News Epic Games Store

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
9,637
25,858
113
I wonder how EGS is doing these days. Feel like the store was talked about way more than before and it had a lot of mindshare before (even if the mindshare was a result of negative actions). Looking at the store, new games doesn't often release there and old games that have been on Steam/GOG for a long time is being released there with no talk.

Yet Steam has had multiple of successes so far in 21. Valheim, Nioh 2, Little Nightmares 2, Tale if Immortal, Dyson Sphere Program, Rust blowing up again because of streamers on top of my head.

EGS feels like a store that "is just there".
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • This!
Reactions: xxr and lashman

beep boop

MetaMember
Dec 6, 2018
2,170
4,558
113
Part of is that Epic seems to be somewhat picky about the type of games they want on there. The (bigger) exclusives in particular come across as strategic. And unless you’ve got a hot AAA title or want to give away your game for free, it's probably not super easy to get on there.
 
Last edited:

Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
Sep 7, 2018
7,029
25,777
113
I wonder how EGS is doing these days. Feel like the store was talked about way more than before and it had a lot of mindshare before (even if the mindshare was a result of negative actions). Looking at the store, new games doesn't often release there and old games that have been on Steam/GOG for a long time is being released there with no talk,

Yet Steam has had multiple of successes so far in 21. Valheim, Nioh 2, Little Nightmares 2, Tale if Immortal, Dyson Sphere Program, Rust blowing up again because of streamers on top of my head.

EGS feels like a store that "is just there".
Fun fact: the reason why people remembered EGS lately was KH and between epic and Square they fucked up, so yeah...
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman

Myradeer

Rayon de Soleil
Apr 17, 2019
320
498
63
That... I don't know :crying-face:

Maybe Starbreeze doesn't want an exclusivity deal (yet) or perhaps they are talking with different partners. who knows.
I have to assume going Epic exclusive has to be the last resort when it comes to multiplayer games.
 

Arsene

On a break
Apr 17, 2019
3,271
8,290
113
Canada
I wonder how EGS is doing these days. Feel like the store was talked about way more than before and it had a lot of mindshare before (even if the mindshare was a result of negative actions). Looking at the store, new games doesn't often release there and old games that have been on Steam/GOG for a long time is being released there with no talk,

Yet Steam has had multiple of successes so far in 21. Valheim, Nioh 2, Little Nightmares 2, Tale if Immortal, Dyson Sphere Program, Rust blowing up again because of streamers on top of my head.

EGS feels like a store that "is just there".
Its really funny that Epic paid for exclusivity on Coffee Stain's last 2 releases and then the one they don't buy exclusivity on (Valheim) blows the fuck up on Steam. Feels like no matter what they do, their idea of a curated storefront can't compete with Steam.
 

Virtual Ruminant

MetaMember
May 21, 2020
515
1,770
93
{Another place to get the same achievements}
Well, that was the final straw that made me create an account on MetaGamerscore. The site isn't the greatest wrt to look and feel (but it seems to be on the ball when it comes to supporting all the platforms) and it also almost folded once already some three years ago, but at this point I need my stupid non-accomplishments collected in one place or I might just as well forget about all of them.
 
  • Eyes
Reactions: Tomasety

ExistentialThought

Coffee Lover ♥☕
Feb 29, 2020
1,561
4,836
113
Surprised how many folks like the trophy system.

It is weird when a bronze or silver trophy is more rare than a gold trophy. It also feels more limiting for developers to have to create a few tiers of trophies rather than whatever number of trophies work for the game.

I mean a game like Devil Daggers has one flipping hard achievement and it makes sense why it only has one. Whereas Europa Univeralis 4 has hundreds and they can give you ideas of what to play next. Wandersong is an example of a game that uses achievements for story purposes. There is nothing saying these examples could not work with a trophy system per se, it just seems odd to add another arbitrary layer ontop of them.

Would Devil Daggers have to create more trophies to fit a system? Does a game like EU4 have to arbitrarily assign rankings to each of its hundreds of achievements? Or games that use them for story purposes, have to consider another layer?

To be clear, I am not saying other achievement systems are necessarily better or any specific handling is better (For example, I think Steam could consider having a small overhaul of achivements). I am focused on the trophy system and probably more Playstation's specifically than Epic's. Though Epic could have similar guidance on trophies, time will tell.

For more transparency, I am also not much of an achievement hunter, but I appreciate how some games have used them like the examples I used.
 

Shahem

R7 7800X3D I RTX 4080
Jan 26, 2020
1,238
2,248
113
France
This is a pretty neat achievement system. Not really something that speaks to me but at least they are working towards improving their platform.
 

gabbo

MetaMember
Dec 22, 2018
3,506
5,542
113
Toronto
Is there really that big an incentive to add 'chevos at a store level? I'm just old and out of touch, but I honestly couldn't care any less for them on any platform because they don't provide anything useful.
 

Arsene

On a break
Apr 17, 2019
3,271
8,290
113
Canada
Is there really that big an incentive to add 'chevos at a store level? I'm just old and out of touch, but I honestly couldn't care any less for them on any platform because they don't provide anything useful.
They're a really popular feature.
 

C-Dub

Makoto Niijima Fan Club President
Dec 23, 2018
3,992
11,886
113
I think if a third party manages to create a compelling achievement aggregator - and I don't think MetaGamerscore is there yet - and a lot of people sign up to it, it'll be very compelling like it is on the unified systems that are games consoles.

But on PC where you probably have at least two friend lists (Discord and Steam) but in all likelihood a lot more than that (Origin, UPlay, Epic, GOG, Battle.net, and so on) it's really just not compelling.

I know GOG is trying to unify all of that, but their Galaxy 2.0 client is still a bit of a mess right now. When someone like Discord (or any other useful social tools provider), who are agnostic of any store provides such a service I think all of a sudden people will start caring. I must admit, it would be cool for all my friends list across all platforms to congregate into one big platform where I can have cross-platform chat, achievement tracking, play status tracking and so on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ExistentialThought

Kyougar

No reviews, no Buy
Nov 2, 2018
3,129
11,246
113
Like i said, I just don't understand why, but it's not a big deal. If one enjoys them, have at them.
Like ExistentialThought wrote, some games give you pointers on what to play next. Games like Paradox Grand strategy or Civilization have achievements for special circumstances, for speedruns, for taking over the world as one of the weakest nations. historical outcomes, or plain stupid RNG ones.

For example in EU4:

The stupidly difficult ones:

On the Rhodes Again
Starting as The Knights, conquer and core Constantinople, Jerusalem and Antioch.
(the knights are on an island in the Mediterranean with one province)

Basque in Glory
Starting as Navarra, ensure that most of Iberia is Basque culture before the Age of Absolutism.

Empire of Mann
As Mann, conquer all Islands in the world.


The funny RL links:

Stern des Südens
Form Bavaria starting as München and have your Subject Bremen own Werder.


The stupidly stupid RNG ones:

Mary of Lotharingia
Starting as Burgundy, form Lotharingia and have a female ruler named Marie.
 

Virtual Ruminant

MetaMember
May 21, 2020
515
1,770
93
Like i said, I just don't understand why, but it's not a big deal. If one enjoys them, have at them.
Others have wondered about that before - so much, that they conducted research on it. From an abstract of one of my favorite papers on the subject (yes, there are more than one :) ):

[UWSL]"My conclusions are that the Xbox Live achievement system only partially functions as a reward system. More importantly, in terms of impact on player practices, it is an invisible MMO that all Xbox Live members participate in, whether they like it or not. On one hand, the different strategies and ways of conceptualizing the system shows how players have appropriated the technology and rules provided by Microsoft, and socially constructed systems that fit their play styles. On the other hand, many players are deeply conflicted over these gaming habits and feel trapped in a deterministic system that dictates ways of playing the games that they do not enjoy. Both sides can ultimately be connected to distinguishable characteristics of gamers. As a group, they are known to take pleasure in fighting, circumventing and subverting rigid rule systems, but also to be ready to take on completely arbitrary challenges without questioning their validity." [/UWSL]

[UWSL]- Jakobsson, M. (2011). The Achievement Machine: Understanding Xbox 360 Achievements in Gaming Practices. Game Studies 11(1). [/UWSL]

[UWSL]Full paper available at Game Studies - The Achievement Machine: Understanding Xbox 360 Achievements in Gaming Practices.[/UWSL]
 

Swenhir

Spaceships!
Apr 18, 2019
3,534
7,621
113
I'm sure this is going to go over well. Rocket League was a fantastic acquisition too and the player base couldn't have possibly been treated better. Epic truly cares about the user experience after all. It's part of their core ethos, right after "get children to harass apple on twitter".
 

NarohDethan

There was a fish in the percolator!
Apr 6, 2019
8,942
24,801
113
I was going to finally give Epic money with that Fortnite ChunLi skin and then they removed it. Shit company.
 

Arsene

On a break
Apr 17, 2019
3,271
8,290
113
Canada
Kinda makes sense. There was a fortnite x fall guys collab leaked months ago in the Fortnite update files. Probably will be a similar situation as Rocket League.
 

ExistentialThought

Coffee Lover ♥☕
Feb 29, 2020
1,561
4,836
113
If they remove it from sale from Steam, I swear...

I only played a tiny bit, but it would just be so unbelievably petty to remove it this many months after it sold.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman

ExistentialThought

Coffee Lover ♥☕
Feb 29, 2020
1,561
4,836
113
You mean like removing Rocket League from Steam 5 years after release?
Exactly, it is just so unbelievably disruptive for no reason outside of business ones. Let it be sold where it is sold and be done with it. Ideally, sell it anywhere and everywhere, let the customers decide. The inconsistencies of Sweeny dogging on other tech companies for proclaiming to act as though they know better than their customers and then making business decisions which reflect the same attitude, is nothing short of frustrating.



This goes beyond this news and is not just a reaction to this story. I am just not looking forward to the video game content wars, akin the streaming content wars, that is starting to happen more and more readily. It has always been a reality, but I think it has only accelerated in the past few years. Honestly, it makes me reconsider my gaming hobbies as the industry becomes less about selling me a game and more about selling me a service, if that makes sense.
 

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
9,637
25,858
113
I played a match of Fortnite today and......won. Haven't played it in months.

I must have played against bots or something. I don't know, found it too easy.
 

PC-Patriot

Press Any key, where the hell is it ?
Aug 5, 2019
106
320
63
I own fallguys on steam and expect it in due course to be delisted and have epics account system forced down my throat if I want to keep playing it. I would sooner just not play fallguys than sign up to anything from that ass hat Tim Sweeey.

However this is starting to impact my purchasing on steam. Whenever I buy an indie game now I am thinking "should I really buy this game because I could lose access to it if Epic steps in". I had been looking to get Valheim but I can see it being the next thing Tim opens his fucking cheque book for so I am gonna pass on it..

So congrats to all those greedy Indie developers that sold out to Tim you are now successfully poisoning the well.
 

Lashley

One more thing...
Well, that was the final straw that made me create an account on MetaGamerscore. The site isn't the greatest wrt to look and feel (but it seems to be on the ball when it comes to supporting all the platforms) and it also almost folded once already some three years ago, but at this point I need my stupid non-accomplishments collected in one place or I might just as well forget about all of them.
Fuck yeah, this is exactly the sort of site I've needed
 

xxr

Member of the Abyss
Dec 21, 2018
557
1,466
93
I had been looking to get Valheim but I can see it being the next thing Tim opens his fucking cheque book for so I am gonna pass on it..
I don't think you need to worry about Vallheim, it's part of Coffee Stain/Embracer Group and they're never letting go of any of their studios/IPs. Especially not the most successful one. ;)
 
  • This!
Reactions: ExistentialThought

Virtual Ruminant

MetaMember
May 21, 2020
515
1,770
93
Let me be the contrarian here for a minute and say that I felt Fall Guys really should be free-to-play ... and with the success it has and now even more money behind it, it could probably remain a fair F2P title for a good long while before it turns predatory.

I get the feeling though that it actually won't become F2P and will just get ported to more platforms ... and get taken off Steam.