The Epic Games Store as described by Sergey Galyonkin (SteamSpy Creator, Currently At Epic) (Update: Sergey Clarifying Points on Twitter)

[mutantmagnet]

Sergey, saying the same shit that's on the summary with different words does not mean the summary is "incorrect".

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Well he did bring up one bit of new information he shouldn't have.

He points out all AAA publishers already pay influencers so Epic's goal is to make it feasible for smaller companies to do the same in streamlined format.

We already suspected this but it was never something anyone could confirm. By various laws, whether you are a Youtuber or gaming press or Twitch streamer, you are supposed to disclose when they have been paid to promote a product.

 

[.exe]

When I was writing this up I was really hoping this wouldn't blow up too much beyond this forum and that Galyonkin and his podcast wouldn't get a spotlight cast on them, potentially preventing him openly talking about the store and such, as it is a really cool resource from what I've seen. I kinda think that if he didn't mention it people would've forgotten about it in a few days, a week or two maybe. Oh well.

 

[Deleted member 42]

I'd like to put all of the blame entirely onto daxy

I am safe and have done nothing wrong ever in my entire life

 

[Alek]

But you don't have to check all new releases? Why not limit it to games that are recommended by curators? If you're using a curated store instead, you're missing even more games...

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I'm not intentionally using a curated store, I play on PS4 and Switch because I like the platforms. It's not like there's an alternative.

Maybe I'd behave differently on an uncurated store. I'm not sure I would look at every new steam game in the days of steam greenlight.

 

[spineduke]

When I was writing this up I was really hoping this wouldn't blow up too much beyond this forum and that Galyonkin and his podcast wouldn't get a spotlight cast on them, potentially preventing him openly talking about the store and such, as it is a really cool resource from what I've seen. I kinda think that if he didn't mention it people would've forgotten about it in a few days, a week or two maybe. Oh well.

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not very cool of him to paint your OP as inaccurate, because he never mentioned discovery in his podcast. in fact, i dont think you got anything wrong, outside of your area of speculation.

 

[.exe]

I'd like to put all of the blame entirely onto daxy

I am safe and have done nothing wrong ever in my entire life

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That settles it. Sergey is right. Forums are trash.

 

[eonden]

not very cool of him to paint your OP as inaccurate, because he never mentioned discovery in his podcast. in fact, i dont think you got anything wrong, outside of your area of speculation.

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He also basically said the same thing as the main topic. The only difference was expanding on reviews (with the ticketing system for bugs) and more information on the streamers.

 

[Ge0force]

When I was writing this up I was really hoping this wouldn't blow up too much beyond this forum and that Galyonkin and his podcast wouldn't get a spotlight cast on them, potentially preventing him openly talking about the store and such, as it is a really cool resource from what I've seen. I kinda think that if he didn't mention it people would've forgotten about it in a few days, a week or two maybe. Oh well.

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Thanks for doing it anyway. Seems you didn't write any incorrect stuff after all.

Galyonkin works for Epic so his response will always be in the company's favor. But at least he's aware of our concerns now, so it's up to him to do something about it if he wants us to use EGS.

 

[.exe]

Well, I think that's the end of the twitter chain? I guess I'm in the clear after all.

 

[Deleted member 42]

Well, I think that's the end of the twitter chain? I guess I'm in the clear after all.

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Nah punk you said this, you're mine now

That settles it. Sergey is right. Forums are trash.

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[Xclash]

Well, I think that's the end of the twitter chain? I guess I'm in the clear after all.

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Yea that was rather disappointing. A mod should update the thread title again as nothing was clarified and a big waste of time.

 

[Deleted member 3208]

Thanks for doing it anyway. Seems you didn't write any incorrect stuff after all.

Galyonkin works for Epic so his response will always be in the company's favor. But at least he's aware of our concerns now, so it's up to him to do something about it if he wants us to use EGS.

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Only way they will convince me to use the EGS is to stop locking third party games on their store unless they fund them.

Well, I think that's the end of the twitter chain? I guess I'm in the clear after all.

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Two new posts.

 

[Strawberry Jam]

Reddit is awful for meaningful discussion because often anything that goes against the grain is shut down and made invisible. Totally pointless unless you're going to circlejerk. Too temperamental.

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Are you talking about Resetera?

