News Epic Games Store

Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
Sep 7, 2018
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Looks like Epic is publishing a game called Railgrade. What's interesting is that the initial press release said it was coming to Steam and was being published by The Irregular Corporation. Since Epic bought Tonic Games who owns Irregular, I guess we can assume all their future Irregular games will be EGS exclusive from here on out and will be under the Epic Games Publishing label. Also the Steam page was pulled which further confirms this.
Yeah, I talked about this with "you will see how it goes EGS exclusive" but didn't know it was going to be under Epic Publishing.
 
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Arc

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Yeah, I talked about this with "you will see how it goes EGS exclusive" but didn't know it was going to be under Epic Publishing.
Yeah the Epic Games Publishing part is what caught me by surprise. Before the Nvidia leak, I would have said all EGP titles would be permanent exclusives, but with a Steam version of Alan Wake Remastered being listed, I am curious to see how Epic does things. I guess we'll know in a bit under a year.
 

ExistentialThought

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My guess is they are sunsetting the publishing arm of Irregular Corporation and allowed for one or both parties to exit their agreement and pursue a different agreement with any other interested parties. It would explain why games like The Good Life were picked up by a different publisher.

I would be surprised if we hear any more of Irregular Corporation outside of their already released commitments.
 
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Ge0force

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Yeah the Epic Games Publishing part is what caught me by surprise. Before the Nvidia leak, I would have said all EGP titles would be permanent exclusives, but with a Steam version of Alan Wake Remastered being listed, I am curious to see how Epic does things. I guess we'll know in a bit under a year.
Epic paid half a billion dollars to keep games away from steam. I would be surprised if they release any of their published games on Steam, but time will tell indeed.
 
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Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
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Epic paid half a billion dollars to keep games away from steam. I would be surprised if they release any of their published games on Steam, but time will tell indeed.
There was literally a string for Steam release of AWRemaster under Epic publishing in Nvidia database, again, those strings are not guesses, those are there for a reason.
 

tuxfool

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Sep 20, 2018
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There was literally a string for Steam release of AWRemaster under Epic publishing in Nvidia database, again, those strings are not guesses, those are there for a reason.
AW is owned by Remedy. It's a different situation.
 

Ge0force

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There was literally a string for Steam release of AWRemaster under Epic publishing in Nvidia database, again, those strings are not guesses, those are there for a reason.
I know. It just doesn't make any sense for Epic to release their own published games on Steam, because of their strategy based on exclusivity and Tim's personal fight against Steam/30%. But then again, lots of Epic's decisions don't make any sense 😉
 

Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
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AW is owned by Remedy. It's a different situation.
All IPs will belong to developers with Epic publishing brand, all situations will be similar in this matter.

I know. It just doesn't make any sense for Epic to release their own published games on Steam, because of their strategy based on exclusivity and Tim's personal fight against Steam/30%. But then again, lots of Epic's decisions don't make any sense 😉
At the end of the day this game is about to make more money, if releasing on Steam after a year or two grants them more money, they will.
Also, that wasn't old data, so something must be going behind the scenes.
 

Alexandros

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Nov 4, 2018
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I know. It just doesn't make any sense for Epic to release their own published games on Steam, because of their strategy based on exclusivity and Tim's personal fight against Steam/30%. But then again, lots of Epic's decisions don't make any sense 😉
It actually does make sense. The revenue share agreement for Epic-published games are 50-50 once development costs are recouped, so both Epic and the developer stand to benefit from increased sales. Of course Epic could include exclusivity clauses in exchange for, say, not having to pay off development costs, but developers have a vested interest in paying off that cost as soon as possible so they can start making profit. I wouldn't be surprised if some Epic-published games launch on Steam day one.
 

ExistentialThought

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Feb 29, 2020
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I wanted to keep this rant separate from the other threads.

Darkest Dungeon 2 is the first game I could honestly say I was 100% disappointed in it going EGS exclusive. Darkest Dungeon is one of my favorite games of all time and I assumed I would have bought any sequel ASAP. So it felt strange to just outright ignore it and I decided to watch a few YT and Twitch streams.

