News Epic Games Store

Chudah

Just a chick who games
May 24, 2019
207
987
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Chicago
store.steampowered.com
It feels like we lost the war fellow toxic entitled Gamer™
We didn't lose the war. The day that games are released on the EGS as permanent exclusives with no end date is the day we lose. But I"m unsure if any developer is willing to take that risk. And even if that were to happen, there are hundreds of games releasing every month elsewhere. I'll just play something else instead.
 

Big_Al

Miserable old git
Jan 22, 2019
139
370
63
Yeah, everyone is talking about the few morons harassing these devs, ignoring the thousands of people raising their voice against this exclusivity deal in an acceptable way.

Twitter is full of Tweets where people having issues with exclusivity deals are being called toxic children, gamer gators and alt-rights.

Journalists are showing their supports for these poor devs. And the "it's just another store" meme is back in every comments section.

What happens now looks like perfectly planned PR from Epic to silence anyone criticizing their store and exclusivity deals.

What a sad, sad day this is for pc gaming. It seems the exclusivity deals are here to stay.
I mean it still depends if people buy the games on the EGS or not and apart from two success stories (Satisfactory and WWZ) we still don't know really how well games do on the store. At the end of day ol Tims warchest won't be filled forever to fund these deals and if folks don't flock to buy games from there in the future it doesn't make any difference what folks say, be it from the folks attacking the devs in their discord, to the gaming press, to ol Tim himself.
 

Kyougar

No reviews, no Buy
Nov 2, 2018
3,149
11,310
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We didn't lose the war. The day that games are released on the EGS as permanent exclusives with no end date is the day we lose. But I"m unsure if any developer is willing to take that risk. And even if that were to happen, there are hundreds of games releasing every month elsewhere. I'll just play something else instead.
I don't buy any games from EGS, ever, not on steam even after the 12 months, I would only reconsider this stance if the game is phenomenal and exactly to my niche taste. A game that I could waste hundreds of hours in.

But this isn't about my tastes or games backlog. It is about the future of the PC gaming market.
 

uraizen

Junior Member
Oct 7, 2018
698
1,178
93
no, he said the blog post was awesome
Oh, then I retract my statement, but he's still a douche and his entire PR department has to be beating their heads against the wall. I highly doubt this is the first dev it has happened to, it's just the first one that has publicly antagonized their audience(?) enough to say really stupid shit openly.
 

Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
4,005
13,878
113
Belgium
I don't think so. Tim's tweet was probably written by Epic's PR department, since it resulted in the Ooblets devs and Epic being the victims for the media and many people. And many of them will support Ooblets (and Epic) because of this.
 
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「Echo」

竜の魔女。
Nov 1, 2018
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Mt. Whatever
Well seeing how the Epic threads have gone for the last week or so over on a different forum, you can't say anything bad about them or their partners (even if it's a damn fact) without getting the hammer. ... so there really is nowhere else but here to talk about it.

It does feel a bit deflating. You can't say anything bad about Epic, so pretty much all the trolls and bullshitters we've been trying to push back against have won in a sense. They get to spread all the misinformation and smugposts they want... anyone who would speak up against EGS has their hands tied. :suicide-blob:

Personally, I will never support EGS. I still don't even have an account and never will. And I will always voice my displeasure at the exclusivity deals. Never once have I stooped to threats or direct/personal insults, so it's unfortunate that now the simple act of saying "I don't agree with thing" is enough to get you labeled as """"toxic.""""
 

lashman

Dead & Forgotten
Sep 5, 2018
30,573
86,032
113
I don't think so. Tim's tweet was probably written by Epic's PR department, since it resulted in the Ooblets devs and Epic being the victims for the media and many people. And many of them will support Ooblets (and Epic) because of this.
eh, i really don't think so .... let's not get into conspiracy theory territory here

it was just Tim being Tim

and all of that is a "happy coincidence" for epic at best

but still - fuck every single asshole who sent death threats and harassed the devs ... including Tim, who only made things THIS much worse with his stupid fucking tweet
 

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
9,677
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I feel personally offended by comparing the Epic exclusivity case to the abhorrent shitstain that is GamerGate.

