News Epic Games Store

CommodoreKong

Mercenary in the Badlands
Jun 15, 2019
644
1,792
93
Epic's Gamescom presence was surprisingly lean. I expected a lot of games to be announced as exclusives but there were almost no new announcements. I wonder why that is. Did they feel like they already have a strong slate for the upcoming months? Are they planning to court developers at the last minute to get as big a reaction as possible? Did the current crop of exclusives not perform as well as expected? It will be an interesting next few months.
Despite all the Fortnight money, I doubt Epic has an "unlimited" budget for buying up exclusives. I'm sure they have a fixed amount they're willing to spend and certain things, like Boarderlands probably really ate up that budget.

That being said I'm sure they have some unannounced games they're working to get exclusives and it's always possible they'll buy up some announced games closer to launch.
 

Kyougar

No reviews, no Buy
Nov 2, 2018
3,127
11,243
113
Despite all the Fortnight money, I doubt Epic has an "unlimited" budget for buying up exclusives. I'm sure they have a fixed amount they're willing to spend and certain things, like Boarderlands probably really ate up that budget.

That being said I'm sure they have some unannounced games they're working to get exclusives and it's always possible they'll buy up some announced games closer to launch.
I just hope that they have a harder time getting devs to take the deal.
 

JMTHEFOX

Planning to Be a Game Designer
Oct 4, 2018
517
688
93
Brooklyn, NY

Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
3,982
13,792
113
Belgium
Some of you go to bed having nightmares about EGS exclusives, and wake up having nightmares about EGS exclusives. :grinning-face-with-smiling-eyes:
Hahaha no it's not that bad for me. 😂

You're right, I do have a huge backlog and there are still plenty of great games coming to other storefronts. But I just want to be able to look forward to upcoming games, without the chance of being disappointed that they'll be moneyhatted by Epic.

I'm also afraid that if Epic gets away with their moneyhats, other big companies like Google will start doing the same (they already did for Orcs must die 3).

Most of the time, I'm not worried about EGS at all. But certain events (exclusivity announcements for games of my favorite devs, people caving in despite disliking epic etc) make my blood boil. And when that happens, it helps a lot for me to vent my frustration here to cool down quickly. Sorry for that. 🙃
 

Nyarlathotep

The Crawling Chaos
Apr 18, 2019
190
494
63
Meanwhile at Double Damage
Woooooooow. </darksydephil voice>

Sure, if you really feel you must make a video negging people going "gonna pirate this to see how bad it is lel" you do you, but if you have a comment saying "I really hope mods can fix this because I love everything about it except the moment to moment gameplay" and your response is "I loVe yOuR aeSTHEtic, deSIGn aNd WoRlD BuiLDinG, bUt Not tHE meChaNICs" I'm left to conclude one of two things:
1) You're pretty damn arrogant, and literally cannot accept criticism
2) You really wanted to do a "Woe is me, look at how harrassed I am" video, but, well, you fucking aren't and couldn't find enough examples of people even close to that to fill a fucking 3 minute video
 

Swenhir

Spaceships!
Apr 18, 2019
3,534
7,621
113
Woooooooow. </darksydephil voice>

Sure, if you really feel you must make a video negging people going "gonna pirate this to see how bad it is lel" you do you, but if you have a comment saying "I really hope mods can fix this because I love everything about it except the moment to moment gameplay" and your response is "I loVe yOuR aeSTHEtic, deSIGn aNd WoRlD BuiLDinG, bUt Not tHE meChaNICs" I'm left to conclude one of two things:
1) You're pretty damn arrogant, and literally cannot accept criticism
2) You really wanted to do a "Woe is me, look at how harrassed I am" video, but, well, you fucking aren't and couldn't find enough examples of people even close to that to fill a fucking 3 minute video
I really think, the former with a little bit of the later. I talked with them on twitter and this guy has a history of grandstanding wherever he can. The example I often come up with is that they made a parody video of Star Citizen, criticizing it from on high for having ship sales, only to take the EGS deal half a year later. This is more of the same attitude in my opinion.
 

Samson

Junior Member
Aug 2, 2019
396
1,196
93
Heraklion
I really think, the former with a little bit of the later. I talked with them on twitter and this guy has a history of grandstanding wherever he can. The example I often come up with is that they made a parody video of Star Citizen, criticizing it from on high for having ship sales, only to take the EGS deal half a year later. This is more of the same attitude in my opinion.
People who deride Star Citizen for having a lengthy development but then defend EGS because “sOfTWarE DeVELopMeNT iS HaRd, yOu pLeBs” are hilarious.
 

CommodoreKong

Mercenary in the Badlands
Jun 15, 2019
644
1,792
93
I just hope that they have a harder time getting devs to take the deal.
We know for a fact some are unwilling to, I'm sure at least partially because of the backlash.
Since the Epic Store has been operating for awhile I'm sure they're looking at the return on investment when deciding how much to spend in the future. I'm sure some deals have worked out for them and others have not.