Of course, the game is still early access and it will change a lot. Though after watching those streams, I feel so much better about waiting, holy moly. Almost all the changes I worried about, I was right to worry about. I completely understand the devs did not want to just remake DD1 with a fresh coat of paint, but they really tossed out so many things that worked well to replace them with more RNG and mechanics that feel more opaque to the player outside of just general strategy of just keeping stress low. It just amazes me Redhook created a game with style and mechanics so many other studios have tried to copy and failed. To turn around and abandon much of that and tap into style and mechanics of a more crowded genre is unfortunate.

The only positive thing I can see is the graphics look good, but even then I am less impressed than other folks since I also recognize the improved graphics, mean mods that add characters or replace models will be harder for folks to make. I do not know if the change is worth it yet.
 

Mor

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As expected with the release of Darkest Dungeon 2 EA, Epic updated the top 25, so predictable, any way, I will let Arc do the honors ^^
 
Dec 5, 2018
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A game with NFT has been published for acceptance or rejection to Epic Games Store team.

Looking forward too see how it plays out.

NFT is a cancer on this planet. I mean, it literally slowly kills the planet.

I went to their website and I found this:

The release date is still unconfirmed. At the moment we have no plans to publicly announce our roadmap for game development. Eventually, we would love to have full metaverse integration; NFT use in-game, and a token. However, our only current focus is creating a fun game and a happy community.
Everyone either keeps throwing that word around or they really want their walled garden inside a walled garden (because that's what the metaverse is at it's core).
 
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Arc

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The top sellers list updated for the first time since October 14. There's actually a lot to digest here. Firstly, Darkest Dungeon 2 is the top selling game. That in itself is not surprising, since the game has a lot of positive buzz, but the game came out yesterday which might give some hint as to how the top sellers list is calculated in the first place. At first I thought the top sellers might have been the cumulative revenue between each time the list was updated, but that is unlikely and it is either a snapshot for one specific point in time or cumulative sales for a much smaller time range (such as the past 24 hours).

In terms of exclusives, Kena is in 12th place and Crysis Remastered Trilogy is in 17th place. Kena also made back its development costs so it seems to be doing well.

With multistore releases, Back 4 Blood is in 13th place (it is currently in 10th place on Steam at the time of this post), Guardians of the Galaxy is in 16th place (currently 2nd on Steam) and Football manager 2022 is in 25th place (currently 5th place on Steam).

One multistore release that didn't make the top selling EGS list at all was The Riftbreaker. While it is currently just outside the top 30 on Steam, it had placed strongly in the weekly charts the past two weeks.

Also the most played list was also updated and Rocket League regained the #1 position. Funnily enough, Battlefield 2042 is in 25th place even though the beta hasn't been available for several weeks so ¯\(ツ)/¯ .

As expected with the release of Darkest Dungeon 2 EA, Epic updated the top 25, so predictable, any way, I will let Arc do the honors ^^
You read my mind.
 
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Ge0force

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It's funny how the top selling list is updated each time and important exclusive releases on EGS.

Also, Riftbreaker sold more than 200k in the first week on Steam, which was way above the devs expectations. It seems that non-mainstream games aren't doing very well on EGS.
 

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
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At first I thought the top sellers might have been the cumulative revenue between each time the list was updated
What if it is actually like that but the sales for everything that isn't currently the #1 hypething are just that bad? :evilblob:
One can dream.
 

inky

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A game with NFT has been published for acceptance or rejection to Epic Games Store team.

Looking forward too see how it plays out.

NFT is a cancer on this planet. I mean, it literally slowly kills the planet.

Not that slowly
 

Avern

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Watching a streamer play DD2... and it looks awful. The visuals are nice, but the UI seems abysmal and the gameplay seems like a retread of the first but with more tedium. The stagecoach riding sections look agonizingly slow, especially for a game you're ostensibly supposed to replay over and over. The combat seems almost identical to DD1, but all of the out-of-combat stuff looks less interesting than the first. Not sure what they were going for here, but unless I hear about big changes, this'll probably be a skip for me when it comes to Steam.
 
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ExistentialThought

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Seriously, how can anyone defend Tim at this point...

