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[lashman]

Still fully expecting Dying Light 2 to be their Early 2020 exclusive. EGS release date and trailer at the vgas

same ... they keep pushing wishlists just a bit too much in every single update and announcement on steam

If that happened I fully expect Death Stranding and FF7R. Maybe Kingdom Hearts too.

the only way DS doesn't happen is if Kojima doesn't want it to be egsclusive ... which honestly i doubt he cares all that much ... otherwise - 505 will ABSOLUTELY sell out yet again if given the chance, and you know Tim will want that one BAD

 

[Joe Spangle]

Still fully expecting Dying Light 2 to be their Early 2020 exclusive. EGS release date and trailer at the vgas

Yeah me too and its disappointing as i really liked the first one.

 

[Ge0force]

Still fully expecting Dying Light 2 to be their Early 2020 exclusive. EGS release date and trailer at the vgas

Yep, chances are huge this will happen.

Also more moneyhats of crowdfunded games incoming, including Once Upon a Coma (from the Pinstripe developer). All Steam beta keys were revoked last month, and the game is being delayed without giving a proper reason. What a relief I decided not to back this after all. Developers selling their backers to Epic when their game is already finished are scum and don't deserve my money.

 

[Arsene]

Yeah me too and its disappointing as i really liked the first one.

Yep. One of my favorites this gen so the sequel going EGS is really gonna hurt.

Oh well though, got lots of things to play in 2020. They’ll never be able to take my most anticipated title (Terraria Journeys End, its an update but idc still counting it) away and thats all that matters to me.

 

[Joe Spangle]

Yep. One of my favorites this gen so the sequel going EGS is really gonna hurt.

Oh well though, got lots of things to play in 2020. They’ll never be able to take my most anticipated title (Terraria Journeys End, its an update but idc still counting it) away and thats all that matters to me.

It is so easy to pass on these eggs games. Its annoying but there is so much else out there to play. I bought 6 games yesterday in the Steam sale for about £15. Add them along side my backlog and im like.....Metro who? Borderlands what? Control meh?

 

[C-Dub]

I'm not expecting FF7R to go EGS exclusive. Square Enix won't want to generate negativity around their game. At worst, it'll be on all platforms and keys you buy on GMG/Humble and such will unlock on EGS. I doubt they will go EGS exclusive because it's an own-goal they'd rather avoid - especially when they are dealing with a core passionate audience on PC who are happy to drop a game for the tiniest of things, because the alternative selection available is incredible. And let's be honest - most fans who want a FF7 remake will buy it on PS4 (I am). Holdouts for PC will want it on their terms, or not at all.

You could say the same for Death Stranding, but it's still a tricky one. Kojima is definitely in that circle, cavorting with the likes of Keighley who seemed to be on a mission for EGS to succeed at the last TGAs. It's very likely he's been introduced to the right people, and their choice of publisher is concerning. But then Kojima also likes his projects to be one of prestige, and Steam is the big platform on PC.

Plus Death Stranding - unless it turns out to be shit - is a guaranteed seller. Control is by Remedy, who have a reputation for making games that don't sell (probably because they get tied up in exclusivity bullshit all the time). Lo and behold, Control also sold badly as far as I'm aware. The studio just has no audience because they never fostered one after the success of Max Payne, choosing instead to sign exclusivity deals with publishers who didn't know what to do with their games. In terms of risk, 505 were funding development of Control and Epic offered them a significant return on that investment, to the point where they possibly broke even before the game even shipped.

Death Stranding is different because 505 are, at best, funding the PC port. Turning a profit isn't going to be as significantly difficult as Control, so they may not be as inclined to minimise risk, and just take the sales on Steam.

We should also remember that 505 released Indivisible and Bloodstained on Steam - both games were EGS Kickstarter bait (highly anticipated, successful Kickstarter - good to generate headlines) and neither of them went, so 505 at least have some scruples about what they do and don't sell off.

On the other hand, Sony-published first party games currently have form for going to EGS, so this could be a SIE thing to fuck with Steam, because Valve and PC gaming are clearly a threat to PlayStation hardware or they wouldn't have made PS4 Pro (players switching to PC mid-gen is actually cited as a primary reason for making it).

 

[Alexandros]

A few months ago we all expected PC Gamer's E3 show to be full of EGS moneyhats. I would recommend that no one assumes anything beforehand, let's see what happens first.

