News Epic Games Store

TioChuck

More Yellow 🤷‍♂️
Dec 31, 2018
1,719
4,300
113
37
I know that what Timmy said today will not change much of whats going on with EGS and stuff because people love their free games and shit, but I´m curious to know the position of pubs/devs who took the moneyhat about what he said and how the spin will go about.
 

Myradeer

Rayon de Soleil
Apr 17, 2019
320
498
63
I know that what Timmy said today will not change much of whats going on with EGS and stuff because people love their free games and shit, but I´m curious to know the position of pubs/devs who took the moneyhat about what he said and how the spin will go about.
Deafening silence. Although I wouldn't be surprised if some random schmuck took the bait and endorsed his statement.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ISee and m_dorian

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,506
5,542
113
Toronto
i'm waiting for the day Tim Sweeney goes full Brad Wardell and stops pretending he cares about trying to please people and just tries to shut down any criticism with empty libertarian arguments. Wardell had the Gamers Bill of Rights, Sweeney had his anti UWP tweets/blog/etc. Sweeney runs a sweatsop developer, Wardell a toxic-ly masculine studio. Wardell had Impulse., Sweeney has EGS. Jeez there's more to this than I thought. We're one terrible misogynist fantasy novel away from this reality. occuring at this rate.
 

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
8,306
113
Wasn't he about to give an interview on "TheQuartering" a while ago? But people on Twitter reminded him that it's a bad idea?
Or am I miss remembering something (again)?

Also, "TheQuartering" starting to agree with you means that it is time for some serious self reflection.
 
  • Like
Reactions: C-Dub and ShadowAUS

Álvaro de Campos

O nada que é tudo.
Mar 12, 2019
341
858
93
Being the devil's advocate that I am, I have to say that from a heartless pragmatic perspective he is indeed correct. Politics divides, therefore not engaging in politics maximizes the customer base; he was very specific when he said "we as companies", and expecting any compassion from a corporation is a fool's errand, even the ones on "your side" just want your capital.
That said, attempting to remain apolitical is in itself seen as a political position so the truly big brained man would've kept his mouth shut, but I assume he really felt the need to get his important message out.
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
3,992
11,886
113
This just sounds like Yager are trying to drum up publicity for their game. Don't blame 'em, but the lines they are taking are nonsense and/or stale Epic talking points.
 

Alexandros

Every game should be turn based
Nov 4, 2018
2,669
11,485
113
Being the devil's advocate that I am, I have to say that from a heartless pragmatic perspective he is indeed correct. Politics divides, therefore not engaging in politics maximizes the customer base; he was very specific when he said "we as companies", and expecting any compassion from a corporation is a fool's errand, even the ones on "your side" just want your capital.
Indeed. I see some posts on Era saying that Sweeney is an idiot. He's not. He just can't come right out and say "we want everyone's money so we don't want to take sides or stances". He's doing preemptive damage control to avoid finding himself in a worse position in the future. He is a scumbag but a clever scumbag.
 

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
8,306
113
I'm not sure if I agree with him being a clever scumbag.
A clever scumbag, wanting to maximize his profit across all political spectrums, would have kept his mouth closed. Instead hypocritical nonsense left his mouth, probably because he likes to be praised for his "visionary" stances when it comes to the gaming industry. Not the first time, but the first time it seems to backfire.
Especially interesting after he rushed in to declare that Fortnite players are free to express their political feelings during the Blitzchung Blizzard ban event. One could argue that Blizzard was also only trying to keep politics out of gaming, while Tim happily used the political outrage to create news for himself.
But today Tim doesn't want politics to be used by PR, unless it is useful.

So yes Tim is intelligent, but he is also to narcissistic to be put into the clever PR person category. This makes him in a way not clever, because his words and actions were never helpful in bringing people together. He was always very effective in splitting up and building a dedicated group of followers.
 

Flips

Overwhelmingly Positive
May 12, 2019
207
1,072
93
That was a pretty decent interview and it seems that Jonathan Lindsay has a good grip on the whole EGS thing.

  • "We saw [switching storefronts] as a great opportunity because there is a lot of competition on Steam and there’s just going to be less on a new platform that’s launching."
  • “I did not expect the reaction to be that strong, but I kind of, like… I get it. Part of me gets it. A lot of people playing games are playing games with friends and it’s annoying when you want to play this game when it’s on another platform and you want to play with your friends, but they’re all still on Steam or whatever."
  • "You can see it in the comments to our videos,” he says. “It’s never directed at us, it’s usually directed towards their idea of what Epic is as a company."
Not that I agree with their decision but that's how you go about it without making shit statements and arguments.