And I rarely feel offended.

And seeing the Epic statement thread on ERA, I see many users there that I have never ever seen in a PC gaming related thread. Quite fascinating.

I don't think so. Tim's tweet was probably written by Epic's PR department, since it resulted in the Ooblets devs and Epic being the victims for the media and many people. And many of them will support Ooblets (and Epic) because of this.
Nah, Im very sure it was just Tim. He liked to nag people on Twitter.
 

kio

MetaMember
Apr 19, 2019
1,477
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Where's the condemnation from that company when they called every single PC player pirates and ran away to the consoles' greener pastures? How is that not being toxic? How does that favor an healthy environment and discourse?
You need to be a high-tier hypocrite bastards to come back years later in search of those same people hard earned cash, almost demanding it.

The longer this nonsense goes, the more steadfast I remain in my resolve of "This is a business transaction". I'm the customer, I hold the power. If you want me to buy something you must make it worth it for me, I'm not going after you. This is not entitlement, this is purely looking at it the same way you look at any other business interaction you have in your life.

And a little tangent but I feel it also belongs in this subject, fuck everyone shouting "Those poor devs", "We need to help them". Fuck off. They deserve the same help, respect and praise that a bus driver, a cook or a police officer does. It's a job, they produce a good/service and you pay based on how you feel about it. It's not a charity and it's idiotic to idolize these people. Treat them the same way they treat you and the same way they treat any other worker of any other profession.
 
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bobnowhere

Careful Icarus
Sep 20, 2018
1,672
4,296
113
Where is Metacouncil's Epic thread where you can only say how sorry you are and not discuss the bullshit-but-effective PR spin by Epic.

We entered thoughts and prayers mode a lot sooner than even I expected.
It does seem like everyone who was once critical of the EGS is now required to prostrate themselves in that thread to prove they weren't the ones sending death threats.

We're well past thoughts and prayers, we're now at the stage where the sins of a small minority now belong to the non-harassing majority who just happen to share an opinion. Every Epic thread will be the same now, accusations of toxicity will dominate and go unchecked unless you can prove you pass the purity test. Well done Tim, everyone saw it coming and I shouldn't be surprised the usual suspects fell for it hook, line and sinker.
 

Swenhir

Spaceships!
Apr 18, 2019
3,534
7,621
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Don't get hung up on this ooblet/epic farce. The fact remains that this tactic of guilt-tripping and falsely making a boogey-man out of the opposition isn't really fooling anyone that matters. None of these people are PC gamers or customers.

Besides, being an authoritarian never really wins people over. Nor is being a demagogue. This is all to avoid debating about EGS because they know that this is a clear-cut case of right and wrong. Sure, it's annoying and people are circling the wagons but if you'll look outside of echo chambers, none of this stuff is fooling anyone. People are rightfully pointing out that the devs really went out of their way to be the biggest assholes possible.
 

Wildebeet

First Stage Hero
Dec 5, 2018
798
1,883
93
Ooblets (and Goose Game) are kind of a big deal around my household. They're the kinds of games, I think, that my family would play stupid hours of time on because they're so close to our actual daily lives with gardens and geese and stuff.

I figured that was what happened when they said (I get Ooblets newsletters) that they'd moved from New Hampshire to Seattle. Not a cheap move. Also who the hell would leave beautiful NH for fucking armpit seattle? That's some questionable judgment right there... but anyway.

I don't know... I am willing to give the Epic store a try. I'm not opposed to Epic having a store and selling shit. I like more options. Personally, I like GOG more than Steam. I have zero problem with multiple launchers, despite the game press insisting that's all there is to it.

