusivity on a traditionally open platform and limiting your purchase options.
Yeah. It certainly doesn't surprise that they would do this.
Sure. But it's the defacto feature of the store, it isn't like they have anything else going for them. Until that changes that is what EGS stands for.
im pretty interested in this ama
I wonder how many of these deal-takers take the deal to maximize profit vs. whether they believe that consumers wouldn't come through for their product in the first place and they need the insurance to guarantee survival (or both). might be able to categorize the suffering indies/kickstarters against the ppl clearly out to make a buck like gearsoft
many ppl saying that it's short-sighted and alienates customers/gives bad pr, but as george railroad martin says what is dead may never die due to bad pr
I feel like "the customer won't save you against the market" might be a common thought in smaller companies
I wonder how many of these deal-takers take the deal to maximize profit vs. whether they believe that consumers wouldn't come through for their product in the first place and they need the insurance to guarantee survival (or both). might be able to categorize the suffering indies/kickstarters against the ppl clearly out to make a buck like gearsoft
many ppl saying that it's short-sighted and alienates customers/gives bad pr, but as george railroad martin says what is dead may never die due to bad pr
I feel like "the customer won't save you against the market" might be a common thought in smaller companies
I wonder how this will work out for these developers in the long run. Anecdotally, I know I was excited for Sinner and Ashen and when they went exclusive in their own ways I kind of forgot about them. Sinner did get a Steam release with little fan fare and to be honest the interest was gone and I removed it from the wish list. Ashen buzz came and went and I don't think I'll even realize when it gets a Steam release and if Ashen 2 comes along, even with a Steam release they'll need to try harder to get my interest having not been brought into the series with the first one.
Kinda like a Titanfall 1 and 2 situation. Tons of people really impressed with 2 but the mindshare wasn't there along with a few other stupid decisions.
With that in mind are these games going to try and pull the same trick with sequels and get Epic to pay upfront and if Epic doesn't want to and they release on Steam normal storefronts are they just gonna fizzle? I mean I'm quite happy they are getting lump sums which will help them financially but not sure if that's actually going to help their company and games reach and hold people for future games. Seems a bit short sighted and honestly as dickish as it is I hope it doesn't pay off and we stop seeing this kind of thing.
Kinda like a Titanfall 1 and 2 situation. Tons of people really impressed with 2 but the mindshare wasn't there along with a few other stupid decisions.
With that in mind are these games going to try and pull the same trick with sequels and get Epic to pay upfront and if Epic doesn't want to and they release on Steam normal storefronts are they just gonna fizzle? I mean I'm quite happy they are getting lump sums which will help them financially but not sure if that's actually going to help their company and games reach and hold people for future games. Seems a bit short sighted and honestly as dickish as it is I hope it doesn't pay off and we stop seeing this kind of thing.
i actually wonder how ashen would have done on steam, it seems pretty highly rated but I don't think we can chalk up the lack of discussion about the game solely on being EGS exclusive. At the same time, if Hades were on Steam I feel like I'd hear it discussed more, it's a great game made by a high pedigree dev, I feel like I saw a decent amount of talk about their other games. But also it's early access still I guess
Piggybacking on your statement, out of curiosity, when is the first game that was EGS exclusive being released on Steam? I'm curious how it's going to sell, and how they're going to price it. I'm wondering if it's going to be 'new release' priced.
Varieties of reasons. Basically nobody is super excited about the era of digital distribution platform proliferation we live in. Every time one of these happens most people are less than thrilled. It's one more program you need in order to manage and access a vast library. We're getting to the point where it can be difficult to even keep track of what you've got where sometimes. Usually, it wouldn't be too big a deal, because at worst, these platforms have usually only made games from their own publisher store exclusives. That's not the case here. This whole "buying exclusivity" thing is new for PC gamers, and it's not well liked. Frequently competition is touted as a positive because we get the benefit of choice, but in this case, it's the opposite. It's the EGS way or the highway. And it's become epidemic. Every hype new game not already attached to its publisher's own store seems liable to announce an exclusivity deal, even right at the eleventh hour. All of this, mixed with EGS's gross inferiority, and Tim's "This is good for you, you just don't see it yet" attitude about this whole situation, just really rubs some people the wrong way.
Personally, I recognize that business is business, and I understand that for these publishers and developers, the exclusivity contracts are a godsend, so I can't give them too much flack for taking the deals. It is annoying when they roll out the corporate double speak to tell me that they're doing it for me though, and Ysnet's handling of Shenmue's version put a real fucking ribbon on the mess. I also feel that customers who buy a Steam key through a kickstarter or other preorder and end up getting something else, even if the refund is painless, got shafted. They were used for interest free loans. They paid for the development of a promising new game for EGS to come along and scoop up as an asset. Fuck that.
For my part, I'll continue to not patronize EGS if out of nothing more than self-interest.
EGS exclusives are somewhat unlike console exclusives, like FFVIIR, in that when sony buys FF7R, Sony is bringing FF7R into existence. We're getting a game we wouldn't have otherwise got. You can't quite draw as direct a line between EGS exclusive contracts and the development of new games, although it's totally conceivable that EGS game deals may ensure FUTURE games that would not have otherwise existed.
