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[Crayon]

I just want to comment on something that's been bugging me for a while in this back and forth we have with EGS defenders (whether it's on twitter or era or anywhere really). Usually they'll ask why EGS buying exclusives is bad and we'll respond with a list of ways EGS sucks as a platform.

But...that kind of misses the point to me. The simple act of buying exclusives in the PC space is abhorrent and that alone should be enough reason why the platform shouldn't be supported. It could be the best client in the world and I still wouldn't give them a penny for how they're handling their business. When we lose sight of that and go into its lack of features all that does is give defenders an excuse to post lazy shifting goalposts memes when Epic eventually does add a feature (albeit in a half assed way like cloud saving).



I'm convinced if Nintendo can do it then it's not that hard. That goes with just about anything tech related.

Totally. I have limited complaints regarding the lack of features. I seriously don't mind waiting a year to get the game on steam.

What pisses me off is having this player who is so irresponsible and aggressive. I've always been like this, hence my long-standing hate affair with Microsoft.

Your main strategy is to make users of other software uncomfortable? Take/keep things away from them? Go fuck a cactus, egs.

 

[MJunioR]

Talking about devaluation of games, I was checking some threads on Reddit and other forums today and one thing that got my attention on posts regarding Celeste / Inside being the free EGS games next week was how many people were mentioning that they were waiting for a sale on Celeste but instead will grab it for free and consequently some comments that said that they would think twice before buying an indie game as long as EGS is giving away those games. Hell, I read a bunch of comments comparing those free offerings to Humble and the monthly wasn't really ahead.

EGS clearly has reasons to bring more big names like Celeste to their giveaways, but you have to wonder how much this will affect indies in a long-term. I might be thinking to much into it but imagine if EGS expands the free game every week thing for 2020, then the people who usually wait for a sale or a bundle might as well wait for it to become free there. There's already a reluctance to buy games on day one on PC thanks to sales and bundles, but at least with Humble you had to pay something. Slay the Spire is a pretty big profile indie, but to get it you have to pay $12 whether you like the rest of the games or not. Now with EGS you have Mutant Year Zero, Celeste, Moonlighter all for free. And I'm not even putting subscription services in the sum here.

Not saying that nobody should pick those free games, after all their publishers have already done the deal so if you don't mind EGS or at least their free games, go for it, but I can't help to think that once this ends it will be way more difficult to sell an indie for full price - not that it was any easy one year ago.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

must be selling really well ...

40% off for a month?

YEESH

And fwiw, I really liked the look of this; if it was on Steam I'd have bought it day one.

 

[ISee]

I see it this way, Epic isn't going to stop with the exclusives shit and most indie devs and game journalists have already been brought over to its side. I can either not download and spend money later on something I could've had for free and nothing changes or download the games and nothing changes. I skipped on DLing Enter The Gundugeon and almost bought it later for $7.50. I could've had the game and been a king at Burger King if I'd had taken it when it was free rather than sticking to my useless guns. Instead I stewed and didn't buy it anyway.

I disagree. Epic will have to eventually stop with paying for exclusives. It's a big, ongoing minus to their war chest that can't be hold on to forever. Your first premise is simply wrong: Buying exclusives till the end of time is impossible.

The big question is: What will be their situation once they can't afford to buy more exclusives? Will they have enough costumers to survive? Will devs make their games willingly exclusive, without epic paying for it? And how many people will still be ignoring the EGS. You see, one could use math to estimate how many people need to ignore the EGS to make going exclusive, without bribes, uneconomical.

So let me plot a simple excel sheet... oh wait I did that some time ago. So let's play this out:

If you want to sell a game for 39.99€ and aim to sell 500k copies and just 20% of your potential buyers refuse to buy on the EGS you're loosing about 420k€.
The 88-12 split doesn't save you if just one fifth doesn't accept the EGS.

If you want to sell a 69.99€ AAA game to 2 million, but 15% of potential buyers ignore you, You are loosing 3.8 million euros.

