News Epic Games Store

[Mivey]

I seriously doubt that. It's obvious Remedy doesn't care about PC at all.

I wouldn't be so sure. The reason Alan Wake 1 hit PC was all due to Remedy, as they owned the IP and publishing rights to the PC version. I doubt that they sold Epic the IP, given their huge push on the connected universe idea, so it stands to reason that they likely retain the ability to release some other SKU of Alan Wake 2 on PC, some time in the future, though I wouldn't want to speculate on any given specifics. I think the poor state of the EGS also makes it more likely that Epic will at some point give up on the idea anyway and just cut their losses. Tim Epic will cry about how gamers betrayed him or whatever garbage and move on to another pet project.

I think Remedy would want to be in a position like Larian, making their own type of games and funding them entirely by themselves, who wouldn't be. But as the type of games they like are expensive, they always sought publishers who had, let's say, complex relations to PC gaming. Microsoft didn't get around to just being normal about Steam releases until fairly recently, 505 Games chose to chase that EGS money and well, Epic is Epic.

 

[Ge0force]

they always sought publishers who had, let's say, complex relations to PC gaming. Microsoft didn't get around to just being normal about Steam releases until fairly recently, 505 Games chose to chase that EGS money and well, Epic is Epic.

This is exactly what I mean. A developer who cares about building a loyal userbase on PC doesn't sign this kind of deals. It took Larian many years of consumer-friendly decisions to gain the status they have nowadays. Meanwhile, Remedy has been disappointing PC gamers with almost every release since Alan Wake.

 

[Mivey]

This is exactly what I mean. A developer who cares about building a loyal userbase on PC doesn't sign this kind of deals. It took Larian many years of consumer-friendly decisions to gain the status they have nowadays. Meanwhile, Remedy has been disappointing PC gamers with almost every release since Alan Wake.

Larian was a much smaller studio and still took huge risks. Those risks paid off massively and more power to them crazy Belgians.
But I'm not going to call out Remedy for taking a safer path, especially as they are large dev and the game's they want to make can't be financied without big corporate support. It is very easy to say they should have just gone independent. It all led to me playing Alan Wake 2 at the end of this month, so clearly they have been doing something right, staying afloat in this crazy industry for so long as a AAA dev

 

[C-Dub]

I think the black and white thinking regarding EGS exclusives is the wrong way to look at it.

Different companies and studios will have different reasons for taking the cash.

I think Remedy clearly care about PC gaming - they make some of the best PC ports out there.

They’re just very risk-averse, meaning they take publishing deals or exclusivity cash that is generous, but limits them in certain ways.

I find it hard to hate on Remedy for that. What I will say is constantly signing with publishers who do stupid shit is going to mean they run out of road in the long run.

So they definitely need to start building and consolidating their audience on all platforms and ecosystems, rather than taking first party deals.

In the end, they can’t abstract their own company brand building to the publishers they sign with.

 

[LionelInoe]

EGS will probably be OK but I think the next shoe to drop will be a change to the revenue split on UE4 eventually. Also I expect less "free games" as that business model doesn't really seem all that practical.

I think the unspoken problem around here is that Unreal raced to the bottom and isn't really profitable on its own. Meanwhile, Fortnite users are dropping (probably because the year is filled with high quality titles) which is causing Epic to have to reevaluate their overall profitability. So they probably need to think long and hard about their strategy.

I hope EGS stays around, but they haven't been very competitive. I do think more stores is healthy for the pc landscape.

 

[C-Dub]

I hope EGS stays around, but they haven't been very competitive. I do think more stores is healthy for the pc landscape.

I think there's a thing as too many stores, so the idea that more stores is inherently healthy is not really a truism. But I don't think an extra quality store or client is strictly a bad thing, mind. Too bad we don't have that full stop, let alone via EGS.

But really, I have nothing against other not-Steam stores (GOG as a store is fine, as a client it sucks), but EGS has been actively detrimental to the PC landscape given Epic's business practises and their clear intent to create a monopoly from development to distribution.

With that in mind, I hope they go away as soon as possible. They're not welcome.

 

[Ge0force]

I hope EGS stays around, but they haven't been very competitive. I do think more stores is healthy for the pc landscape.

I agree with C-dub. We do need more stores, in order to get more choice where we can buy our games. However, the problem is that Epic's vision on competition is mostly based on keeping games away from other storefronts, while they aren't even trying to build a better alternative. This definitely doesn't benefit us as consumers, so EGS can't die soon enough for me.

I do hope we ever get a real competitor for Steam one day.

