Epic says it'll eventually stop pushing for exclusives

[quijote3000]

https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/epic-says...r-exclusives//

Well, they could stop right now if they wanted. Or they are afraid that they will eventually will run out of sweet fornite money.

[stellvia]

Of course they will. The whole point of the exclusives is to twist peoples arms into installing their launcher by holding games hostage. After they have a large enough userbase via extortion and they theoretically roll out enough features in comparison to Steam, they will stop demanding exclusives. They WILL probably continue giving away Unreal engine for free however if you agree to only sell on EGS.

Also: Of course they are still making a healthy profit on that 12% -- they don't have any of the features that actually cost money. Like cloud saves, forums, review system, achievements, payment processing, etc. etc. etc.

[Tech614]

continue giving away Unreal engine for free

Unreal Engine 4 has been free since 2015.

You only have to pay them royalties if you profit off of using it(5% to be exact and only after the project has grossed over $3,000). You don't have to pay them money to use it before hand.

[Arrashi]

Maybe Tim got tired of people mocking him with his rant about windows store ?

[Edge-]

And in today's episode of "no duh". They're buying timed exclusives with their Forkknife money while they have it rolling to build a solid userbase for a new storefront. Once they feel they no longer need to push aggressive user acquisition things will scale back as their spending goes to other initiatives or their decreased Forkknife revenue can't sustain it anymore.

Now they've got 3 angles for revenue generation

Software (Fortnite and...mainly Fortnite)
Engine (licensing fees from use in bigger games)
Store (take a small cut of each sale)

That's smart and they're keeping diverse sources of revenue. If one of them takes a hit they've still got two other sources to make sure their finances don't tank.

And they're not going to let shovelware (yay!) or questionable porn games (sorta yay) on their store. Which I'm totally alright with having a store that's not filled with complete and total garbage that makes finding anything interesting difficult as hell.

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Maybe Tim got tired of people mocking him with his rant about windows store ?

https://arstechnica.com/information-...steam-edition/

You mean when he was criticizing it for moving towards being a closed platform, which is totally different than issues of exclusivity? Because that's a totally different topic.

[Dead Moose Fandango]

And they're not going to let shovelware (yay!) or questionable porn games (sorta yay) on their store. Which I'm totally alright with having a store that's not filled with complete and total garbage that makes finding anything interesting difficult as hell.

And that right there makes me prefer the Epic Store to Steam.

[Razzako]

In my case I don't care much, games I have on my radar won't be going exclusively into the epic store anyways. I just wish these guys could offer the same features Steam offers at the very least, that is all.

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And that right there makes me prefer the Epic Store to Steam.

I would agree, but then you take a look at the image below and it's annoying using anything other than Steam. It's not like I'll buy those games anyways lol.

[Dead Moose Fandango]

The main problem is Steam has had no real rivals in the game as of yet. That really needs to stop. So Epic Games is a good start.

[Arrashi]

https://arstechnica.com/information-...steam-edition/

You mean when he was criticizing it for moving towards being a closed platform, which is totally different than issues of exclusivity? Because that's a totally different topic.

Its more about "its ok when we are doing it".

[stellvia]

And that right there makes me prefer the Epic Store to Steam.

So support the company that is about money because money while riding on the popularity and exposure of Steam without providing any of the things that made Steam popular in the first place. Money now before money later. We can eventually roll out a handful of features like cloud saves later to make people begrudgingly stick around.

If you noticed, all they do is talk about developers, not consumers.

[Arrashi]

The main problem is Steam has had no real rivals in the game as of yet. That really needs to stop. So Epic Games is a good start.

You know everytime people use this argument it really reminds me about that one episode of gummi bears when that other small ogre started uprising against ictorn by promising ogres to treat them "Like a human".

[Lollis]

And they're not going to let shovelware (yay!) (1) or questionable porn games (sorta yay) (2) on their store.

1. Yes they will, if it gets big enough. The reason there is so much shit on steam is that there is not enough moderation to cover everything.
2. You know they can be hidden right? : Steam -> Name in top left -> Store preferences -> Uncheck Nudity/Adult Only

[Edge-]

Its more about "its ok when we are doing it".

Except it's not. Because platform exclusivity vs. a closed OS are two very different things.

You're comparing apples and veal.

1. Yes they will, if it gets big enough. The reason there is so much shit on steam is that there is not enough moderation to cover everything.

No, it's because Valve decided to make a specific policy change to what games they allow on Steam. They changed to allow anyone to submit a game, with vague rules that "troll" games wouldn't be allowed and that's it.