 

[C-Dub]

That E3 show was a nightmare for me, on account of being a big Shenmue fan waiting for the third instalment since the dying days of the Dreamcast.

I don't think it could've possibly been any worse. But I am trying to remain positive.

 

[MJunioR]

A few months ago we all expected PC Gamer's E3 show to be full of EGS moneyhats. I would recommend that no one assumes anything beforehand, let's see what happens first.

Yup, for me Dying Light 2 will launch on Steam day one and so will every 2020 PC release that hasn't been confirmed as an EGS exclusive. There's no need to suffer in advance.

 

[texhnolyze]

A few months ago we all expected PC Gamer's E3 show to be full of EGS moneyhats. I would recommend that no one assumes anything beforehand, let's see what happens first.

True.

It's almost like people are overestimating Epic's buying power.

 

[Alexandros]

True.

It's almost like people are overestimating Epic's buying power.

Epic may have vast cash reserves but that doesn't mean that they are willing to drain them without a care in the world. Their spending will be dictated by the effectiveness of their chosen strategy. If they see the numbers and it turns out that they spent a boatload of money without the expected results, they won't keep throwing good money after bad. I think that the most likely scenario is that they've set a budget for EGS spending over a specific time period and they'll evaluate their progress once either their money or time is up.

So there's no reason to worry before we see how things play out. A few months ago some of our our fellow users were almost getting depressed at the thought of Epic severely fragmenting the PC market for years and today PC gaming is the most unified it's been in almost a decade. I've said many times that I have complete faith in the PC gaming community and I am as confident as ever that Epic will lose.

 

[Ruvon]

I've said many times that I have complete faith in the PC gaming community and I am as confident as ever that Epic will lose.

I'm not that confident. I see people praising EGS out of nowhere just because.

People saying "EGS ? Never !" then buying BLands3 or suddenly finding EGS interface "nice and elegant".

And still many Steam-haters (these popped out last year, never heard them complaint about Steam before, but hey, if Tim said it...).

Not sure how many they are though. But PC Gamers can be total idiots too.

 

[Alexandros]

I'm not that confident. I see people praising EGS out of nowhere just because.

People saying "EGS ? Never !" then buying BLands3 or suddenly finding EGS interface "nice and elegant".

And still many Steam-haters (these popped out last year, never heard them complaint about Steam before, but hey, if Tim said it...).

Not sure how many they are though. But PC Gamers can be total idiots too.

I won't begrudge anyone for their choices when it comes to games. It's a hobby that is meant to make our lives more fun. If some people want to play a game that badly that they can't wait a few months, that's fine. With PC gaming becoming bigger every day it won't be as easy as it was in the past to rally everyone behind a cause. However, I firmly believe that the core PC community values the benefits and special features of the platform too much to let them go just because Epic suddenly realized that PC gaming is a profitable market. So far I'd say that the PC gaming community has done an excellent job at standing up to Epic.

 

[Stone Ocean]

The PC version of FF7R is like almost 2 years away, no use worrying about it when so much can change in that timeframe.

 

[beep boop]

When is Outer Wilds coming to Steam? That's the one game from there I want to play.

 

[kio]

A few months ago we all expected PC Gamer's E3 show to be full of EGS moneyhats. I would recommend that no one assumes anything beforehand, let's see what happens first.

This is true and ever since then EGS announcements have been mostly dormant but I still believe the VGAs are going to be the true test of what Epic intends to do. It mark the first year this nonsense started and Epic will most surely be forced to show whatever they intend to do during year 2 or if they have any plans at all.

 

[Ruvon]

I won't begrudge anyone for their choices when it comes to games. It's a hobby that is meant to make our lives more fun. If some people want to play a game that badly that they can't wait a few months, that's fine. With PC gaming becoming bigger every day it won't be as easy as it was in the past to rally everyone behind a cause. However, I firmly believe that the core PC community values the benefits and special features of the platform too much to let them go just because Epic suddenly realized that PC gaming is a profitable market. So far I'd say that the PC gaming community has done an excellent job at standing up to Epic.

I hope you're right

 

[Arsene]

When is Outer Wilds coming to Steam? That's the one game from there I want to play.

If Ashen is any indicator (367 days) it will release on or around June 1st 2020.

Annapurna games are all 12 month exclusive.

 

[lashman]

When is Outer Wilds coming to Steam? That's the one game from there I want to play.