 

[LionelInoe]

As a Linux user, I do tend to have a pretty bad relationship with EGS which is why I never use it personally. So, to some degree, I would be happy with that store not siphoning away options for me. With that said, if they had put EGS on linux in an official capcity, I would have had less reasons to complain about it. That's the theme though -- Epic is really quick to scoff at user demands. They made a store that barely appeals only to developers (the cut) but is not at all appealing to users (no features, limited platform support, not even a proper set of filtering or searching tools!)

So to that extent it's no surprise that they haven't convinced anybody to actually buy games from them. With that said, a shakeup of leadership might actually mean that they change their focus to try to make a store that's more appealing and actually competitive in featureset. The downside is that they've been so slow that they're only losing ground to steams awesome set of features and platform support.

 

[Nabs]

 

[gabbo]

With that said, a shakeup of leadership might actually mean that they change their focus to try to make a store that's more appealing and actually competitive in featureset. The downside is that they've been so slow that they're only losing ground to steams awesome set of features and platform support.

Whomever takes over this role will still have to contend with Tim publicly via his foot in mouth tweets, and have him as final say behind closed door at Epic. It's not a role id envy.

 

[kio]

EGS isn't going away but it will simply exist, like Origin or Uplay.
The time and opportunity for it to be a real competitor and bring something worthwhile to the table is long past.

 

[Arc]

EGS will probably be OK but I think the next shoe to drop will be a change to the revenue split on UE4 eventually.

Speak of the devil:


Tim mentions that Epic will start charging a fee to use Unreal Engine for non-gaming purposes at ~6:20.

 

[ExistentialThought]

Speak of the devil:


Tim mentions that Epic will start charging a fee to use Unreal Engine for non-gaming purposes at ~6:20.

Other platforms meaning...consoles?

 

[Mivey]

Other platforms meaning...consoles?

SteamDeck! EGS launching on Steam, confirmed.

 

[C-Dub]

Other platforms meaning...consoles?

That was always the aim, even if Tim says otherwise.

I know he tried to distinguish consoles from mobile in the litigation, but I’m sure he knew that any major concessions he got against mobile platforms would cascade to the consoles too.

 

[Ge0force]

Yeah, Tim wants his Metaverse on every platform, including consoles.

 

[C-Dub]

He might declare war against Roblox next.

 

[Mor]

Speak of the devil:


Tim mentions that Epic will start charging a fee to use Unreal Engine for non-gaming purposes at ~6:20.

Good luck, you will need it cause' if PC didn't give a fuck consoles will give you a harder time (platform holders, not users this time)

 

[Arsene]

He might declare war against Roblox next.

They already have, they’re just really bad at it.

 

[Arc]

He isn't talking about consoles, but instead UE being used in industries such as VFX and automobiles. As of right now, UE is completely free for those services, but they're moving to a subscription model in the future. It doesn't sound like the gaming sector will be touched for now.

 

[Mor]

He isn't talking about consoles, but instead UE being used in industries such as VFX and automobiles. As of right now, UE is completely free for those services, but they're moving to a subscription model in the future. It doesn't sound like the gaming sector will be touched for now.

-EGS/EOS: Lives on, litigation has been to expand EGS/EOS to IOS/Android/other platforms

Other platforms is either them doing a Steam Deck like device or going after consoles, there's no much room for more,

 

[Arc]

Oh fair enough. I was too focused on the Unreal Engine part. Epic already shipped the EOS overlay update for consoles a few months back and their roadmap shows a mobile version in the future.

They'll launch EGS on iOS in the EU next year when Apple is forced to allow alternate app stores. I don't think Tim has the nerve to go after Sony, MS and Nintendo to push EGS on consoles, at least not at this point.

 

[Arsene]

Oh fair enough. I was too focused on the Unreal Engine part. Epic already shipped the EOS overlay update for consoles a few months back and their roadmap shows a mobile version in the future.

They'll launch EGS on iOS in the EU next year when Apple is forced to allow alternate app stores. I don't think Tim has the nerve to go after Sony, MS and Nintendo to push EGS on consoles, at least not at this point.

Epic going after Apple is definitely them testing the waters. If they win and establish EGS on Android/IOS through sideloading they’ll have the grounds to go against consoles since a lot of their reasoning points with Apple would also apply to consoles.

If EGS on PC continues to bleed money and EGS flops on Android/Apple I don’t see them going after console though. They probably can’t afford the repercussions being on bad terms with Sony, MS and Nintendo at the same time. Especially since it would be a very long drawn out case.

 

[C-Dub]

They already have, they’re just really bad at it.

