What I fear most with the EGS is a true PC monopoly. Everybody is calling Steam a monopoly, when in truth most of us just use it as a feature rich client. Let’s be truthful: many of us buy most of our games from other sources anyway. It’s hardly a monopoly because of this. We, of course, still get the steam benefits like family sharing, cloud saves, fast download rates, streaming and linux compatibility. I even feel a bit guilty because of this and buy a game from steam directly in occasions. Still, it’s an awesome deal for us and I do not want it to end, just because a certain Tim woke up with a dollar sign in his eyes.
Epic wants the PC market for itself. Digital sales from other sources are vanishing, games become third party exclusives, prices increase, and features vanishes. This is a coup, not just against Steam but against the freedom we’ve been enjoying so far.
We build our own PCs, set budget limits, we tinker with our systems, we decide what resolutions, framerates and settings we play at. We are free to customize every single part of our gaming experience. That’s the most important factor for me: I’m able to make a choice.
Some of us favor fast FPS, some of us favor the best bang for bug experience, some of us want the highest settings, some the highest resolutions. The wants and permutations seem to be endless, but they are all valid. We are free to set our own goals and fulfill our own needs. We aren’t bound to a single, pre manufactured box that mandates everything and fulfills the lowest, common goals. Even if those goals, aren’t important to some of us (like resolution > framerate).
We have the same kind of freedom when it comes to software. We can install it from any source, we can even choose our Operating System, to a degree at least (Microsoft has the true gaming monopoly imo). A company putting pressure on me and forcing me to use them makes me suspicious. I’m enjoying a free PC market since 1990 and now that is supposed to end? What are the benefits? Nothing?
You might think I’m selfish, but the 88/12 split doesn’t interest me as well. I’m not friends with publishers, companies or developers. I don’t feel like I owe them anything. They are releasing a product; I pay a very small part of their salary with my purchase. That’s how much I care for them and they don’t care about me at all. Nobody seems to feel obliged to people working in other sectors. Your smartphone was probably manufactured under terrible conditions as well, the people working at your local gas station are probably making minimum wage and have a hard life too and most of us do not buy the more expansive, fare trade coffee or chocolate. So, what is the big deal about the 88/12 split and let’s be honest here: it is just as a PR hoax in the first place. The extra profits will end up in those big share holder companies anyway. It is not something that will allow them to survive or employ more people, it’s just a way to maximize their profit. Growth and more profit is their number one goal and I don’t care about that at all.
In the end Epic is taking games and freedom of choice away from me. I can accept first party exclusivity, it is your investment, your risk and your property. Third party exclusivity is just a big lever made from money that is supposed to push me into a future I don’t want to have. No thank you, I see no benefits for me, the PC community or the people making my games. Just extra profit for big stock companies, shareholders and people that are already rich. Every game that goes third party EGS exclusive is an automated no buy for me. I don't want EGS to succeed, but it feels like riding against windmills.
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