I'm kind of dismayed at this whole thing. I hate this negativity. Those devs had so much goodwill built up it was crazy. As a customer I resent this bullshit where Epic buys the devs game, then the dev assumes that means the customer comes along quietly, because who cares right? It's just another storefront to you, consumer. Just a launcher. Don't you know how to use a computer?

But Epic just doesn't have that kind of reliability at this point, or barely a real store yet. It's just exactly like the Google streaming thing, where we don't trust that they're going to be around in 2 or 5 or 10 years. Epic has been weird and not trustworthy, and yeah Steam/Valve were shit at first, but look how that turned out - that doesn't mean Epic will too. So instead of gaining trust and becoming competent, they just buy me by buying a creator I was interested in, because I'm just a consumer I guess.

And seriously, Tim Sweeney is just another moron who can't stop looking bad on Twitter. Also not helping the situation. At least Gabe Newell has the sense to not bother. Kinda looks like Ben Wasser needs to stop acting like his choice is spot on and everyone else is a crybaby, too, lest he become another twitter moron. Ooblets (and the unrelated Goose Game) used to be something fun to look forward to, and now they're kinda negative and strange.

So I get why people are negative about it. I don't get the making threats or fake statements - that's just fucked up weirdos on the internet who aren't helping at all. It's a super downer, from a customer perspective, that they decided to sell me out to a really crappy, untested, aggressively weird store with total asshole ownership and then act like that isn't going to be a thing for me. I'm just consumer cattle, after all.

Except I'm not. I've got other things to do.
 
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m_dorian

Ούτις
May 22, 2019
308
1,047
93
I do not like how things are going too but tomorrow is just another day. And i know that in the end anything that has real value will be recognized. I just hope this will come sooner than later though.
 
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Rosenkrantz

Once Punched Man
Apr 22, 2019
1,020
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No, they're banning people who are essentially saying that the Ooblets developers were "asking for it".
While they certainly didn't ask for what we are witnessing now, I wonder, what exactly did they expect after going into bear's lair in the winter?

Harassment and death threats aren't acceptable and it shouldn't have happened. But it doesn't magically whitewash devs' own shortcomings. I wish this false narrative would've been dropped because there's an overwhelming amount of undoctored evidence which proves that devs are far away from being a blameless party in this situation.
 

m_dorian

Ούτις
May 22, 2019
308
1,047
93
Harassment, death threats and stupid attacks against developers is one issue. A big one, a huge one but not the only one.
But we need to separate issues. The above mentioned harms our efforts of being listened to because not only is a condemning behaviour but also it is a convenient way to bag all the anti EGS crowd as toxic extremists.

I wonder what will need to happen for all the sensitive devs and media people to own their stupid actions too. Because, what happens now is totally unfair.
 

Knurek

OG old coot
Oct 16, 2018
2,451
6,035
113
I wonder what will need to happen for all the sensitive devs and media people to own their stupid actions too. Because, what happens now is totally unfair.
Nothing. Nothing that can happen will ever make someone in the gaming press reflect (and possibly change) on his stance.
Not your actions, nor mine, nor anyone's here, really.
 

Alexandros

Every game should be turn based
Nov 4, 2018
2,694
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I feel like nothing has really changed in the discourse surrounding EGS. The various branches of the industry (publishers, developers, journalists) were already overwhelmingly in favor of it because, well, money. The core part of their customer base is still overwhelmingly against it because moneyhats are a terrible idea for the PC platform. People changing their narrative from "it's just a launcher, grow up" to "people who don't like the EGS are all toxic, every single one of them" doesn't change the status quo in any significant way.

The outcome of this situation will not be determined by PR. It will be determined by the buying decisions of customers. What we should do on every platform we have access to is continue to inform people on the reasons we oppose Epic's practices in a firm but calm manner.

What will change is that you can expect a lot more ban baiting from now on. Discussions about EGS will be filled with people going straight for the toxicity angle as a response to any argument. My advice would be to ignore posts, tweets etc of that nature and stay on message.
 