What I meant was a public disinfo campaign like what Sergei used against Steam.

 

[lashman]

 

[Arc]

They never said anything about being champions for workers' rights.

 

[Ge0force]

I can only hope the recent events will be a demotivation for devs and pubs to go in bed with Epic. As much as I appreciate the visual quality of their engine, everything else they do is a mess.

 

[NarohDethan]

Timmy is like the reverse king Midas, everything he touches turns to shit

 

[Arc]

Unreal Engine to change pricing model for non-game developers in 2024, Tim Sweeney compares it to Maya and Photoshop | Game World Observer

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney addressed the recent mass layoffs during the first day of the Unreal Fest 2023 conference. He also discussed the company’s Metaverse ambitions and the changes to the Unreal Engine pricing model.

gameworldobserver.com

During his speech, Sweeney also talked about the Epic Games Store, saying that the company will continue to develop and support it. He sees this product as a “cure to the disease that is infecting a lot of the industry right now.”

That's some bitter medicine.

Timmy is like the reverse king Midas, everything he touches turns to shit

Mierdas Touch

 

[LionelInoe]

I called the pricing model changes, but I think there's only so long they can sustain their current game engine development business model too. Unless they can push Fortnite back into larger profit margins, the engine development side of their business will be a sunk cost as the deal has always been ridiculously good (awesome suite of tools, tons of free assets that are arguably a huge money sink, etc.)

I think the goal here is to hurt VFX and movie studios by a bit first in order to offset the losses on the engine to avoid the drama around engine pricing model changes (they don't want to lose ground against Unity as a lot of gamedevs have now found harbor in UE and it would be a PR nightmare for them to cave as a result.)

 

[lashman]

I called the pricing model changes, but I think there's only so long they can sustain their current game engine development business model too. Unless they can push Fortnite back into larger profit margins, the engine development side of their business will be a sunk cost as the deal has always been ridiculously good (awesome suite of tools, tons of free assets that are arguably a huge money sink, etc.)

I think the goal here is to hurt VFX and movie studios by a bit first in order to offset the losses on the engine to avoid the drama around engine pricing model changes (they don't want to lose ground against Unity as a lot of gamedevs have now found harbor in UE and it would be a PR nightmare for them to cave as a result.)

agreed, 100%

 

[fantomena]

Didn't see anyone mention this, but Joe Kreiner was one of the guys behind the EGS together with Galyonkin, at least in the court documents and the EGS strategies.

 

[Mor]

Didn't see anyone mention this, but Joe Kreiner was one of the guys behind the EGS together with Galyonkin, at least in the court documents and the EGS strategies.

I don't care what Tim said, this store is as good as dead on PC, they will likely try on mobile but as for right now, the way I see EGS working is in "autopilot" mode.

 

[TioChuck]

EGS will not die, it was never alive in the first place.

We learned a lot from the Apple v Epic trial, EGS was never something serious, it was a means to an end, everyting Epic and Tim Sweeney did with EGS was to try to legitimize it to be used as a tool against Google and Epic, the 12% was never about changing the cut for all developers, it was a way for Epic to show that other stores should do it for Epic, Tim Sweeney testified that if Apple had ofered a sweet deal to Epic and only Epic, he would have taked it.

EGS is not a problem anyone should worry about anymore, Sweeney will keep trying to legitimaze it, but as soon as all the legal stuff with Apple and Google ends, so will EGS.

His plan was always to try to be the overlord of "The Metaverse" to have sole control of its economy and not share with the plataform holders, and with all the news that came with the recent layoffs, its pretty clear that he still chasing this dream, even so the modern concept of metaverse already crashed and burned.

Tim Sweeney is a dumb, bored billionare that has money to burn and nothing better to do, he will acomplish very little after all this settle, and in the end, his workers will continue to pay the price of his hubris.

 

[Ge0force]

I still believe EGS was meant to pull devs and publishers (exclusively) in Epic's ecosystem, as preparation for this "metaverse" they are working on. This whole 30% nonsense was nothing more than an effort to disrupt the reputation of the most popular storefronts, while the fight against Apple was necessary to release the metaverse on iPhones.

 

[Alexandros]

 

[curi0usBystander]

I still believe EGS was meant to pull devs and publishers (exclusively) in Epic's ecosystem, as preparation for this "metaverse" they are working on. This whole 30% nonsense was nothing more than an effort to disrupt the reputation of the most popular storefronts, while the fight against Apple was necessary to release the metaverse on iPhones.

All in all, they wanted a sweetheart deal so the metaverse wasn't a ruin, since they thought that they could pay "creators" and make a profit with the current system.

 

[C-Dub]

I don't care what Tim said, this store is as good as dead on PC, they will likely try on mobile but as for right now, the way I see EGS working is in "autopilot" mode.

I think so too. The automation of everything from refunds, store listings, right through to exclusivity suggests to me they’re putting a skeleton crew in charge and running it mostly on autopilot.

It’s the only way 88/12 was ever going to be profitable.

I expect the increasingly less generous coupons and increasingly less interesting free games to go next.

Developers are probably going to abandon the store when they realise Epic DGAF and aren’t going to support them in any meaningful way.

And then it either dies, or just disintegrates without anyone noticing.

 

[Arc]

I'm happy people are catching on to the fact he's a hack. I remember a fawning article from the Washington Post a few years back that gave me a headache because I was rolling my eyes so hard.

 

[gabbo]

I wouldn't say always has, but for meme's sake, yes. Epic has been around for decades at this point, and it wasn't until he became a public mouthpiece that Sweeney became shit. Epic to varying degrees since X360 and 'PC pirates' became their thing.

 

[Ge0force]

It seems Epic has stopped bribing the media as well

Epic Games Store's 'Steam Competitor' Ambitions Are As Good As Dead

Epic’s strategy of spending big on exclusives while doing almost nothing to make its storefront an appealing platform hasn’t paid off.

www.dualshockers.com

 

[ZKenir]

I'm still shocked they never had in-game items in fortnite obtainable by purchasing/pre-purchasing games in a similar fashion to wow pets and other blizzard games.
Those promotions always seemed extremely effective and the fact that nobody ever copied those blows my mind.

 

[C-Dub]

It seems Epic has stopped bribing the media as well

Epic Games Store's 'Steam Competitor' Ambitions Are As Good As Dead

Epic’s strategy of spending big on exclusives while doing almost nothing to make its storefront an appealing platform hasn’t paid off.

www.dualshockers.com

Okay, which one of you here wrote this?

 

[Arc]

I'm still shocked they never had in-game items in fortnite obtainable by purchasing/pre-purchasing games in a similar fashion to wow pets and other blizzard games.
Those promotions always seemed extremely effective and the fact that nobody ever copied those blows my mind.

There were several Fortnite skins for preordering games including Borderlands 3, Assassin's Creed and several Star Wars titles. No idea why Epic wasn't more aggressive with them, especially with FF7 Remake. Maybe Nomura wasn't too keen on the idea of Cloud shooting a gun and flossing.

 

[ZKenir]

I wasn't aware of that, thanks, but it still feels like they were not nearly using those cross-promotions to their potential

 

[LionelInoe]

Maybe Nomura wasn't too keen on the idea of Cloud shooting a gun and flossing.

Now I'm imaging a world where Vincent was in fortnite ala Dirge of Cerberus.

 

[Arc]

The Epic v. Google witness list: Andy Rubin, Sundar Pichai, and more to testify

The trial will begin on November 6th.

www.theverge.com

It’s been almost 10 months since a trial date was set in Epic’s antitrust lawsuit against Google, and with all of the other big tech cases going on right now, including Google’s other antitrust proceedings, you’d be forgiven for forgetting about this one. But believe it or not, the trial will start in less than a month, on November 6th, in the United States District Court in California’s Northern District.

The court released a tentative list of witnesses, mostly executives and leads from both companies, on Thursday. Epic listed 53 witnesses it either will or might call, including Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Google and Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat, and Epic CEO Tim Sweeney.

Crossing my fingers for some more juicy leaks.

 

[prudis]

They'll launch EGS on iOS in the EU next year when Apple is forced to allow alternate app stores. I don't think Tim has the nerve to go after Sony, MS and Nintendo to push EGS on consoles, at least not at this point.

pretty szre Timmy stated numerous times he wont go after consoles ...even caliming they ae justified

 

[Alexandros]

pretty sure Timmy stated numerous times he wont go after consoles ...even claiming they are justified

He's lying. His metaverse dream doesn't work if he has to pay a cut to platform holders.

 

[Amzin]

As someone who hates Apple and hopes to never have to buy into that ecosystem (professionally or for a hobby), I actually think allowing sideloaded apps on iPhones would hurt Android and help Apple. Right now iOS already has some exclusive 3rd party apps and advantages over Android, but Android has the advantage of you can sideload things (like other stores, porn, what have you).

Of course, most people on either side don't / won't use that, but it would suck to have some of the more consumer-friendly sideloaded things in Android migrate away because of a perception of greener pastures (that are easier to maintain)