News Epic Games Store

LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
3,235
7,906
113
Austria
EGS has poor marketing for anything they don't pay to get on the store. Discovery is really bad, so even exclusives get's quickly buried, it's really just bigger titles like Darkest Dungeon 2 and SIFU that get's a showoff on the store. Like, Solar Ash and JETT was a day or 2 on the front page, then got buried.
lol
seriously? after all that whining about games getting buried on steam, curation, all that bullshit... i mean it was obvious it would happen over time, but still. just lol 😅
 
  • This!
Reactions: Ge0force

DrShrapnel

Shuwatch!
Oct 14, 2021
183
421
63
My guess is that the deal with Epic wasn't actually permanent for contractual reasons, but it was communicated this way because the devs really liked Epic. They wrote a lengthy post about this on Steam:

"We believe in Epic. Epic is taking a step to fund indie games the same way that AAA is funded -- with deals worked out beforehand, but paying devs rather than suits. They've also publicly stated they're taking 12% of a game's revenue rather than the industry-standard store cut, which is almost triple that figure. Instead of flooding their store with anything, they're specifically curating good games, aiding to our visibility and to gamers' benefit (this also means we spend less time marketing, and more time just making the game). They've been clear with their roadmap, timely with their communication, and human about all our interactions. Overall, they're a company, and a group of people, that we want to work with -- for Airborne Kingdom, and hopefully in the longer term."
Is there a template that Epic made, for these studios to use?
“Curation” went right out the window, and as I recall Deep Silver pocketed the money for Metro Exodus’s exclusivity.
 

Arc

MetaMember
Sep 19, 2020
2,991
11,270
113
I can't believe not a single new person hasn't created an Epic account in the past 9 months. (Epic was probably touting old numbers and The Verge didn't bother to check).
 

CommodoreKong

Mercenary in the Badlands
Jun 15, 2019
759
2,141
93
I imagine the numbers include any accounts created for stuff like Epic Online Services.

If we were to see the number of accounts that actively was buying things from the store I'm sure it would be far smaller.
 

prudis

anime occult member
Sep 19, 2018
10,311
26,962
113
The Kingdom of Beer and Porn
twitter.com
hmmmm ... the steam user "Kid Danger" posted this:


edit:
Discord direct link for those who wanna check: Join the Airborne Kingdom Discord Server!

(it was our own prudis who interacted there with the dev, I just noticed.)
plot thickens :face-with-tears-of-joy:
apparently the steam user "Dee" noticed one other statement done few minutes before the one "Kid Danger" posted and compared them



kinda feel annoyed tha i , who actually asked there, only only noticed the 3rd short one
 

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,524
5,570
113
Toronto
I imagine the numbers include any accounts created for stuff like Epic Online Services.

If we were to see the number of accounts that actively was buying things from the store I'm sure it would be far smaller.
I'd like to see numbers for active account, ones for other usage (UE4/5), and how many have bought a game. 500 million is meaningless if it's mostly spam accounts and no one actually stays in the ecosystem with money.
 
  • This!
Reactions: Ge0force

crimsonheadGCN

MetaMember
Jan 20, 2019
3,034
8,247
113
41
Clifton, New Jersey
www.resetera.com

Arc

MetaMember
Sep 19, 2020
2,991
11,270
113

Q: What feedback have you gotten on the Epic Games Store version of “FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE,”
which you launched in December 2021? Also, why have you only offered it via the Epic Games Store?

A: We have seen a fair response. I cannot go into the specific reasons why we chose the Epic Games Store, but our decision
was the outcome of our comparative analysis of a variety of different factors.
I might be distorting reality to see what I want to see, but that wording makes me think FF7R didn't do that well on EGS and SE just wanted their fast payday.

The EGS version of "Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo" is using a photo of the Deluxe Edition's content with the Steam logo:


A bit funny.
The Europa Universalis IV page still mentions Steam Workshop.
 

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
5,338
12,320
113
I might be distorting reality to see what I want to see, but that wording makes me think FF7R didn't do that well on EGS and SE just wanted their fast payday.
I'm trying to parse this as unbiased as I can, but yeah, the best reading I can get out of this is the same one you got to.
"Fair response" makes it sound like it didn't sell well but they expected that. So they simply valued the exclusivity payment more than selling to actual customers.
 
Dec 5, 2018
1,751
4,331
113
but our decision was the outcome of our comparative analysis of a variety of different factors.
I've read that line like 10 times and It feels like they're trying to answer without saying anything... which would be part of the course for this kind of meetings.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman

Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
Sep 7, 2018
7,110
26,229
113

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
3,992
11,886
113
Pretty obvious they are happy to take cash upfront rather than immediate sales. I won’t call this risk mitigation because it’s clearly not going to sell badly on Steam.

Maybe they just feel this game can take another year to find its audience on PC, which kinda makes sense. The marketing at launch was already done on the PS4 version and I doubt its sequel will release before the first one releases on Steam. Might as well take a bag of cash and tie the Steam/Xbox release into the multiplatform announcement of the sequel.