The proposed law, which is already pretty much dead in the water, would operate on a similar principle as property taxes. You have an asset that, in theory, accrues value over time and that value allows you to have more borrowing power than someone who does not. Yes, you do not have actual billions of dollars sitting in the bank and never will, but you have assets that are in the billions and this gives you purchasing power far beyond what folks even comprehend and can make money on your money.

If you want to avoid the tax, you could spread the wealth/ownership amongst your workers OR just pay the tax on your unrealized gains, but no...the only answer is obviously sell off to hedge funds and "foreign" investors (while ignoring how you have already done this through your many rounds of investment)

I am just glad as so many Americans struggle with basic necessities like shelter, food, and health care during a global pandemic, this is the moment Sweeny decides to speak up against the government's actions.
 

inky

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  1. You already sold control of almost 50% of your company of your own volition
  2. Your ownership stake is not some nebulous number someone came up with. It's tied to physical assets, IP, investment, the hard work of thousands of people, etc. all of which have real value. The reason you are not a billionaire with billions of $1 notes in the bank is because it makes no sense to keep all your money in a vault like Scrooge McDuck and not put it to work. You are still a billionaire.
  3. You don't already have a "very effective progressive tax" system when said system allows ALL of the people in your wealth bracket to abuse loopholes like incorporating overseas to pay $0 or borrowing against unrealized gains to buy competitors, stifle innovation and bolster your monopoly
  4. You suck
 

yuraya

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When your company value doubles 8 times in 5 years and you still incapable of handling a little tax hike.

Time to start moneyhatting the good accountants Tim. You gonna need them.
 
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lashman

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Sep 5, 2018
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when said system allows ALL of the people in your wealth bracket to abuse loopholes like incorporating overseas to pay $0 or borrowing against unrealized gains to buy competitors, stifle innovation and bolster your monopoly
that's exactly what he means by "effective" ... effective for him
 
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Wok

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I kinda get what he means, but also pay up you rich bitch. I don't know how to feel!!
He would have to sell some of his shares in order to have the cash, which he does not want to do as his control over the company is tied to his shares.
Normally, Gabe should be in the same boat. Let us see what happens with him. 👀

I will check the news article to see if it is about income tax or a tax on estate.
  • if it is a tax on income, he should be able to pay.
  • if it is a tax on estate, then he will have to sell some of his estate if the tax amount is higher than his income.
Which is funny when the estate consists in shares of his company.

Edit: That is the plan. :evilblob:

Currently, wealthy Americans do not have to pay taxes on vast accumulations of wealth because they are taxed only once an asset is sold. Billionaires often borrow against their non-taxed assets, allowing them to spend enormous sums of money while effectively paying very low taxes relative to their income and worth.
Under the “Billionaire Income Tax” proposal, a summary of which was obtained by The Washington Post, the federal government would require billionaires to pay taxes on the increased value of assets such as stocks on an annual basis, regardless of whether they sell those assets. Billionaires would also be able to take deductions for any annual loss in value of those assets.

The plan would also set up a system for taxing assets that are not easily tradable, such as real estate. The tax would apply to billionaires and people earning more than $100 million in income three years in a row.
Basically, if Tim does not want to sell his company shares, he may have to borrow money to pay taxes. :toucan:

I don't know how that applies to private companies, as their value is not tied to stock exchange and thus their value should not inflate like Tesla stocks, right?
 
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eonden

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Seriously, how can anyone defend Tim at this point...

The proposed law, which is already pretty much dead in the water, would operate on a similar principle as property taxes. You have an asset that, in theory, accrues value over time and that value allows you to have more borrowing power than someone who does not. Yes, you do not have actual billions of dollars sitting in the bank and never will, but you have assets that are in the billions and this gives you purchasing power far beyond what folks even comprehend and can make money on your money.