You see, that's the beauty here: There is no need for the majority to be swayed. 15-20% are enough and going EGS exclusive, without payment from Epic, isn't an option. If a minority can change anything, every single person is important. Even you.

So excuse me if I say: Giving up, because irrelevant journalists call you names, and there is a club of 10ish indy devs is pretty strange.
You can forgo to take something free now and chances will be pretty high that you are going to influence the future. This isn't a futile situation, odds and statistics aren't against you. It's actually pretty easy to win this and to make third party exclusivity go away. Numbers don't lie.

But you can of course just lay down, because you are just one person. Who cares about one person, right?

 

[Myradeer]

What really fucking pissed me off was that some of them were implying that the Darq dev was catering to toxic fanboys, despite his statement not being toxic at all. I wonder why they’re try so hard to throw all PC players into the gamergate bucket. Between that and that fucking stupid Kotaku article about sex games, their bias is so fucking evident.

Has Kotaku even touched recent Ion Fury debacle before they chose to apologize? Their crusade against toxic gamers are nothing but words.

 

[lashman]

And fwiw, I really liked the look of this; if it was on Steam I'd have bought it day one.

same ... i was really looking forward to it (as i really liked Untold Stories)

 

[Ruvon]

That's a long ass sale.... What ever happened to the fight against the devaluation of games...

About that, can someone direct me to this public statement from Tim ? Need it to add weight to another forum post about it.

 

[ISee]

and yeah - 40% off for a month right after release ... my god, that game must've bombed HARD

But Tim told me games only sell bad because Steam is overblown and visibility is bad. Games don't get enough attention, they have no chance to be seen.
EGS, with it's limited portfolio, was supposed to fix that problem.

I'm shocked and outraged.

 

[Trisolarian]

I disagree. Epic will have to eventually stop with paying for exclusives. It's a big, ongoing minus to their war chest that can't be hold on to forever. Your first premise is simply wrong: Buying exclusives till the end of time is impossible.

The big question is: What will be their situation once they can't afford to buy more exclusives? Will they have enough costumers to survive? Will devs make their games willingly exclusive, without epic paying for it? And how many people will still be ignoring the EGS. You see, one could use math to estimate how many people need to ignore the EGS to make going exclusive, without bribes, uneconomical.

So let me plot a simple excel sheet... oh wait I did that some time ago. So let's play this out:

If you want to sell a game for 39.99€ and aim to sell 500k copies and just 20% of your potential buyers refuse to buy on the EGS you're loosing about 420k€.
The 88-12 split doesn't save you if just one fifth doesn't accept the EGS.

If you want to sell a 69.99€ AAA game to 2 million, but 15% of potential buyers ignore you, You are loosing 3.8 million euros.

You see, that's the beauty here: There is no need for the majority to be swayed. 15-20% are enough and going EGS exclusive, without payment from Epic, isn't an option. If a minority can change anything, every single person is important. Even you.

So excuse me if I say: Giving up, because irrelevant journalists call you names, and there is a club of 10ish indy devs is pretty strange.
You can forgo to take something free now and chances will be pretty high that you are going to influence the future. This isn't a futile situation, odds and statistics aren't against you. It's actually pretty easy to win this and to make third party exclusivity go away. Numbers don't lie.

But you can of course just lay down, because you are just one person. Who cares about one person, right?

I haven't given up lol. I haven't paid Epic anything on their store. If they want to spend to give me free things, fine. And lol Idgaf what kotaku says, I'm taking the "gamer" label back. I'm on the side against the EGS, but I guess taking free games, I'm not "HARDCORE" enough? Come on, this is why we get mocked.

Nothing will change until the Fortnite money stops. I already don't play it, so I can't subtract from zero in that situation. What if the exclusives go on for the next three years? That's enough time to build at least a halfway respectable library and user base.

