News Epic Games Store

[lashman]

You're right. I meant games were Steam keys were promised or already being sold, but for some reason I wrote Kickstarter

ahh, right ... in that case - yeah

although, honestly - i think they're just going after devs who use UE4 .... because then they don't even have to seek them out, they already have the full list, contact info and know exactly what all of them are working on

 

[Ge0force]

looks like they're getting ready for the shitstorm:

Epic pays for the refunds so they probably don't care.

 

[lashman]

These free games are usually tied to an upcoming exclusivity deal. It's almost certain that Torchlight Frontiers will be EGS exclusive. Not that I care since it's a F2P MMO, but still... that's what's going on here.

The fact that Epic gives away free games every week also indicates that many more exclusives deals are on their way.

yeah, pretty much ... that certainly has been the pattern so far, at least

 

[Trisolarian]

You're right. I meant games were Steam keys were promised or already being sold, but for some reason I wrote Kickstarter



These free games are usually tied to an upcoming exclusivity deal. It's almost certain that Torchlight Frontiers will be EGS exclusive. Not that I care since it's a F2P MMO, but still... that's what's going on here.

The fact that Epic gives away free games every week also indicates that many more exclusives deals are on their way.

Hmmm..... That makes complete sense. Buy the exclusive distribution rights, pay for XX number of free copies of older title. I wonder if Playdead would be the next to sign on..... Also, I didn't realize that timbleweed park was free, I missed that one.

Y'all know more about the working of EGS than Tim lol.

 

[lashman]

Y'all know more about the working of EGS than Tim lol.

he's too busy shitposting on twitter to know what's going on

... and rich enough to have people who know stuff for him

 

[Ge0force]

Either the devs are playing dumb, or there is no exclusivity deal:

 

[lashman]

Either the devs are playing dumb, or there is no exclusivity deal:

we'll find out later today (i believe)

by the way - you can just use the [img][/img] tags to embed images for now

 

[C-Dub]

ahh, right ... in that case - yeah

although, honestly - i think they're just going after devs who use UE4 .... because then they don't even have to seek them out, they already have the full list, contact info and know exactly what all of them are working on

I think going after games with dedicated fanbases or crowdfunded campaigns is definitely a change in strategy, so much so that Sweeney has had to pull a policy out of his ass after the Shenmue 3 backlash.

I have no idea what that reason is. It could be that publishers are hardening to Epic's advances on the back of the angry backlash, or it could just be Epic isn't willing to pay what they want to justify the exclusivity. Or maybe it's just their lack of professionalism in this whole thing - it's clear they are just making it up as they go along and that's not necessarily an attractive place to sell games. Who knows what Epic will do next that could hurt your game or its value like their "Mega Sale" did?

I think in the long run most people publishing games on PC, especially the not-mega-huge publishers, understand that a sustainable platform with a happy userbase is probably the best bet for their business in the long run. They trade on their fans' goodwill, as one really bad misstep could affect several games over the next few years. I know we all like to think that businessmen just see dollar signs, and a lot of them do, but there are also many who need to take a more holistic approach to how they do business, and a little less money now by declining exclusives might stop their company from sinking when they haven't alienated their fanbase.

At least, that's how I see it.

 

[lashman]

At least, that's how I see it.

let's hope you're right

 

[uraizen]

Hektor You still got that document that explains why EGS is more than just a shit client? The copy and paste to every "it's just another button!"

 

[Hektor]

Hektor You still got that document that explains why EGS is more than just a shit client? The copy and paste to every "it's just another button!"

 

[Yoshi]

Always funny to see an upcoming game change from "Coming to Steam" to "Coming to PC"

Like they're ashamed to admit it's an EGS exclusive.

 

[lashman]

Always funny to see an upcoming game change from "Coming to Steam" to "Coming to PC"

Like they're ashamed to admit it's an EGS exclusive.

that's because they are

yes, yes, i know ... NDA and shit, lol

 

[Copons]

although, honestly - i think they're just going after devs who use UE4 .... because then they don't even have to seek them out, they already have the full list, contact info and know exactly what all of them are working on

Well to be fair devs using UE are both the easiest ones to buy out, and the ones for whom (am I using it correctly? ) it makes the most sense, with the whole no-fees agreement.

 

[lashman]

Well to be fair devs using UE are both the easiest ones to buy out, and the ones for whom (am I using it correctly? ) it makes the most sense, with the whole no-fees agreement.

eh ... it's just 5% really .... not that big of a deal tbh

also - volvo did that AGES ago and no one cared back then (not that anyone would want to use Source willingly nowadays )

and it doesn't even apply to big publishers - those always licence the engine for a lump sum, not royalties anyway

 

[Le Pertti]

Speaking of Source, I really want Valve to announce something, anything about Source 2 soon, to put it in familiar terms, UDK needs competition!

