News Epic Games Store
- Thread starter Blizniak
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There's not even upfront payment now lmao. Did they not know about the EGS black hole
They got pissed at BG3 not being on EGS I bet.
so it's an attempt to revive EGS exclusivity but without spending the money on upfront moneyhats? Can't imagine many devs going for this, an additional 12% of next to nothing is still next to nothing
squeenix signing the contract as we speak
Some publishers will bite. Wouldn't be surprised to see GTA 6 be part of the program.
So... bleeding even more money when you factor everything else ? Cashback, coupons, any new think they invent in the coming months?
So that's it, paid timed exclusivities are done for good with this.
not an upfront payment, won't be the case here.squeenix signing the contract as we speak
I bet Ubisoft and R* are the ones that will follow this route.
Which is funny, when they have they're own store ...
Also, thinking about it I guess this is the result of exclusives not working, and "free money" not being a thing anymore.
That exception is begging for Ubisoft and R* to take the deal. Maybe Tim and Sergiy were upset Ubi put Avatar as a Uplay exclusive and are trying to get them back.
Incredible. I will boycott any developer or publisher who is so greedy (and stupid) to take this deal for a loooong time.
Anyway, let's hope this is an act of desperation because things are going bad for EGS.
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Devs can opt out anytime if their game bombs and they want to release on Steam lol. The first run tab is gonna be full of asset flips and NFT games if Epic doesn't manually curate them.
Fun thing to note is devs aren't allowed to release on subscription services like Xbox Game Pass either, there has been 2 or 3 EGS exclusives that also released on Gamepass at the same time in the past so it seems like that wont be happening any more.
Microsoft also regularly pays developers to release their games on Xbox, But these deals usually include a Microsoft Store release with crossbuy/cross-save. (Recent examples are the upcoming Like A Dragon games and Dragon Quest Infinity Strash). So those games won't be able to take a first run deal either.
Yeah good luck competing with Microsoft's non-exclusive deals which give you upfront money you DON'T have to pay back.
I just saw the news.
Yeah this is definitely a Hail Mary for GTAVI.
Probably Final FantasyVII pt2 as well.
there's no need for FF7R2, I bet they already signed that one when they got the first part.
R* and Ubisoft are the ones that will likely get this deal and then release on Steam.
You know, I was glad when the faux EGS hype died down, from magazines to bad actors with their libertarian-style talking points, that "competition is good" and all that.
Coming back to this now is a reminder of why Steam is popular.
Valve, as a private company, continues to focus on providing the best services for PC-driven audiences. Thus, Steam and its new mode of deliver, the Steam Deck + Proton, allows ppl to buy and play games pretty much however they want.
That's why we keep giving them money. Because the service is good.
Coming back to this now is a reminder of why Steam is popular.
Valve, as a private company, continues to focus on providing the best services for PC-driven audiences. Thus, Steam and its new mode of deliver, the Steam Deck + Proton, allows ppl to buy and play games pretty much however they want.
That's why we keep giving them money. Because the service is good.
If you are in the top 100 devs or pubs, had a game in the top 1000 wishlisted upcoming titles on Steam at any point from 2019 through 2020, OR used Unreal Engine for any major upcoming title through 2021, Epic likely reached out for an exclusivity deal. While several took deals, several did not, and even more telling, is how many skipped releasing titles on EGS after taking a prior exclusivity deal. This was also during the period of sweetheart deals with white glove treatment (e.g. money upfront, covered creator code fees, enhanced marketing, etc.). Maybe this takes off, but I am skeptical given everything to the contrary. I think this is more trying to further automate their store and be able to shift resources away from actively managing any deals.
Not to mention, this is the final indication the store has no plan to be profitable. Giving away free games, giving coupons, giving money back, letting devs forgo using the store payment processor, letting online games use your backend servers for free, and now allowing games to not pay out anything for the first 6 months (i.e. You know, the timeframe most games probably make the majority of their lifetime sales). This has got to be the final Hail Mary short of straight up paying folks cash to login or giving people a weekly ticket to redeem any game for free.
The fact this news comes after a few months the Epic Rewards were unceremoniously launched almost makes me think they are pulling all the remaining levers to see if something turns the store around. I think the future of the store really hinges on the Apple and Google trials, and the continued revenue from Fortnite.
Not to mention, this is the final indication the store has no plan to be profitable. Giving away free games, giving coupons, giving money back, letting devs forgo using the store payment processor, letting online games use your backend servers for free, and now allowing games to not pay out anything for the first 6 months (i.e. You know, the timeframe most games probably make the majority of their lifetime sales). This has got to be the final Hail Mary short of straight up paying folks cash to login or giving people a weekly ticket to redeem any game for free.
The fact this news comes after a few months the Epic Rewards were unceremoniously launched almost makes me think they are pulling all the remaining levers to see if something turns the store around. I think the future of the store really hinges on the Apple and Google trials, and the continued revenue from Fortnite.
Where do the games they fund to publish play into this.
Most pathetic and disrespectful thing about this strategy is that Tim is willing to basically run a nonprofit store.... but only if it hurts Valve.
I mean if you are willing to do this why not extend it to every game released there not just the 6month exclusive games?
At this point devs, pubs and gamers should all feel insulted every time people bring up this stupid store.
I mean if you are willing to do this why not extend it to every game released there not just the 6month exclusive games?
At this point devs, pubs and gamers should all feel insulted every time people bring up this stupid store.
Permanent (or long time) EGS exclusivity on PC. Everything to hurt Steam I guess.