Speaking of stupid statements, I was wondering about the Ooblets devs' reaction to Timmy's politics in games statement. They were trying to be super woke and talked about Gamers™ and how toxic they are. Now their Savior and Messiah seems to be catering to that crowd. Oh well :drinking-blob:
 

Alexandros

Every game should be turn based
Nov 4, 2018
2,669
11,485
113
I'm not sure if I agree with him being a clever scumbag.
A clever scumbag, wanting to maximize his profit across all political spectrums, would have kept his mouth closed. Instead hypocritical nonsense left his mouth, probably because he likes to be praised for his "visionary" stances when it comes to the gaming industry. Not the first time, but the first time it seems to backfire.
Especially interesting after he rushed in to declare that Fortnite players are free to express their political feelings during the Blitzchung Blizzard ban event. One could argue that Blizzard was also only trying to keep politics out of gaming, while Tim happily used the political outrage to create news for himself.
But today Tim doesn't want politics to be used by PR, unless it is useful.

So yes Tim is intelligent, but he is also to narcissistic to be put into the clever PR person category. This makes him in a way not clever, because his words and actions were never helpful in bringing people together. He was always very effective in splitting up and building a dedicated group of followers.
That's a good point. I'd say it depends on whether he has some sort of plan in mind or he just can't help himself. Admittedly the latter would be much funnier.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ISee

prudis

anime occult member
Sep 19, 2018
10,229
26,760
113
The Kingdom of Beer and Porn
twitter.com
That was a pretty decent interview and it seems that Jonathan Lindsay has a good grip on the whole EGS thing.
not like the article is without random bullshit statements
A lot of people playing games are playing games with friends and it’s annoying when you want to play this game when it’s on another platform and you want to play with your friends, but they’re all still on Steam or whatever. But you see this with PC against Mac. Stuff like this is human nature, like with sports teams.
 

Rosenkrantz

Once Punched Man
Apr 22, 2019
1,020
2,306
113
Speaking of stupid statements, I was wondering about the Ooblets devs' reaction to Timmy's politics in games statement. They were trying to be super woke and talked about Gamers™ and how toxic they are. Now their Savior and Messiah seems to be catering to that crowd. Oh well
They won't disrespect Big Daddy. The man puts food on their table, he can offend them with his money as many times as he wants.
 
  • Like
Reactions: goat and ISee

Wok

Wok
Oct 30, 2018
4,923
13,188
113
France
Based on the few statements, I think Tim thinks that EGS should be more like Steam, where Valve takes no stance regarding content, than like Blizzard, which punished a player for supporting Hong Kong protests/riots (depending on your political side :einar: ). Creators can be political, platforms tend to avoid doing so, unless it is so harmful that governments start taking actions, e.g. with Facebook.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Alexandros

ShadowAUS

Swooping Is Bad
Feb 21, 2019
84
158
33
26
Rural NSW
"Politics in games" is a dog whistle for bigots. It's only ever complained about by people who want to erase LGBT+, women, and people of color from gaming.
Hear, Hear. Preach. It's always people with conservative politics complaining about things and politics they abhor, but they're always silent when right-leaning politics in gaming comes up. Their MO (and bigotry) is not exactly rocket science.
 
Last edited:

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
8,306
113
Based on the few statements, I think Tim thinks that EGS should be more like Steam, where Valve takes no stance regarding content, than like Blizzard, which punished a player for supporting Hong Kong protests/riots (depending on your political side :einar: ). Creators can be political, platforms tend to avoid doing so, unless it is so harmful that governments start taking actions, e.g. with Facebook.
Oh he definitely wants EGS to be like Steam ;)

The problem is that he isn't talking about game distribution here. He is talking about the industry in general. This includes development, publishing, distribution and financing.
The question for me is: why should a distribution platform or publisher that does not want to be entangled into politics pay for, publish and distribute a "to kill a mockingbird" equivalent game (I'm only using Tim's example) in the first place? Which brings up the question about creative freedom, games as an art medium and if not taking a side is just like taking a side in most cases.
 

Wok

Wok
Oct 30, 2018
4,923
13,188
113
France
The problem is that he isn't talking about game distribution here. He is talking about the industry in general. This includes development, publishing, distribution and financing.
I think he can only speak about his experience, so esports (Fortnite) and game distribution (Epic Games store).

This is the excerpt from the article by Dean Takahashi:



Given what happened in 2019, it is most likely a reference to Blizzard.

As for the "marketing departments" using politics to increase the number of sales, I don't know what he is referring to.
I don't know about Chickfila; could it be a reference to this?

Edit: It seems so. If I get it right, Chickfila used opposition to same-sex marriage to sell food.

 
Last edited:

Wok

Wok
Oct 30, 2018
4,923
13,188
113
France
He is definitively calling out Chickfila for their stupidity. America can be incredible at times: I cannot believe a head of one of the largest fast-food restaurant chains in the USA, with more than 2350 locations, decided to make such statements, and put the jobs of tens of thousands of people at risk. They also used to donate to groups opposed to same-sex marriage.

 
Last edited:

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
8,306
113
I think he can only speak about his experience, so esports (Fortnite) and game distribution (Epic Games store).

This is the excerpt from the article by Dean Takahashi:



Given what happened in 2019, it is most likely a reference to Blizzard.

