The Outer Worlds, Control, Dauntless, SpellBreak, The Cycle, Ancestors & More Coming As Timed Exclusives To Epic Games Store; TOW also on MS Store

[Swenhir]

This is really irritating. I was actually looking forward to many of these games, especially The Outer Worlds, Control and Sinking City. Guess I'll play them next year.



I wouldn't be surprised if the Epic contract prohibits them from selling the game for less than the EGS price for at least a month.



30% is the standard cut for digital storefronts. It's the same cut that Google and Apple take. Valve has done (and is doing) more for PC gaming than any other company so the 30% cut seems pretty reasonable to me. They're certainly more deserving of that cut than the 12% that Epic is taking.

The only way for Valve to "wake up" is to counter-moneyhat. That's literally the only reason why pubs and devs are signing up for EGS timed exclusivity. It has nothing to do with revenue share, curation or discoverability. Epic offers money for exclusivity and pubs/devs take it. It's that simple. If Valve offered publishers and developers millions of dollars to keep their games on Steam, these games would still be on Steam.

The last thing we want is for companies to engage in a moneyhat war that ultimately hurts consumers and undermines the core values of PC gaming.

On a side note, it's odd/refreshing that Unknown Worlds hasn't made Subnautica: Below Zero an EGS exclusive. Surely the offer was made to them, especially considering that Subnautica was one of the first free games used to promote EGS. If that's the case, they deserve props for keeping their integrity and remaining loyal to their fan-base instead of a quick paycheck. I was going to wait until Below Zero left early access before picking it up but I think I'll just buy it now to support them.

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My thoughts exactly. Sometimes, this situation feels like every other company involved in the PC gaming space is trying to elbow out Steam for being an inconvenience to how they wish they could run things in the PC space. What happens if Steam is gone, if we don't have a market leader doing the right things and respecting the PC platform's openness?

I realize it sounds stupid but there's too much of a concerted effort in shutting them out, to the point where I wonder if it's even legal.

The double standard some people apply to the 70% cut is also slightly hypocritical. I'm with you if you want a higher percentage, but why aren't people taking Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft to task for taking that exact same cut? Where's the outrage here? It all feels disingenuous, especially in light of the fact you can sell keys directly and get all the moneys with Steam. None of those console manufacturer would ever dream of giving stores and developers that capability.

 

[Djavanes]

I really like the idea of developers earning more money share of their game. Will support.

 

[oni-link]

People advocating for privacy...

:(

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Yeah fuck these people

 

[Tovarisc]

I really like the idea of developers earning more money share of their game. Will support.

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I doubt e.g. Obsidian will ever see any of that frontloaded cash delivery and then from 12% cut.

2K skims that cream from the top.

 

[King Alamat]

Well then, I guess I'm getting it on the Windows store.

 

[Papacheeks]

I really like the idea of developers earning more money share of their game. Will support.

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There's a much better way to get this done than to money hat a developer with upfront money for exclusivity. It's one thing if it comes to Epic store, it's another to not allow third party purchasing of game codes from place like Greenmangaming when they will be activated on epic store.

 

[Shinjica]

that's a tough one to resist for Steam or bust folks I imagine though.

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No because im an adult who can survive if i dont play a videogame

 

[BernardoOne]

I really don't understand how people here can consecutively shit on the Epic Game Store but praise or even prefer the Windows Store.
Especially on talking points such as money, game exclusiveness, lack of features and spying on consumers.

This is Steam, Origin, Battle.net and Uplay all over again. The store is 3 MONTHS OLD and they already have a serious roadmap of improvements and proved they are listening to players way more than Steam did in its 15 years of existence. Yes, Epic is huge, they have money, they use metrics, but they seem to respect developers more than Valve ever did.

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they respect developers so much they are actively keeping out 99.999% of them and are constantly making deals with publishers without the devs knowing until it's officially revealed.
"Respect" my ass lmao

 

[z1ggy]

People advocating for privacy...

:(

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I guess you meant piracy

Cause and effect, same is happening with movies and such.

We had something most people agreed to do, because it worked for everyone involved. Now some are shitting on it because of blind greed

When we have a similar crash that happened in the 80s people will miss these days.

 

[Instro]

Is that the same Darwinia that was sold on Introversion's website prior to being available on Steam? And continued to be afterwards.

The same one has been on GOG, Humble, Desura, GamersGate and the Mac App Store?

Why are you citing obviously incorrect articles?

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I'm pretty sure Valve was doing a fair amount of exclusive deals in some form or another back then. IIRC Audiosurf wasn't available any elsewhere for a long while for example. Different time though of course.