 

[Crayon]

The more I'm reading and thinking about it, I really do believe a lot of this is a console war against PC as a platform. And it's likely from years of PC players having better graphics, access to more mods, not having to pay extra to access multiplayer in games, and an overall smoother gameplay experience (higher FPS, less lag), at least for games that are well-optimized. It's apparent there's tons of jealousy coming from console players, and they're getting a lot of pleasure out of watching the people they've envied for years tear themselves up over this.

That's precisely it. Steam made PC the best console with no way of being unseated in sight.

Oh! But maybe epic can spoil it! Go epic!

 

[ISee]

I'm not "HARDCORE" enough? Come on, this is why we get mocked.

No, as said. Download the free games or don't. I don't have a problem with that.

Your first sentence and premise just sounded very dystopian to me, like it's already over:

Epic isn't going to stop with the exclusives shit and most indie devs and game journalists have already been brought over to its side

followed by

I could've had the game and been a king at Burger King if I'd had taken it when it was free rather than sticking to my useless guns

I just wanted to say that you aren't irrelevant here and your guns aren't useless at all. That it's not over because journalists chose their position and that odds aren't actually bad. And my last sentence was more of a "Hang in there, you're important even if the opposition looks intimidating and overwhelming". Resistance isn't futile.

But well, I'm not the best at motivating people so: I wasn't talking about you not being hardcore enough. Sorry if you felt that way. I was just trying to explain why there is no need to feel like Epic is already winning and that everybody is important, no matter how small.

 

[Crayon]

Stop calling them journalists lol.

THE TOP GAMES ON STEAM ARE ANIME SEX

This is tabloid shit. Thats not a journalist. We call that a Hack.

 

[Trisolarian]

No, as said. Download the free games or don't. I don't have a problem with that.

Your first sentence and premise just sounded very dystopian to me, like it's already over:



followed by



I just wanted to say that you aren't irrelevant here and your guns aren't useless at all. That it's not over because journalists chose their position and that odds aren't actually bad. And my last sentence was more of a "Hang in there, you're important even if the opposition looks intimidating and overwhelming". Resistance isn't futile.

But well, I'm not the best at motivating people so: I wasn't talking about you not being hardcore enough. Sorry if you felt that way. I was just trying to explain why there is no need to feel like Epic is already winning and that everybody is important, no matter how small.

I was too combative with the HARDCORE statement. However, the older I get the more I see myself as a tiny gear in a massive machine. In all things when it relates to business and political life. (Personal life, no.)

Epic is only winning the PR battle, they won't tell is how their games are selling.

 

[Ge0force]

I remember the GFWL thing. Microsoft "passes" an Epic and more every quarter and their store and launcher still failed. Most of us bought GFWL games and it still died.

GFWL died because pc gamers voted with their wallets against the Gold subscription.

Anyway, you should always do what you think you should do. Just don't count on others to boycott stuff you don't like to make it go away. Imagine if everyone thinks like that...

40% off for a month right after release ... my god, that game must've bombed HARD

Good. Let Epic pay them their projected revenue.

 

[bobnowhere]

must be selling really well ...

I was at a friends of mines place, he'd actually bought a few games on EGS. So I tried them out:

Observation - Decent, though the central conceit got old pretty quick. It's not far off a hidden object game.

Dangerous Driving - Would be a solid 6/10 game 10 years ago, bad just bad.

Close to the Sun - This one is pretty good, Walking Sim version of Bioshock. Great design, this is the only one I'll actively get once it arrives on steam, at a solid discount.

 

[ISee]

However, the older I get the more I see myself as a tiny gear in a massive machine.

Because it's true. We all are tiny gear, but that's not a problem. That's the beauty of democracy or "voting with your wallet". We all are part of the machine and that gives us actual power, we just have to work together, talk to each other, question each other, motivate each other.
It's not easy, and often futile. But it also works more often than you might think.

And no Epic isn't winning the PR battle, because their PR isn't changing the opinion of the people that are against them. It's more off a nice round of circle jerking. Do you feel like Kotaku calling you manbaby is making you more likely to buy from Epic? I certainly don't.

