News Epic Games Store

[Deleted member 113]

It feels like I'm in another dimension or something. I remember when indie devs/pubs used to be nice to their customers. If Epic's moneybag is that deep, just say so and go on with your business.

"I'm starting to think being a dipshit is part of the EGS exclusivity contracts."

I've been wondering this as well. At first I figured it was too ridiculous, but every single pub/dev has been acting like a piece of shit when confronted. I guess everyone has a price, I just wonder if we'll ever find out the truth one day.

If any of us in our daily jobs talked like that to customers, or potential customers, none of us would have a job.
Heck, even posting crap on social media can get you fired from your job, if it gives a bad image to your employer.

These arrogant pricks think "trash-talk" is good PR.
Only in this industry...

 

[xinek]

Sometimes I feel sad that games aren't respected as a unique experience and medium like they deserve. Then I see juvenile bullshit like this, and I remember that there's a reason normal people don't take the game industry or its customers seriously. Sigh.

 

[Nabs]

What the Golf won't support Linux for another year now that it's an Epic exclusive. Here's the response from the developer. Scroll down for even more fun: Epic Exclusive??? :: WHAT THE GOLF? General Discussions

What the Golf would have never made it onto Steam pre-2012.

 

[Chudah]

It feels like I'm in another dimension or something. I remember when indie devs/pubs used to be nice to their customers. If Epic's moneybag is that deep, just say so and go on with your business.

"I'm starting to think being a dipshit is part of the EGS exclusivity contracts."

I've been wondering this as well. At first I figured it was too ridiculous, but every single pub/dev has been acting like a piece of shit when confronted. I guess everyone has a price, I just wonder if we'll ever find out the truth one day.

I honestly think it has to do with what Sweeny and Epic tells these devs to get them to sign on. I'm sure they're talked up as being "chosen ones" and special, and that no matter what public perception is about Epic, this is for the good of their company and the industry and that signing on is practically a guarantee their project cannot fail. And so now you have these devs strutting around thinking they can do no wrong because big daddy Epic's got their back.

 

[Arsene]

What the Golf won't support Linux for another year now that it's an Epic exclusive. Here's the response from the developer. Scroll down for even more fun: Epic Exclusive??? :: WHAT THE GOLF? General Discussions

What the Golf would have never made it onto Steam pre-2012.

Afterparty did the same thing. Pro-consumer amirite?

 

[LEANIJA]

So, that Falcon game is going EGS exclusive too, as has been mentioned briefly. It's a VR game ... that will be able to use SteamVR. A bit absurd. Anyway, the dev seems oddly out of the loop why EGS isn't popular (they also switched off the Up/downvote-bar), and I tried to explain ... I wonder if it helps?


(my comments are under the handle "baustellenversion")

What bugs me personally is that I keep reading the same tired excuses. All they need to say is "we wanted to money" and that is way more acceptable than anything else they come up with. Especially that sassy attitude some devs have. The most annoying about it all is, however: I'm not even interested in most of these games. I'm annoyed by Epic because I absolutely hate the way they do business. Fucking capitalism at it's worst.

 

[Nabs]

Take notes from Double Fine

 

[lashman]

Take notes from Double Fine

gotta love Tim Schafer

 

[NarohDethan]

I see some shills on the Shenmue III community hub.

 

[lashman]

I see some shills on the Shenmue III community hub.

there always are some

 

[NarohDethan]

Someone should add 'Did you ever think that one day you would consider suing Yu Suzuki?'

 

[gabbo]

Take notes from Double Fine

He actually seems really upset about it for such a short clip, but tries to hide it with his usually self-deprecating humour.
Having some resignation/humility over taking Epic's money would go a long way. You're game devs, we won't mind if you have a public humanity

 

[NarohDethan]

“You have to just set aside your own pettiness“ -another bad take from some mildly famous video game content creators about the Shenmue situation

I didn’t expect any better, but it’s fun seeing the dumb hot takes from around the industry so I know who else to blacklist from my news roulette. If you can’t take this seriously, I’m not taking your dumb ass seriously anymore.