Last edited:
Is anybody that stupid? Or so nakedly willing to sabotage their own work?
Because the "another game on the skip list" people never were going to buy it anyway.
I'm not surprised they took a deal, they're a small ambitious company to even be making this game, and honestly? Fine. I've waited this long, I don't care if they do what they need to do to make a profit. Just give us the best mechwarrior game you can make and I'll be happy. If it wasn't for pirhana mechwarrior would be dead and people seem to forget that.
User Warned: Inappropriate commentary
Better dead that sucking Epics dick for a bit of money.
Reckon MS might try something with it eventually anyhow, given that they own the entire electronic BT license.
I would hardly call it that but okay then, hahaha.
It's a tough industry and if someone gives you a life line it's hard not to take it.
I don't know . . . I was thinking last night on how gaming went from something being made for entertainment since the 80s by passionate artists such as Sid Meier, Richard Garriott, and Kojima, to Big Business trying to reach remotely into peoples pockets via microtransactions and casino gambling with real cash for nothing in GTA5, so I think it's not possible, but probable.
I think about this sometimes, mainly chalk it up to low manpower being more susceptible to focused and innovative ideas on new tech, and that the rapid vg industry growth would always have been inevitably subsumed by capital and ppl who own the means of production rather than the ones producing. Kojima is a good example, it was inevitable that he'd be fired due to "wastefulness" and a lack of concern with the bottom line, what a great dude
If they can't do profit now, i highly doubt they will be doing that in the future. Cash injection's not gonna change that, and they did piss a lot of people off... MechWarrior is a niche game nowadays, and store-exclusivity is not gonna help that any.
I sincerely doubt game developers are less passionate now. I also doubt that people who made games for a living thirty years ago were less interested in turning a profit and staying in business. I think your post is a product of extreme naivety and rose tinted glasses.
Imagine if somehow another company was allowed to sell games on the PS4 without Sony's approval or taxes. That sounds great! More competition! But now imagine that that other company managed to buy the rights for popular third-party games so these games would only be sold by that company andyou wold still play on the same box, but at the same time those games become more expensive at lauch because they aren't being sold in other stores and you didn't have access to things like the share button, trophies, discounts from PS+, cloud-saves (they still didn't rolled out this for every game), and so on and so fourth.
You would be paying more for a worse product just because some company payed the developer not to release on the sony store.
No, i will not. I won't support a dev who takes part in EGS exclusivity bullshit.
I'm a big BattleTech and MechWarrior fan, but i won't let that get in way of my principles. Will save money i'd used here for some extra tabletop miniatures or something.
I honestly can't imagine why they'd do otherwise. If Steam fans are willing to wait, why wouldn't they be willing to pay. Fuck you, pay me. Especially cuz they get less money per sale from us on Steam than they would from customer on EGS. I wouldn't be surprised to see Steam retain a higher premium cost for most EGS exclusives.
But I don't know anything.
Yeah. I mean, it's inevitable that when something gets big in a capitalist society, the producers try to squeeze blood from a stone. The great thing is that people don't have to buy into that. To summarize: Fuck Epic ;)
An interesting byproduct of the PC exclusivity war is the uncomfortable discussion about whether games should be greenlit and made if they cannot be successful without Epic/Fornite subsidies. Maybe it's better to not make games that can't be successful on their own merits. Moneyhatting is sort of beneficial because it employs people in the games industry in the short term but shouldn't we be aiming for long term health of PC gaming?
You say that but I know there's more than just a couple people including myself that are not buying it anytime soon that will not be supporting it who would have if not for this decision.
I'd have bought Outer Wilds by now if it were on Steam. As it is, by the time it finally reaches Steam, I may have lost interest.
I imagine if it's a "survival" decision, it's more about immediately being able to put food in family's mouths. if it's a max profit decision, yeah i agree it's shortsighted but I also do think ppl have short memories and that w/e vitriol they are receiving now will be greatly diminished by the completion of the next game
I wouldn't prescribe "passion" on either era, but I do think that increased division of labor, while making the creation of games more efficient, larger, etc. has an adverse on quality/that thing ppl think is special about games. it's not that simple ofc, but I do think it's a major difference. Like undertale/stardew valley vs. story of seasons/ffxiii, they feel very different in composition.
I get the impression epic is going to help market the game which is expensive and difficult to do by yourself without a big publisher. There are a lot of reasons why you'd take this deal, and it's not necessarily that they are making this game expecting to lose money before epic.
Refunding because you don't like this is fine, considering their faq STARTS with that in the announcement tells me they expected a back lash and already did the numbers for this beforehand. Which is kind of hilarious.
I don't buy this. Have you seem the comments of bakers on the other games like Shenmue?
If MW3 is your favorite PC game, surely wouldn't whatever anomisity towards EGS be neutralized once it releases on Steam next year? And with this deal, PGI gets more money to develop a self-funded game that is do or die for the studio.
I don't understand, you're not going to take part in EGS exclusivity once it releases on GOG and Steam next year?