 

[C-Dub]

Hades getting a Steam page is probably a strong indication that the game bombed on EGS.

Them putting up a Steam page is pretty much the “DON’T BUY ON EPIC” klaxon if I ever heard one. Sales must’ve been dead already.

And I reckon they’ll be pushing the Steam version pretty hard now, especially if they haven’t reached the number of copies sold that Epic has paid for.

I think they’d rather 70% of a sale than 0%.

I think boycotting devs for going EGS is fine, if that’s the stance you’re willing to take. But the way I see it is if a game bombs on EGS and then explodes in popularity on Steam, that’s going to be super demoralising to everyone working on EGS. Plus it means Epic effectively spaffed all that money up the wall.

 

[Ge0force]

The big question is: What will be their situation once they can't afford to buy more exclusives?

Epic makes 3 billion dollars a year. 3 fucking billion. They litterally can keep buying exclusives as long as Fortnite keeps making them so much money.

But the way I see it is if a game bombs on EGS and then explodes in popularity on Steam, that’s going to be super demoralising to everyone working on EGS

True. But this also means these devs will consider the timed exclusivity deal successful, and they will probably do it again for their next game.

This is one of the reasons why I'm currently not planning to buy any games involved in store exclusivity deals on pc.

 

[C-Dub]

Epic makes 3 billion dollars a year. 3 fucking billion. They litterally can keep buying exclusives as long as Fortnite keeps making them so much money.

Yeah, but how much money are they willing to sink into this? Fortnite is buying Epic a future, sure, but what’s the point in setting money on fire?

I agree that they can keep buying exclusives as long as Fortnite rakes in the cash, but more than money there needs to be a will to do it too.

If EGS isn’t working, and if games succeed after the exclusivity on literally every other store, Epic would be wise to spend their money elsewhere.

Plus Tencent will want their dividends. They can’t just keep setting that cash on fire when their 40% stakeholder wants its returns.

 

[lashman]

However, the older I get the more I see myself as a tiny gear in a massive machine.

you are ... we all are ... it's called capitalism

Them putting up a Steam page is pretty much the “DON’T BUY ON EPIC” klaxon if I ever heard one. Sales must’ve been dead already.

not only that - they also posted about Hades on all their previous games' store pages

That's the beauty of democracy

it is ... we should give it a try sometime

that gives us actual power, we just have to work together, talk to each other, question each other, motivate each other.

there's strength in numbers ... that's why they don't want us to unite ... they would rather have us fight among each other ... like we are now - with developers, journalists etc. (and that's just about games ... it happens even more outside of gaming ... it happens everywhere)

 

[C-Dub]

True. But this also means these devs will consider the timed exclusivity deal successful, and they will probably do it again for their next game.

This is one of the reasons why I'm currently not planning to buy any games involved in store exclusivity deals on pc.

Indies will take free money when it’s dangled in front of them. There are no principles in this capitalist system; they are hustling like we all are. Meanwhile, the AAAs just do what businesses do: short termism. But then not all of them are as thick as 2K were and have probably turned down their deals.

The way I see it is instead of punishing indies for taking the bribe, I’d rather deliver a demoralising blow to Epic. Just watching all those games they threw cash at making Valve and the developers millions a year down the line is too delicious to resist.

I will probably buy Hades on Steam just to stick my middle finger up at Epic. I don’t want to punish Supergiant for taking a deal after their last game cratered; I want to make Epic and everyone working on that dogshit store feel like their work has been for nothing.

 

[Ge0force]

Yeah, but how much money are they willing to sink into this? Fortnite is buying Epic a future, sure, but what’s the point in setting money on fire?

I agree that they can keep buying exclusives as long as Fortnite rakes in the cash, but more than money there needs to be a will to do it too.

If EGS isn’t working, and if games succeed after the exclusivity on literally every other store, Epic would be wise to spend their money elsewhere.