Translator note:
"we dont want to pay you for exclusivity anymore, but you can opt in to it for free"
yup , but i bet there is still quite a bunch of unannounced already signed paid scloosies (square for sure lol)
I think they were really betting on them especially since even if the pc version bombed they believed they would make their money back from consoles, but it ended up as another of those half-assed things Epic tried but didn't really put themselves in, and I'm not sure it will have a future past the initial group. Bad advertisement, bad returns for the devs, long development times with little news, honestly everything that could have gone wrong with this publishing plan went wrong, like many things EGS did
Finally Bearbones Crew will get the 100% they deserve.
NFT games to get 100% of their scam.
So an extra 12% cut of low sales, to miss out on the biggest PC platform for an entire six months.
Outside of the usual suspects, why would anyone take this?
Outside of the usual suspects, why would anyone take this?
The thing is I'm not sure the usual suspects are going to be ok with anything that isn't a lump sum for their exclusivity. They sign because they get a certain amount big enough to recoup costs or part of the costs no matter what they sell.
Aside from Rockstar & Ubisoft, the only ones I can really see taking that deal are those who want to abuse their fanbase with a short early access period. Not a "we're still developing the game" EA, but one similar to a pre-order bonus. Like a week or two early. The backlash would shoot out through the roof.
Epic says you can tap out of the 6-month deal at any time. It'll be interesting to see who gets baited into this.
Epic says you can tap out of the 6-month deal at any time. It'll be interesting to see who gets baited into this.
Couldn't publishers just go 1 week at 100% to cash in on that launch period hype for people who are okay with using EGS then release on Steam and double dip on launch hype?
Epic First Run only sounds good for early access games. Cash in on that 100% revenue to fund more development. Push out an actual launch on consoles and Steam when you're out of early access and get actual launch hype numbers.
Also it sounds like they're trying to appeal to R* and Ubisoft with this but wouldn't publishers need to push marketing more since EGS is a marketing black hole and if you're going to spend extra money getting people to use a store why use it to get people to use EGS instead of your own store. I'm interested which big publishers take this deal.
Also I would like to say seeing Epic squirm after BG3, Starfield, Armored Core 6 and even Ubisoft skipping EGS delights me greatly.
Bearbones Crew might not be long for this world.
Aged like milk
Bearbones Crew might not be long for this world.
Looks like I could be wrong. He might keep them on EGS just to be a contrarian (again).
being able to cancel deal anytime makes it much better. I can see some trying this.
"FirstSeen": "2023-08-20T14:57:35.9612124+00:00",
I don't think this was removed, someone just posted another copy of same asset flip, unreleased for now.
Bearbones Crew might not be long for this world.
"FirstSeen": "2023-08-20T14:57:35.9612124+00:00",
Well, looks like the old one is taken too, so maybe there's some truth to it lol
But developers other asset flips are there.
But developers other asset flips are there.
Imagine being an EGS only user and searching for the newest fighter to have some fun with friends
meanwhile Tim trying to market the "third party keys are extempt from the cut" (ak what steam had for years) as massive innovation "big tech is afraid to make" but only tied to his new "opt-in exclusivity"
Tim Sweeney everyone, the man who has always been guided by the principle of being a visionary instead of being the head of one of those companies that just throwing money at things.
And what video game developer has been more adventurous than the one whose last decade of output is Minecraft tower defense game they almost mmediately abandonded, a Pokemon clone they immediately abandoned, and PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds clone where they stole as many elements as they possible could? Thank you for saving video games Tim Epic.
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Dumb & Dumber
Also he reconfirmed EGS is not meant to be profitable and is propped up entirely by Fortnite.
Look, I'm not that much of a business guy and all that but at one point one has to ask. What's the point of having a store and make no money ? (Yes, there's fortnite, but that's no way to run it in the long term*)
*I remember apple saying that the store would not be profitable until like 2027 or something
*I remember apple saying that the store would not be profitable until like 2027 or something
Because a large part of the essence of the EGS is a kind of Tim's personal crusade against Steam/Valve, which then snowballed into some kind of messiah complex from his part. At least that's what I was told the last time I discussed the issue with my friends who work in the area.
Look on the one hand I believe you, (if one reads tims tweets and other statements).
But at the same time I don't know how to react to that.
Tim Epic definitely had unhinged vibes about him. Jealousy, too.
Also, the success of Steam is an issue in Epic's future vision of their Metaverse. They want popular games to be integrated in that Metaverse, and to do so, they need these games in their own ecosystem first.
EOS is also meant to achieve this, and looking at the huge amount of games using this middleware on PC, it seems to be working. Epic is now expanding EOS to consoles, while injecting more and more of their systems in the cross-platform overlay. Anyone complaining about Steam being a monopoly should take a look at this.
Every time I read a tweet by Elon Musk, I imagine him saying it out loud and it always makes me snort.
Epic Animu Store growing (this one is banned from Steam)
Don’t know the specifics of this game, but given Steam’s rather inconsistent bans of anime content, I expect EGS could actually carve out a niche here in combination with their 100% revenue for 6 months deal.
The plan was to become a monopoly (which unlike other monopolies would be good because it is Tim's) and then start making money.
This. This is also the same plan of basically every other tech company with years of massive losses fueled by venture capital. Out-"compete" everyone else by throwing cash at it, in the hope that once they are all forced out of the market you can make your money back.
Epic is failing at being a loss-leader in the PC gaming digital distribution space because they provides a product that, at best, could be described as 'nominally competent' instead of equal to or better than those of the competition to one audience that actually matters - paying customers.
People will go where the best service is provided, and EGS ain't pulling any early 2000s-Amazons.