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
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I'm kind of dismayed at this whole thing. I hate this negativity. Those devs had so much goodwill built up it was crazy. As a customer I resent this bullshit where Epic buys the devs game, then the dev assumes that means the customer comes along quietly, because who cares right? It's just another storefront to you, consumer. Just a launcher. Don't you know how to use a computer?
I'm disliking the EGS, a lot. I started boycotting them because I don't want third party exclusivity, but after all the acquisitions, name calling, provokations and general toxicity from Tim and his bribed dev echo chamber I'm done with Epic and everybody involved entirely.
But the truth is: Without third party exclusivity and the toxic behavior towards me I would have used the EGS, because I actually like the idea of indi devs getting a better cut. And I'm talking about true independent publishing devs, because I couldn't care less about TakeTwo, DeepSilver or other Publishers getting more money.
I'm using many launchers and gladly welcomed GOG 2 into my life to make it easier.


One day their bribing will stop and games will keep on coming out on all other launchers again.

Short time distribution vs long life crying. Force people, then insult them and then hope they'll come back willingly. Tim is a clever tactician.



And just for clarification, if small independent devs plan to go EGS exclusive without Tims money in the feature:

Sale Target: 800k
Price: 19.99€
People boycotting EGS: 18.32%
Steam Sales: 800k
Epic sales: 653.200

You are breaking even on EGS, the 88-12 split safes you.

20% of costumers ignoring EGS:
You're loosing: 235k€

25% of costumers ignoring EGS:
You're loosing: 940k€

30% of costumers ignoring EGS:
You're loosing: 1.643k€
 
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Alexandros

Every game should be turn based
Nov 4, 2018
2,694
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We live in the age of practically unlimited communication, there are so many ways to express your opinion these days that engaging in harrassment happens only because you either enjoy it or can't control yourself. Both of these are detrimental to the position you want to defend.
 

Le Pertti

0.01% Game dev
Oct 10, 2018
8,324
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Paris, France
lepertti.com
What all this has also done is that I've completely checked out of the games news media, unsubbed all gaming podcasts and I never really visited any websites. I will still watch stuff like that on YouTube but more about stuff that directly related game making and such.

It might sound drastic but it's more like I don't care anymore. Everything I got from it I can get in better ways from else where. Like for reviews I always went with steam reviews and gaming business stuff I have you guys!:D
 

Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
4,005
13,878
113
Belgium
but still - fuck every single asshole who sent death threats and harassed the devs ... including Tim, who only made things THIS much worse with his stupid fucking tweet
Yes of course. Epic buying exclusives is one thing. But people sending death threads to the devs involved is another level of BS. This is unacceptable and these people should be dealt with.

This EGS thing is making me uncomfortable, maybe it´s time to actually play games and forget about the internet 🤷‍♂️
I'm trying to do so as well. But it's damn sad that I can't read about my favorite hobby/passion anymore without getting disappointed or pissed off.

I'm not opposed to Epic having a store and selling shit. I like more options.
We all like more options. Sadly, Epic only seems interested in taking options away.
 

Kyougar

No reviews, no Buy
Nov 2, 2018
3,149
11,310
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Yesterday, I wrote to some Mods, proposing a temporary ban on all EGS threads so that the people could cool down and not banbait each other.
An hour later, the mods opened another thread which literary became a 2-week banbait heaven. (And I didn't get an answer, which is a Trend I am sadly seeing, why point out that you should contact mods regarding moderation questions, if they ignore you?)

There is a section in the faq that disallows Threads whose only purpose is to rile up the users or show how awful the world is. This is mostly used on the OT section.
What purpose does the thread about harassment have? Harassment is bad, that doesn't need to be stated, you are not a worse person if you don't state it in that thread. Especially if it is just a graveyard for both supporters and defenders. It riles up the userbase, makes the animosity bigger.
 

Eferis

MetaMember
Nov 12, 2018
1,343
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Maybe stop talking about Epic on websites you know aren't a good place for talking about Epic?

I understand you always have the best intentions and want to make other people see reason on the issue but that didn't work for the first six million times and it always turned into a shitfest, why should it be any different now?

Every time you're tempted to say something about Epic elsewhere, come here.
 

Swenhir

Spaceships!
Apr 18, 2019
3,534
7,621
113
I feel like nothing has really changed in the discourse surrounding EGS. The various branches of the industry (publishers, developers, journalists) were already overwhelmingly in favor of it because, well, money. The core part of their customer base is still overwhelmingly against it because moneyhats are a terrible idea for the PC platform. People changing their narrative from "it's just a launcher, grow up" to "people who don't like the EGS are all toxic, every single one of them" doesn't change the status quo in any significant way.

The outcome of this situation will not be determined by PR. It will be determined by the buying decisions of customers. What we should do on every platform we have access to is continue to inform people on the reasons we oppose Epic's practices in a firm but calm manner.

What will change is that you can expect a lot more ban baiting from now on. Discussions about EGS will be filled with people going straight for the toxicity angle as a response to any argument. My advice would be to ignore posts, tweets etc of that nature and stay on message.
Wise words. Ignore unrelated topics and personal attacks, focus on the arguments of what is wrong with EGS.

I don't want to be held accountable for hooligans on the sidelines that have nothing to do with me.
 

Oheao

Junior Member
Jun 29, 2019
67
135
33
While they certainly didn't ask for what we are witnessing now, I wonder, what exactly did they expect after going into bear's lair in the winter?

Harassment and death threats aren't acceptable and it shouldn't have happened. But it doesn't magically whitewash devs' own shortcomings. I wish this false narrative would've been dropped because there's an overwhelming amount of undoctored evidence which proves that devs are far away from being a blameless party in this situation.
As soon as they accepted the EGS deal they were at-risk of being targeted, they tried to pre-empt things with their statement, but obviously they were woefully unprepared for the response. However, I don't understand which "false narrative" you're talking about, as soon as you bring up the "devs' own shortcomings" it comes across as trying to justify what has happened to them. I'm sure they're already well-aware of what they could have done differently by now.
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
3,992
11,886
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I’m not down for blaming the developers for the harassment. Even if there’s a causal chain there, the reaction is outrageous.

Sadly the harassers have done more to undermine anti-EGS sentiment than they think.
 

Alexandros

Every game should be turn based
Nov 4, 2018
2,694
11,584
113
I’m not down for blaming the developers for the harassment. Even if there’s a causal chain there, the reaction is outrageous.
I think the following statements are true simultaneously:

  • The way the developer chose to announce EGS exclusivity was ill advised. Extremely so.
  • The way some reacted to it is completely and utterly unacceptable.

Maybe stop talking about Epic on websites you know aren't a good place for talking about Epic?

I understand you always have the best intentions and want to make other people see reason on the issue but that didn't work for the first six million times and it always turned into a shitfest, why should it be any different now?

Every time you're tempted to say something about Epic elsewhere, come here.
I object to that because I believe that removing ourselves from that discussion will leave the field wide open for trolls and biased posters to completely take over the narrative on EGS. For example, removing the anti-EGS side from a discussion on a developer's EGS exclusivity will be comprised exclusively by people congratulating the developers on 'getting that dollar', or whatever the kids say these days.
 

kio

MetaMember
Apr 19, 2019
1,477
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As soon as they accepted the EGS deal they were at-risk of being targeted, they tried to pre-empt things with their statement, but obviously they were woefully unprepared for the response. However, I don't understand which "false narrative" you're talking about, as soon as you bring up the "devs' own shortcomings" it comes across as trying to justify what has happened to them. I'm sure they're already well-aware of what they could have done differently by now.
They aren't the first ones to take the Epic deal and sadly they won't be the last but this is the game that's causing the biggest uproar from the community. Why exactly is this happening? What's the difference? Does the collective audience care more about this game than Shenmue or Mechwarrior or Metro? Of course not. It's how things were handled preemptively and post announcement that made this tiny droplet in the ocean have such a huge ripple effect.
It's an extremely shitty situation where it's impossible to draw a line that divides where someone's blame ends and the other's begin, because while it's unacceptable that the devs or anyone get death threats or be harassed by what they said/did, it's also impossible to look at what's happening and not see that it's a consequence of what they did and especially how they did it.

