Game raised around $770k, epic paid them more than $770k (most likely?)
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PC Version of Phoenix Point (X-Com spiritual successor, crowdfunded game) 1 year exclusive to the Epic Game Store
- Thread starter BlueOdin
- Start date
It means that they got more money out of this deal than the money they got from crowdfunding as a whole.
Screenshot by one of the devs, about the conversation they had about providing Steam/GOG keys after the exclusivity has ended.
They hadn't even checked this before the announcement, and went ahead believing that they would not provide keys for Steam/GOG at all.
"We can probably do that" is a quote I will associate this game with from now on.
Jesus why would they put that out there? Surely this was a disgruntled dev or something rather than damage control? That does not reflect well on them.
Epic are providing devs money equivalent to a minimum number of sales, if that target isn't reached by actual sales.
No he isn't disgruntled, he's trying to be transparent.
To my knowledge, it's real and not a mockup/joke attempt, even though it looks like that.
True I just imagine Epic dropped a bag of money and they signed this immediately but like the fact they had to check with epic if they could provide steam and GOG keys is just incredibly bad.
And now that they are continuing with the ama is the equivalent to a conductor running the train at full speed even though they are going through a broken bridge that they broke.
I'm all for transparency but they should probably do it in a way that isn't going to elicit more frustration from their community.
we've learned many times over, than developers do not know how to PR, at all. Complete lack of understanding of the implications of the things they say and do.
This is super shitty, especially for a crowd funded game, and I hope it completely tanks the games sales and hurts any future games the devs might make
I bought Xcom 1 & 2 but I cant support this practice. I wont be buying anything from the Epic store. I dont like moneyhatting in the PC sphere in particular
That is already a fact, in that the devs have burnt the bridges with the crowdfunding community, and will struggle badly to pull through another such campaign.
This isn't about dethroning Steam. The long-term benefit is the accelerating competition: more marketing, grants for developers, exclusive content, platforms actively scouting promising prototypes, hosting events connecting publishers and developers, platforms helping Asian publishers with the Western releases, platforms bringing the game to the Asian audiences.
A long term benefit could be a chance for the competition where Epic Game Store banners are flying instead of Playstation during Football games, Steam funding the Western release of some Korea/China only game (like Lost Ark was), Google/MS/EA rolling a low-cost game sub service, or someone making better integrations with Twitch/Discord.
If the market is over-saturated, then I would prefer companies like Epic or Google to throw their money around, eventually fading away with their platforms, but funding better or more games in the process, even if it is a temporary thing.
This could be a fantasy and nobody has plans to grow the entire PC/Gaming market... Yet, even if the Epic Store fails to get any traction, this isn't a console or software where I have to invest money, and I can do without the cloud saves in Metro. I understand the negativity and even boycotts of the store because others need features that I don't, the price of the "platform wars" is not the same for everybody.
I hope these companies know that the epic fornite money will be drained at some point. The only thing that will remain is angry costumer who they lied to.
It's like some developers don't even care how many units are passed on to customers as long as they get a fat paycheck from Epic.
What a cynical way to approach an artistic endeavor.
Basically, you want to turn storefronts into publishers. How many devs is this supposed to help out of the thousands out there? You realize that Epic, without its Fortnite money will barely have the resources to help bankroll any developers. It's amazing actually, arguing for a lower cut, while asking more from storefronts.
They have become much like the EAs or Activisions of the world. It isn't about the games they make, those are just hobbies, to them it is about the easy returns they get.
I call them hobbies, because these paydays have divorced them from the act of producing a desirable product that people want to buy. To them it's "we'll put it out there, but whether people buy it, play it, it's whatever".
Thats a fine talk about bring in asian audiences and asian publishers,
For a store that isn't even avaliable in China.
Yeah thats my thought, Its a creative industry. Don't they want people to play their game first and foremost? Wasn't the game was funded 150%? so it was going to release and possibly could have sold well. The money offered must have been so good. They have basically swapped customers for Epic money.
Why are you doing the AMA lol. There is a zero percent chance it will make people change their mind. And like a 90% chance you will say something that will make it worse and become a meme. Remember EA's "feel pride and accomplishment" bit?
As long as they've got that mtx money they can keep buying game after game until they starve the competition of hot new releases.
Then take over and do whatever the hell they want. Online paywall to play Epic's store of exclusive games? You bet your ass it can happen.
I feel disgust and resentment towards Epic and their partners and this feeling is getting stronger with each new exclusivity announcement. At first I was annoyed but was prepared to wait a year, but now it's gotten to the point that I don't even want to touch these games even after a year period is up. There will be newer and better games by that time.
I'm not sure what Epic's endgoal here is, do they really believe they can brute force their way into owning a popular storefront even if it is surrounded by bad publicity and negativity? PC gamers can hold a grudge for years and even decades. Not sure how this will work out for Epic in the long term.
I'm not sure what Epic's endgoal here is, do they really believe they can brute force their way into owning a popular storefront even if it is surrounded by bad publicity and negativity? PC gamers can hold a grudge for years and even decades. Not sure how this will work out for Epic in the long term.
They're seemingly buying out publications to do their pr work too.
Ughh this is just awful. I was so excited when I saw Phoenix Point announced and was really looking forward to playing another Xcom Like.
Epic can go fuck itself.
Epic can go fuck itself.