May 29th

 

[Ge0force]

Annapurna games are all 12 month exclusive.

Yeah Annapurna is the biggest supporter of Epic's moneyhatting tactics. While I can't blame small indies for taking Epic's bags of money, publishers like Annapurna, Private Division and Deep Silver are on my blacklist completely.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

I wonder if the reason we haven't heard much from EGS is because they've moved from stealing exclusives to finding and funding them before they're announced anywhere else? Maybe their Indie devs have told them which projects are just starting up and they go quietly moneyhatting projects before they're announced?

It's been long enough now that i expect to start seeing some numbers surfacing soon. It's been odd to see games go into what i consider the EGS Black Hole never to be heard of again where i was expecting tons of bluff and bluster about how successful things have been.

 

[Wok]

they won't be able to make a dent in Steam's place on the market

To the contrary, I believe they already did. Before Epic bumped into the Steam market, it would have been unthinkable for me to purchase a game outside of the Steam ecosystem. At the end of 2018, I very reluctantly bought Thronebreaker on GOG, because i) I thought it would be exclusive to GOG, and ii) exclusive content in Gwent is unlocked with the GOG version (even to this day, only the GOG version unlocks this content). And here we are, a year later, the landscape has changed: I have played several games on PC Game Pass ; I have purchased Griftlands on EGS (which will unlock the Steam version for free in 2020) ; people are purchasing RDR2 on Rockstart launcher, etc. It is crazy.

 

[Arsene]

Yeah Annapurna is the biggest supporter of Epic's moneyhatting tactics. While I can't blame small indies for taking Epic's bags of money, publishers like Annapurna, Private Division and Deep Silver are on my blacklist completely.

I'm fine with Annapurna. Their parent company is borderline bankrupt so them taking exclusivity deals to stay afloat is fine with me. Doesn't help that most of their games are really short artsy titles.

Deep Silver can go get fucked though.

 

[Rosenkrantz]

Let's not start opening bottles of champagne before we won. Epic is a rich company and Sweeney is a stubborn bastard who won't admit his loss so easily. I fully expect a few hard punches from them before he will give up. A wounded beast is the most dangerous.

 

[Swenhir]

I'm starting to feel pretty confident that the wind has started to blow strongly against Exclusives. At least, in a moral sense. The Everspace 2 kickstarter feels like a strong indicator that there is both an understanding and acknowledgment in the dev community that, heaven forbids, PC gamers have a point.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

I'll say it again. I've never understood why people thought Devolver were 'cool'. They are your Wendy's tier - corporate Twitter account trying to act like a human.

They cuss a lot during E3 presentations and publish 90's edgy games like Genital Jousting.

Does anyone feel like the writing is on the wall at this point? While I don't want to rush to conclusions, it seems like EGS is all but done for as this point, at least judging by publisher's and developer's actions. High-profile announcements the likes of which we had 8-9 months ago are all but gone. Public personalities are done trying to pretend it's about the little guys and competition. Even the media is pretty dreadfully silent. The only deals still coming through are those that were likely closed at least half a year from now.

The last, pretty miserable swan song of EGS seems to be "multi-store future" as if they are playing up their legacy while quietly preparing to bury the store.

The writing was on the wall as soon as we found out things like:

-EGS actively poaching Kickstarter games, as some form users here have even experienced with Shenmue 3, severely crippling crowfunding as a trustworthy method to get indies afloat

- SNK all but confirming that they can sell more copies of Samurai Showdown V on PC than EGS can (still waiting on that game, btw)

- DARQ developer fundamentally disagreeing with EGS business practices and putting Tim on blast

- Low-profile indies not even getting a look by EGS due to low hype. Other indies underperform on EGS and are barely afloat due to the moneyhat, but have no future due to lack of sales and the visibility that EGS promised through exclusivity.

- Devolver and EA (maybe Ubisoft soon) in a very corporate fashion, withdrawing exclusives from EGS

- PR spins on sales of Metro: Exodus and Borderlands 3




What's left is seeing the performance of games after they leave EGS and appear on Steam. I cannot wait!

I have a copy of The Outer Worlds for Epic, but I would rather wait for it to hit Steam... and I don't have an EGS account. If you want it, let me know know either here or DM. It's great to be back with the fam.

You "have" a copy?

