Don't reward them. Just don't. Don't buy their game on Steam when it comes out. There's plenty of other games to play, and no doubt at some point in the future their game will be in a Humble Bundle or something where you can reduce their cut to $0.00, or at the very least know they're getting peanuts from the sale.
It's imperative that Epic does not get a stranglehold on the industry over this. When you think about how indie and AA gems are discovered on Steam, and how those games became huge on console 6-18 months later, what Epic is doing makes a lot more sense.
Imagine if Epic, the way they're acting now, had the influence that Steam does. Do you think they'd be good stewards of that? Fuck no!
If Epic had Valve's marketshare, and had a monopoly on new ideas that are allowed to flourish, first of all the market would stagnate and a ton of indies would never make it. Games like Undertale and Stardew Valley would probably die on the vine of "crappy games" before they'd even had a chance. And that's purely down to Epic being a shitty curator. Because most curators fucking suck in one way or another.
Secondly, imagine if they started wielding that influence to push other Epic products and services. Your game uses Unity? Well, off you fuck. Only Unreal Engine games are allowed on Epic Games Store. That may not be financially beneficial to Epic on PC, as they oh so kindly waive their cut on EGS, but when that game inevitably gets ported to console then suddenly the middleware fees kick in, and Epic starts skimming money off of indies on those platforms because they were practically forced to use a certain piece of middleware.
They can't do that right now because Steam would murder them in such a scenario, but if they begin to grind Valve down and EGS becomes a feeder platform into the larger industry, they surely will.
Basically, what Epic has identified is where popular AA and indie games across all platforms stem from. And right now that's predominantly Steam, and almost entirely the PC. If all those games were forced to use Epic middleware then that's a fuckton of cash for them from console sales, certainly enough to secure their future when Fortnite begins to wane.
It's imperative that Epic does not get a stranglehold on the industry over this. When you think about how indie and AA gems are discovered on Steam, and how those games became huge on console 6-18 months later, what Epic is doing makes a lot more sense.
Imagine if Epic, the way they're acting now, had the influence that Steam does. Do you think they'd be good stewards of that? Fuck no!
If Epic had Valve's marketshare, and had a monopoly on new ideas that are allowed to flourish, first of all the market would stagnate and a ton of indies would never make it. Games like Undertale and Stardew Valley would probably die on the vine of "crappy games" before they'd even had a chance. And that's purely down to Epic being a shitty curator. Because most curators fucking suck in one way or another.
Secondly, imagine if they started wielding that influence to push other Epic products and services. Your game uses Unity? Well, off you fuck. Only Unreal Engine games are allowed on Epic Games Store. That may not be financially beneficial to Epic on PC, as they oh so kindly waive their cut on EGS, but when that game inevitably gets ported to console then suddenly the middleware fees kick in, and Epic starts skimming money off of indies on those platforms because they were practically forced to use a certain piece of middleware.
They can't do that right now because Steam would murder them in such a scenario, but if they begin to grind Valve down and EGS becomes a feeder platform into the larger industry, they surely will.
Basically, what Epic has identified is where popular AA and indie games across all platforms stem from. And right now that's predominantly Steam, and almost entirely the PC. If all those games were forced to use Epic middleware then that's a fuckton of cash for them from console sales, certainly enough to secure their future when Fortnite begins to wane.