I do wish PC Gamer would actually disclose who is doing the sponsorship on their "sponsored" posts. It's not clear if it's the publisher or Epic when it is games on Epic store. I think the decision to not be transparent about that is the wrong one, and makes them look like they have something to hide.
I actually completely understand the idea of announcing and releasing an Epic Store exclusive (timed or otherwise). I get opting for that 88% take instead of 70% take. I don't blame any publisher or dev making that choice like Supergiant did for Hades.
But it's so fucking scummy to announce and advertise a game on a different platform and then switch platforms, and it's ten times scummier to do so with a crowd-funded game where the previous platform was part of the pitch.
But it's so fucking scummy to announce and advertise a game on a different platform and then switch platforms, and it's ten times scummier to do so with a crowd-funded game where the previous platform was part of the pitch.
I think this post sums up how a lot of PC players feel. What is the point of any of this? Pissing off all of your potential customers is the weirdest business strategy I have ever seen.
Excuse me, but these developers didn't sign the deal because of the cut. They signed the deal because Epic gave them money. Enough money for survive a year, according to them.
As for the second, Valve really needs to update their terms of use. If developers announce a game to be released on Steam and even create a game page, they must honor it instead of releasing the game on another launcher first.
The wrinkle for that is that they can't really do that. That'd be a bit of a legal mess to untangle, a lot of devs might not want to do that, and it's kinda counter to Valve's current let it ride mentality
Well, I was always bad in legal stuff. But is there something Valve can do to prevent this?
Stolen from reddit
Welp, there it is.
At this point I can only hope the game will be made into an example of sacrificing long term success for short term profit.
Not even going to consider crowd funding anything while Epic is shitting up the land.
Stolen from reddit
On the one hand, this is refreshingly honest
On the other hand "We knew our supporters would hate it, but we did it anyways because $$$" is a very encapsulating statement of why I shouldn't give a shit about indiedevs well being.
That sounds like a challenge lmao.
Some well-needed honesty for folks around here who act like games are barely making money unless all the shittest business decisions/monetary moves just get accepted/waved away.
I mean no like let's be clear they are a business with employees first and foremost, they exist to make money.
The problem is this is stupid from a business perspective because they have a hardcore dedicated fanbase and those are the type of people you piss off most with a decision like this. Whatever they got from Epic upfront can't possibly cover the damage to their reputation.
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So like maybe they're okay for this first game but these are still pretty niche products so when they want to go to the crowdfunding well a second time, which they almost certainly will, what the fuck are they going to do then?
In the case of Supergiant and Hades, is it confirmed anywhere that they were moneyhatted? Supergiant's blog suggests it's just Supergiant utilizing Epic as a platform for Early Access progress. https://www.supergiantgames.com/blog/
Not that I'm dismissing the notion out of hand - it's quite possible it's part of a cold cash deal, but from my perspective it's just as viable to launch to a platform with a much more generous revenue split and has the visibility of the Fortnite crowd.
Also I know a lot of PR people try and go for that like faux conversational "yo we're also part of the community" bullshit but maybe if you're about to write a statement that straight-up just reads like "hey people who gave us money upfront you don't matter" you should shut the fuck up.
They never said anything but I have no doubt in my mind they were moneyhatted.
If you think logically only conclusion is that they got money. There was no reason at all to go with Epic for EA instead of Steam that is much better platform for EA.
Stolen from reddit
On the one hand, this is refreshingly honest
On the other hand "We knew our supporters would hate it, but we did it anyways because $$$" is a very encapsulating statement of why I shouldn't give a shit about indiedevs well being.
Lol, he's my friend, I wondered how long it would be until I saw his name in relation to this.
We don't know if Supergiant received a money bag from Epic, although most likely they did. Otherwise, why limit themselves to EGS only?
And no, most of the Fortnite crowd won't buy the game, even if Epic pesters them with ads. Even the Steamspy dude proved with charts and numbers that people who use a platform to play F2P games hardly buy games.
Screenshot by one of the devs, about the conversation they had about providing Steam/GOG keys after the exclusivity has ended.
They hadn't even checked this before the announcement, and went ahead believing that they would not provide keys for Steam/GOG at all.
"We can probably do that" is a quote I will associate this game with from now on.
Yeah they will struggle to get through another crowdfunding campaign at least, for future projects. That's a door they have closed with this.
Oh lord
okay but then look at it like this does the Fortnite crowd care about some random isometric roguelike based around Greek mythology and is there a reasonable expectation that they would? And then you look at the fact that that store doesn't have a way to convenient way to leave digestible feedback.
So if you say to me hey we're a developer putting this game in Early Access so we can get player feedback and you put it on a store that doesn't allow player feedback you're either incompetent, lying about wanting feedback or you received some compensation in some way shape or form.
They generated 800k from the successful crowdfund. So the payout is at least one million.
Screenshot by one of the devs, about the conversation they had about providing Steam/GOG keys after the exclusivity has ended.
They hadn't even checked this before the announcement, and went ahead believing that they would not provide keys for Steam/GOG at all.
"We can probably do that" is a quote I will associate this game with from now on.
Yeah they will struggle to get through another crowdfunding campaign at least, for future projects. That's a door they have closed with this.
"Hey Mum/Dad, can we do this?"
I understand the complaints about exclusivity, but in the long run I think this is beneficial. They need this kind of deal to grow their userbase, to become a known store, then in the future it will be another store competing in price. It is much easier to attract users by selling games inly there than adding this of that feature to their service.