Plus Tencent will want their dividends. They can’t just keep setting that cash on fire when their 40% stakeholder wants its returns.

Agreed. But despite several smaller games bombing, millions of people are using EGS for the exclusives and free games.

I expect Epic to provide devs and publishers with even more reasons to go EGS exclusive in the near future. I'm pretty sure Epic's long term goal is to get exclusivity without having to pay for it. The more MAU's they have, the higher the chance they succeed with this plan.

Epic is playing the long game here. They know exactly what they are doing.

Indies will take free money when it’s dangled in front of them. There are no principles in this capitalist system; they are hustling like we all are. Meanwhile, the AAAs just do what businesses do: short termism. But then not all of them are as thick as 2K were and have probably turned down their deals.

The way I see it is instead of punishing indies for taking the bribe, I’d rather deliver a demoralising blow to Epic. Just watching all those games they threw cash at making Valve and the developers millions a year down the line is too delicious to resist.

I will probably buy Hades on Steam just to stick my middle finger up at Epic. I don’t want to punish Supergiant for taking a deal after their last game cratered; I want to make Epic and everyone working on that dogshit store feel like their work has been for nothing.

I see your point. And this is definitely something to think about and discuss further. I'd love to hear more opinions about this.

This said, as mentioned in my previous post, I'm not convinced Epic's long term plan isn't working out for them.

 

[C-Dub]

Epic changes its plan every five minutes. The company clearly just makes stuff up on a whim. The mechs in Fortnite is the latest example of that, as was the disastrous Mega Sale.

They may have some sort of long term goal, but it’s probably pretty vague and undefined, and probably sounds something like “Steam dead, Epic wins”.

They basically just half baked a store, bought some exclusives and have been making it up as they go along. I don’t imagine Sweeney is some Bond villain-type character with a grand plan or something. He’s just an incompetent unempathetic billionaire who thinks he can just buy anything he wants.

 

[ISee]

Epic makes 3 billion dollars a year. 3 fucking billion. They litterally can keep buying exclusives as long as Fortnite keeps making them so much money.

3 billion before or after expanses and taxes? (Serious question)

The Fortnite cow can dry out real quick and Epic knows it. There would be no need for their Store if Fortnite was a never ending source of money. At one point in time their store will have to pay for itself and personally I don't care if it keeps on existing or not. People can put their games on there in addition to other stores, people can use it or not: I just don't want third party exclusivity.

The only reason to go EGS exclusive is to make more money that way. And to "counteract" that we just have to repeat one, simple message: You go Epic Exclusive, 20% of us won't buy your product. No further arguing, no demands, no insults: Dear Developer, I'm not willing to buy a game if it is exclusive on epic. I'm against third party exclusivity. Thank you for understanding.
That's the only message that enough of us have to "broadcast" and "enact".

If going EGS exclusive = loosing money Epic can offer whatever non financial incentive they want. It's irrelevant.

Epic is playing the long term game. We can too.

Seriously, just 20%. That has to be possible.

 

[lashman]

3 billion before or after expanses and taxes? (Serious question)

taxes, lol ... what taxes? corporations don't pay taxes

 

[LEANIJA]

Epic changes its plan every five minutes. The company clearly just makes stuff up on a whim. The mechs in Fortnite is the latest example of that, as was the disastrous Mega Sale.

They may have some sort of long term goal, but it’s probably pretty vague and undefined, and probably sounds something like “Steam dead, Epic wins”.

They basically just half baked a store, bought some exclusives and have been making it up as they go along. I don’t imagine Sweeney is some Bond villain-type character with a grand plan or something. He’s just an incompetent unempathetic billionaire who thinks he can just buy anything he wants.