 

[StereoVSN]

You unironically post this, on a heavily moderately forum and still claim that he was speaking true?

And no he was out right saying forums are ancient technology that we should abandon.

And embrace, what? One of the most investigated social media platforms for fake news, harassment and bot accounts.

Twitter.

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The cherry on top is that developers who migrated to Epic store are using their old Steam forums for support.

Basically he is full of shit. Forums are by far the best method to post fixes and mods and so on due to ability to sticky things, and unified point of access. Let's not even mention guides availability on Steam which is pretty awesome.

 

[Kyougar]

Absolutely. Like, I absolutely get the problems developers have with the Steam forums being a cesspool in dire need of moderation. But it's also one of the best places to go for if you have technical problems with a game, I can't count how many times I would have had to give up on playing a game had I not found a fix for an obscure problem on Steam's forums.

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You know that the developer is partially responsible for moderating their forums, right? If your Audience is a cesspool, then moderate them.

 

[.exe]

Two new posts.

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. . .

The anticipation is killing me.

 

[Madjoki]

How is Epic preventing this if you need to do deals outside Epic Store?
Maybe they'll demand upfront fee like until now and part of sales is just extra?

 

[famikon]

Yes Sergey, you probably do need to clear things up instead of hoping the entire western world suddenly understands Russian, of course people aren't going to 'actually listen' to it, they fucking can't ya goober.

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Yeah, he shared some thoughts on his own podcast, someone took his words, translated them and now we blame Sergey. Excellent :)

And what the hell is "western world". Why it's so important? PC gaming is everywhere. Asia in fact is already bigger than "entire western world ".

 

[ShinUltramanJ]

Reddit is awful for meaningful discussion because often anything that goes against the grain is shut down and made invisible. Totally pointless unless you're going to circlejerk. Too temperamental.

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I visit Reddit often, and it's the worst place for discussion. You're either with the majority or downvoted to the bottom.

 

[Ge0force]

Only way they will convince me to use the EGS is to stop locking third party games on their store unless they fund them.

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Same for me. Plus devs/publishers shouldn't be able to block user reviews. This is very important as well imo.

 

[Deleted member 1849]

Are you talking about Resetera?

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On Era, posts at least have a level playing field.

The upvote/downvote system on reddit just means that posts which go against the grain get thrown straight to the bottom and are never seen by most people reading the comments.

 

[.exe]

How is Epic preventing this if you need to do deals outside Epic Store?
Maybe they'll demand upfront fee like until now and part of sales is just extra?

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Okay, so that's one thing that he indeed clarified then -- this was not talked about clearly in the podcast though. One rate for all. That then raises questions about publishers/developers with bigger cash flow being able to garner more influencer interest in an influencer-driven discovery ecosystem. A race to the bottom is still not out of the question.

 

[Ge0force]

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Won't this lead to influencers advertising the games that the highest payout? The more I read about this, the worse it looks...

 

[Stone Ocean]

Won't this lead to influencers advertising the games that the highest payout? The more I read about this, the worse it looks...

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Big streamers will just cherry pick the games the games they promote, small streamers will have to just make peanuts.

 

[Hektor]

€: Nonsense, i think

 

[Yunyo]

Won't this lead to influencers advertising the games that the highest payout? The more I read about this, the worse it looks...

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It looks like Epic wants a piece of the influencer transaction pie.

The more we look at it, the more like the "lowered split" is being made up for in other unscrupulous ways...

 

[VerySerious]

Okay, so that's one thing that he indeed clarified then -- this was not talked about clearly in the podcast though. One rate for all. That then raises questions about publishers/developers with bigger cash flow being able to garner more influencer interest in an influencer-driven discovery ecosystem. A race to the bottom is still not out of the question.

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Won't this lead to influencers advertising the games that the highest payout? The more I read about this, the worse it looks...

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Looks like it won't be the only way to get your game promoted on EGS, thankfully:



It might not be the most effective way, but at least wooing influencers won't be the only way.

 

[.exe]

Looks like it won't be the only way to get your game promoted on EGS, thankfully:



It might not be the most effective way, but at least wooing influencers won't be the only way.

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Somewhat reassuring, but doesn't that just put them where Steam was circa 2015, including all issues people had with it then?

 

[BasilZero]

How is Epic preventing this if you need to do deals outside Epic Store?
Maybe they'll demand upfront fee like until now and part of sales is just extra?