I will admit that some decisions they're making are just odd. The Ghostbusters videogame remake is a big one to me. Ghostbusters is actually my favorite movie of all time (I actually own multiple Ghostbusters prop replicas) but I would never spend money on buying timed exclusively on the remake. The 2016 remake bombed, no one knows how the upcoming reboot will do and I don't think most are exactly clamoring to play the Ghostbusters game again.
 

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
8,306
113
Meanwhile at Double Damage


No idea what this video is supposed to demonstrate. I see no harassment or anything special here. People are criticizing a product and somebody choose to pick the worst examples, but not understanding that most complains sound reasonable, once you remove the cursing.
To nobodies surprise there are some racists and other idiots mixed in. But they are a general burden and problem to society. Nobody is pointing at violent hooligans and dooming every football fan. No idea why the gaming community should be extra ashamed of bigots and racists. They of course exist, independent of the hobby.
 

Trisolarian

Junior Member
Jul 12, 2019
1,284
2,249
113
Epic Games Store

"It's Complicated"
"It just works" (for those we offer generous sales guarantee deals to)

Also lol at Kotaku fanning the flames of the growing "Devs vs Gamer war of '19". Its simple, this is what happens when the economics of gaming don't work anymore, Dev's are not able to fund their projects and customers get screwed over by a multitude of shitty tactics to try to make up the gap that happens when AAA releases cost $60 when they should cost at least $80. Everyone gets screwed and they turn on each other.
 

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
8,306
113
Even at $90 they would still sell you Lootboxes, Time Savers and other stuff.
They aren't doing so because game development is dramatically more expansive then 10 years ago. They are doing so because they need to maximize profit and not generate "a" profit.
 

Nyarlathotep

The Crawling Chaos
Apr 18, 2019
190
494
63
I guess you need to define what you mean by "dramatically" more expensive, because every gen prior to this one has had studios optimistically go into expecting costs to only double, and then be hit with costs actually being 3 to 4 times what they were in the previous gen, and I'd say its awfully naive to think that situation changed this gen, or won't occur again next gen.
 

Trisolarian

Junior Member
Jul 12, 2019
1,284
2,249
113
Even at $90 they would still sell you Lootboxes, Time Savers and other stuff.
They aren't doing so because game development is dramatically more expansive then 10 years ago. They are doing so because they need to maximize profit and not generate "a" profit.
bingo

capitalism™
Indie games getting guaranteed $50 would reduce the number of exclusive deals.

I'm not saying that they would disappear, just you wouldn't see lootboxes in SINGLE PLAYER GAMES as we have in the past and will see in the future.

Free to play is a lost cause at this point, no need even to hide their pursuit of the whale. This is the money maker btw. Free to play and paid multiplayer with gambling tactic monetization thrown in. If its $90 up front, maybe multiplayer games you pay for would have a little more free content and less gambling.
 

Chudah

Just a chick who games
May 24, 2019
207
987
93
Chicago
store.steampowered.com
Free to play is a lost cause at this point, no need even to hide their pursuit of the whale. This is the money maker btw. Free to play and paid multiplayer with gambling tactic monetization thrown in. If its $90 up front, maybe multiplayer games you pay for would have a little more free content and less gambling.
Problem is, the AAA publishers have had a taste of the sweet sweet drug that is FTP MTX monetization, and unless they're regulated by the government to stop this shit, they ain't ever going back.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman

Trisolarian

Junior Member
Jul 12, 2019
1,284
2,249
113
Problem is, the AAA publishers have had a taste of the sweet sweet drug that is FTP MTX monetization, and unless they're regulated by the government to stop this shit, they ain't ever going back.
I'm not even opposed completely to micro transactions if they are cosmetic. (Even if Apex just showed us how wrong that can go)

Lootboxes need to go though.

Production costs of games are also higher than ever and there is more pressure than ever to deliver higher return.
 
  • Like
Reactions: m_dorian

Chudah

Just a chick who games
May 24, 2019
207
987
93
Chicago
store.steampowered.com
I'm not even opposed completely to micro transactions if they are cosmetic. (Even if Apex just showed us how wrong that can go)

Lootboxes need to go though.

Production costs of games are also higher than ever and there is more pressure than ever to deliver higher return.
I'm not completely opposed to cosmetic microtransactions either, but they can still be a problem when they're used to pressure young kids into buying them in order to not be bullied by their peers (Fortnite).

Even though production costs are skyrocketing, the returns that these publishers are making are far FAR above what they need to break even. And if they were to remove all MTXs today and not make back what they put into the game, then they need to rethink their development costs.
 

Trisolarian

Junior Member
Jul 12, 2019
1,284
2,249
113
I'm not completely opposed to cosmetic microtransactions either, but they can still be a problem when they're used to pressure young kids into buying them in order to not be bullied by their peers (Fortnite).

Even though production costs are skyrocketing, the returns that these publishers are making are far FAR above what they need to break even. And if they were to remove all MTXs today and not make back what they put into the game, then they need to rethink their development costs.
For the big dogs, like top two or three, maybe they can keep up. But studios are closing left and right and this hen has seen a lot go under. Some of them suddenly.

