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Tim Sweeney confirms Epic is paying to keep games off third party sellers (Inc The Division 2)
- Thread starter BernardoOne
- Start date
Exactly. Pc gamers should give a clear signal that this isn't the way how companies should try to "compete" in pc gaming. There are so many other great games out there!
This is true, and the very first thing I learned in my first business class in college is that the most effective way to make money in the long term, is to make ethical business decisions. It's a lesson that many companies in 2019 don't take very seriously. They see short term profits and think, "well hey, this will make me more money NOW, who cares about what happens in three months?" The reasoning behind it is you eliminate unforeseen costs that arise later that can tank your bottom line.
If I could describe the launch of the EGS, I would use the word aggressive. I definitely would not describe their practices as ethical, good for the consumer, or good for the general market. I'd say they'll at least make some good short term profits from this, but when you consider they are literally bank rolling games like Division 2 just to make sure they don't appear on Steam, I don't see how this venture will even last.
I would bet you all money that Epic is harvesting user data and reselling it without enduser consent to help mitigate some of these up front costs.
I'm strictly speaking about the present topic. Obviously, many of their business choices have been very pro-publisher at the expense of consumer friendly practices. I just think there's too much of a grey area with the key-selling thing regarding exclusives to specifically call it out as anti-consumer.
So the only store which gets to sell 3rd party games should be the Epic store, everyone else should just stick to selling their own games. I see. "Robust competition" indeed.
I 100% believe many of these outlets are getting outright paid off by Epic. Epic has no qualms about flashing their cash around, and not even being secretive about it.
I can't believe so many people doubted it happened, when it was so blatantly obvious right off the bat. It's like ok, these publishers and devs just happened to decide one day to RISK EVERYTHING and make their content EGS exclusive for exactly one year, out of the blue, all for "the cut".
Sure
It was already confirmed by the Satisfactory studio near the launch of the Epic Game Store.
I don't think this is the case. It's cooler to support the newcomer "underdog" than the most popular one.
This is just Tim admitting they're doing exactly what everyone has been trying to tell you for months now.
They don't care about consumers. Their only goal is to try and force people to buy games on their client by throwing money around, because once they have games exclusive to their own store, they can charge whatever they want and think people will pay it.
The attitudes towards the Epic Games Store that I have seen here are somewhat concerning.
In the past, PC gamers as a whole completely rejected things like paying for Xbox Live Gold - to the point that Microsoft abandoned the idea and made it free.
I'm not convinced that the people making up the PC market as a whole now are going to have the desire or willpower to reject the Epic Games Store once they have an exclusive that they really want to play locked up for a year.
On the other hand, I wouldn't put it past Epic to be paying people to astroturf to a ridiculous degree, since there are so many people on this forum that jump in and repeat the same tired rhetoric about how this is somehow a good thing for PC gamers, or whining about people having the audacity to complain about the platform and the people running it.
Most of what he has talked about Microsoft/Valve having the potential to do, are actually things that he himself has been planning for the Epic store.
They don't care about consumers. Their only goal is to try and force people to buy games on their client by throwing money around, because once they have games exclusive to their own store, they can charge whatever they want and think people will pay it.
The attitudes towards the Epic Games Store that I have seen here are somewhat concerning.
In the past, PC gamers as a whole completely rejected things like paying for Xbox Live Gold - to the point that Microsoft abandoned the idea and made it free.
I'm not convinced that the people making up the PC market as a whole now are going to have the desire or willpower to reject the Epic Games Store once they have an exclusive that they really want to play locked up for a year.
On the other hand, I wouldn't put it past Epic to be paying people to astroturf to a ridiculous degree, since there are so many people on this forum that jump in and repeat the same tired rhetoric about how this is somehow a good thing for PC gamers, or whining about people having the audacity to complain about the platform and the people running it.
Note that "Automated Refunds" is such a low priority for them, that they don't even have an estimate.
It has been his plan all along. Sow the seeds of dissent to turn people against Microsoft and Valve/Steam before launching their own platform 'for the devs' offering an unsustainably-low cut long enough to do damage to their competitors.
Most of what he has talked about Microsoft/Valve having the potential to do, are actually things that he himself has been planning for the Epic store.
The press are on his side.
I know, but people were still going 'LALA THIS IS JUST ONE DEV, YOU CANT PROVE THEY DO TIS FOR EVERY WUN : ////'. maybe now these people will finally stfu
I appreciate your opinion but will have to disagree in regards to the key selling.
It is my personal preference and opinion that, irrespective of exclusivity, storefronts should allow third party sites to sell redeemable keys.
The reason I feel this way is that, not only is it keeping these sites in business and increasing competition across the board (which is good for consumers and developers) but it's also giving consumers the choice as to where they wish to purchase their games (even if it means redeeming them on the same storefront) which isn't ideal because in a perfect world we could also choose our storefront but nonetheless, having the choice of where to buy the key is incredibly important for consumers imo.