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Can't wait to see a influx videos of fortnite, everyone knows fortnite needs all the attention

 

[Cantaim]

Man I love twitter I think it's one of the best places to get quick up to date information on the world. Now as for it being a place of discussion. I'm gonna need to see a better site. I've rarely seen any nuance or interesting discussion had on twitter as it's not a site built for that at all. Maybe reddit is better but I don't use that.

 

[DeejayDoom]

I can't stop laughing. He just listed everything Steam has been adding these past years.

 

[Armaros]

Looks like it won't be the only way to get your game promoted on EGS, thankfully:



It might not be the most effective way, but at least wooing influencers won't be the only way.

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So Steam.

7-10 years ago and they are painting it as 'new and upcoming'

 

[Delusibeta]

I am also going to call shenanigans on the Support-A-Creator scheme, as they're miss-selling an affiliate program (that's always about promoting the platform) as a way to highlight individual games, and making two important tweaks (making the affiliate fee come out of the developer's cut, rather than the platform's cut, and letting the developer set the affiliate rate) that will result in two outcomes:

A) the developer sets the rate to nil, because promoting the Epic Store is literally Epic's job, or

B) the developer sets the rate to something ridiculous like 75%, and then heavily promotes the game to smaller influences as a get-rich-quick-scheme.

 

[sredgrin]

And what the hell is "western world". Why it's so important? PC gaming is everywhere. Asia in fact is already bigger than "entire western world ".[/QUOT

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Yeah, it's not like he started the thread addressing a specific English speaking forum or anything you insufferable pedant. He started his thread whining that a bunch of Americans and EU folks (the vast majority audience for this website) didn't listen to his Russian language podcast.

Furthermore, he basically didn't even add anything the OP didn't already say!

 

[Digoman]

Well, I think that's the end of the twitter chain? I guess I'm in the clear after all.

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Okay... NOW you are in the clear :) . He added some details but I don't think there was nothing "incorrect" the OP. Sill paying influencers, reviews will still be opt-it and the rest are features that maybe they will add in the future.

And yes, it is basically every feature Steam already has, but giving more power to the developer and not the consumer. I mean...

"Eventually we plan on having categories, collections, developers pages, top-selling and trending games, most followed games, recommended by your friends (based on reviews) and so on."

That sounds waaaaay different of what Steam offers now....

 

[.exe]

Okay... NOW you are in the clear. He added some details but I don't think there was nothing "incorrect" the OP. Sill paying influencers, reviews will still be opt-it and the rest are features that maybe they will add in the future.

And yes, it is basically every feature Steam already has, but giving more power to the developer and not the consumer. I mean...

"Eventually we plan on having categories, collections, developers pages, top-selling and trending games, most followed games, recommended by your friends (based on reviews) and so on."

That sounds waaaaay different of what Steam offers now....

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[ShinUltramanJ]

We're also getting a ticket system. Good luck trying to get a response from the devs for older games if they are already working on newer ones. For older games, Steam forums are a blessing.

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Last night I decided to fire up Time Shift. I couldn't get the game to start.

One quick trip to the Steam discussion boards and I have my answer and solution in under a minute.

He's talking about outdated ways of doing things, yet under the Epic Store I would've been forced to open a ticket with the developer/publisher for an answer.

 

[BasilZero]

Looks like it won't be the only way to get your game promoted on EGS, thankfully:



It might not be the most effective way, but at least wooing influencers won't be the only way.

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Wait so there will be reviews?

Wow turning flipside as much as Microsoft with the Xbox one lmao

 

[Deleted member 27751]

I'm confused. He states that half of the Fortnite userbase has Steam installed. The last numbers were 200 million plus. How the heck is that not huge to some? That is potentially 100 million people, because he didn't really outline exactly what count was PC and I don't think they've ever really said clear numbers.

 

[Launchpad]

Last night I decided to fire up Time Shift. I couldn't get the game to start.

One quick trip to the Steam discussion boards and I have my answer and solution in under a minute.

He's talking about outdated ways of doing things, yet under the Epic Store I would've been forced to open a ticket with the developer/publisher for an answer.