As to the bullying, I haven't heard this but I'm not surprised. Would making the entire experience paid get rid of that? No. It's teenagers and video games, bullying will always happen.
 

Chudah

Just a chick who games
May 24, 2019
207
987
93
Chicago
store.steampowered.com
For the big dogs, like top two or three, maybe they can keep up. But studios are closing left and right and this hen has seen a lot go under. Some of them suddenly.
That may be true, but I don't necessarily agree that this is entirely a result of overblown game budgets, but an issue with late-stage capitalism, and a market that can no longer sustain itself with wealth inequality quickly reaching catastrophic proportions. But, we're derailing the thread here....

I don't believe EGS is here to fix the current game market, but take advantage of it.
Who wants to bet Kotaku won't write about this? 🙄
Apparently, writing anything bad about Epic is "punching down", even though Sweeny is worth billions.
 
Last edited:

Cordelia

MetaMember
Jun 10, 2019
2,165
4,793
113
I don't know if it's allowed to quote a post from that other forum, but there is a post on Control thread that show concern about EGS pricing that is more expensive than console and said that price should be cheaper because trickle down economic. There are devs of the game actively replying posts but ignoring that particular post lol.
 

Arsene

On a break
Apr 17, 2019
3,271
8,290
113
Canada
not surprised ... also - they are not the ones deciding on the pricing ... that would be 505 ... and we already know they're greedy assholes
They may be greedy, but at least they didn’t sell out their kickstarter backers to EGS like Annapurna or Deep Silver. (Bloodstained and Indivisible were both crowdfunded before being picked up by 505.)

Also I might be a bit biased because they changed Indivisible’s awful regional pricing in Canada and made it much better, while also adding an aditional 10% discount after fan outcry in less than a day. Most company’s usually give us shitty regional pricing and ignore us when we complain.
 

FunnyJay

Powered by the Cloud
Apr 6, 2019
1,458
3,801
113
Sweden
Did you guys see the comment from Totilo in the Kotaku article?
Someone brought up the Darq situation and he actually thanked them for informing them on that subject and that they might incorporate that into some other article since they are late on the subject themselves.
 

LEANIJA

MetaMember
May 5, 2019
2,949
7,386
113
Austria
I just found out a new game by ACE Team will be EGSclusive, and it really disappointed me. I love their games, usually buy them, plus ACE has a strong presence in their Steam group, and has released every game so far there..., but alas, they signed with Devolver-Good Shepard, and we know they love the EGS for some reason.

Real shame that no dev is safe these days :(

Anyway, if you're interested, here it is, The Eternal Cylinder
 

Arsene

On a break
Apr 17, 2019
3,271
8,290
113
Canada
I just found out a new game by ACE Team will be EGSclusive, and it really disappointed me. I love their games, usually buy them, plus ACE has a strong presence in their Steam group, and has released every game so far there..., but alas, they signed with Devolver-Good Shepard, and we know they love the EGS for some reason.

Real shame that no dev is safe these days :(

Anyway, if you're interested, here it is, The Eternal Cylinder
Who cares about The Eternal Cylinder when ACE is also making GOTY 2020 Rock of Ages 3

 

Trisolarian

Junior Member
Jul 12, 2019
1,284
2,249
113
I read the comments.

Oh boy. First comment a complete winner. What a tool. I really want to like Kotaku but it just gets harder. I agree with a lot of what they do! Just the community around it is another place on fucking steroids.
 

Trisolarian

Junior Member
Jul 12, 2019
1,284
2,249
113
It has been scientifically proven that reading the comments on news websites is the fastest way to go insane.
No way. Its the only way to get decode the messages from the secret Epic resistance, now that they have taken over most known digital media. Hang on folks, I'm working on a decoder we can all use. Its where Tim puts his spy devices. Hint, they are everywhere!
 

Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
3,982
13,792
113
Belgium
Exactly what I expected. Not a single word of criticism about EGS, even calling it a "popular store". Kotaku's narrative is that Epic is offering healthy competition for Steam, and that an insignificant group of toxic children doesn't want competition for Steam at all.

Even pc gamers article about this matter was more objective, and that says a lot.

Edit: I see the comments section is still "it's just business, don't whine about it and give them your money" 🙄
 

Ruvon

Chaotic writer
May 15, 2019
707
1,642
93
France
cabinetdechaologie.wordpress.com
Did you guys see the comment from Totilo in the Kotaku article?
Someone brought up the Darq situation and he actually thanked them for informing them on that subject and that they might incorporate that into some other article since they are late on the subject themselves.
Is this person pointed out to Totilo (edited, sorry for mispelling the name) what was Schreier's answer on Twitter ? :steam_cleanseal:

[Update—2:50 p.m. ET]: Updated to clarify the percentage of game sales Steam’s store takes.
"Hey, I forgot to send Steam a free and out of context kick in the nuts ! Let me clarify that."

Come on. As said after in the same article, it was never about the money.
 
Last edited: