News Epic Games Store

Arc

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They're probably saving coupons for the Holiday Sale in December. I posted this before, but I'm interested if Epic will have unlimited coupons again this year.
 

fantomena

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They're probably saving coupons for the Holiday Sale in December. I posted this before, but I'm interested if Epic will have unlimited coupons again this year.
Outlook not so good.

Maybe they are done with coupons? Coupons was a good incentive, shame if they are done with them.
 

Arsene

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Epic isn’t gonna give another coupon because it’ll be usable on Cyberpunk and CDPR will pull it from the store again. Epic isn’t gonna risk having the biggest game of the year pulled.
 
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fantomena

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That's extremely unlikely. These coupons are probably responsible for the majority of the sales on EGS. No doubt we will see more coupons around Christmas.
They should be doing something now and christmas. Without coupons people don't have much inceentive to buy on EGS over Steam and they both have event sales now.
 

Ge0force

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They should be doing something now and christmas. Without coupons people don't have much inceentive to buy on EGS over Steam and they both have event sales now.
Perhaps their holiday sales will be much bigger? Also, we have no idea how EGS is doing at the moment. Epic may already have a loyal fanbase because of their exclusives, free games and coupons. We honestly don't know. But the fact that Epic keeps doing these things must mean something.
 
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fantomena

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Perhaps their holiday sales will be much bigger? Also, we have no idea how EGS is doing at the moment. Epic may already have a loyal fanbase because of their exclusives, free games and coupons. We honestly don't know, but the fact that Epic keeps doing these things must mean something.
I suspect the lack of coupons has to do with CP2077 meaning it might be a while until they give them out again. I don't think CDPR wants coupons to be used on the game and is okay with it to be removed from the store while coupons are activated, but Epic might still want to sell the game, so they simple won't have coupons for a while.

Or Epic simply just want to gradually end the coupon system as it won't be sustainable forever for them, so they have to learn people to buy games without coupons.

As you can see here:
People are asking/complaining about the lack of coupons and commenting how there's no reason to use Epic during this sale and they just go back to Steam. Epic is missing sales due to the lack of coupons, so they should have activated them.
 
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Arsene

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People are asking/complaining about the lack of coupons and commenting how there's no reason to use Epic during this sale and they just go back to Steam. Epic is missing sales due to the lack of coupons, so they should have activated them.
Nobody even posted the sale on Era or /r/GameDeals. Coupons and Giveaways are the only thing keeping them relevant. It was pretty obvious this was gonna happen. People think they're entitled to coupons every sale now and are gonna bitch about it constantly. If they stop the giveaways people will bitch endlessly about that too.
 

Ge0force

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Nobody even posted the sale on Era or /r/GameDeals. Coupons and Giveaways are the only thing keeping them relevant.
True. But if Epic keeps doing this for a few more years, they've created an entire generation of gamers that has the majority of games on EGS.

At that point it will be much easier to convince devs to release their games on EGS only, which I'm still convinced is Epic's end goal. Epic's free online services will somehow work towards this goal as well, possibly by exclusive integration in the EGS client.
 
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fantomena

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True. But if Epic keeps doing this for a few more years, they've created an entire generation of gamers that has the majority of games on EGS.

At that point it will be much easier to convince devs to release their games on EGS only, which I'm still convinced is Epic's end goal. Epic's free online services will somehow work towards this goal as well, possibly by exclusive integration in the EGS client.
Maybe, but their end goal is not something I care much about because I can't change their end goal in any way afaik.
 
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Ge0force

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Maybe, but their end goal is not something I care much about because I can't change their end goal in any way afaik.
Perhaps you can't change their end goal, but you can have an impact on the chance if Epic will ever reach this goal. In fact you're already doing so by waiting a year to buy Epic's moneyhatted games on other storefronts. T[UWSL]he strong sales of former EGS exclusives on Steam are proving you're not the only one. Time will tell if this is enough to establish a true multi-store future for pc gaming. [/UWSL]
 
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Kyougar

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We already have a multi-store future, at least on Steam.
And we don't need a multi-launcher future. it is better if we have a One-Launcher and Multi-Store future where all your friends, games, licenses, and all the other launcher features are in one place but you can decide on which store you want to buy the games.
 

Phoenix RISING

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Loved your long analysis of Crysis tech Aelphaeis Mangarae . Thanks!

RE: Surgeon Simulator 2. Wasn't EGSclusivity supposed to SAVE some of these smaller devs? This sounds like the complete opposite, no matter how they try to spin. It's easy to be the dev's co-founder and say it ain't so bad, but he's not being told he's "redundant."

I hate that word, btw. So inhumane.


Selling to Epic is one of the symptoms of the problem with the Crysis Remastered: It's a soulless cash grab.

"Make it look better on screenshots, add as many "next gen" buzzwords as possible for PR and lets swim in cash."

And while I'm convinced that their DX11-Vulkan hybrid RT solutions is something that many engineers are rightfully proud of, the achievement gets diminished by the state of the game in general: Same old legacy problems exist, an incomplete game version was used that is even missing graphical options and a level, quick save wasn't there, many control options were missing etc.

And yes, all products exist to make money: but the difference in passion, understanding, care and master of craftsmanship are the key factors that decide between a good and bad product. C&C Remaster, REmake 2, FF7 Remake, Demon's Souls have all that.

Selling it exclusively to epic, while fully aware that there is a big controversy about those kind of practices, is just another sign of the problem behind Crysis Remastered. The people calling the shots only saw dollar signs and didn't care or understood anything else.
Agree with everything but C&C Remaster. The pathing was so bad at launch that it became my first refunded game, and I'm a HUGE RTS fan.
 
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gabbo

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We already have a multi-store future, at least on Steam.
And we don't need a multi-launcher future. it is better if we have a One-Launcher and Multi-Store future where all your friends, games, licenses, and all the other launcher features are in one place but you can decide on which store you want to buy the games.
I bring you your one-launcher!
 
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Ge0force

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We already have a multi-store future, at least on Steam.
And we don't need a multi-launcher future. it is better if we have a One-Launcher and Multi-Store future where all your friends, games, licenses, and all the other launcher features are in one place but you can decide on which store you want to buy the games.
I don't see how having more options is a bad thing. [UWSL]Many people prefer GoG over Steam for example, and it's unlikely game pass would have been on pc if Microsoft didn't have their own store/launcher. [/UWSL]

[UWSL]Don't get me wrong: I want more options, no fragmentation! What Epic is doing goes straight against this. [/UWSL]
 
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Kyougar

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I don't see how having more options is a bad thing. [UWSL]Many people prefer GoG over Steam for example, and it's unlikely game pass would have been on pc if Microsoft didn't have their own store/launcher. [/UWSL]

[UWSL]Don't get me wrong: I want more options, no fragmentation! What Epic is doing goes straight against this. [/UWSL]
And I want all my games in one location Gog Galaxy is a poor compromise.
Or at least universal (PC) licenses so that I can add all games to my preferred launcher. It is a travesty that the pc market is fragmented and tied to launchers instead of an open nature.
 
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Ge0force

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[UWSL]RE: Surgeon Simulator 2. Wasn't EGSclusivity supposed to SAVE some of these smaller devs? [/UWSL]
Bossa probably got lots of money from Epic for the exclusivity deal. Rumor says Epic pays as much as the developer expects to earn with the game during the first year. When the game releases on Steam, they get even more money.

No matter how much I hate Epic's exclusivity deals, I can't deny they are a good thing for the developer. Major reason not to take the deal is reputation damage, but the good sales of former EGS exclusives on Steam indicate that this damage is minimal.
And I want all my games in one location Gog Galaxy is a poor compromise.
Or at least universal (PC) licenses so that I can add all games to my preferred launcher.
Without exclusivity deals, you can have all your games in one location when multiple launchers exist. That's what I meant with "choice" 😊

Also, I remember Sweeney Tweeting about universal licenses, but I strongly doubt he'll be able/willing to realize this. He rather seems to aim at integrating EGS in other launchers.
 
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Swenhir

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Just to pitch in that I don't give much of a damn which launcher is necessary for what, other than if it's a pita, I become less likely to buy from that store in the future and that, along that same line of thoughts, bustling ecosystems and good software draw me in more.

Of course, if you sign exclusivity deals instead of thinking of the consumer, then the best of luck to you on your very lonely road :p.
 

ISee

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Agree with everything but C&C Remaster. The pathing was so bad at launch that it became my first refunded game, and I'm a HUGE RTS fan.
Oh I agree, it is terrible.
It is also 1:1 how it was back then. Do you fix it and by doing so fundamentally change the experience? Or do you leave it in a semi broken state but preserve the original tone of the game? It's a tough question and there is no optimal solution here.
But I understand if somebody no longer wants to deal with that kind of stuff. Tank controls in Resident Evil 1 and 2 were also overhauled for good reasons.
 
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Phoenix RISING

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Oh I agree, it is terrible.
It is also 1:1 how it was back then. Do you fix it and by doing so fundamentally change the experience? Or do you leave it in a semi broken state but preserve the original tone of the game? It's a tough question and there is no optimal solution here.
But I understand if somebody no longer wants to deal with that kind of stuff. Tank controls in Resident Evil 1 and 2 were also overhauled for good reasons.
Yeah I think they should have fixed it. It's just unplayabe compared to modern RTS that do not have your tanks going across the entire map, through enemy territory getting destroyed without firing a shot, with the turret pointing to where you gave it a command to go.

A simple "refresh pathing" every 3-5 seconds so that it turns around and goes the correct way would have made a HUGE difference!

If ppl want to keep bad pathing and poor micro, should be a toggle in options, lol.
Bossa probably got lots of money from Epic for the exclusivity deal. Rumor says Epic pays as much as the developer expects to earn with the game during the first year. When the game releases on Steam, they get even more money.
That's what I'm saying. How is a company going under after EGS has bankrolled them?
 
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Cordelia

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Bossa probably got lots of money from Epic for the exclusivity deal. Rumor says Epic pays as much as the developer expects to earn with the game during the first year. When the game releases on Steam, they get even more money.
That's what I'm saying. How is a company going under after EGS has bankrolled them?
If what I read is true (the source is 4chan) they voluntarily become EGSclusive without any moneyhat.
 

Mor

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If what I read is true (the source is 4chan) they voluntarily become EGSclusive without any moneyhat.
If it was without moneyhat, they'd definitely not have exclusivity clause preventing release on other stores, in case it goes south. (Right??)
And to be more precise, their own PR confirmed that the exclusivity would last 12 months, so a deal in place is highly probable, doubt they would choose a 12 month exclusivity without breaking it in case there were poor sales and no deal in place.
 

C-Dub

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You'd need to have rocks for brains to go EGS exclusive without a moneyhat.

If that's real, I feel extra-extra sorry for the staff who are now going to have to look for a new job just before Christmas and Brexit because their senior team are incompetent.
 

gabbo

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You'd need to have rocks for brains to go EGS exclusive without a moneyhat.

If that's real, I feel extra-extra sorry for the staff who are now going to have to look for a new job just before Christmas and Brexit because their senior team are incompetent.
the higher ups clearly drank the EGS koolaid. Less competition = more exposure = more sales+people will follow the games..
A bit of hubris and bad business decision is going to hurt the company more than just releasing everywhere.
The lesson is dont chase the fortnite white dragon, they need to clamour for you for the egs gamble to work.
 
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Kyougar

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the higher ups clearly drank the EGS koolaid. Less competition = more exposure = more sales+people will follow the games..
A bit of hubris and bad business decision is going to hurt the company more than just releasing everywhere.
The lesson is dont chase the fortnite white dragon, they need to clamour for you for the egs gamble to work.
They would have to be blind or be a gammon who finds everything fake-news to drink the EGS propaganda after more than a year of failed exclusives on EGS.
 

fantomena

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It must be a exclusive deal, otherwise they are quite frankly idiots. There's absolutely zero negative consequences as I can see in not releasing a game on both Steam and EGS if you're not taking an Epic moneybag.
 
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gabbo

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They would have to be blind or be a gammon who finds everything fake-news to drink the EGS propaganda after more than a year of failed exclusives on EGS.
deal could have been in the works for a while, and i hav to imagine there are clauses built in for reneging on the agreement
 

Ge0force

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[UWSL][/UWSL]
They would have to be blind or be a gammon who finds everything fake-news to drink the EGS propaganda after more than a year of failed exclusives on EGS.
We actually have no idea how many EGS exclusives failed on EGS. Sweeney said the majority of games sold conform the sales projections, but there's no way to verify this.

Also, no doubt Epic uses sales numbers of the best selling games (Satisfactory, WWZ, Snowrunner etc) to convince other devs to sign exclusive deals.
 