Epic sounds like they want to maintain a curated approach where they approve all games rather than just opening the flood gates.

2. You know they can be hidden right? : Steam -> Name in top left -> Store preferences -> Uncheck Nudity/Adult Only

I actually don't mind, I love me some pervy games and don't care about porn games. But this heads off the very issue Valve has faced a few times - egregiously offensive porn games ending up on the store, most recently that rape game.

There are already plenty of places to legally get porn games, and allowing them on "mainstream" platforms like Steam or EGS opens them up to all kinds of issues, as we've already seen on Steam.

[Arrashi]

Except it's not. Because platform exclusivity vs. a closed OS are two very different things.

You're comparing apples and veal.

Its more about shitty practices being ok when we are the ones doing it in general. They don't need to be exact same thing you know ?

[Acidbaron]

They aren't doing it for the good of anything other than their own wallet.

If their interest was competing with Steam, they could have used that money they use now to buy exclusives into development time for the store and QA, so that the store would be much further along and be an actual true competition that would be good for customers.

The fortnite well is running dry and the desperation is starting to sink in, that's why they are doing this, all this other talk about aiding developers is simply lies, it is an attempt to give a positive spin on a self serving market strategy that is blowing up in their face. There's a reason why the metro publisher has already come out and said they probably wouldn't have pulled it from steam.

[unholytestament]

I'll just sit back and watch this fire burn itself out before I get anywhere near it.

[KevyB]

A beautiful failure is all it will be.

[PaladinBash]

Murderer says he will eventually stop murdering people when he gets bored of it or he thinks he'll probably get caught. That's good enough too right? Fuck outta here. They can crash and burn for shitty practices.

[Edge-]

If their interest was competing with Steam, they could have used that money they use now to buy exclusives into development time for the store and QA, so that the store would be much further along and be an actual true competition that would be good for customers.

This isn't true at all. Epic isn't strapped for cash, it's more a time thing where they simply need the time to work on the store and expand the features it has. They can't just throw more money at it to fix it immediately, and there's no indication that they're skimping on funding for it. This is a big initiative for them and they're putting serious money against it.

The fortnite well is running dry and the desperation is starting to sink in, that's why they are doing this, all this other talk about aiding developers is simply lies, it is an attempt to give a positive spin on a self serving market strategy that is blowing up in their face. There's a reason why the metro publisher has already come out and said they probably wouldn't have pulled it from steam.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/25/fo...evenue-report/

Their revenue is down recently...after a year with $3B in profits, but the dip is expected with the launch of Apex Legends. The game will still be generating insane revenue/profits for years to come. Even PUBG, which has dipped considerably with the rise of Fortnite is making bank (though its money has transitioned more to mobile).

This isn't desperation, this is tactical. They have two revenue sources right now (engine licensing and game sales) and they're opening up a third. It's smart because it diversifies their revenue, ensuring that if one source dries up for any reason that they won't be hamstrung. And with the built-in install base thanks to Fortnite it makes sense for them to try to pivot that launcher and turn it into a store.

All the talk about aiding developers is lies? So are they not giving the biggest revenue share to developers on the market right now? Are they not partnering with another engine developer for a $25M fund to help developers to move to more open platforms after the Unity issue? Did they not just announce $100M in grants for developers (no apparently requirements that the games be on UE and this is following a previous $5M grant).

Got a link for that statement from the Metro publisher? Because I don't recall it.

And actually, despite all the hemming and hawing and complaining and hyperbole, Metro Exodus outsold Metro: Last Light by a 2.5 times on the EGS at lauch - https://www.vg247.com/2019/03/20/met...ames-store-ll/

People love to complain. Outrage bait YTers are making a killing from all those clicks. And at the end of the day, this appears to be going well for Epic and the developers that chose to take the exclusive deal.

Remember, publishers have to choose to take the deal, Epic isn't forcing them to do so. It's a two way street, to be sure that any "hate" you direct at Epic is also directed at the indie developers or publishers that voluntarily decide to make their games EGS exclusives.

[Rogalicus]

And actually, despite all the hemming and hawing and complaining and hyperbole, Metro Exodus outsold Metro: Last Light by a 2.5 times on the EGS at lauch - https://www.vg247.com/2019/03/20/met...ames-store-ll/

You know what they forget to mention? Their projected sales for Steam. Exodus was hyped up much more than Last Light. It's like saying that Witcher 3 sold much more than Witcher 2.