Name them!

Youtubers are also about consuming anyway. A lot of them would kick their own mothers in order to have free shit from companies.

 

[m_dorian]

"Easily paid Allies"?

 

[Ge0force]

Everyone else has cleared out.

Or has been banned from the comments section.

 

[Doctor Ironic]

Take notes from Double Fine

I’m extremely upset about the Double Fine news and think it’s the worst case scenario for the studio... but yes, at least Schafer didn’t bullshit anyone about what was going on.

Just admit it’s more profitable to take an exclusivity contract and be done with it. Don’t tell me you have a better chance to engage with the community on a platform with no forums, reviews, or comment sections. Don’t tell me they support developers better while you’re still using SteamVR. Don’t tell me you’ll get to a wider audience on a platform with less users that doesn’t support Linux and whose main demographic is literal children they sell content they stole from rappers to. Just admit that your last game sold like crap, you need the money, and I’ll still wait a year, but at least I’ll actually buy it when it’s on a platform that I can use cloud saves on.

 

[undu]

I'm starting to think being a dipshit is part of the EGS exclusivity contracts.
So, as expected, indie publisher Raw Fury has an EGS exclusive title.

Both published by Raw Fury :/

 

[Alexandros]

Just admit it’s more profitable to take an exclusivity contract and be done with it. Don’t tell me you have a better chance to engage with the community on a platform with no forums, reviews, or comment sections. Don’t tell me they support developers better while you’re still using SteamVR. Don’t tell me you’ll get to a wider audience on a platform with less users that doesn’t support Linux and whose main demographic is literal children they sell content they stole from rappers to. Just admit that your last game sold like crap, you need the money, and I’ll still wait a year, but at least I’ll actually buy it when it’s on a platform that I can use cloud saves on.

Developers aren't doing that because they have a vested interest in cultivating a fanboyish mentality among their audience. A customer that becomes a fan is much more likely to generate hype, give you lots of money and defend you if you mess things up. If they out themselves as businessmen driven by profit first and foremost, the illusion of any special relationship between developers and gamers is shattered.

It is a transparent attempt at the psychological manipulation of the audience. Notice how it is expected of the audience by everyone working in the games industry to care deeply for developers, publishers and "the good of the industry" while the industry itself has reserved the exclusive right to operate based on the axiom of "it's just business". The industry wants gamers to keep quiet and buy on instinct and emotion instead of rational thought.

 

[ISee]

"Easily paid Allies"?

They are console gamers for life. Their understanding, knowledge and willingness to inform themselves about PC gaming is zero.
Especially Kyle is barely acknowledging PC gaming, it's all about Pokémon, Nintendo and consoles for him. I remember him brushing off Total Warhammer 2 as a nuisance with something like: "there I named it, and I don't care about it." When talking about new game releases in his podcast. Prior to that people have been complaining that he never mentiones PC exclusives.
It's his podcast, so he can talk about whether he wants, but I stopped my patreon support at that day.

One could expect "journalists" to be more willing to interact and inform themselves with all aspects of their field. Expect them to read, to think, to try to understand the consumer position. But many of them are unable to leave their own, comfortable bubble.

it's a bit sad, because they seem to be nice people and I don't think they are paid off. Just stupidly repeating whatever they've read on kotaku and co.
which is bad enough, as said I stopped watching and supporting them long ago.

 

[Swenhir]

Both published by Raw Fury :/

That would suck, Sable in particular . TLN is interesting but at its core it seems to be a Hotline Miami/Samurai Zero kind of thing whereas Sable seems really unique both from a gameplay and artistic/rendering choices standpoint.

 

[Dandy]

I'm starting to think being a dipshit is part of the EGS exclusivity contracts.
So, as expected, indie publisher Raw Fury has an EGS exclusive title.

Here is how they are reacting to negative feedback:

If I responded to potential customers like this my employer would fire me.

 

[Alexandros]

If I responded to potential customers like this my employer would fire me.

Word

 

[Le Pertti]

It does seem fitting somehow that they would use a pic of an insane mass murderer to make a point of not listening to the concerns of their customers.XD

 

[Deleted member 113]

Word

I see what you did there.

 

[Eferis]

To act all high and mighty with the PC audience, who could have every single game for free and yet decides to spend an awful lot of money on your games (and pretty much made the indie scene a thing) you must be a special kind of idiot.

 

[Copons]

That's like precisely what I meant when I said that the indie scene grew up awkwardly unmanaged.
Too many people not used to interact with customers, who think they can get away with everything because they never had any responsibilities.

I wouldn't even say that I'd get fired if I went around trash talking people criticising WordPress, because if there was the risk of such unprofessionality I wouldn't have been hired in the first place.

 

[Ge0force]

Both published by Raw Fury :/

Sable is supposed to release in 2020?

Sable release date window confirmed: PC and console indie hit will launch in 2020

One of the most beautiful-looking games we've seen for a while is set to launch next year, courtesy of Raw Fury and Microsoft. Here's what you need to know.

www.dailystar.co.uk

 

[RionaaM]

I'm starting to think being a dipshit is part of the EGS exclusivity contracts.
So, as expected, indie publisher Raw Fury has an EGS exclusive title.

Here is how they are reacting to negative feedback:

Devs pls stahp, my Steam ignore list can only get so big.

It feels like I'm in another dimension or something. I remember when indie devs/pubs used to be nice to their customers. If Epic's moneybag is that deep, just say so and go on with your business.

"I'm starting to think being a dipshit is part of the EGS exclusivity contracts."

I've been wondering this as well. At first I figured it was too ridiculous, but every single pub/dev has been acting like a piece of shit when confronted. I guess everyone has a price, I just wonder if we'll ever find out the truth one day.

I remember lots of people being mad at Phil Fish for his abrasive responses towards idiots who had attacked him first and out of nowhere. We've come too far from that, because it seems nowadays being an asshole dev/publisher on twitter is considered funny and cool.

Please come back Phil, we didn't deserve you.

Name them!

Youtubers are also about consuming anyway. A lot of them would kick their own mothers in order to have free shit from companies.

Don't forget about the selling shit through referral links part. If they can get you to click a link and buy something, they get paid. So it's in their best interest to convince you to purchase more.

 

[ISee]

In my opinion those Devs react that way because deep down they know that they've taken dirty money and doing something questionable.
They of course don't want to admit it to themselves, because nobody wants to be the bad guy in his own story.
So, to protect themselves, they start making fun of criticism in the most passive, aggressive way possible.
This allows them to invalid other positions, to degrade the opposition and to climb on a pedestal of superiority.
All that, so they can hide the truth from themselves and still be their own heroes.
It's futile to talk to such people, they are unable to even reflect about a different pov or opinion.

The thing is, we all make selfish and "bad" decisions, sometimes even willingly. It's part of life and life isn't black or white. How we deal with it, is different though.
Would I take a million euros, legal bribe?
Sure that's hard to resist, but I'd understand the consequence that some people would ignore me for the rest of my life and would not make everything worse by attacking them just to protect my ego.

Of course, some devs are just cocaine breathing aholes, like our friend Randy.

 

[Chudah]

For some reason, I can't delete this. Anyhow, please disregard. Forgot what I was going to say in my commute anyway. :/

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

RionaaM Phil's already back isn't he? Hasn't he been working with that VR Tetris Tunnel type game for the last few years? Super-Octagon i think?

 

[RionaaM]

RionaaM Phil's already back isn't he? Hasn't he been working with that VR Tetris Tunnel type game for the last few years? Super-Octagon i think?

No idea. Don't have a VR headset*, so I don't follow the news.

*I have a Gear VR but my phone's screen is busted, so I can't use it anymore lest I go blind.

 

[Stone Ocean]

There's nothing more infuriating to me than people telling me I'm being petty over this.

These are toys.
These are motherfucking digital toys and I can't stress this enough without cussing like a goddamned sailor.

If you don't put a character I like in a game's roster and I don't buy it because of that, that's my choice. If you say something hateful on twitter and I don't buy your game due to that, that's my fucking choice. If you tell people who made your game possible in the first place to eat shit so you can have your bag of money from a slave-driving piece of shit company and I refuse to follow you, that ain't your business.

This is a business transaction for a entertainment product. If shit you do annoys me or makes said product shittier then I'll be as fucking petty as I fucking want. Fuck you, games industry, I'll do what I want.

 

[Chudah]

There's nothing more infuriating to me than people telling me I'm being petty over this.

These are toys.
These are motherfucking digital toys and I can't stress this enough without cussing like a goddamned sailor.

If you don't put a character I like in a game's roster and I don't buy it because of that, that's my choice. If you say something hateful on twitter and I don't buy your game due to that, that's my fucking choice. If you tell people who made your game possible in the first place to eat shit so you can have your bag of money from a slave-driving piece of shit company and I refuse to follow you, that ain't your business.

This is a business transaction for a entertainment product. If shit you do annoys me or makes said product shittier then I'll be as fucking petty as I fucking want. Fuck you, games industry, I'll do what I want.

It's not petty to expect a business to act like a business. Problem is, social media has changed the landscape of the business/client relationship, and it's not just in the gaming industry. I'm not saying all business do it, but a lot (including indies) take advantage of the fact that a chunk of their customers view them as friends, and this allows them to act in anti-consumer ways because their "friends" are usually quick to forgive and make excuses for them, even if it's to their own detriment.

 

[lashman]

but all of those crews have had consistently shitty takes on the EGS since it was released.

that's because pretty much none of them use PC as their main platform .... they barely acknowledge it as one ... you can even see that in GB quicklooks ... if they're not specifically playing something on PC, they usually even forget to mention the game has a PC version at all

EZA are pretty much console-exclusive ... always have been ... you can see that in their livestreams ... each time they have to play something on PC it's super-awkward for them to get it working (even if it's just clicking "play" on steam or whatever) ... they REALLY don't play anything on PC

so yeah - don't really expect deep insights from people who only use PC when they absolutely have no other choice

Developers aren't doing that because they have a vested interest in cultivating a fanboyish mentality among their audience. A customer that becomes a fan is much more likely to generate hype, give you lots of money and defend you if you mess things up. If they out themselves as businessmen driven by profit first and foremost, the illusion of any special relationship between developers and gamers is shattered.

It is a transparent attempt at the psychological manipulation of the audience. Notice how it is expected of the audience by everyone working in the games industry to care deeply for developers, publishers and "the good of the industry" while the industry itself has reserved the exclusive right to operate based on the axiom of "it's just business". The industry wants gamers to keep quiet and buy on instinct and emotion instead of rational thought.

this is absolutely 100% true .... there's even a very good video that talks exactly about that stuff ... and everyone should watch it!

They are console gamers for life. Their understanding, knowledge and willingness to inform themselves about PC gaming is zero.

pretty much this ... they mainly game on consoles ... PC isn't second or even third platform of choice ... it's more of a last choice really

that's also why pretty much all of those places completely ignore awesome indie games until they come to consoles

 

[Guilty of Being]

When you walk into a grocery store to pick up your groceries. You see open cups of water with your other items.

"Hello, I'm looking for the bottled water."

"Well, our water is in the cup now. It's water."

"But I am here to pick up the bottled water I ordered already. This is just an open cup of water."

"Stop being petty and take the water."

"Can I get a refund?"

"No. We already poured the water from the bottle and put it in a cup."

"WTF!?"

Journalist of Water enters with pockets fill of cash.

"Why is the cup of water such a big deal? It's just water."

 

[Chudah]

that's also why pretty much all of those places completely ignore awesome indie games until they come to consoles

Which is pretty funny, because it's the PC gamers that end up discovering and promoting those awesome indies, which results in them being ported to consoles. We're doing the heavy lifting of sifting through all of the garbage (and let's face it, there is a lot of garbage indie games out there), which ends up being for their benefit as well, but our interests are pretty much ignored or shat upon.

 

[Stone Ocean]

When you walk into a grocery store to pick up your groceries. You see open cups of water with your other items.

"Hello, I'm looking for the bottled water."

"Well, our water is in the cup now. It's water."

"But I am here to pick up the bottled water I ordered already. This is just an open cup of water."

"Stop being petty and take the water."

"Can I get a refund?"

"No. We already poured the water from the bottle and put it in a cup."

"WTF!?"

Journalist of Water enters with pockets fill of cash.

"Why is the cup of water such a big deal? It's just water."

This is probably the best analogy for this situation I've seen so far.

Here's your cup of water, carrying it home and storing it will be doable but a fucking pain in the ass but its still water so stop complaining!

 

[lashman]

Which is pretty funny, because it's the PC gamers that end up discovering and promoting those awesome indies, which results in them being ported to consoles. We're doing the heavy lifting of sifting through all of the garbage (and let's face it, there is a lot of garbage indie games out there), which ends up being for their benefit as well, but our interests are pretty much ignored or shat upon.

that's pretty much exactly it, yes

 

[Phoenix RISING]

I understand where you are coming from but I'd ask you to consider tempering this decision. We have so much to loose from kickstarter dying. Boycotting KS isn't the only way to make sure projects don't go to EGS. We have to find a solution that preserves this funding method because if it dies, then the dream of games that the industry would never fund dies with it.

I'm an "all or nothing" kind of guy.

Love what Kickstarter is doing for the industry, but I'm not supporting it with my own money.

Shenmue III (Mighty No 9 and others) makes my position valid.

 

[Guilty of Being]

This is probably the best analogy for this situation I've seen so far.

Here's your cup of water, carrying it home and storing it will be doable but a fucking pain in the ass but its still water so stop complaining!

(I'm a reading teacher. I deal in analogies. )

 

[JMTHEFOX]

Nothing to do with the store, but Epic bought an video group chat app called Houseparty

 

[Guilty of Being]

I'm an "all or nothing" kind of guy.

Love what Kickstarter is doing for the industry, but I'm not supporting it with my own money.

Shenmue III (Mighty No 9 and others) makes my position valid.

MN9 should have taught us all a lesson. However, Shenmue III teaches us a newer one about greed.

 

[ISee]

When you walk into a grocery store to pick up your groceries. You see open cups of water with your other items.

"Hello, I'm looking for the bottled water."

"Well, our water is in the cup now. It's water."

"But I am here to pick up the bottled water I ordered already. This is just an open cup of water."

"Stop being petty and take the water."

"Can I get a refund?"

"No. We already poured the water from the bottle and put it in a cup."

"WTF!?"

Journalist of Water enters with pockets fill of cash.

"Why is the cup of water such a big deal? It's just water."

The journalist needs to call you a toxic, egoistic troll and water hater, while fans licking his boots give him a thumbs up.

 

[Chudah]

The journalist needs to call you a toxic, egoistic troll and water hater, while fans licking his boots give him a thumbs up.

It's ridiculously scary to see the mob mentality play out like this in the videogame industry. These people don't even realize what they're playing right into.

Take notes from Double Fine

I respect Tim Schafer for being honest about it. That's more than I can say for 95% of the devs signing up with Epic. Would I buy their games from the Epic Game Store if they just flat out told the truth? Probably not. But I'd likely patronize them elsewhere if and when their games finally make the move. Truth is very important to me. And as it is now, anyone who tries spinning their bullshit PR about the EGS being good for me as a consumer is losing a customer for life.

 

[Deku]

Nothing to do with the store, but Epic bought an video group chat app called Houseparty

Do you mean House Party?

 

[Le Pertti]

I was relieved that double fine went Microsoft, because it would mean it won't go eggslusive. Seemed like a game that was in danger of that.

 

[Deleted member 113]

Love what Kickstarter is doing for the industry, but I'm not supporting it with my own money.

Well, in theory I loved it as well.

In theory, because after backing 100 campaigns or so, I can tell you most developers have used Kickstarter in a, quite frankly, dishonest way.

Starting with the asking amount. "We need "x" to make a game". No, they do not. They need far more than that. You can't do a game with $20.000,00, with a team of several people. What they usually do is use the campaigns in order to convince some "shadow" big partner to come and fund the rest of the production. Yes, you frequently have teams making deals that are conditional to raising "x" amount on a crowdfunding campaign, as proof of interest in the product. Most of the big campaigns (Bloodstained, Shenmue III, and many others) worked like that.

Then, those bits of exclusive in-game content, locked to ridiculously high asking prices. People complain about big publishers locking exclusive content to certain stores, to certain platforms, to pre-orders. Well, indie developers have been even worse with these practices, and on crowdfunding campaigns this reaches ridiculous levels.

And then, of course, there's the updates. Pretty much all mention how the campaign is a way to follow the progress of the games. The cheaper tiers even usually feature a "receive game updates" bit as a reward. Yeah, right. You get campaign updates during the campaign, but after it ends, backers end up being mostly forgotten. They keep posting updates on social media, or their websites, but backers are left out. You wouldn't believe the number of times I found out about release dates, and whatnot, through forums or twitter, and the developers didn't even bother updating backers about it.

And what about reward delivery? If I had to estimate, I would say in 90% of the cases, I received my copy of the game after it launched, while non-backers could simply go and buy the games, and play sooner than me. In a few cases, I had to wait 2 weeks or so, in order to get a game, when anyone could simply go on Steam, buy it, and play it. In some cases, these games had pre-order bonuses on Steam and similar stores, and even though I backed for a Steam key, I didn't get the pre-order rewards. It's ridiculous, but it's true. In most cases, those "get a copy at a discount over the final price" tiers are a complete joke. Many times, the game launches far below the price the game had on crowdfunding campaigns.
Then, there's the rewards that are never delivered (from in-game content, artbooks, soundtracks, and plenty more). I would say at least 50% of the campaigns, if not more (probably much more), never deliver most rewards.

Yeah, Phoenix Point was my breaking point. And, Shenmue III certainly didn't help.
Now, backing games on crowdfunding campaigns will be a rare exception. I'm done paying to support ingrate people, who then proceed to ignore me, and then either never deliver me the promised rewards, deliver them late, deliver them at far worse prices than launch prices, or simply decide to take Epic's money, and deny me a refund.

 

[NarohDethan]

The best thing I can say about this mess is that now Fortnite is truly the worst fucking thing ever

Lol, it was the Easy Allies, specifically Kyle Bosman (with the rest of the panel eagerly nodding in agreement) during their discussion about the E3 demo.

Again, I wouldn't expect much more from the team that literally become the iconic "reaction" to the Shenmue 3 announcement, but it was still funny to hear them take such a shitty stance. I want to expect more from guys like them and Giant Bomb (and even KFG), but all of those crews have had consistently shitty takes on the EGS since it was released.

Which is a bummer, because it's really putting a hamper on me having any good gaming shows to listen to now!

Ah, shame. Yeah, I like those guys but they love their consoles too much, which is fine but then they shouldnt give an opinion on topics they dont quite grasp.

 

[lazerfox]

That would suck, Sable in particular . TLN is interesting but at its core it seems to be a Hotline Miami/Samurai Zero kind of thing whereas Sable seems really unique both from a gameplay and artistic/rendering choices standpoint.

After those tweets I wouldn't be surprised if it was ending up as EGS exclusive.
Thankfully though MS already showed interest in Sable during last years E3 so there might be a chance at this being another co-exclusive and launch on Game Pass.

Sable is supposed to release in 2020?

Yeah they announced the delay just a few weeks ago.