News Epic Games Store

[Deleted member 113]

as they board was created in part as a protest of EGS

Let me correct you a bit on that, Trisolarian: I believe the Epic Games Store was announced in December 2018. I'm a member of these forums since October 2018 (and they already existed for a few months).

Older members may correct me on this, but I believe these forums were created because people were getting a bit upset with the moderation of other bigger gaming forums (who are frequently very console-centric), so they created an alternative.

So, while most users in here do dislike the store and some of Epic's practices, EGS was not really a factor on the creation of these forums.

 

[Trisolarian]

Let me correct you a bit on that, Trisolarian: I believe the Epic Games Store was announced in December 2018. I'm a member of these forums since October 2018 (and they already existed for a few months).

Older members may correct me on this, but I believe these forums were created because people were getting a bit upset with the moderation of other bigger gaming forums (who are frequently very console-centric), so they created an alternative.

So, while most users in here do dislike the store and some of Epic's practices, EGS was not really a factor on the creation of these forums.

Ok. You're probably correct.

However, I was part of the 'old forums' during the time when the PC gaming community there splintered off due to the EGS situation. Many of them landed here and a strong STRONG anti EGS bent. (I was under a different name. I left the old boards after shitty dogpiling got personal AF, with one member even making comments like 'i feel bad for your gf' and other nastiness from users who would later become mods)

 

[Deleted member 113]

Ok. You're probably correct.

However, I was part of the 'old forums' during the time when the PC gaming community there splintered off due to the EGS situation. Many of them landed here and a strong STRONG anti EGS bent.

I'm sure some people came from the "old forums" because of the EGS announcement, but again I honestly think they came here because of how the moderation in there handled things, and not specifically because they all shared an anti-EGS sentiment.
I like to think these forums cover enough bases, and have enough different people, that we shouldn't be changing our name from Metacouncil to "ANTI-EGS SQUAD" any time soon.

Personally, I can assure you joining here wasn't because of the EGS (which wasn't a thing at the time).

Also, while I understand and respect your opinion about the store, and naturally I would never really attack a fellow user for using it (and there's plenty of users in the forums that also use the store, even if it's just for an exclusive or two), you have to understand that some people think otherwise about the store, for various reasons, and not necessarily a blind allegiance to Steam.

In my case, I refuse to use the store in any way. Why? Because I was a backer of several games, that I helped fund by pledging a decent amount of my money, only for Epic to come, make exclusivity deals with these developers, and then I'm told I'm not getting either Steam keys, or DRM-downloads as promised, because I must use a store that was essentially "forcing" me to use it.

If that didn't happen, by now I would probably have a library of a couple of hundred titles on EGS. And not only freebies.
I buy from Uplay. Origin. GOG (I have thousands of games there). Itch.io. You name it.
In fact, while I have a vast library of games on Steam (and I find it very convenient), most games I buy are from stores like Humble, GMG, 2Game, Indiegala, WinGameStore, Voidu, Fanatical, Gamesplanet, (...), which I then redeem on Steam.

But, after the crap Epic pulled, I will not use them.
That's me. If I feel disrespected by a company or store, I refuse to give them my money. Yeah, I'm grumpy like that.

 

[NarohDethan]

 

[ISee]

Really? Now its about my other thread?

No, it's about your poking that people are "defensive about PC gaming" because they value owning an inanimate object too much.
You are trying to take the moral high ground and to irrationalize people who "defend PC gaming" by portraying them as obsessed with their belonging.

You said:

I go where the games are and don't get so defensive about PC gaming. Part of this has to do with my day job, as my PC isn't one of my truly prized possessions

I responded in the most nonaggressive and uncomplicated way I could imagine: By showing you that talking about something =|= being irrational about it.
I used a topic you obviously like to talk about for that.

And now you are angry? And I honestly don't know why.

EGS isn't going to dominate anything, the fearmongering is out of control.

Good, that's because enough people didn't buy into their "for the greater good" narrative.
Controlling the PC market is, without a single doubt, the EGS goal.
Them not succeding is a win.

EPIC AND ME HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP. THEY OFFER THINGS FOR GREAT PRICES AND THAT WORKS FOR ME.

Good for you. Many people on here take their free games and some certainly even buy from them.
As said one thousand times: I don't care, you do you.