It's a shitshow and moving forward thanks to it any legitimate complaints and faults of Epic and EGS will be disregarded/ignored by the media, devs and pubs as toxic gamers being toxic.
 

Deleted member 113

Guest
This EGS thing is making me uncomfortable, maybe it´s time to actually play games and forget about the internet 🤷‍♂️
Well, that's what I've been doing pretty much since the start. :giggle:
Except, I don't forget about the internet, I remain an avid user of it, I just simply block everyone who is posting idiotic takes on the subject.
I use twitter merely as a way to get updates and news. Whenever I see someone posting something stupid, I simply block them, and by now I surely have hundreds and hundreds of blocked accounts. Life's too short to waste your time getting upset about what some random guy on the internet said.

In terms of this subject, I feel this is a lost cause, in the sense that, no, it's not worth to engage with the developers and publishers who took these deals, and with the people (including many journalists) who are cheerleading them. They aren't going to change their minds. They aren't going back on these deals. They already made a profit with these deals, even without actually launching their products, so in their view they don't need customers, so why court them?
A discussion is only worth having if people have an open mind, and are willing to admit they are wrong, and vice-versa. These people won't.

On top of that, as Tim made it clear recently, they are clearly courting controversy, as a way to promote the brand, and store.
They are clearly following the line of thought that any publicity is good publicity. And, the truth is, if it wasn't for these controversies, and people getting upset whenever a game is announced as an exclusive, pretty much no one would be talking about the EGS. Think about it, even with that aggressive month long sale, where you could get most exclusives, even pre-orders, for next to nothing, you don't hear about any success stories. No, you hear about the "stolen" crowdfunding games, the games that were pre-orderable on Steam that were removed from the store, to become EGS timed exclusives, and similar stuff.

I know most of you disagree with me, but I'll repeat what I mentioned before: gaming, to me, is a hobby. It's supposed to be about having a good time, and not really about arguing and getting upset. Whenever a developer/publisher pulls something like this, I prefer to simply skip these games (and ignore these developers and publishers), and simply take my money, and purchase something else, or some other game. There are still plenty of games being released each and every day, and I can't say I feel like I lost something by skipping these EGS exclusive titles. In fact, I have dozens of better games in my backlog that I haven't touched, so if these people don't want my money, I have plenty of games to keep me busy, without spending another cent.
I honestly feel like ignoring these people, and skipping their games (even when they launch elsewhere), and not giving them the publicity and coverage they crave so much, is more damaging than trying to engage with them, and aggressively complain about them.

And another thing's for sure: no matter what Tim offers, how many discounts are given, how many exclusives he buys, or crowdfunding games he signs at the last minute, he will never get me on his store.
As soon as he adopted the strategy of trying to force people to use his platform (starting with the Phoenix Point deal, where the intention was to simply "purchase" a group of people, backers, who he made the assumption would have no choice but to use his store), he lost me, no matter what he does.
 
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ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
8,306
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Of course not. It's how things were handled preemptively and post announcement that made this tiny droplet in the ocean have such a huge ripple effect.
And exactly that makes me think.

Those reactions were so easy to predict, than this strange and even more illogical discord fake happened. The Devs were bad enough, no faking was needed (not that it's needed in other scenarios). Tim pouring even more gasoline to the fire. Randy also showing up to the party. EGS bravely taking a step forward to protect devs. Everything fits so well together.

But than I'm asking myself what's the pay off? Biased Media didn't change, boycotters didn't change, nothing was gained but for the gap between Devs and their costumers to widen. It's like epics message was to tell indy Devs to come to them so they can hate their costumers together.