If you want to avoid the tax, you could spread the wealth/ownership amongst your workers OR just pay the tax on your unrealized gains, but no...the only answer is obviously sell off to hedge funds and "foreign" investors (while ignoring how you have already done this through your many rounds of investment)

I am just glad as so many Americans struggle with basic necessities like shelter, food, and health care during a global pandemic, this is the moment Sweeny decides to speak up against the government's actions.
Yeah, the main idea of "unrealized" capital gains such as stock was that people were not able to take advantage of them to purchase or to use them for other stuff. Nowadays, people with enough money can actuallyl use those unrealized gains as collateral for loans to make those gains real money they can use to live / buy shares / companies. In effect, making it so that unrealized gains become realized... just without paying taxes.
 

meschio94

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Aug 21, 2021
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I have no doubt that the coupon helped the sales a lot as I read many places that people planned to use the coupon on it. So I expect sales to fall down a cliff when the coup0n ends on 16th nov, but most likely before too.
Every top selling exclusives on EGS with average numbers compared to the pc market landspace, are possibile only when epic subsidy the price tag with a loss thanks to the coupons system
 
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bobnowhere

Careful Icarus
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They also paid for a massive streamer campaign, I'm sure none of the referral sales come out of Red Hook's kitty.
 

Phoenix RISING

A phoenix always RISES!
Apr 23, 2019
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www.geeksundergrace.com
I respect it. He made bank buy giving EGS the finger and EGS was the first to blink.

Q: Are you getting paid for the free week period?
A: Yes. The Epic Game Store offered me a one-time payment for the free week period. The free week will likely result in a dip in sales on other storefronts, so the payment is meant to offset these losses. The offer I received was more than generous, so it will also help partly fund my second game, on which I’ve been working every waking hour for the past 6 months. The second game has 10 times the scope of DARQ, so every penny helps bring it to life. It’s not a little indie game this time. It’s an ambitious project of the AA-scale with a large team behind it (including some AAA veterans). This project excites me to my core and I can’t wait to finally announce it (very soon, promise!).
Love to see it.
 

Arsene

On a break
Apr 17, 2019
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Was Kenshi 2 EA also EGS or was that just Darkest Dungeon?
Kenshi 2 is switching from OGRE to Unreal Engine. But they didnt say anything about releasing on EGS. They said it likely wouldn't have an EA period either. So the game is probably still 4 years out anyway lol
 
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Arc

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From what I read, Fortnite wasn't popular in China and the game was never properly monetized, so it isn't a big deal that it's shutting down.

In other news, I stumbled upon a website that supposedly shows the Rocket League population after Psyonix removed the in game counter. I can't vouch for its accuracy, but the concurrent players seem to be within the same ballpark before the in game counter was removed (around 500-550k peak concurrent).

What's most interesting is that it shows how many people are in playlists for each platform. You might be able to extrapolate how many users are on each platform by taking the sum of a platform's playlist and dividing it into the total playlist numbers. Just doing some quick napkin math, the EGS version makes up about 21-23% and the Steam version makes up about 9-11%. (Also you can cross reference the Steam number by taking its total on the Steam stats site and dividing it by the total number of players to get around the same ballpark which makes me think the playlist numbers are reasonably accurate).

This might provide a ceiling for the most popular non-Fortnite games list on EGS. If we're being generous and say that the EGS version of Rocket League is 25% of the total and there are 550k peak concurrent users, then the EGS version peaks at about 138k CCU. Just based on Apple documents, I'm guessing the most played list is made up of the number of unique weekly users and CCU is probably not used to determine the list's popularity, but it's still a kind of fun number to look at.
 

Ge0force

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The devs have been focusing on bringing Airborne Kingdom to consoles, which releases next week (including Switch). This will probably give them a new influx of players (and money), so I don't think they really care.
 

Nabs

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Oct 23, 2018
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The devs have been focusing on bringing Airborne Kingdom to consoles, which releases next week (including Switch). This will probably give them a new influx of players (and money), so I don't think they really care.
You (and now me) are the only two people who know this is happening.
 

Kyougar

No reviews, no Buy
Nov 2, 2018
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Yeah, i dunno.
Switch: awful discovery features, only gets noticed if they were successful on PC first
Playstation: unless you pay for exposure (and even then...), you are dead on arrival as an indie, not even PC success would help you
Xbox: mayyyybe.
 

ExistentialThought

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