Epic burned me so bad but I still want fanboy for an awesome game engine and editor, so need to find a new one.XD

 

[lashman]

Speaking of Source, I really want Valve to announce something, anything about Source 2 soon, to put it in familiar terms, UDK needs competition!

Epic burned me so bad but I still want fanboy for an awesome game engine and editor, so need to find a new one.XD

i honestly don't think they care about that stuff anymore

they only have Source 2 for internal use and maybe giving out Source to anyone who actually wants to use it (like Black Mesa)

but i really don't think they're working on Source 2 as a "licenseable" engine anymore ... they'd have to make it extremely user-friendly if they wanted to do that ... and Source never was user-friendly ... which was fine back in the day (since neither was UDK) ... but now - they'd probably have to start from scratch tbh ... which i seriously doubt they want to do

 

[Le Pertti]

i honestly don't think they care about that stuff anymore

they only have Source 2 for internal use and maybe giving out Source to anyone who actually wants to use it (like Black Mesa)

but i really don't think they're working on Source 2 as a "licenseable" engine anymore ... they'd have to make it extremely user-friendly if they wanted to do that ... and Source never was user-friendly ... which was fine back in the day (since neither was UDK) ... but now - they'd probably have to start from scratch tbh ... which i seriously doubt they want to do

Well if they release it free to use even better! But yeah can't imagine them caring that much. Even with the Citadel rumours about a new Source 2 game, still don't think it's what I want it to be in terms of game engine.

I want to be wowed the same as that HL2 demo back in the day. That was so damn awesome.

 

[lashman]

Even with the Citadel rumours about a new Source 2 game

they've been officially using Source 2 for like 5 or 6 years now ... that's when they ported Dota over to 2 ... and have been using it ever since ... Artifact is Source 2 ... Underlords is Source 2 as well

 

[BernardoOne]

It's a real shame it went nowhere for licensing. Their plan was insanely Dev friendly. Source 2 was supposed to be completely free. No fees, no royalty shares. The only single requirement is that the game should be published on Steam, which you should anyways if you want to make a profitable game. No exclusivity bullshit or anything. You could sell it on 10 different platforms and 10 different PC storefronts and Valve would only take a cut of the Steam version.

 

[Alexandros]

It's a real shame it went nowhere for licensing. Their plan was insanely Dev friendly. Source 2 was supposed to be completely free. No fees, no royalty shares. The only single requirement is that the game should be published on Steam, which you should anyways if you want to make a profitable game. No exclusivity bullshit or anything. You could sell it on 10 different platforms and 10 different PC storefronts and Valve would only take a cut of the Steam version.

Now that would be a great way for Valve to troll Epic.

 

[lashman]

Now that would be a great way for Valve to troll Epic.

yeah, i totally wish they'd do it now

but i don't really think that's gonna happen ... sadly

 

[Le Pertti]

If they do, I hope I get to use quark again!

 

[Ge0force]

If they do, I hope I get to use quark again!

Yeah he's awesome!

 

[CommodoreKong]

i honestly don't think they care about that stuff anymore

they only have Source 2 for internal use and maybe giving out Source to anyone who actually wants to use it (like Black Mesa)

but i really don't think they're working on Source 2 as a "licenseable" engine anymore ... they'd have to make it extremely user-friendly if they wanted to do that ... and Source never was user-friendly ... which was fine back in the day (since neither was UDK) ... but now - they'd probably have to start from scratch tbh ... which i seriously doubt they want to do

My guess is we'll see the Source 2 SDK released either with or shortly after their flagship VR game is released. The Source 2 SDK will allow users to generate tons of free content like mods for Valve's games and new games so I do think they'll want to get it out.
I don't think it will see any sort of wide spread use by the industry. Valve is such a small company that I doubt more than a dozen or so people regularly work on Source 2 (which gets into the issue of Valve's tiny workforce and I think that they don't have nearly enough employees but that's another conversation). It will probably be missing tons of features that Unreal 4 and Unity have. It probably will also probably have minimal to no support for consoles.

 

[lashman]

My guess is we'll see the Source 2 SDK released either with or shortly after their flagship VR game is released. The Source 2 SDK will allow users to generate tons of free content like mods for Valve's games and new games so I do think they'll want to get it out.
I don't think it will see any sort of wide spread use by the industry. Valve is such a small company that I doubt more than a dozen or so people regularly work on Source 2 (which gets into the issue of Valve's tiny workforce and I think that they don't have nearly enough employees but that's another conversation). It will probably be missing tons of features that Unreal 4 and Unity have. It probably will also probably have minimal to no support for consoles.

yeah ... if i had to guess i'd say that's exactly what's going to happen ... you're right

 

[ISee]

MW5 wasn't kickstarted ... was it?

---

looks like they're getting ready for the shitstorm:

I can't even describe how shitty this is. That's like most of the pre-orders.

I think going after games with dedicated fanbases or crowdfunded campaigns is definitely a change in strategy, so much so that Sweeney has had to pull a policy out of his ass after the Shenmue 3 backlash.

I agree. This is their newest strategy, take games that people have been loaning for to exist.
It would be clever, if it wasn't pure evil.





I am never ever pre ordering anything again, unless I can preorder it on steam or gog directly.

 

[Ge0force]

GI.biz wrote another article about indie devs complaining about discovery on Steam, and claimed that Steam Labs is a result of Epic offering decent competition to Steam:

The Epic Games store, though still closed off to most developers, appears to have challenged Steam sufficiently that Valve is re-examining things like revenue share and recommendation.

Drain journalism is everywhere it seems...

 

[lashman]

I can't even describe how shitty this is. That's like most of the pre-orders.

yeah, i imagine most people who were passionate about MW enough to pre-order (on a random website, no less, not directly on steam) have definitely joined that server

 

[gabbo]

I am never ever pre ordering anything again, unless I can preorder it on steam or gog directly.

Metro proved not even that was a safe bet anymore if a title gets enough hype prerelease.

Does Mech5 have the same kind of cultural cache that other titles like Shenmue or even phoenix Point do? Yeah it's "old and newly revived", but it's not exactly lighting the internet on fire every time it's shown something new.

I guess im asking if the audience is there to push back of this is about to get. 'sclusey bomb dropped on it.

 

[lashman]

I guess im asking if the audience is there to push back of this is about to get. 'sclusey bomb dropped on it.

they might be just desperate enough (we haven't had a real singleplayer MW game for a looooooooooooong time) to not care (especially since MWO only got on steam VERY recently) ... sadly

 

[ISee]

Metro proved not even that was a safe bet anymore if a title gets enough hype prerelease.

Does Mech5 have the same kind of cultural cache that other titles like Shenmue or even phoenix Point do? Yeah it's "old and newly revived", but it's not exactly lighting the internet on fire every time it's shown something new.

I guess im asking if the audience is there to push back of this is about to get. 'sclusey bomb dropped on it.

I at least got my Metro Steam Version on release day.... It's something.




It's based on the Battletech RPG, Table Top Strategy Games, there are Books, Merchandise, Swag. people redo and re upload the old intro vids to this day, even DF did a Retro video on it.

Battletech is not as known and loved as W40k, but it's not small either. The thing is, the console games were never good and so it's more of a PC/DOS thing and gaming press is mostly U.S. and console based. Most "journalists" probably never played the old dos games, let alone are willing to do some research. It's just another game, like Tetris Effect. There isn't much resistance about that either.

We got a Battletech Strategy game last year and I remember that it sold 250k in two weeks (no idea how much total, but close to 1 million could be realistic). It later received a season pass and two DLC "campaigns" so far. That's not bad for a niche, PC (Steam and GOG) game.
The hype for MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is a lot bigger and even Nvidia made sure that it supports Ray Tracing. It is kind of a big and prestigious old PC gamer thing, Epic hit hard and aimed good with this one (It's not official yet, afaik)

I can tell you one thing though: old dos gamers hate the egs. People aren't happy,

yeah, i imagine most people who were passionate about MW enough to pre-order (on a random website, no less, not directly on steam) have definitely joined that server

The problem isn't just the discord server. It's the MechWarrior Online Ingame Money that people received with their pre orders. You redeemed that, you're stuck.
And look at it that way, enough people love the franchise to preorder it from a website so the devs receive the entire cut. The game didn't need a Kickstarter campaign to be funded. It was the MWO money and people rushed to help out once preorder became available.

 

[uraizen]

This should be a "The Bible" threadmark.

Thank you.

 

[Kurt Russell]

This should be a "The Bible" threadmark.

Thank you.

It is now

 

[gabbo]

I at least got my Metro Steam Version on release day.... It's something.




It's based on the Battletech RPG, Table Top Strategy Games, there are Books, Merchandise, Swag. people redo and re upload the old intro vids to this day, even DF did a Retro video on it.