Kyougar

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deal could have been in the works for a while, and i hav to imagine there are clauses built in for reneging on the agreement
I am not speaking about signing deals in exchange for money. That will still be the """""obvious""""" course for devs who deliver non-quality products or don't have faith in their sales projections.
We were talking about the dev making the game exclusive for a year without getting any money. THAT would only make "sense" if they believe in the nonsense that EGS "stands for"
 

Alexandros

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We're a few days from Epic Game Store's second birthday and I think it's fair to say that whatever momentum it once had, EGS has completely stalled. Sweeney's multi-store world never materialized and that left EGS as the place to grab free stuff and a handful of second-rate exclusives that most people wait for them to hit Steam anyway.

So I wonder where Tim goes from here. I doubt Epic wants to keep bleeding money for long by overpaying for exclusives or subsidizing sales through coupons and giveaways. The main problem for them is that even the best-case scenario for EGS seems pretty bleak.
 

C-Dub

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The coupons and freebies seem to be the only thing giving the store any sense of momentum. Their current Black Friday sale seems like a complete waste of time without coupons, but the freebies are still worth visiting for.
 

Ge0force

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[UWSL]So I wonder where Tim goes from here. [/UWSL]
I don't think we'll see huge changes in the near future. An entire generation of young gamers owns the majority of games on EGS because of the giveaways, coupons and exclusives. I expect Epic to continue this for a few more years.

I also expect them to aggressively hunt for permanent exclusives using their publishing label. No doubt their pro-developer terms will get many popular independent studios on board, which will result in many EGS-haters to cave in.

Last but not least I think they'll integrate the Epic Online Service into EGS, thereby offering the "only native experience" for this service that many devs are starting to use.

Tldr: I don't expect Epic to give up, nor will they play it fair towards other storefronts.
 

Alexandros

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don't think we'll see huge changes in the near future. An entire generation of young gamers owns the majority of games on EGS because of the giveaways, coupons and exclusives. I expect Epic to continue this for a few more years.
Here's a question though, do people actually play these games? Or do they park the freebies in their backlog and never engage with them? Will this generation of young gamers actually buy things on EGS?
 

C-Dub

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Here's a question though, do people actually play these games? Or do they park the freebies in their backlog and never engage with them? Will this generation of young gamers actually buy things on EGS?
Who knows? When I was young and poor I'd have jumped at getting a free game.

That said, I also followed trends, so if I were a kid now I'd probably be obsessed with games my favourite streamers were playing. How many of those are on EGS other than Fortnite?
 

Kyougar

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Who knows? When I was young and poor I'd have jumped at getting a free game.

That said, I also followed trends, so if I were a kid now I'd probably be obsessed with games my favourite streamers were playing. How many of those are on EGS other than Fortnite?
When I was young (in the 90's) I had to buy games for 40 to 50€ and otherwise rely on gaming magazine freebies, pirated CD's (Civ 2 without videos for 10€ on the playground!) or beg my uncles.

I played the GTA 1 demo for dozens of hours (you had like 5 mins to play per session or so)
shareware was big I played Clonk (anyone remember that) for dozens of hours.

I also played shitty games to completion because that's all I had.
 

Ge0force

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Here's a question though, do people actually play these games? Or do they park the freebies in their backlog and never engage with them? Will this generation of young gamers actually buy things on EGS?
[UWSL]I can't answer that question, because we have no useful data for EGS. We know that millions of people claimed free games like GTA5, Football Manager and TW Troy. We don't know how many of these people are actually playing these games. [/UWSL]

[UWSL]I'm not sure this matters tho. Most people prefer having their games in one place. For us that's Steam, because it was our only option for many years. But for young people who bought their first games pc, it's definitely EGS. It's even very likely that Fortnite was their entry in pc gaming. [/UWSL]

[UWSL]At this moment, these "young" people don't buy many games because they don't have the money to do so. But some day they will. The question is what happens that day: will they suddenly switch to another launcher, or will they keep using EGS where their games collection is? Epic seems to be convinced of the latter, but again, there's no way to know. [/UWSL]

[UWSL]But it seems to me that the absolute majority of pc gamers who don't like EGS, are "older" core gamers who already have a huge games collection on Steam. I haven't seen any 15yo people complaining about EGS or Epic's money hatting. Because again, these 15yo people got probably into gaming because of Fortnite. [/UWSL]
 

NarohDethan

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Here's a question though, do people actually play these games? Or do they park the freebies in their backlog and never engage with them? Will this generation of young gamers actually buy things on EGS?
I'd say no. Back then there weren't many free to play options. Nowadays you have plenty, no matter the platform you're playing on.
 