 

[gabbo]

To the contrary, I believe they already did. Before Epic bumped into the Steam market, it would have been unthinkable for me to purchase a game outside of the Steam ecosystem. At the end of 2018, I very reluctantly bought Thronebreaker on GOG, because i) I thought it would be exclusive to GOG, and ii) exclusive content in Gwent is unlocked with the GOG version (even to this day, only the GOG version unlocks this content). And here we are, a year later, the landscape has changed: I have played several games on PC Game Pass ; I have purchased Griftlands on EGS (which will unlock the Steam version for free in 2020) ; people are purchasing RDR2 on Rockstart launcher, etc. It is crazy.

I would say you're more an exception than the rule. If Epic's goal was to simply highlight that other stores exist and usable, they're late to the party. Gog, origin, uplay, etc have all had traffic and users for years, that you're just now using them is more indicative of your reliance on steam than of EGS doing anything.

If 'making a dent' meant taking a large number of users away from Steam completely, getting them to switch to other stores/Epic's own store outright with moneyhats and not features - their stated goal, then they have utterly failed.
If theyve had any impact it's been behind the scenes and still seems to have had little effect on Valve's market share

 

[Kyougar]

I would say you're more an exception than the rule. If Epic's goal was to simply highlight that other stores exist and usable, they're late to the party. Gog, origin, uplay, etc have all had traffic and users for years, that you're just now using them is more indicative of your reliance on steam than of EGS doing anything.

If 'making a dent' meant taking a large number of users away from Steam completely, getting them to switch to other stores/Epic's own store outright with moneyhats and not features - their stated goal, then they have utterly failed.
If theyve had any impact it's been behind the scenes and still seems to have had little effect on Valve's market share

Yup.
They didn't make a dent in the Steam concurrent user count, at all. You can argue that Steam should have had growth in the last year but we just came from a massive 2 million CCU growth in 4 months over a year ago because of PUBG and it is normalizing from that.

 

[FunnyJay]

As a Steam user since 2007, it has been interesting to see how some of the general feelings towards Steam has changed over the years...

Around 2010 or so, you heard a lot of cries about "Steam is DRM!!! Steam BAD!"

Fast-forward a few years (2015?) you started hearing "No Steam, no buy!"

And nowadays, you hear a bit "Steam is filled with crapware!"


It's just interesting to see how different these views are, and how they have changed over the decade. Of course, not everyone agrees with these views, but I think a lot of you can agree that you've seen these views expressed online...

 

[Alextended]

I've been on Steam since September 12 2003. Maybe seeing it as DRM/bad was excused when it half-worked and had like 2 games on it but it quickly changed. I've seen people saying No EGS no buy these days too, some are being funny and some aren't, that doesn't mean it's a prevalent opinion of any sort.

And you're missing a lot of stuff in that narrative.

Like how people were being down on evil Steam for not allowing indies in, they had to go through an approved publisher, because it was apparently a must to be on Steam to make money (regardless of so many games proving that wrong) which is what led to the likes of Greenlight and after all the complaints for that eventually to the current situation where you just pay a small fee to get in, leading to the same people that were against Steam being a closed platform to then bash them for being open/too many games and to praise EGS for being a lot like Steam's (but worse, far worse) pre-indie-demand era. Somehow.

Thankfully they appear capable of filtering through the feedback, trolls, reactionary bs and keeping the good stuff as they keep developing the platform since.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

I understand that Open Critic is a neutral party. Just wish that Valve would integrate it without a browser plugin.

 

[TioChuck]

Dull Epic Games Store Update Is Step in Right Direction

Epic Games pushed out a new development update for the Epic Games Store, and while a welcome improvement, still leaves a lot to be desired.

www.ccn.com

lol

 

[Cordelia]

I understand that Open Critic is a neutral party. Just wish that Valve would integrate it without a browser plugin.

Steam have one tho

____

 

[「Echo」]

It's nice EA is coming back to Steam, but the one I want is Ubi. They actually have singleplayer content I like. I dunno how long their contract with Epic is, but I hope they reach the same conclusion as EA tbh.

 

[NarohDethan]

It's nice EA is coming back to Steam, but the one I want is Ubi. They actually have singleplayer content I like. I dunno how long their contract with Epic is, but I hope they reach the same conclusion as EA tbh.

I'm convinced they will starting next gen. The first two years of console gens are always slow as fuck, they need something to make up that slowness.