I wouldnt be so sure about that. I think Sweeney is very competent in what he is doing. He knew exactly how to hurt Steam in the first place. The aggressive way of poaching games off of Steam is testament to that. I'd recommend reading this interview from 2009 with Gamasutra where he talks about how in the beginning of Epic he basically copied Apogees shareware model - being very successful in it, then figured out how to "beat" id Software at the engine game with the Unreal engine.... and he later continued with this: Fortnite owes its success directly to PUBG, and of course EGS is just trying to unseat Valve and Steam. There seems to be a deep-seated ambition in this man to be number one, especially when he copies something and wants to beat the original. He's been quite successful so far and I don't think he'll just stop. Epic isn't fucking around, as Jim Sterling put it.

 

[RionaaM]

I'm still gonna take roll here for folks who did or did not buy DARQ.

As soon as I get some real free time.

I didn't buy it yet. While I appreciate what the guy did and the game looks interesting, I don't owe him my money any more than I owe any other dev

But I'll probably buy it someday, it's on my wishlist after all.

 

[Swenhir]

I' with FunktionJCB here. I dont think I will be wishlisting or buying Hades even after the exclusivity ends. Supergiant hasnt made any condescending comments as far as I am aware of, but they did take Epics deal, and that in itself is very hard to forgive. Call me petty on that, but I dont wanna reward devs that go that route. Not afer all that has happened so far, and not even before. The one year deal was a kick in the face back then, and it still is.

I actually wrote to ACE Team directly asking them why they chose the deal for Eternal Cylinder*, since they have such a deep connection to the Steam community, and I told them that any dev going down the EGSclusivity route is sending, alongside Epic, a clear signal that they want to hurt and disrupt Steam and its community, and making PC gaming worse as a whole -- and again, it is very hard to forgive someone partaking in a campaign like that.

* a game that they already talked about back in 2015 in their Steam community group, btw. Link

Likewise, not only for the flippant comments but simply because exclusivity needs to die in a fire. If I reward them with Steam sales after the timer expires, then it signals to them that taking those deals is consequence-free. That it's okay to take the money and then get the sales anyway.

I'd rather send a message with my wallet. Besides, not playing their game is perhaps one of the worst fate for a developer who relies on hype and being an indie darling.

 

[uraizen]

Hades getting a Steam page is probably a strong indication that the game bombed on EGS.

Them putting up a Steam page is pretty much the “DON’T BUY ON EPIC” klaxon if I ever heard one. Sales must’ve been dead already.

And I reckon they’ll be pushing the Steam version pretty hard now, especially if they haven’t reached the number of copies sold that Epic has paid for.

I think they’d rather 70% of a sale than 0%.

I think boycotting devs for going EGS is fine, if that’s the stance you’re willing to take. But the way I see it is if a game bombs on EGS and then explodes in popularity on Steam, that’s going to be super demoralising to everyone working on EGS. Plus it means Epic effectively spaffed all that money up the wall.

I was about to ask since I saw it appear on my activity feed. They said it wasn't supposed to be released until it was done next year on Steam. Yet we're getting the Early Access version on Steam in December. What happened? Is it possible to back out of the agreement? Was there a clause that stated they promised it would sell a certain amount? I have no idea, but now I'm conflicted. I don't want to support those who went for EGS exclusivity. However, other than it looking like a good game, I feel buying it would send a message to the publisher(?). Not to mention Epic just seems like bullies in this whole ordeal.

 

[MJunioR]

I was about to ask since I saw it appear on my activity feed. They said it wasn't supposed to be released until it was done next year on Steam. Yet we're getting the Early Access version on Steam in December. What happened? Is it possible to back out of the agreement? Was there a clause that stated they promised it would sell a certain amount? I have no idea, but now I'm conflicted. I don't want to support those who went for EGS exclusivity. However, other than it looking like a good game, I feel buying it would send a message to the publisher(?). Not to mention Epic just seems like bullies in this whole ordeal.

I think that it was just the standard 1 year deal and then Supergiant diving a bit too much on Epic's moneybag so they added the 'and a half' by themselves.