Epic have removed that option for no reason other than one of greed, it benefits nobody but themselves, it most certainly doesn't benefit the consumer and it actively works against the consumer, hence why I believe it's anti-consumer (along with all the other things I have mentioned.)
I appreciate your reply though :).
To be fair that poster is still a student of economics, they're not in the field yet.
I'm still kind of amazed that Epic are throwing around so much money yet being to completely clueless about how to actually appeal to PC gamers. How have they put clearly so much money into this venture without even considering things from a player perspective. It speaks to either a gap in their knowledge/experience, or even worse an entitlement. They are acting like they don't have to win players over, they can just remove choices and players will have no choice but to become loyal subservient customers of the Epic store. That's not how it works, that's never how it works. It's all stick no carrot. PC gamers rejected GFWL and UWP, and before that they rejected Download Insurance and aggressive DRM. If you're not acting in the interests of your audience, they have plenty of other options. Even with all these games they have gotten pulled from Steam and elsewhere, there are still plenty of games worth people's attention available outside of their walled garden.
It's pretty telling that you could have posted this around 10 years ago and it would still have fit.
I figured that was the case, smart move though and it only benefits consumers so it's a win/win.
Thanks for sharing.
I cannot abide a hypocrite.
The second there was a chance for him to make money doing the same shit that he bitched about Microsoft doing, suddenly it's pro consumer. Fuck out of here with that shit Tim.
The second there was a chance for him to make money doing the same shit that he bitched about Microsoft doing, suddenly it's pro consumer. Fuck out of here with that shit Tim.
People do get mad over shit like that but it is especially egregious on PC since it's traditionally a platform known for its openness.
Because not being able to open it at all is the only thing that matters, right? /s
And actually, yes, kind of. PC's running Linux have lost out on games entirely because of Epic, as have PC's in countries where the Epic store isn't available (like China, for instance).
It's mind blowing any publisher/developer agrees radically reducing the exposure of their games on PC to a single barebone newbie shop. Epic must be paying them a real lot of money for that to make any business sense.
So because this happens on consoles, those of us who game on PC should just lay down and let the same thing happen?
No, it's garbage on console, and it's also garbage on PC.
They essentially let Epic pay them to make Division a UPLay exclusive.
I'd say it's worse on PC due to the fragmentation should this approach get more widespread. On console you at least have a set store. On PC you'll first have to actively research what store to use and install that to not miss a specific exclusive game.
People - and the media, too - have been annoyed by it in the past: https://kotaku.com/people-are-pissed-that-tomb-raider-is-an-xbox-exclusive-1620094498
The only point at which it's "acceptable", most people agree, is when the exclusivity deal is the only reason for a game being made at all. Nintendo and Bayonetta 2, for instance.
and these types of deal tend to be fully exclusive, not just paid to delay other versions.
These epic games aren't even fully exclusive (coming to consoles too) and are only timed on PC anyway.
If they were fully exclusive, they would likely have to fully fund the development, and yeah I'd be more accepting of that. That would basically be them being the publisher.
Of course they're paying. $2 million at least for one year exclusivity for Indies. Probably a lot more for bigger studios. They're promising payment regardless of units sold, it's why developers are fine with signing exclusivity. Chances are that epic will recoup their money by knowing/estimating what the minimum sale can be.
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/b0ne5t/how_much_does_epic_pay_for_oneyear_exclusivity_on/
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/b0ne5t/how_much_does_epic_pay_for_oneyear_exclusivity_on/
User Warned: Antagonistic Behavior, Drive-By Post
That community college class must have been tough.
I bet it's significantly more than that too
And I'm gonna hazard a guess that they've probably earmarked an insane amount of money (like hundreds of millions of dollars insane) towards these biddings for the store
Because PC gamers rightfully don't want these cancerous business practices to metastasise to PC.
I sure hope Keza isn't penning an article on how the EGS is great idea.
Judging by tim sweeneys first twitter reply, he completely misunderstood that guys question thinking he was supporting Epics moneyhatting tactic, and when the guy said he misunderstood him, he goes on full damage control by replying with some halfthought reply that is equivalent of we'll come back on that.
And to think these resources could've been used to make great games.
They shut down everything that isn't Fortnite to put into the Epic store.
User Warned: Thread Whining
Ahhh, wouldn't be a new day without the raging hatred for the Epic Store getting a new thread.
This was pretty obvious from the jump.
This was pretty obvious from the jump.
And it wouldn't be an EGS thread without snippy drive-by posts.
Why don't you explain the benefits of Epic paying to get games pulled from other stores?
Not really a drive by post. It's a post saying... yeah, what did people think was happening to make developers ONLY put their game out on the EGS?
Did you really have no idea until you read this thread?
The same benefit all exclusives to a single platform have...