Battletech is not as known and loved as W40k, but it's not small either. The thing is, the console games were never good and so it's more of a PC/DOS thing and gaming press is mostly U.S. and console based. Most "journalists" probably never played the old dos games, let alone are willing to do some research. It's just another game, like Tetris Effect. There isn't much resistance about that either.

We got a Battletech Strategy game last year and I remember that it sold 250k in two weeks (no idea how much total, but close to 1 million could be realistic). It later received a season pass and two DLC "campaigns" so far. That's not bad for a niche, PC (Steam and GOG) game.
The hype for MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is a lot bigger and even Nvidia made sure that it supports Ray Tracing. It is kind of a big and prestigious old PC gamer thing, Epic hit hard and aimed good with this one (It's not official yet, afaik)

I can tell you one thing though: old dos gamers hate the egs. People aren't happy,



The problem isn't just the discord server. It's the MechWarrior Online Ingame Money that people received with their pre orders. You redeemed that, you're stuck.
And look at it that way, enough people love the franchise to preorder it from a website so the devs receive the entire cut. The game didn't need a Kickstarter campaign to be funded. It was the MWO money and people rushed to help out once preorder became available.

I stand corrected.

 

[Álvaro de Campos]

GI.biz wrote another article about indie devs complaining about discovery on Steam, and claimed that Steam Labs is a result of Epic offering decent competition to Steam:

The Epic Games store, though still closed off to most developers, appears to have challenged Steam sufficiently that Valve is re-examining things like revenue share and recommendation.

Drain journalism is everywhere it seems...

Anything good Valve does now is due to Epic, that's just par for the course.

Also I'm a bit late on this but - as a Mizuguchi fan who bought several of his games on day 1 - the Tetris Effect exclusivity really hurts me on a deep personal level.

 

[Copons]

Also I'm a bit late on this but - as a Mizuguchi fan who bought several of his games on day 1 - the Tetris Effect exclusivity really hurts me on a deep personal level.

+1 on this

I own quite a lot of copies of Rez (1 DC JP, 1 PS2 PAL, 1 PS2 JP with Trance Vibrator bought used so it's naughtier , 1 XBLA, 1 Steam, and I think that's it, but I can't really check because most of my old games are in a storage space in another country), Lumines, Meteos, E3, N4, and somehow I've never been into Space Channel

I'm sure I'll buy Tetris Effect when it comes on Steam, but I don't feel any pressure right now, as I guess to fully enjoy it I'd need a VR setup that I neither own nor plan to get anytime soon.

 

[C-Dub]

With regular games you can feasibly argue that in some use cases EGS is "just another launcher" or "clicking a different icon", even if there are use cases where that clearly isn't true (like using Steam Link as one example), but if you're not on Oculus Store or Steam then your VR game might as well not exist. I get that Epic offered them a giant wad of cash, but it seems so counter-productive to offer on PC a game that has been praised for its VR features and then abjectly refuse to release it on either the two premier PC VR storefronts when launching VR games generally isn't just "clicking a different icon".

I mean, it's clear as day that Epic doesn't give a flying fuck, and this is about owning Valve and burning the PC market to the ground so Epic can own the ashes more than anything else, but you'd think that a developer that has decided to make something for VR would want to actually build some cachet amongst that community in what is still very early days of the medium. If you can make a top grade VR experience and get that reputation, your game will be an evergreen title as the VR install-base increases. I don't see how making your game only on EGS will accomplish that.

It's staggering, really.

 

[lashman]

With regular games you can feasibly argue that in some use cases EGS is "just another launcher" or "clicking a different icon", even if there are use cases where that clearly isn't true (like using Steam Link as one example), but if you're not on Oculus Store or Steam then your VR game might as well not exist. I get that Epic offered them a giant wad of cash, but it seems so counter-productive to offer on PC a game that has been praised for its VR features and then abjectly refuse to release it on either the two premier PC VR storefronts when launching VR games generally isn't just "clicking a different icon".

I mean, it's clear as day that Epic doesn't give a flying fuck, and this is about owning Valve and burning the PC market to the ground so Epic can own the ashes more than anything else, but you'd think that a developer that has decided to make something for VR would want to actually build some cachet amongst that community in what is still very early days of the medium. If you can make a top grade VR experience and get that reputation, your game will be an evergreen title as the VR install-base increases. I don't see how making your game only on EGS will accomplish that.

It's staggering, really.

the power of

 

[Alexandros]

I use the Steam Controller and Big Picture mode for 100% of my gaming so Steam is much more than a launcher for me, it's an essential part of the experience. It would be great if companies that have launchers like EA, Ubisoft, Epic etc would implement robust controller and TV support to their clients but they don't seem to care much.