I dunno if it would send a message to EGS tho. If it sell bad, maybe they will feel even happier that they took the Epic money. If it sells well on Steam, which it probably will due to it being a Supergiant game and all, then they might rethink their approach - or they might think that 'okay, we will do this again, people don't care'. I really don't know.

I won't be buying Hades since I don't care for it nor any of the devs games, but I'm somewhat interested in Ashen, so when it comes to Steam I will have to think a bit about how I feel about that.

 

[Doctor Ironic]

A shame about Observation. It was the first EGS exclusive that REALLY stung for me, not just because of Devolver's friendly corporate face, but because I loved Stories Untold and was really looking forward to what No Code could do with much better production values. I have to admit though, neither game is the kind that you can really pitch sales hopes on.

 

[lashman]

I was about to ask since I saw it appear on my activity feed. They said it wasn't supposed to be released until it was done next year on Steam. Yet we're getting the Early Access version on Steam in December. What happened? Is it possible to back out of the agreement? Was there a clause that stated they promised it would sell a certain amount? I have no idea, but now I'm conflicted. I don't want to support those who went for EGS exclusivity. However, other than it looking like a good game, I feel buying it would send a message to the publisher(?). Not to mention Epic just seems like bullies in this whole ordeal.

i'm like 99% sure all those contracts are basically the same ... it's always 12 months flat

it's just that some devs seem to want to come up with their own justification for taking the moneyhat ... so one will say it's "early access that will last X", another will say something else etc. ... but it's always the same exact length

A shame about Observation. It was the first EGS exclusive that REALLY stung for me, not just because of Devolver's friendly corporate face, but because I loved Stories Untold and was really looking forward to what No Code could do with much better production values. I have to admit though, neither game is the kind that you can really pitch sales hopes on.

yeah, such a shame about that one

 

[uraizen]

I think that it was just the standard 1 year deal and then Supergiant diving a bit too much on Epic's moneybag so they added the 'and a half' by themselves.

I dunno if it would send a message to EGS tho. If it sell bad, maybe they will feel even happier that they took the Epic money. If it sells well on Steam, which it probably will due to it being a Supergiant game and all, then they might rethink their approach - or they might think that 'okay, we will do this again, people don't care'. I really don't know.

I won't be buying Hades since I don't care for it nor any of the devs games, but I'm somewhat interested in Ashen, so when it comes to Steam I will have to think a bit about how I feel about that.

Well, I want the game and I refuse to buy games off EGS. So I guess I'll just buy it on Steam? I don't recall them pulling an Ooblets or anything.

 

[Le Pertti]

About that, can someone direct me to this public statement from Tim ? Need it to add weight to another forum post about it.

No idea, just remember it being a sentiment in the early days as something good about egs.

 

[Ascheroth]

About that, can someone direct me to this public statement from Tim ? Need it to add weight to another forum post about it.

Galyonkin said this in a russian podcast that someone translated here. He then went on twitter complaining that his words were misrepresented, but ended up saying the same things anyway.

The particular bit about sales is probably this::

There won’t be massive sales events that take up the entire store like on Steam. As to why, Galyonkin says such events effectively kill off sales for games that don't participate in them as well as for new games that launch right before that event. Instead, games on sale will be featured alongside non-sale games.

Although reading this again, he didn't seem to say that there won't be no massive sale events at all, just that they will be differently highlighted than on Steam.
Could be that he or Timmy said something about this somewhere else though.

 

[Ruvon]

Thanks a lot Ascheroth you've been very helpful

 

[Cordelia]

must be selling really well ...

The replies are 1 obvious paid shill, 1 genuinely interested in the game, and everything else is about Fortnite. People don't really care about this game huh.

 

[C-Dub]

By all accounts it's a pretty meh game. Props to Devolver for extracting some cash out of it, I guess.

 

[ISee]

By all accounts it's a pretty meh game. Props to Devolver for extracting some cash out of it, I guess.

 

[Dandy]

And fwiw, I really liked the look of this; if it was on Steam I'd have bought it day one.

I would have too. Shame.