 

[BossAttack]

Remember when you could just buy PC games at a retail store and then install it on your computer without any need for 3rd Party sites or anything?

 

[demondance]

The Outer Worlds is exactly the sort of game to tip the scales for me but I'm still not sure. I have so much to play anyway. I haven't even picked up Pillars of Eternity 2 yet because I didn't want a repeat of PoE1 being so barebones before updates, so... Eh. We'll see.

Remember when you could just buy PC games at a retail store and then install it on your computer without any need for 3rd Party sites or anything?

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Yeah, and while in the 90's it meant code wheels or whatever by the 00's you had the most out of line wild ass DRM. My annoyance with Epic stems from them investing in exclusives before investing in making their service good. I definitely don't want 2003-2011 type PC releases back.

 

[Reticon6]

The Outer Worlds - my chance to experience another Fallout: New Vegas. Looks like I have 1 year to clear up my other backlogged games and catch up on Netflix. Thanks Epic Games.

 

[red731]

Shame, but hey it saves me money.

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Basically.

 

[demosthenes]

The Outer Worlds - my chance to experience another Fallout: New Vegas. Looks like I have 1 year to clear up my other backlogged games and catch up on Netflix. Thanks Epic Games.

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They have specifically said to not think this has the scope of a fallout game. They think it will be a 30-40 hour game.

 

[Deleted member 2172]

sigh... fuck you epic

 

[Deleted member 6949]

Epic Game Store is dead to me until they cut the shit.

 

[elenarie]

I guess you meant piracy

Cause and effect, same is happening with movies and such.

We had something most people agreed to do, because it worked for everyone involved. Now some are shitting on it because of blind greed

When we have a similar crash that happened in the 80s people will miss these days.

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Fixed, dammit phone. :D

 

[Trace]

People advocating for piracy...

:(

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There's a lot of gamers showing their true colors in these threads.

Absolute scum.

 

[Nabs]

Remember when you could just buy PC games at a retail store and then install it on your computer without any need for 3rd Party sites or anything?

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I remember buying games, installing games, then having to go to sketchy 3rd party sites to download multiple patches just to get it up to date.

 

[nycgamer4ever]

This can only mean good things as i won't support this BS and it will save me money. Too many good games to play already. Thanks Epic.

 

[m_dorian]

People advocating for piracy...

:(

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Very few people, angered from the Epic bullshitness, wrote stupid things.

However we have, developers advocating for non-consumer friendly store practices thus showing their true face.

 

[fobbyBro]

I won't reward them for this shit. Not buying a single fucking game from EGS. I support other clients too, i'm not one of those "Steam only!" people but i don't like this so I will vote with my wallet.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

I am sure it has been answered but I am on mobile and it is a lot of scrolling....what does this mean for consoles, if anything? I want it on my Xbox

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Nothing, zero impact on consoles.

 

[Popstar]

.

 

[Teamocil]

Going to be funny when the numbers show that it sold well on EGS and Era's incredibly immature "guess I'll pirate it" and "saved me money" responses show that this bubble here has absolutely no impact on the real world.

Also, why don't mods crack down on this? Is launcher begging okay but port begging not? Seriously?

 

[Demacabre]

Very few people, angered from the Epic bullshitness, wrote stupid things.

However we have, developers advocating for non-consumer friendly store practices thus showing their true face.

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Yeah, I do not support piracy at all. Not even a moment. You want to boycott, by all means. You want to vocally complain on any platform, by all means. But don't play something without supporting it.

But the more and more this plays out, I am losing most compassion for the business end of many aspects of the industry. We are seeing the real faces and that this is a gold rush venture for many, many, many, many, many bad actors. I want to stress this next part. There is still many great, ethical, pro consumer, creative, and hardworking people and they should be celebrated as examples and financially supported..

 

[Deleted member 32374]

Going to be funny when the numbers show that it sold well on EGS and Era's incredibly immature "guess I'll pirate it" and "saved me money" responses show that this bubble here has absolutely no impact on the real world.

Also, why don't mods crack down on this? Is launcher begging okay but port begging not? Seriously?

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Is platform warring ok?

This isn't the same and I'm sure you know that.

You highlighting the nonsense responses that people have already been banned for and ignoring the reasoned and well thought out opposition spelled out in great detail in many threads on this topic speaks volumes.

Honestly, why such contempt?

 

[ramoisdead]

Also, why don't mods crack down on this? Is launcher begging okay but port begging not? Seriously?

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Nobody is "launcher begging" or whatever that means. Nobody is asking games to be ripped from EGS and then placed only on Steam. People want choices...for games to be on Steam and EGS. Saying that they won't buy the game or waiting a year isn't launcher begging...because people have the right to not buy a game or wait exactly a year like the publisher noted.