 

[Ge0force]

I use the Steam Controller and Big Picture mode for 100% of my gaming so Steam is much more than a launcher for me, it's an essential part of the experience. It would be great if companies that have launchers like EA, Ubisoft, Epic etc would implement robust controller and TV support to their clients but they don't seem to care much.

That's the problem with games being tied to a single launcher: they don't have to care, since pc gamers have no alternatives to play these games.

 

[lashman]

That's the problem with games being tied to a single launcher: they don't have to care, since pc gamers have no alternatives to play these games.

the power of competition

 

[C-Dub]

I use the Steam Controller and Big Picture mode for 100% of my gaming so Steam is much more than a launcher for me, it's an essential part of the experience. It would be great if companies that have launchers like EA, Ubisoft, Epic etc would implement robust controller and TV support to their clients but they don't seem to care much.

I think GOG could be heroes if GOG 2.0 begins to go after certain Steam features.

We have to be fair too, inasmuch as Valve doesn’t give too much of a fuck when you buy games that use other clients. Adding a function to include exes of non-Steam games is a barebones implementation considering all the different kinds of launchers and DRM out there. Valve can definitely do better here to ensure compatibility with other launchers, even if it’s just implementing something like GloSC and OSOL into the client itself (which in itself would be marginally above barebones). Ideally I think a good feature would be to scan your drives for clients or games (or allow logging in via those client accounts) and adding the games that way.

I think GOG 2.0 is the fiercest competition to Steam thus far, when you think of it as a challenge to Steam’s ubiquity. I think if Valve want to maintain Steam’s dominance as the go-to launcher then they need to look to match GOG 2.0 feature for feature, and pair that with Steam’s already rich feature set.

If they don’t, and GOG adds some Steam-like controller and 10ft UI support, they could eat away at Valve’s living room and VR markets, which is super important for their hardware push.

That's the problem with games being tied to a single launcher: they don't have to care, since pc gamers have no alternatives to play these games.

This is a fair point related to my rant above, however.

But this makes it all the more imperative that Valve steps up and looks beyond the petty digital fiefdoms of companies like EA, Ubi and Epic and really puts the work into the Steam client to make it the definitive place to launch all your games.

I really think GOG are on to something here, and while they are a few pieces short of a complete setup, they are almost there. That should make Valve concerned because as soon as they’re outclassed in service then their large market share is vulnerable.

 

[lashman]

How U.S. video game companies are building tools for China's surveillance state

China is tracking gamers and punishing young players for "excessive" playtime — with the help of American companies, including Riot Games.

www.latimes.com

featuring an epic cameo ...

 

[Ge0force]

How U.S. video game companies are building tools for China's surveillance state

China is tracking gamers and punishing young players for "excessive" playtime — with the help of American companies, including Riot Games.

www.latimes.com

featuring an epic cameo ...

Lovely!

 

[fantomena]

I refuse to buy a Tetris Effect on EGS. The fact that the game is not even releasing on the Oculus Store is such bullshit.

Say what you want about Facebook and walled gardens, but the Oculus Store is really good both as a store and as a client.

Releasing a game praised for it's VR support not on Steam or Oculus Store is really just a whole bunch of fucking stupid.

 

[JMTHEFOX]

I refuse to buy a Tetris Effect on EGS. The fact that the game is not even releasing on the Oculus Store is such bullshit.

Say what you want about Facebook and walled gardens, but the Oculus Store is really good both as a store and as a client.

Releasing a game praised for it's VR support not on Steam or Oculus Store is really just a whole bunch of fucking stupid.

Yeah, releasing a store that has no VR-supported interface for a client is absolutely baffling.

 

[Doctor Ironic]

I use the Steam Controller and Big Picture mode for 100% of my gaming so Steam is much more than a launcher for me, it's an essential part of the experience. It would be great if companies that have launchers like EA, Ubisoft, Epic etc would implement robust controller and TV support to their clients but they don't seem to care much.

Everybody should be giving the Steam Controller a shot, finding the perfect configuration for your game of choice is sublime. I'm definitely gonna try it on Destiny 2 once it transitions.

 

[ISee]

Apparently Tetris Effect needs SteamVR to run in VR.
Which requires Steam.

So if you want to play your EGS exclusive in VR, you need Steam.

That would be funny, in another universe. In this one it's just sad.

 

[lashman]

Apparently Tetris Effect needs SteamVR to run in VR.
Which requires Steam.

So if you want to play your EGS exclusive in VR, you need Steam.

That would be funny, in another universe. In this one it's just sad.

that only shows how extremely late that deal was made .... that they didn't even have the time to replace steamvr with openvr