 

[ISee]

Ubi lost 93.8% of their operating income because of the failures the division 2 and breakpoint were. Not just a failure on PC, but everywhere.
Going back to steam to reach every potential consumer might be nesacary for them in the future. Just like EA after their anthem and co. failures.

If you ask me, EGS might end up as a platform for narcissistic indy devs.

 

[lashman]

It's nice EA is coming back to Steam, but the one I want is Ubi. They actually have singleplayer content I like. I dunno how long their contract with Epic is, but I hope they reach the same conclusion as EA tbh.

i don't think it's a question of "how long" (other than 12 months for all the games that were already confirmed egsclusive) ... i'm pretty sure they're doing it on a game-to-game basis

and honestly - at this point, with all the games that are already available for pre-order on egs, i'm beginning to think most of those weren't even moneyhatted (stuff like Wash Doge, that BOTW ripoff etc.) ... i think ubi are just trying to railroad most of the "steam people" to udontplay ... so i'm thinking Tim only really paid them for The Division 2, Anno, and maybe Breakpoint ... everything else is just ubi being assholes

'cause, like, logically - if Tim can only afford 6 months for Blands, and 1 month for RDR2 ... then how the hell would he be able to afford like 5 or 6 huge-ass AAA games from ubi? doesn't really make much sense imho

 

[Arsene]

Nuclear Throne is one of the free games on EGS next week.

Rami Ismail shilling for Epic finally paid off for him

 

[lashman]

Nuclear Throne is one of the free games on EGS next week.

Rami Ismail shilling for Epic finally paid off for him

i thought the same thing when i saw the announcement, lol

 

[C-Dub]

congrats rami never say loyalty doesnt go unrewarded

 

[Swenhir]

That thing about OpenCritic is kind of pretty representative of EGS and the industry at wide : reviews, yes! By anyone other than these pesky consumers. Also, let's never develop a feature ourselves and instead use the work of others.

 

[C-Dub]

To be fair, Steam does use Metacritic and I'd rather they exchange that for Opencritic because I feel they're doing more interesting things with their site. Can't give Epic too much stick for putting external reviews on their client, but they definitely do need users reviews.

It'll be a cold day in hell when that happens.

 

[Cordelia]

This post highlight the problem of having only OC/MC and not having (entitled and toxic) user review.

 

[Kyougar]

To be fair, Steam does use Metacritic and I'd rather they exchange that for Opencritic because I feel they're doing more interesting things with their site. Can't give Epic too much stick for putting external reviews on their client, but they definitely do need users reviews.

It'll be a cold day in hell when that happens.

Tim said the user review section that will come eventually, will be opt-in because of Review Bombing.

OPT-IN
because of Review Bombing...

Is the time machine included in that deal? Or do devs already know they will be review bombed? "Yeah, lets not opt-in into user reviews, Frank said we will do something shitty that gets us review-bombed in the next month."

 

[C-Dub]

Tim said the user review section that will come eventually, will be opt-in because of Review Bombing.

OPT-IN
because of Review Bombing...

Is the time machine included in that deal? Or do devs already know they will be review bombed? "Yeah, lets not opt-in into user reviews, Frank said we will do something shitty that gets us review-bombed in the next month."

What it means, probably, is if a developer knows their game is shit they can just not allow user reviews. Or if they are review bombed they can just pull them.

So... what's the point of having user reviews in such instances?

 

[lashman]

So... what's the point of having user reviews in such instances?

none

 

[Phoenix RISING]

Steam have one tho

____

Steam does not have Open Critic, as you can see.

 

[Kyougar]

waiting for opencritic to independently write an essay on how a store cut influences reviews
somehow

 

[Phoenix RISING]

What it means, probably, is if a developer knows their game is shit they can just not allow user reviews. Or if they are review bombed they can just pull them.

So... what's the point of having user reviews in such instances?

It's more than that.

Ppl don't "review bomb" because a game sucks. The game just gets reviewed poorly from the jump. Removing criticism because you don't like what ppl have to say is far, far worse than review bombing. That's review tampering.

Review bombing is how gamers protest toxic/corporate dev decisions.

 

[madjoki]

Tim said the user review section that will come eventually, will be opt-in because of Review Bombing.

OPT-IN
because of Review Bombing...

Is the time machine included in that deal? Or do devs already know they will be review bombed? "Yeah, lets not opt-in into user reviews, Frank said we will do something shitty that gets us review-bombed in the next month."

If developer is not happy with reviews, he can choose to hide after enabling I suppose.