I get it, this chain of thought is far fetched and reaching into tin hat foil territory. But intentionally or not, this is the message here.
Devs good, gamers bad, come to us.
Signed Tim and Media.

That's a stupid pay off and PR message but it's here. This is really the only industry that hates it's costumers openly.
And even some costumers seem to be fine with that, judging by a couple of comments.

There was bad behaviour towards asshole developers, therefore I shall support asshole developers kind of logic.
I don't get it.

I grew up in a time when building and managing PCs was a pain. Jumpers, Master & Slave configurations, expanded and extended memory etc.

But I've never been more confused about my hobby than today. Nothing really makes sense.

#mid30sramblings

Edit: reading @functionJB post above mine. I'm apparently not the only one thinking that there is a suspicious way how negative comments get directed to promote the EGS.
 

Rosenkrantz

Once Punched Man
Apr 22, 2019
1,020
2,306
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As soon as they accepted the EGS deal they were at-risk of being targeted, they tried to pre-empt things with their statement, but obviously they were woefully unprepared for the response. However, I don't understand which "false narrative" you're talking about, as soon as you bring up the "devs' own shortcomings" it comes across as trying to justify what has happened to them. I'm sure they're already well-aware of what they could have done differently by now.
No I'm not trying to justify what happened to them, not only because it's a shitty thing to do, but also because thanks to all these idiots Epic now has an ammunition to effectively shut down any legitimate criticism of their store and practices.

That however doesn't explain completely one sided coverage of the story. Journalists largely omit the tone of the exclusivity announcement or hand wave it as jokey and in a good spirit. There's no mention of the devs antagonistic attitude to practically anyone who disagrees with their actions on Discord no matter how civil their opponents are. No condemnation of Sweeney's moronic tweets that only added more fuel to the fire. There's no objective analysis of the situation, just half-truths.
 

Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
4,005
13,878
113
Belgium
That however doesn't explain completely one sided coverage of the story. Journalists largely omit the tone of the exclusivity announcement or hand wave it as jokey and in a good spirit. There's no mention of the devs antagonistic attitude to practically anyone who disagrees with their actions on Discord no matter how civil their opponents are. No condemnation of Sweeney's moronic tweets that only added more fuel to the fire. There's no objective analysis of the situation, just half-truths.
The absolute majority of journalists have been drinking Epic's kool-aid from the very beginning, both in their articles and on their personal Twitter accounts. I can't explain this either.
 

RionaaM

Vogon Poetry Appreciator
Sep 6, 2018
887
2,187
93
They can legitimize the store all they want, if the devs they moneyhat start releasing mediocre/half-assed games because they no longer need to make quality products because they've already sold enough copies to stay afloat, then less and less people will be buying those games anyway. And I'm gonna be honest, most new game releases over there have a short burst of news output on their release week, but then discussion about it almost completely drops off shortly after because people aren't really reviewing and sharing media of them. If you want people to buy your game long after the release window, you need to keep news of it within their sights. And that's not happening on EGS.
Not only that, but it also needs ways for people to spread word of mouth. I lost count of the games I put on my wishlist, or even bought right away, after seeing a screenshot uploaded by a friend on my Steam activity feed, or thanks to the "Your friend X purchased/wishlisted this game" messages. They may be small things, but every little thing helps. By design, EGS won't have any of that, which means there's one less avenue of discovery for both new and old games. That, coupled with the deliberate lack of curation tools, shows me that Epic isn't interested at all in the health of the platform or devs, however much crap Tweeney may spew on Twitter.
 

