Epic's exclusive Acquisition continues... Rocket League is next.

[Edge-]

My empathy for Epic is not because of their cuts in incomes for the store. Is how they genuinely seem to care about games and game developers. I'm not naive to think they are good for the sake to be good, but they have proven to me time and time again how they want for indies to succeed, and how they are willing to make good and fun games.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming...grant-program/

Plus things like a $100M grant for software development, gaming or not, regardless of whether or not they're using the Unreal Engine. That's money they're not seeing a return on, once it's distributed it's gone and they don't directly earn anything from it.

[Yriel]

They do. Why take a risk that your game may not sell well enough to keep all the staff you enjoy working with when you can functionally guarantee profitability with a low risk approach like this?

Businesses don't like risk. If someone is offering to minimize their risk with minimal adverse affects, just about any company run by a rational human being will take it. Their employees are more important than their customers.



They don't "owe" customers anything more than a decent game. It's nice if they do something like a discount on the platform, but at the end of the day customers aren't owed a "tax" because they need to deal with the mild inconvenience of a second launcher.

No one said anything about owning. But there is no reason to be happy or sympathetic either. When Netflix raises their prices the creators get more money, too. Still i'm not cheering about that.

Which? That one rogue Metro dev? Who else has thrown their publishers under the bus? Gearbox sure hasn't, they seem hype for their exclusivity.

One of the Outer Worlds dev and one other that i don't remember anymore. And i doubt Gearbox is so monolithic, i bet there are devs there, too that have independent opinions.
But no one cares about the devs, it's the CEOs and Publishers that decide and that get more money. Do you think Gearbox raises the wages of their devs, now that they are making 18% more money? I really doubt that.

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Unfortunately this is how the industry works, money is necessary evil.

My empathy for Epic is not because of their cuts in incomes for the store. Is how they genuinely seem to care about games and game developers. I'm not naive to think they are good for the sake to be good, but they have proven to me time and time again how they want for indies to succeed, and how they are willing to make good and fun games.

I pretty much doubt that. They want aggressively on a market and are willing to spend a boatload of money to force themselves in there. They don't care about anything other than their profit line and they surely don't care about the customers.
Did you read about the permanent crunch of the Fortenight Devs? Yea they really care about devs, just not about their own it seems.

[Rennadrel]

No one said anything about owning. But there is no reason to be happy or sympathetic either. When Netflix raises their prices the creators get more money, too. Still i'm not cheering about that.


One of the Outer Worlds dev and one other that i don't remember anymore. And i doubt Gearbox is so monolithic, i bet there are devs there, too that have independent opinions.
But no one cares about the devs, it's the CEOs and Publishers that decide and that get more money. Do you think Gearbox raises the wages of their devs, now that they are making 18% more money? I really doubt that.

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I pretty much doubt that. They want aggressively on a market and are willing to spend a boatload of money to force themselves in there. They don't care about anything other than their profit line and they surely don't care about the customers.
Did you read about the permanent crunch of the Fortenight Devs? Yea they really care about devs, just not about their own it seems.

If there's one thing I've learned is that any business that has Chinese backing will spend a shit ton of money in order to get into a market. So it's not really surprising that a company with 40% of it's ownership being a Chinese company, would take such aggressive measures. The sad part is that people are trying to actually defend it, because it really isn't about competition, it's about buying your way to have a leg up.

[Edge-]

No one said anything about owning. But there is no reason to be happy or sympathetic either. When Netflix raises their prices the creators get more money, too. Still i'm not cheering about that.

Not really. That's Netflix offsetting ongoing losses and working to make the company profitable. There's no evidence that raises in prices directly correlate to higher fees for the same shows/movies.

One of the Outer Worlds dev and one other that i don't remember anymore. And i doubt Gearbox is so monolithic, i bet there are devs there, too that have independent opinions.

Yes, individuals have opinions and that's cool. But are any studios that have exclusivity deals signed their their publishers speaking out against it? The studio proper, not just a one-off employee here or there? Because one-off employees kinda aren't a meaningful stat in this conversation.

But no one cares about the devs, it's the CEOs and Publishers that decide and that get more money. Do you think Gearbox raises the wages of their devs, now that they are making 18% more money? I really doubt that.

Except for the indie devs that don't have publishers.

Except that this still benefits the developers because it guarantees a usual minimum-sale deal which can be a part of publishing deals and is always a nightmare. I don't think this means devs are paid more, I've never said that. All I've said is that these moves protect the studios financially and put them in a better position to have a financially successful launch, meaning that there's a far smaller likelihood of layoffs/closures and that they can potentially use additional revenue to grow and expand the studio.

If there's one thing I've learned is that any business that has Chinese backing will spend a shit ton of money in order to get into a market. So it's not really surprising that a company with 40% of it's ownership being a Chinese company, would take such aggressive measures. The sad part is that people are trying to actually defend it, because it really isn't about competition, it's about buying your way to have a leg up.

As a minority stakeholder they have zero control and minimal influence within Epic.

And realistically, with all of the Tencent acquisitions there's minimal evidence that they're mucking around with their studios.

Riot? Still doing their own thing. I haven't followed super closely following their acquisition, but nothing major seems to have changed for the worse compared to their previous handling.

GGG? Again, still doing their own thing. Some leagues are good, some are bad, monetization remains untouched.

The constant whinging about China is bordering on xenophobia, because there's rarely evidence to back up the pearl clutching from what I've seen.

They buy up Western studios/parts of them to keep their revenue diversified and get more US dollars, something which many Chinese companies do quite a bit of across industries.