 

[bobnowhere]

The replies are 1 obvious paid shill, 1 genuinely interested in the game, and everything else is about Fortnite. People don't really care about this game huh.

That's kind of what happens when the vast majority of people that follow the account are only there for fortnite.

 

[Rosenkrantz]

I would've bought Observation just to play a calmer sci-fi game (the alternatives either "kill em all" IW or "build a wall" Alien: Isolation), but not on EGS.

 

[Ge0force]

I dunno if it would send a message to EGS tho. If it sell bad, maybe they will feel even happier that they took the Epic money. If it sells well on Steam, which it probably will due to it being a Supergiant game and all, then they might rethink their approach - or they might think that 'okay, we will do this again, people don't care'. I really don't know.

Personally, I wouldn't be happy if people waited a year before buying my games because they didn't like the store I had an exclusivity deal with.

I would only sign another exclusivity deal if I really needed the money to survive. If not, I would follow the DARQ developers way of thinking.

Anyway, I've decided to add Hades to my wistlist on Steam. At least the dev knows that I'm willing to buy it but not on EGS. I'll decide later if I'll actually buy Hades or not.

 

[Ruvon]

Personally, I wouldn't be happy if people waited a year before buying my games because they didn't like the store I had an exclusivity deal with.

I would only sign another exclusivity deal if I really needed the money to survive. If not, I would follow the DARQ developers way of thinking.

Didn't they signed the exclu deal for the same reason : certainty of survival ? If they had enough money upfront to keep going no matter the sales, and therefore the sales are not as good as they wish (as their previous games did), wouldn't they be even more inclined to take another exclu deal to survive ?

Question is : will Epic keep going with non profitable games (if that's the case in the end for Hades) for long ?

 

[Cordelia]

Maybe Hades can still get a free pass because it's still on Early Access. But for game like Ashen (which should be 1 year shortly after Hades) can they still want to charge full price? The game is already one year old at that point.

 

[Flips]

Its on sale on both PS4 and EGS. Devolver also pretty much never mentioned it on social media after the first few days of release. Probably bombed super hard

And to think I would have bought it day 1 if it hadn't been for the exclusive deal...

Now I'll either wait for 90% off once it hits Steam or until it's part of a bundle. And I don't even feel bad for not supporting an indie dev I like(d), They already got paid by Epic and don't need my money

 

[Rosenkrantz]

Maybe Hades can still get a free pass because it's still on Early Access. But for game like Ashen (which should be 1 year shortly after Hades) can they still want to charge full price? The game is already one year old at that point.

Well, judging by how much Ubi and, especially, Nintendo, charge for almost decade old games, I wouldn't be surprised if from now on games won't get cheaper whatsoever.

 

[lashman]

The replies are 1 obvious paid shill, 1 genuinely interested in the game, and everything else is about Fortnite. People don't really care about this game huh.

they really don't ... if they did it wouldn't be 40% off for a month shortly after release

That's kind of what happens when the vast majority of people that follow the account are only there for fortnite.

yeah ... they thought they can just convert the general epic account to the store one and "utilize" those millions of followers ... lol

The game is already one year old at that point.

... and already dead well, the multiplayer is ... also broken - which they haven't bothered fixing basically since release ... because no forums, and no reviews - so who cares?

Well, judging by how much Ubi and, especially, Nintendo, charge for almost decade old games, I wouldn't be surprised if from now on games won't get cheaper whatsoever.

thanks, Tim ...

 

[Ruvon]

they really don't ... if they did it wouldn't be 40% off for a month shortly after release

Wasn't Observation released in May iirc ? But doesn't change much, it's still a big sale shortly after release.

 

[lashman]

Wasn't Observation released in May iirc ? But doesn't change much, it's still a big sale shortly after release.

3 months isn't THAT long especially for a game that's not gaas ... ubi might be able to "afford" selling AssCreed 50% off a month after release because they just want to hook more whales ... that's not really the case here