 

[Le Pertti]

Yeah this forum is not connected to anything that happened with EGS. Hell at the beginning even I was all "hell yeah lets go Epic". Since I was a huge fan of unreal engine and had been using their client for years. So of course I gladly grabbed all the free games and was cheerleading EGS. But then they started to pull their exclusivity shit, Timmys shitty takes on twitter and that made me stop using them but when they got caught with secretly mining data from users steam accounts through the client then I couldn't support them in any way and deleted my account with all the games, all the UDK assets and money I had on that account. They had shown that all they want is to control the market and not in any way be something good for the customer.

So yeah fuck them and I hope they crash and burn.

 

[xinek]

Yeah, I came here because of the atrocious moderation on the other site. It's awesome to have a community here with knowledgable and fun people who can actually have free conversations about PC gaming and also be as critical as necessary.

 

[Swenhir]

We are the product EVERYWHERE. I know many users are not from America but in America, we have essentially zero protections regarding internet privacy and the sale or our browsing habits (and far more) to advertisers.

Yes, but you don't have to be in Epic's case. Sorry, don't mean to be hostile to you, but there is a clear choice that people have when it comes to that store and exclusivity practices. Let's not pretend it's a thing they have no choice in like, say, using Google products or Windows.

 

[fspm]

Its not that people are talking about it, its the unwillingness to bend and total stance against even accepting free games. Especially in light of both EGS's apparent lack of success and the way our account information is sold everywhere online.

But if you create 10 000 accounts and add each free game to each and epic pays for each added game to each account you're basically robbing Timmy each time. Each.
Isn't it worth spending 300 hours a month for this noble cause.

 

[Deleted member 113]

Its one thing to not pay money, another to tell others to avoid a release of a game on EGS due to that fact it IS on EGS. I follow games, whatever store they're on. Is it really productive to tell people to wait for a game to go on sale elsewhere when responding to a post about a free game on EGS? Obviously it must be.

I can only answer for myself.

I'll tell you what I think: I'm all for games releasing on as many stores as possible. So, nothing against a EGS release (and I don't believe anyone is really against games releasing on the EGS, except when they are exclusive for a full year to the store).

Also, you mention people being "aggressive" about the EGS in the thread about the store (this one).
Well, you are right. But there's a reason: basically, this thread was created when people were upset about their exclusivity policies, and it was basically the thread to "vent" about the EGS, not really to properly discuss it. It really should have been renamed "let's all shit on the EGS", because that was really what this thread was for.

But, you're right on one thing: people shouldn't be as negative with each other about the EGS. And, they should be able to discuss it without people piling on them for using it.

Some people love the free games, and the nice prices. That's understandable, especially during this crazy year where people lost their jobs, or part of their salaries, because of the pandemic. And they should be able to talk about this without getting attacked.
Some people, like me, refuse to use the store no matter what (heck, I paid almost 40€ for the Samurai Shodown NEOGEO Collection at launch, instead of getting it as a freebie on the EGS, because I'm grumpy like that ), and no matter how incomprehensible that may seem to some people, others need to respect that as well, even if you don't agree with it.

2020 has been a really crappy year, and it affects everyone's mental health (even if by a small bit).
I hope these forums can be a source of information and entertainment, and not a place where people get upset with one another about which store they use.
While I dislike Epic, their polices, and again I refuse to use it, the discussion about EGS in here needs to turn a new leaf. Not out of respect about Epic (I still find them insanely crappy ), but out of respect for other fellow users.

 

[Arsene]

Is it really productive to tell people to wait for a game to go on sale elsewhere when responding to a post about a free game on EGS? Obviously it must be.

Damn dude @ me next time

 

[fantomena]

I came here because of the lack of moderation on PC gaming focused threads on ERA.

Got tired of the "looool Valve makes no games" and "nice, competition" in EGS threads.

These days Im glad I did because ERA and many other parts of the Internet is full of negativity and toxicity and it's just making me angry and I don't like being angry.

 

[Trisolarian]

Damn dude @ me next time

I mean, I kinda forgot you made that post. Plus, was really more of a community reaction thing, not an individual member thing. No hard feelings.

 

[inky]

It was about the same for me (moderation), but at the point of my ban it wasn't even primarily about PC threads.

There was one Star Wars thread where people were discussing the toxicity around The Last Jedi, and someone started posting tweets of people insulting Rian Johnson directly for "ruining Star Wars", and then someone posted several tweets of a very loud and obnoxious ERA poster called Yoshichan where he was directly insulting him on twitter. It wasn't like your typical: @Rian I hate you for ruining Star Wars either, it was straight up toxic posts calling him a fucking asshole and wishing for him to burn in hell, etc. Hardcore stuff.

Then I PM'd 2 devs (one admin) who I knew for a fact were friends with him, one of them didn't answer, the other replied "we'll look into it", and the next thing I knew was that one of them posted a message about not bringing outside stuff to the forum and they immediately closed the thread with no further action.

Then I remember posting this exactly in the PC thread: "__ continues to be a joke". When someone volunteered to fill in the gap to imply it was moderation, I said nothing. Apparently that constituted "a history of questioning moderation or being insulting, etc."

For me this had nothing to do with EGS or the games. I was invited to the forum several times before that ban as some people here can atest, but I was perfectly fine discussing the topic anywhere. I hope this isn't really random, but this isn't a "hate on EGS" forum, or a band of refugees who protect the one true gaming store, it was squarely about how admins and mods protected trolls at the old site.

 

[Arsene]

I mean, I kinda forgot you made that post. Plus, was really more of a community reaction thing, not an individual member thing. No hard feelings.

All good I was just joking. The comment was mostly directed towards anyone on the board that avoided EGS and because the halloween sale was right around the corner on Steam for anyone who might be interested in Costume Quest.

If anyone wants to claim and enjoy EGS giveaways they can go for it. Doesn’t matter to me. I’d be a bit hypocritcal for me to judge anyone using EGS considering my 600 fortnite hours

 

[ISee]

its the unwillingness to bend and total stance against even accepting free games.

You see if somebody asks me to do something, I'll go all in and try to help.
If somebody tries to put pressure on me, talks "trash" and tries to force me I'm likely to not play along, at least not feel good about it.
I had an epic account; I even took some games. The moment Metro Exodus vanished from steam it became clear to me that Epic prefers the whip instead of the carrot and I do not appreciate being whipped into submission. I do not think anybody really does.

I always said that Epic took the worst approach possible: Force instead of temptation. I've read that exclusivity is the only way to make people come to EGS.
I strongly disagree: All that was needed was a low(er) price of admission. An approach that could have worked with Epics war chest.
Instead of taking Metro, sell it for half price on your store alongside steam. Sell Control for the normal price but throw in the season pass for free from day one etc.
Expansive, but you'll build a large, loyal fan base.

Start with an explosion of temptation, and not by slamming a whip over people's heads.

Especially in light of both EGS's apparent lack of success and the way our account information is sold everywhere online.

While talking about bending or "changing". Isn't it interesting that Tim isn't changing his strategy and exclusivity is still his preferred approach, despite his "apparent" lack of success? Either exclusivity is working better than we know, or he is just as "unbending" and stubborn as the people boycotting his store.
I'd call that ironic.

For the Account part: I agree, it's a big problem. But it has nothing to do with owning or not owning an additional Epic Account.

 

[lashman]

I'm currently in the process of divesting myself of most of my possessions and although I've tried to deny it, its been difficult.

 

[prudis]

Its not that people are talking about it, its the unwillingness to bend and total stance against even accepting free games.

tbh after the years of bundles and similar deals i kinda reached the point where 99% of stuff gives for free is stuff i either already own or am not interested in ....

and ultimately i just dont see a point in another +1 in a place i already lost one account to russians, has worse than € prices (since they introduced local currency) , doesnt have features i use daily and am just lazy to setup Legendary (opensource launcher alternative)

 

[Stone Ocean]

Its not that people are talking about it, its the unwillingness to bend and total stance against even accepting free games.

I have too many games in my backlog to fuss about free shit I won't even play anytime soon and my experience with Epic accounts boils down to dozens of daily login attempts from someone in Russia so I don't want to deal with that anymore in any shape or form.

 

[Kyougar]

The thing about EGS is this: You have an absolutely great Punch. Better dev share, free games, etc. But then comes timmy and places the biggest turd imaginable into the bowl (exclusivity) and makes the whole thing undrinkable.
You can fish out the dev share, you can fish out the free games, and tell everyone how awesome that thing is, but the fact is, it was still in the turd Punch.

Translation: I would be all over EGS if they never did Exclusivity. But now, even the good things (free games for consumers, better share for devs) are stained because it strengthens the exclusivity "game".

 

[TheGreenArrow]

Throwback haha

 

[Ge0force]

I would be all over EGS if they never did Exclusivity. [UWSL]But now, even the good things (free games for consumers, better share for devs) are stained because it strengthens the exclusivity "game".[/UWSL]

This. Games should be sold in as many stores as possible, allowing these stores to compete by offering the best features, prices and policies. Moneyhatting 3rd party games goes straight against this, and against the open nature of pc gaming as well. I will not support this in any way, even if this means ignoring a bunch of free games.

 

[fantomena]

Epic reduced the size of Fortnite from 90 gb to 27 gb. One of the very few good things they have done for me.

 

[sk2k]

Epic reduced the size of Fortnite from 90 gb to 27 gb. One of the very few good things they have done for me.

Have they removed the shop from Fortnite?

 

[xxr]

Have they removed the shop from Fortnite?

Considering the difference in size, they might have removed Tim's ego.

 

[gabbo]

Epic reduced the size of Fortnite from 90 gb to 27 gb. One of the very few good things they have done for me.

How horribly unoptimized was teh game to begin with?

 

[lashman]

guess what got moneyhatted

 

[gabbo]

guess what got moneyhatted

Is it just the EA period? I'm all for devs beta testing their games at Epic's expense.
I don't even know what darkest dungeon is, so not a big splash for me, but sucks if it's a full deal for fans of the first

 

[Joe Spangle]

Ah boo. I liked Darkest Dungeon.

 

[Arc]

I hope my words don't come back to bite me.

They came back to bite me.

 

[C-Dub]

Is it just the EA period? I'm all for devs beta testing their games at Epic's expense.
I don't even know what darkest dungeon is, so not a big splash for me, but sucks if it's a full deal for fans of the first

Let's be honest, the game is going to be early access until the Epic deal is over, regardless of whether the game is technically finished before then or not.

Going to EGS for early access is part taking Epic's money and finishing the game, and part a branding exercise in justifying said exclusivity.

 

[Ge0force]

guess what got moneyhatted

That's too bad. It's not like the dev needed the money, the first game was extremely successful on Steam. Epic must still be paying lots of money for exclusivity.

This also proves my point that Epic is not planning to stop moneyhatting 3rd party games. Exclusivity is their long term goal, so they'll keep doing this for many years. I also expect the first batch of permanent exclusives coming in next year with their publishing label.

Trisolarian here's your reason why many pc gamers don't like Epic.

 

[Stone Ocean]

Oh no, Steam users will have to wait until the game is finished and polished and will likely have a discount while at it, the horror

 

[madjoki]

 

[Futaleufu]

Epic reduced the size of Fortnite from 90 gb to 27 gb. One of the very few good things they have done for me.

Its like that time when a Windows 10 update purged all the updates backups and saved me 30 GBs.

And yeah, EGS has lost a lot of traction in the last 6 months. Too bad Samurai Shodown is stuck there with no signs of ever coming to Steam.

 

[Rosenkrantz]

I think most of us moved past caring about EGS deals (it also happens that for whatever reason they're less aggressive this year).

I didn't even noticed how a lot of their games appeared on Steam in the last two months just to disappear into obscurity because they have to compete with great, brand new games and constant stream of relatively high profile releases and decent deals on other games.

Too bad for a decent stuff like Manifold Garden and Kine, but what are you gonna do? Your game is not a new kid on the block anymore.

I'm curious to see how well The Outer Worlds gonna perform given how you can play BG3 now and Cyberpunk 2077 pretty soon.

 

[bobnowhere]

Banned, banned forever.

 

[Alexandros]

I feel like the NeoGAF/Resetera format of official threads has conditioned people to expect nothing but positivity in them. In my mind a specialized thread on a specific topic includes every opinion on that topic. It seems reasonable to me that an Epic Games Store thread would be the proper place to post that EGS is good, bad and everything in between.

A truly legendary forum moment.

 

[Joe Spangle]

I support the indie devs, those ones that aren't getting big payouts from eggs and have to rough it in the world of real competition. I feel like any eggscluive game has already made enough money and so doesn't need mine so ill buy a different game. There are a lot to choose from.

 

[C-Dub]

Personally, I don't mind buying a former EGS exclusive, or the developer's next release, as shit's tough for many developers and Epic's deal can be too good to refuse.

It's fucked up that you can make more money not selling your game to people than you can actually selling it, but that's just capitalism for you. I worked for a big retail company before my current job and I know for a fact that, at least when I was there, the company would literally pay producers to destroy their food rather than let a rival store have it. It was honestly better for the producers, and cheaper for the company, to buy exclusivity on the food and then waste it rather than try to sell it in stores. And while that is tangible goods and I personally find food waste morally reprehensible (and why my position at the company became increasingly more untenable), I feel like it's still fucked up that a developer can make more profits from not selling games than they can by selling them. But that's what happens when a very rich company starts throwing its influence around - markets and market value gets distorted.

But regardless, as I have said many-a-time: for every Epic exclusive, there are plenty of great games available on other stores. If you want to promote more competition on the PC platform, buy a game on GOG - they have a really excellent selection these days.

 

[fantomena]

The top seller list is updated more often now and I can see it being total bullshit. Rocket League is on top, but it's free. so unless mtx is part of the top seller list it doesn't make sense, but Rogue Company is on second place and also free and I tried it the other day and I had difficulty finding a match. Snowrunner is on 3rd without any sale and Hades is on 5th without any sale and so on.

Simply plut, the top seller list doesn't make any sense.

 

[lashman]

The top seller list is updated more often now

it's really, REALLY not

Mor can confirm

 

[fantomena]

it's really, REALLY not

Mor can confirm

It is because I've seen it change more the past few weeks. Snowrunner was not on 3th place 3 days ago.

 

[Mor]

Hello, while it doesn't take 7 weeks to update anymore, it still updates at a random pace, right now is about 3 weeks but can take longer or shorter to update.

And yes, no data, no correlation with archived data, no sense in terms of consumption based on their kind of customers, if it's not hand-made, it's quite near that definition, some places doesn't make sense at all and I can say that because I have been checking and recording data weekly since first week of June so a bit of customer movement I know hahajust a bit.

 

[bobnowhere]

A truly legendary forum moment.

Anyone have a link to the original post/moment on Era? I feel the need to go back to it.

 

[Kyougar]

It is the bookstore top sellers method. Most physical book stores don't really have a transparent or factual top sellers list, only a place where they put paid advertisement (or overproduced stock) and label it as top sellers.

 

[Arc]

What I find odd is that if the top sellers list accounts for F2P games, then Fortnite should always be #1 considering it is several orders of magnitude more popular than any other game on the store.

 

[gabbo]

What I find odd is that if the top sellers list accounts for F2P games, then Fortnite should always be #1 considering it is several orders of magnitude more popular than any other game on the store.

Epic is using EGS to filter people to Fortnite on the down-low. I don't think it's ever stated as much, but they're clearly trying to get two markets to meet in their store- why have a fancy (...ahem...) store if you can't drive people to your own stuff.

People who don't know fortnite and come to it through EGS' exclusives and coupons; and on the other side of the coin, people who know fortnite and might want to drop $10 on a goose running amok because its what streamers are talking about during fortnite

For all the shit I give Epic, it's not a bad strategy on a macro level, it's the minutia of the strategy that I find distasteful. If they just had Fortnite as the #1 title constantly, it would't be a good look. Yes, even worse than all their current egg-on-face pr

 

[Deleted member 113]

If I may make a random suggestion, which I have been meaning to make: since this thread was mostly made and used to "bitch" about the EGS (I'm guilty of that as well ), as exclusives were announced, and since a few users already complained about the tone of this thread, when all they did was discuss other aspects of the EGS, how about someone creates a new community thread for the EGS (like there's one for GOG, Console gaming, ...), so that users who wish to post about new releases, the free games, and other day to day discussions, can post without having people reacting negatively, and have this one renamed, and used for all the bitching?

Naturally, users can also post on the Steam thread, where anything goes (even all my questions about smartphones).
But, this would potentially allow for another place to talk about the store, for users who currently use it, without any negative interactions.

 

[gabbo]

If I may make a random suggestion, which I have been meaning to make: since this thread was mostly made and used to "bitch" about the EGS (I'm guilty of that as well ), as exclusives were announced, and since a few users already complained about the tone of this thread, when all they did was discuss other aspects of the EGS, how about someone creates a new community thread for the EGS (like there's one for GOG, Console gaming, ...), so that users who wish to post about new releases, the free games, and other day to day discussions, can post without having people reacting negatively, and have this one renamed, and used for all the bitching?

Naturally, users can also post on the Steam thread, where anything goes (even all my questions about smartphones).
But, this would potentially allow for another place to talk about the store, for users who currently use it, without any negative interactions.

If we expect people to come in and take our bitching without complaint, I think the very least we can do is be adult enough to accept positive/neutral talk about the store here too without attacking other forum members. That thread title doesn't lean one way or another, neither should discussion.