As for the "marketing departments" using politics to increase the number of sales, I don't know what he is referring to.
I don't know about Chickfila; could it be a reference to this?

Edit: It seems so. If I get it right, Chickfila used opposition to same-sex marriage to sell food.

I think he should only speak about his own stuff, but he crosses so many topics and addresses nearly everything from costumer - cooperation relationship to unifying platforms to politics. It's quiet awesome.

About the chick-a thing. I don't know, I'm not from the u.s. and have not encountered that franchise on my visits over there but they seem to also finance camps (more like prisons) to teach people how not to be gay.
He is definitively calling out Chickfila for their stupidity
He is mainly calling them out for engaging in politics, because their goal is to make chicken sandwiches and not because they're scum. Also that's why 1000s of employees joined the company? I'm pretty sure it was for money though.

Point is: Intend and motivation are important factors in messages. "Let's not be like that chicken comp." because their stance is bad has a different meaning then " let's not be clike that chicken comp." because they take part in politics.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: m_dorian

Swenhir

Spaceships!
Apr 18, 2019
3,534
7,621
113
I see Sweeney succeeding at one thing beyond appearing morally bankrupt with his statements.

We're not talking about Exclusivity practices. We're talking about Gamergate and liberalism and all that crap. I'd rather we didn't pay attention to his throwing shit at the wall that distracts us from the one problem that matters with EGS : Exclusivity.
 

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
8,306
113
I see Sweeney succeeding at one thing beyond appearing morally bankrupt with his statements.

We're not talking about Exclusivity practices. We're talking about Gamergate and liberalism and all that crap. I'd rather we didn't pay attention to his throwing shit at the wall that distracts us from the one problem that matters with EGS : Exclusivity.
In a better world, those kind of statements would make developers and publishers overthink their decision to work with Tim. But... I'm not having high hopes tbh.
I think it will blow over.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
9,637
25,857
113
In terms of sales, we’re currently not able to track sales generated on the EpicGames Store, however we note that Shenmue III did claim a spot on the Top 20 Sellers list for several weeks. Additionally, Embracer will have received a fee for making the game exclusive to the Epic Games Store.

Wait, are they saying that Shenmue 3 sold so bad they didn't cross the treshold and therefore didn't receive any revenue per copy and that's why they didn't have sales numbers?
 
  • Like
Reactions: ISee

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
8,306
113
I don't know why they don't have sale numbers, but Shenmue 3 "has gathered approximately 50k players" on PlayStation 4. PC and therefore EGS numbers should be even lower (20-30k?). More interesting to me is that despite those very weak sales Shenmue 3 managed to enter the top 20 sale list for several weeks, which could mean place 11 or maybe just place 20. Anyway, sounds like you only need a couple thousand sales/week to enter the top 20 list on EGS.

Metro Exodus seems to be doing pretty well though,
 

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,506
5,542
113
Toronto
I get wanting greater visibility in a crowded market of battle royal shooters, but just because you launch on EGS where there are fewer games for sale and thus more store space for you stand out, doesn't mean you suddenly stop competing with those games that take up space on Steam. You're competing even harder now as people have to go out of their way, out of the big ecosystems to find you.
EGS doesn't exist in a bubble where the only competition is fortnite and the other 4 big games on the store, so this particular line of thinking doesn't make much sense to me

<tim on politics>
While I do dislike his general stance on labour and certainly his views on how to work the gaming market place, I don't necessarily think he's trying to dog whistle racists with his 'no politics in games' comments, since his other comments on politics tends to show how he feels on the matter.
Like i said above in my Brad Wardell is Tim 10 years ago comment, I'm sure Tim would love to just pile on to certain ideologies and use them to market his products, but he's smart enough not to do that thus alienating part of his audience. Counter-intuitively though, he's not smart enough not to point out the fact that he's not actively doing this publicly thus confusing both sides and muddying his own waters
 

Kyougar

No reviews, no Buy
Nov 2, 2018
3,127
11,244
113
I get wanting greater visibility in a crowded market of battle royal shooters, but just because you launch on EGS where there are fewer games for sale and thus more store space for you stand out, doesn't mean you suddenly stop competing with those games that take up space on Steam. You're competing even harder now as people have to go out of their way, out of the big ecosystems to find you.
EGS doesn't exist in a bubble where the only competition is fortnite and the other 4 big games on the store, so this particular line of thinking doesn't make much sense to me

<tim on politics>
While I do dislike his general stance on labour and certainly his views on how to work the gaming market place, I don't necessarily think he's trying to dog whistle racists with his 'no politics in games' comments, since his other comments on politics tends to show how he feels on the matter.
Like i said above in my Brad Wardell is Tim 10 years ago comment, I'm sure Tim would love to just pile on to certain ideologies and use them to market his products, but he's smart enough not to do that thus alienating part of his audience. Counter-intuitively though, he's not smart enough not to point out the fact that he's not actively doing this publicly thus confusing both sides and muddying his own waters
'Discosales.png'
If they launch their own store, they will even stand more out!
 

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
8,306
113