 

[Pryme]

Found this posted over on Facepunch.

I mean it really just feels like they're trying to leach away Steam's audience instead of trying to build their own audience and that's just what baffles me. People aren't going to have any loyalty to the EGS after making a purchase since it's so bare bones while also garnishing a lot of anger from the core gamers who are playing games every day.

I mean more power to them, but outside a portion of the Steam audience who will buy the game just because they want to play it, they aren't doing anything that will help them in the longrun.

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1. I don't really see what's the issue with that ad. Or with that strategy of targeting people who are interested in Steam. It's valid marketing.

2. You may well be overstating the proportion of people outraged about this. I understand and respect your position, but for many, this is just another launcher.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Going to be funny when the numbers show that it sold well on EGS and Era's incredibly immature "guess I'll pirate it" and "saved me money" responses show that this bubble here has absolutely no impact on the real world.

Also, why don't mods crack down on this? Is launcher begging okay but port begging not? Seriously?

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Launcher begging? Fuck right off with that wanna be backseat moderating. We had games that were already coming out on steam and got delayed 1 year. Saying youll wait a year to get it when the idea is they have 1 year exclusivity is not the same.

 

[z1ggy]

Going to be funny when the numbers show that it sold well on EGS and Era's incredibly immature "guess I'll pirate it" and "saved me money" responses show that this bubble here has absolutely no impact on the real world.

Also, why don't mods crack down on this? Is launcher begging okay but port begging not? Seriously?

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I wont give a fucking dollar to Tim Sweeny and i dont really care if it makes an impact or not. Its not about what everyone does, its what im doing with my wallet.

If i were inmature i would run straight to buy everything EGS is moneyhatting because of consumerism.

 

[Teamocil]

Nobody is "launcher begging" or whatever that means. Nobody is asking games to be ripped from EGS and then placed only on Steam. People want choices...for games to be on Steam and EGS. Saying that they won't buy the game or waiting a year isn't launcher begging...because people have the right to not buy a game or wait exactly a year like the publisher noted.

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But that's the thing— these "I'll buy it in a year" posts add absolutely nothing whatsoever to the discussion. It's the equivalent of the "no Switch no buy" posts we saw when that launched. It's immature and should be treated as such.

It's timed exclusivity, it's not like you won't have the opportunity to play the games at launch—you do. But parroting the same stupid statement over and over does nothing constructive and won't change a thing

Launcher begging? Fuck right off with that wanna be backseat moderating. We had games that were already coming out on steam and got delayed 1 year. Saying youll wait a year to get it when the idea is they have 1 year exclusivity is not the same.

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You DON'T have to wait a year to get it. You still get to play it on your PC. you're just buying it for a different launcher. What's the big deal? Seriously? What difference does it make to the game?

 

[Deleted member 32374]

But that's the thing— these "I'll buy it in a year" posts add absolutely nothing whatsoever to the discussion. It's the equivalent of the "no Switch no buy" posts we saw when that launched. It's immature and should be treated as such.

It's timed exclusivity, it's not like you won't have the opportunity to play the games at launch—you do. But parroting the same stupid statement over and over does nothing constructive and won't change a thing


You DON'T have to wait a year to get it. You still get to play it on your PC. you're just buying it for a different launcher. What's the big deal? Seriously? What difference does it make to the game?

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Yes but unlike the switch, its STILL COMING to steam, just later than anticipated. Begging is when there has been no news nor any discussed plans.

The "big deal" has been spelled out, in detail, across many posts.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Epic have another talk today don't they?

We expecting anymore bullshit from them?

 

[z1ggy]

But that's the thing— these "I'll buy it in a year" posts add absolutely nothing whatsoever to the discussion. It's the equivalent of the "no Switch no buy" posts we saw when that launched. It's immature and should be treated as such.

It's timed exclusivity, it's not like you won't have the opportunity to play the games at launch—you do. But parroting the same stupid statement over and over does nothing constructive and won't change a thing


You DON'T have to wait a year to get it. You still get to play it on your PC. you're just buying it for a different launcher. What's the big deal? Seriously? What difference does it make to the game?

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So besides your backseat moderating what are you constructive arguments to the discussion? I mean, theres more than calling people inmature right?

 

[BernardoOne]

But that's the thing— these "I'll buy it in a year" posts add absolutely nothing whatsoever to the discussion. It's the equivalent of the "no Switch no buy" posts we saw when that launched. It's immature and should be treated as such.