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Pretty confident there's not going to be a lot of people on Yahoo answers asking about Time Shift too lol

 

[Carlius]

Alrighty then call me when all these features are put in. Until then it's steam only. If they do all they say here I will give it a chance, but you know, origin promised stuff and got stuck and now it's a complete and utter POS slow ass client. Uplay is fast but barebones. Gog doesn't even exist in this cause it whack. So egs, the ball is in your court. Call me when you have done all this.

 

[VerySerious]

Somewhat reassuring, but doesn't that just put them where Steam was circa 2015, including all issues people had with it then?

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So Steam.

7-10 years ago

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Pretty much. There's not much that'll differentiate EGS from Steam by the sounds of things, which isn't that exciting as a potential customer. Maybe that's why they've been funding so many exclusives.

 

[Kyougar]

Okay, so that's one thing that he indeed clarified then -- this was not talked about clearly in the podcast though. One rate for all. That then raises questions about publishers/developers with bigger cash flow being able to garner more influencer interest in an influencer-driven discovery ecosystem. A race to the bottom is still not out of the question.

Click to shrink...

Won't this lead to influencers advertising the games that the highest payout? The more I read about this, the worse it looks...

Click to shrink...

Big streamers will just cherry pick the games the games they promote, small streamers will have to just make peanuts.

Click to shrink...

I don't believe that there is a big enough variety streaming market to support this model.

The percentage of real variety gamers in the streaming space (like Cohhcarnage) is tiny.
The viewership who follow variety gamers is tiny (if the counterargument is, that there will be more variety streamers if they will get paid)
Good luck getting the big streamers to play your game with a percentage cut. They will lose more money in subs and donations then they would ever make through some hundred sales on your game. They could even lose their complete Audience if they overdo it. Some streamers are in a "Streamer-trap" they lose audience for nearly every other game they play if they got big on GameX and the audience is coming to their channel because of GameX.

https://sullygnome.com/channel/ninja/30
Ninja only gets 10 to 20% of his Audience when he is not streaming Fortnite.

Just looking at the biggest streamers: https://sullygnome.com/channels/30/watched 95% are nearly single-game streamers.

 

[Hektor]

So, what parts of the summary were incorrect now?

 

[.exe]

So, what parts of the summary were incorrect now?

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nada, nichevo, niks, nichs

He indeed elaborated on some points, but from what I gathered nothing was in outright conflict with what I said, nor did I incorrectly interpret the podcast. I'd edit it in for posterity but I'm at the 30,000 character limit. Perhaps a threadmark summarizing the main points that say something new.

 

[Lashley]

He's listed everything steam has had for a while lmao

 

[Armaros]

He's listed everything steam has had for a while lmao

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Steam's old and busted is Epic's new and shiny.

Don't mind the faded out Steam Label on the Features.

 

[ZKenir]

Pretty confident there's not going to be a lot of people on Yahoo answers asking about Time Shift too lol

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This is an underestimated issue, if the game in question isn't popular the chances of running into someone who had the same problem, fixed it and sees your thread replying with a potential fix are extremely low.
In my experience a place where all information is collected and shared among users is better than spreading said technical knowledge across multiple channels, some of which are volatile such as reddit, and this holds true not only for video games.

I can't wrap my head around how they think their proposal is any way better than a simple forum.

 

[Stone Ocean]

I don't believe that there is a big enough variety streaming market to support this model.

The percentage of real variety gamers in the streaming space (like Cohhcarnage) is tiny.
The viewership who follow variety gamers is tiny (if the counterargument is, that there will be more variety streamers if they will get paid)
Good luck getting the big streamers to play your game with a percentage cut. They will lose more money in subs and donations then they would ever make through some hundred sales on your game. They could even lose their complete Audience if they overdo it. Some streamers are in a "Streamer-trap" they lose audience for nearly every other game they play if they got big on GameX and the audience is coming to their channel because of GameX.

https://sullygnome.com/channel/ninja/30
Ninja only gets 10 to 20% of his Audience when he is not streaming Fortnite.

Just looking at the biggest streamers: https://sullygnome.com/channels/30/watched 95% are nearly single-game streamers.

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Yeah, being a successful variety streamer is extremely hard, and even then variety streamers have certain niches within the things that they stream that are more popular than the rest, like how Vinny is very well known for corruptions and Nintendo games while he streams basically everything and then some.

 

[.exe]

I'm glad he clarified some stuff, but calling the thread out like that and saying I was incorrect was not nice :(