Kyougar

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[UWSL]I can't answer that question, because we have no useful data for EGS. We know that millions of people claimed free games like GTA5, Football Manager and TW Troy. We don't know how many of these people are actually playing these games. [/UWSL]

[UWSL]I'm not sure this matters tho. Most people prefer having their games in one place. For us that's Steam, because it was our only option for many years. But for young people who bought their first games pc, it's definitely EGS. It's even very likely that Fortnite was their entry in pc gaming. [/UWSL]

[UWSL]At this moment, these "young" people don't buy many games because they don't have the money to do so. But some day they will. The question is what happens that day: will they suddenly switch to another launcher, or will they keep using EGS where their games collection is? Epic seems to be convinced of the latter, but again, there's no way to know. [/UWSL]

[UWSL]But it seems to me that the absolute majority of pc gamers who don't like EGS, are "older" core gamers who already have a huge games collection on Steam. I haven't seen any 15yo people complaining about EGS or Epic's money hatting. Because again, these 15yo people got probably into gaming because of Fortnite. [/UWSL]
That would only matter if EGS had even a fraction of the available PC games in the store. the AAA PC gamers are only a fraction of the market. GAAS, with its hundreds of millions of gamers and the thousands of niche games that have thousands to tens of thousands of gamers themselves, are the majority.

Those young gamers will install and play on Steam because that is where the majority of games are and that is where the majority of the surprise hits like Among Us are.

I know you don't mean it like that but your post reads like Steam is a boomer dinosaur that will inevitably fail when their main audience dies off and EGS is the cool-kids store. You can throw all the free games you want at young gamers, they are not starved by the availability of free or cheap games, they also want to play what they like, what is new, what is the next big party game, or a niche that its not on EGS. And that place is not EGS. And I don't see any signs that the majority of young gamers flock to EGS.
 

fantomena

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[UWSL]I can't answer that question, because we have no useful data for EGS. We know that millions of people claimed free games like GTA5, Football Manager and TW Troy. We don't know how many of these people are actually playing these games. [/UWSL]

[UWSL]I'm not sure this matters tho. Most people prefer having their games in one place. For us that's Steam, because it was our only option for many years. But for young people who bought their first games pc, it's definitely EGS. It's even very likely that Fortnite was their entry in pc gaming. [/UWSL]

[UWSL]At this moment, these "young" people don't buy many games because they don't have the money to do so. But some day they will. The question is what happens that day: will they suddenly switch to another launcher, or will they keep using EGS where their games collection is? Epic seems to be convinced of the latter, but again, there's no way to know. [/UWSL]

[UWSL]But it seems to me that the absolute majority of pc gamers who don't like EGS, are "older" core gamers who already have a huge games collection on Steam. I haven't seen any 15yo people complaining about EGS or Epic's money hatting. Because again, these 15yo people got probably into gaming because of Fortnite. [/UWSL]
You post reads like the future of Steam is doomed and that Steam are just for old people when games like Fall Guys, Among Us, Phasmophobia has shown it's the opposite. I literally have people in the class Im teaching part-time in that uses Steam for games (right now they are very into Among Us), these people are like 15-16 yo.
 
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While this comparison is obviously not apples to apples, back when I was younger and I barely had any money I remember pirating so many games to the point that I barely played any (there would be one exception here and there but you get the point), since I had so many free stuff I didn't really care about it. My point is grabbing free stuff is easy, but that doesn't mean you will care much about it.

You post reads like there's just negativity for the future of PC gaming and that Steam are just for old people when games like Fall Guys, Among Us, Phasmophobia has shown it's the opposite. I literally have people in the class Im teaching part-time in that uses Steam for games (right now they are very into Among Us), these people are like 15-16 yo.
The kids of one of one of the guys at work (who If I'm not mistaken should be 15 or 16) "build" (it's in quotes because we had some interns at work built it a few years ago) a gaming pc (just a side note: he sold a perfectly functional 2070 to try to buy a 3070, don't let kids get into shiny new hardware hype but i digress) and obviously he's not playing that many EGS games with that pc ;).