It's timed exclusivity, it's not like you won't have the opportunity to play the games at launch—you do. But parroting the same stupid statement over and over does nothing constructive and won't change a thing


You DON'T have to wait a year to get it. You still get to play it on your PC. you're just buying it for a different launcher. What's the big deal? Seriously? What difference does it make to the game?

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...you do realize that "i'll buy it this year" is exactly as irrelevant, right? There's ZERO value to the discussion being added by someone saying that. You'd have to be absolutelyinsane to think only people who want to pick it up in a year shouldnt be allowed to do so.

Seems your idea of "productive discussion" is just people yelling "IMMA BUY IT NOW" over and over. Pathetic, tbh.

 

[Kareha]

When we have a similar crash that happened in the 80s people will miss these days.

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Not all of us had a video game crash, it passed us by here in the UK.

 

[NCR Ranger]

I remember buying games, installing games, then having to go to sketchy 3rd party sites to download multiple patches just to get it up to date.

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That was the first thought that popped into my head as well. I don't miss those days one bit. "Okay I have the 1.1 to 1.13 patch, now I need the 1.13 to 1.2 patch, shit where is the 1.2 to 1.3 patch I can't find it on this site and 1.2 has an awful bug."

 

[Teamocil]

...you do realize that "i'll buy it this year" is exactly as irrelevant, right? There's ZERO value to the discussion being added by someone saying that. You'd have to be absolutelyinsane to think only people who want to pick it up in a year shouldnt be allowed to do so.

Seems your idea of "productive discussion" is just people yelling "IMMA BUY IT NOW" over and over. Pathetic, tbh.

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Where did I say this?

 

[clamj00ce]

There's a lot of gamers showing their true colors in these threads.

Absolute scum.

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And yet they are 10x better than you

 

[AHA-Lambda]

There's a lot of gamers showing their true colors in these threads.

Absolute scum.

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A lot? Don't be disingenuous

 

[Arsene no Kiseki]

But that's the thing— these "I'll buy it in a year" posts add absolutely nothing whatsoever to the discussion. It's the equivalent of the "no Switch no buy" posts we saw when that launched. It's immature and should be treated as such.

It's timed exclusivity, it's not like you won't have the opportunity to play the games at launch—you do. But parroting the same stupid statement over and over does nothing constructive and won't change a thing


You DON'T have to wait a year to get it. You still get to play it on your PC. you're just buying it for a different launcher. What's the big deal? Seriously? What difference does it make to the game?

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And your "Its just another launcher" post adds nothing but ignorance. People have valid reasons why they dont support Epic.

If you dont like people being upset with shitty business practices thats your problem.

 

[BernardoOne]

Where did I say this?

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You're literally saying people shouldn't be allowed to say they are going to wait out the exclusivity period...on a thread that is 100% about the exclusivity period.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

There's a lot of gamers showing their true colors in these threads.

Absolute scum.

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They've been moderated.

A handful of posters among those discussing this issue.

Not "a lot".

 

[Juj]

Can someone explain to me why it seems like there are some opposition to this? Exclusivity deals are bad for consumers in the short run yes, forcing them into services they might have not chosen if not for those deals, but more competition could also be very positive in the long run, steam has been running things for a long time on the digital gaming front.

 

[Deaf Spacker]

Epic are single handedly saving me money, thanks Epic!

 

[Arsene no Kiseki]

Can someone explain to me why it seems like there are some opposition to this? Exclusivity deals are bad for consumers in the short run yes, forcing them into services they might have not chosen if not for those deals, but more competition could also be very positive in the long run, steam has been running things for a long time on the digital gaming front.

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The problem is Epic is paying developers to delay their announced Steam releases to release exclusively on EGS, which is barebones and has none of the features people enjoy from Steam.

In my case a large chunk of the games on Epic are more expensive now than they would be if they didnt have an exclusivity deal as they don't support my currency while Steam does. So I have to pay more money and get none of the features I enjoy from steam

Games like Hades and the Quantic Dream Trilogy arent subject of outrage because they were ANNOUNCED as Epic exclusives. Not pulled from Steam after being advertised there for months.

 

[carlsojo]

Remember when you could just buy PC games at a retail store and then install it on your computer without any need for 3rd Party sites or anything?

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Yeah I remember those days especially games that had like a four+ disc install. And then troubleshooting! My dad and I would tear our hair out trying to (sometimes in vain) to get games to work that we bought.

Now it's just click, buy, download, run. So much more convenient.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

Yeah I remember those days especially games that had like a four+ disc install. And then troubleshooting! My dad and I would tear our hair out trying to (sometimes in vain) to get games to work that we bought.

Now it's just click, buy, download, run. So much more convenient.

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I still have a word document from 2008-2009 with 25 cd keys typed in by hand.

Dark ages.