Oheao

Junior Member
Jun 29, 2019
67
135
33
They aren't the first ones to take the Epic deal and sadly they won't be the last but this is the game that's causing the biggest uproar from the community. Why exactly is this happening? What's the difference? Does the collective audience care more about this game than Shenmue or Mechwarrior or Metro? Of course not. It's how things were handled preemptively and post announcement that made this tiny droplet in the ocean have such a huge ripple effect.
It's an extremely shitty situation where it's impossible to draw a line that divides where someone's blame ends and the other's begin, because while it's unacceptable that the devs or anyone get death threats or be harassed by what they said/did, it's also impossible to look at what's happening and not see that it's a consequence of what they did and especially how they did it.

It's a shitshow and moving forward thanks to it any legitimate complaints and faults of Epic and EGS will be disregarded/ignored by the media, devs and pubs as toxic gamers being toxic.
I can think of a pretty big distinction. Look at who's developing Ooblets: Rebecca Cordingley is one of the developers. You know who gets targeted much more in situations like these? Women. GamerGate, for example, started as a harassment campaign against a woman.
No I'm not trying to justify what happened to them, not only because it's a shitty thing to do, but also because thanks to all these idiots Epic now has an ammunition to effectively shut down any legitimate criticism of their store and practices.

That however doesn't explain completely one sided coverage of the story. Journalists largely omit the tone of the exclusivity announcement or hand wave it as jokey and in a good spirit. There's no mention of the devs antagonistic attitude to practically anyone who disagrees with their actions on Discord no matter how civil their opponents are. No condemnation of Sweeney's moronic tweets that only added more fuel to the fire. There's no objective analysis of the situation, just half-truths.
That's what you're getting out of this? Your main point of concern is that this harassment means you will be under more scrutiny for going against EGS? If it didn't affect that, would this situation have mattered to you?
 

Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
4,005
13,878
113
Belgium
I can think of a pretty big distinction. Look at who's developing Ooblets: Rebecca Cordingley is one of the developers. You know who gets targeted much more in situations like these? Women. GamerGate, for example, started as a harassment campaign against a woman.
I don't think this is true. The outrage was caused by the developers blog, and got worse after their toxic reactions on Discord/Twitter en Sweeneys "awesome" tweet. Not because one of the devs is female.
 

SRossi

regretten? rien!
Dec 9, 2018
383
511
93
Shhh all of you toxic women hating people in here. Think of the horrible, horrible harassment those poor Devs (including a woman!) had to endure! And you are still here mocking them! They did nothing wrong! You can't say they fueld or even started the fire you women hating monsters! And posting porn! Gosh! You all should be ashamed of yourself! It's just another launcher! You toxic, toxic women hating monsters! Don't you dare telling them what they are!
 

Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
4,005
13,878
113
Belgium
Shhh all of you toxic women hating people in here. Think of the horrible, horrible harassment those poor Devs (including a woman!) had to endure! And you are still here mocking them! They did nothing wrong! You can't say they fueld or even started the fire you women hating monsters! And posting porn! Gosh! You all should be ashamed of yourself! It's just another launcher! You toxic, toxic women hating monsters! Don't you dare telling them what they are!
What's wrong with porn? :p
 

City 17

Junior Member
Aug 5, 2019
8
30
13
No, they're banning people who are essentially saying that the Ooblets developers were "asking for it".
If it's directed at me, I was pretty clear that "it was like they were asking for trouble", as in riling up people, making snarky comments, downplaying everything, alienating a big section of their audience, or even the ones who supported them on Patreon (basically we don't need you or your opinion anymore), with that horrible "reeeee" tweet, or calling everyone not agreeing with them "toxic/manbaby/kids/..." posts like this “honestly the biggest reason we didn’t do a kickstarter is we didn’t want to deal with entitled baby gamers holding even more power over us.” or several other ones. They weren't asking for "harassment", no sane person would, but they were definitely looking for "trouble", where it'd have lead to a PR disaster at best, but it got worse, as I said in my post they didn't deserve it, no one deserves this, it's pretty shitty, but they didn't help the situation, they added more fuel for those pathetic people out there that live for such situations.

But go on, reminding their wrong steps = defending harassment = downright harassing people
 
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