Well, indeed they have some ways to go, but I think it's pretty absurd to expect a new storefront to match Steam's decade-plus of feature accumulation on launch. They are doing a fairly good job of responding to what people want and implementing new features in a timely manner.
Oh, so you agree the service got worse ? Because you told me "no the service didn't get worse ! you're being hyperbolic !" and now telling me "b-but these things takes time !"
By the way:
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/valve-announces-steam-cloud
2008. 2008 for Cloud Saves. How is that absurd to expect a new storefront to be UP TO PAR with features we're supposed to expect ? Would it have been okay if they had no friend list either ? "Because Steam took a decade to implement features !"
Not only you're moving goalposts here but you're bad at it.
But I'm afraid you're cherrypicking the areas where the prices increased (and that's unfortunate and they should remedy it) while handwaving away the areas where prices decreased (not only US, but other regions that don't have regional pricing for Steam) by using a game store that no longer exists running a promo (wonder why they went under) as evidence the prices have increased.
I took Europe and USA. The game store that no longer exist was still there when the preorders were up. And there was still alternatives with Green Man Gaming or Voidu. Heck, as a student, I get a 30% voucher with Voidu. The game would've been 42 euros for me. Not anymore. Yes, i'm cherry picking prices. Because guess what ? When you have the choice between 15 stores, you can cherry pick where you buy from. That means even in the worst case, in USA, the game was made 5 dollars more expensive back then.[/QUOTE]
I don't know why I post in these threads anymore. It's clear that there is a small but very vocal minority of PC gamers with a real hate boner for the Epic Store and they aren't amenable to argument on this. They keep saying Epic is this terrible service for consumers, but always handwave it when I point out that I quite like it as a consumer when I get great games for free or cheaper. Really happy to get Thimbleweed Park, though! Been wanting to play that one. Like most people, I'll carrying on using Epic (and Steam, and Origin, and whatever else) and not really be represented in these threads since we don't really care enough about it to spend time complaining on forums about it.
"they aren't amenable to argument on this"
I explained you it made the service worse and more expensive.
If you cant (and you cant) tell me how paying more for less is good, yes, you shouldn't bother. If you are only able to spout blanket statements then maybe you shouldn't bother indeed.
Not saying Epic are saints, nor am I saying they're devils. But it's hard to compete with literal industry giants like Valve with Steam, it's sheer impossible even. Steam is pretty much a synonym for PC gaming at this point. I can't even find a proper analogy for it compared to other industries. So how can you still get a foot in? Either working your ass off, work years on PR, build a minuscule tiny base and then grow slowly, offer something distinctive that others don't (like GOG with DRM-free games). Or skip all those steps and go straight to the industry's throat with money hatting if you have the resources. My only problem with Epic, aside from their very limited client but I'm confident it's a work in progress, is their shitty regional pricing. But other than that I'd say money hat all you want in the beginning, and grow, evolve, and mature from there.
If you can't compete, then it means you have no place in the market. Plain and simple. Why should we have sympathy for a big company if they bring nothing on the table for us to use their store ? Freebies are good, but they are freebies. It's not what you get for buying there. It's basically an advertisement.