I don’t like it, but it is what it is. And we can take solace that it’s another exclusive Epic probably ate shit on.
 

thekeats1999

MetaMember
Dec 10, 2018
1,452
4,237
113
I won’t call this risk mitigation because it’s clearly not going to sell badly on Steam.
I think it is still risk mitigation. Look at the 3 exclusivity deals.

Kingdom hearts had idiotic pricing.

The World ends With You Neo had little to no advertising and was sent out to die.

FF7R had not only idiotic pricing but a not too good port.

The exclusivity deals helped mitigate the backlash of the first and third plus helped offset the second.
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
3,992
11,886
113
I think it is still risk mitigation. Look at the 3 exclusivity deals.

Kingdom hearts had idiotic pricing.

The World ends With You Neo had little to no advertising and was sent out to die.

FF7R had not only idiotic pricing but a not too good port.

The exclusivity deals helped mitigate the backlash of the first and third plus helped offset the second.
Neo TWEWY was definitely risk mitigation.

KH’s pricing is probably caused by the exclusivity (why sell it at an acceptable price or do deals on it when that money just goes into Epic’s pockets?) and the slapdash FF7R port was probably caused by exclusivity too (why give a shit when you have 12 months to fix it with free QA from the hardcore fans that buy it day 0?).
 
  • Like
Reactions: thekeats1999

thekeats1999

MetaMember
Dec 10, 2018
1,452
4,237
113
Neo TWEWY was definitely risk mitigation.

KH’s pricing is probably caused by the exclusivity (why sell it at an acceptable price or do deals on it when that money just goes into Epic’s pockets?) and the slapdash FF7R port was probably caused by exclusivity too (why give a shit when you have 12 months to fix it with free QA from the hardcore fans that buy it day 0?).
That is true. Although we do know that they tried the same pricing for KH on the Xbox as well, but they had the gamepass money in that instance.

It will be interesting to see what we get for FF Origins. I am guessing it will be expensive and a shoddy port.
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
3,992
11,886
113
That is true. Although we do know that they tried the same pricing for KH on the Xbox as well, but they had the gamepass money in that instance.

It will be interesting to see what we get for FF Origins. I am guessing it will be expensive and a shoddy port.
FF Origins looks like a mediocre game that will sell bad. Probably a good move to get Epic to hold the can for that one.
 

Arc

MetaMember
Sep 19, 2020
2,991
11,270
113
The cloud versions on Switch currently have a 20% launch discount. That's probably as good as it'll get when it releases on Steam.
 
  • Like
Reactions: C-Dub

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
5,338
12,320
113
Any chance to see KH on steam with decent pricing after the exclusive ?
I'd hope so because I wanna play them, but honestly I don't think so.
They'll probably pull a Hitman, or at best give a small discount while leaving the nonsensical base prices as they are.
 

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
9,849
26,515
113
Imagine the feeling Epic have for not being able to even get Elden Ring on the store. I mean, they definetly attempted to get timed exclusivity for it, but it's not even being released there.

It's like Bandai (and others) are like "who cares, everyone is on Steam anyways".
 
  • Like
Reactions: C-Dub

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,524
5,570
113
Toronto
If the PC version of Elden Ring uses EAC, it might be the EOS version which means Epic will be there in spirit. :evilblob:
Not getting a cut/not getting to slap Elden Ring all over the place in PR is a loss for them evne with EOS trojan horsing its way in
 

CommodoreKong

Mercenary in the Badlands
Jun 15, 2019
759
2,141
93
Imagine the feeling Epic have for not being able to even get Elden Ring on the store. I mean, they definetly attempted to get timed exclusivity for it, but it's not even being released there.

It's like Bandai (and others) are like "who cares, everyone is on Steam anyways".
Yeah I imagine most games that duel Steam/EGS releases sell so few copies on EGS outside of sales when Tim subsidizes extra discounts it's not worth putting them on EGS.
 

TioChuck

More Yellow 🤷‍♂️
Dec 31, 2018
1,764
4,379
113
38
For a game only released on Steam and without crossplay, the use of EOS for matchmaking is pretty strange, does the "new" EAC mandates the use of EOS?
 

Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
4,131
14,358
113
Belgium
For a game only released on Steam and without crossplay, the use of EOS for matchmaking is pretty strange, does the "new" EAC mandates the use of EOS?
Not that we know. But releasing a game on EGS requires cross-play with Steam. EOS offers built-in cross-play, Steamworks doesn't. So yeah, I understand why devs are using it.
 
  • This!
Reactions: thekeats1999

LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
3,235
7,906
113
Austria


Apparently, the EGS works quite well on the Steam Deck...added as a non-Steam game from within Steam ;P
 

Arc

MetaMember
Sep 19, 2020
2,991
11,270
113

Sloclap mentioned China as the second largest market after NA and I assume most Chinese players are on PC so the EGS version probably sold well enough. My gut reaction is the split was between 70/30 to 60/40 console/PC.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: Ge0force

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
9,849
26,515
113

Sloclap mentioned China as the second largest market after NA and I assume most Chinese players are on PC so the EGS version probably sold well enough. My gut reaction is the split was between 70/30 to 60/40 console/PC.
I saw a lot of Chinese players playing the game on Playstation on Twitch on launch day, so no, I think a lot of Chinese players were using console.