[Afrospinach]

If there's one thing I've learned is that any business that has Chinese backing will spend a shit ton of money in order to get into a market. So it's not really surprising that a company with 40% of it's ownership being a Chinese company, would take such aggressive measures. The sad part is that people are trying to actually defend it, because it really isn't about competition, it's about buying your way to have a leg up.

It really is about competition, but here is the thing. We have steam and that (I know of) gog and discord. Steam is just the everything store, and the latter two have their own niches which I am sure any gamer can readily explain. They have actually tried to provide some kind of service the market needs. I think you and a lot of people in here are picking up on the fact that the EGS is a totally blunt instrument - as you say - trying to force it's way into the market through sheer will rather than offering particularly *anything* to the consumer other than another shitty installer. So they buy exclusives. I am not sure why anyone would be happy about this?

[Rennadrel]

It really is about competition, but here is the thing. We have steam and that (I know of) gog and discord. Steam is just the everything store, and the latter two have their own niches which I am sure any gamer can readily explain. They have actually tried to provide some kind of service the market needs. I think you and a lot of people in here are picking up on the fact that the EGS is a totally blunt instrument - as you say - trying to force it's way into the market through sheer will rather than offering particularly *anything* to the consumer other than another shitty installer. So they buy exclusives. I am not sure why anyone would be happy about this?

"Another shitty installer" is exactly the problem. Why the heck would anyone want to use their barebones software to begin with? I mean, if you really want to take down the titan that is Steam, there has to be something for the consumer outside of games. If that's the only advantage a shoddy, half baked service like EGS has going for it, it won't thrive long term and won't be popular.

[Donatello Trumpi]

Not really. That's Netflix offsetting ongoing losses and working to make the company profitable. There's no evidence that raises in prices directly correlate to higher fees for the same shows/movies.


.

Netflix operated under a loss?

[Edge-]

Netflix operated under a loss?

...yes, and it has for years.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/16/netf...s-q1-2019.html

Netflix reported net cash flow for the quarter of negative $380 million compared to negative $287 million during the same period last year. The company said it now expects its 2019 free cash flow deficit to be greater than the negative $3 billion previously expected, coming in at negative $3.5 billion. Netflix said the larger deficit was due to a change in corporate structure and investments in real estate and infrastructure.

Just like plenty of publicly traded companies like Tesla, as well as the new entrants to the public market like Lyft/Uber etc.

[Onikaroshi]

...yes, and it has for years.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/16/netf...s-q1-2019.html



Just like plenty of publicly traded companies like Tesla, as well as the new entrants to the public market like Lyft/Uber etc.

A lot of companies operate at a loss or with extremely low profit margins, those that operate with high profits aren't putting the money back in the business like most should.

[sibut]

It's actually embarrassing how blown up this whole thing with Epic has become, imo.

I'm finding it really hard to relate to fellow gamers, lately. The community is so unbelievably negative about everything.

You don't understand why people aren't happy about a company making games and forcing consumers to use an upteenth launcher? I don't really know what to tell you, then.

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Nearly every year having a data breach, Assist flip/shovelware on the store, The layout itself, Its almost nonexistent customer support. Nearly allowing games like Rape Day to get on the store, Only reason it didn't was because of the PR shit show that happen.

Still light years ahead of epic's store. And seriously, who cares if games like rape day are on steam? People got butthurt about hatred when it dropped which I personally find that at least as objectionable as rape day I just shrugged and voted with my wallet by not purchasing it. It doesn't affect you so why do you give a fuck?

[Jtbrig7390]

Still light years ahead of epic's store. And seriously, who cares if games like rape day are on steam? People got butthurt about hatred when it dropped which I personally find that at least as objectionable as rape day I just shrugged and voted with my wallet by not purchasing it. It doesn't affect you so why do you give a fuck?

And guess what happens when people get Butthurt, Company's have to deal with the PR nightmare of the shit.

You may not care and that's fine, I honestly don't give a flying shit ether. Multi-billion dollar company's do. The saying of any PR is good PR is false, Company's will avoid the most simple shit like a plague of it has a slight chance of hurting their bottom line.

On top of that games like Rape Day gets more eyes on gaming in a bad way.

Still light years ahead of epic's store.

Highly disagree, Both are piles of shit each has their pros and cons.

[sibut]

Highly disagree, Both are piles of shit each has their pros and cons.

I take your point about Steam allowing all this shovelware which I agree is a problem, but I really don't see how you can make a "pros and cons" case about the actual functionality of the two platforms; it's really night and day.

[Jtbrig7390]

but I really don't see how you can make a "pros and cons" case about the actual functionality of the two platforms; it's really night and day.

You can make pro's and con's because nether is perfect. That's not a hard concept to understand.

Yes EGS lacks features (most I personally give no shits about) but its also more "clean" and Epic themselves isn't allowing shit on it that Valve does with Steam. You can't just pick one part of EGS and go well the whole store is shit and Steam is better.

Both are shit but there is pro's and con's with both, Once again nether is perfect.

[Rennadrel]

Every developer is entitled to have some platform to release their games, even if they do suck. Apparently some people forget how many garbage games were released on the Playstation 1 and 2 respectively. Those consoles had massive libraries and a good 60% of the games were utter trash. Nintendo for a long time had crappy games on the Gameboy mainly because it was cheap and easy to develop for. That's what developers look for to make games, especially when they are new to the industry. Sure, the games might not be great, but they deserve a place to have exposure. If people buy them, then there is clearly a market for them, if they didn't than there would be less of them and more higher quality products.

At the end of the day, if you are Valve, you are getting a cut regardless if the game is a big budget title that sells 10+ million copies or a small budget game that sells 100k copies. Sure, Valve puts profit ahead of quality, but that's their priority.

[Yunru]

Well epic non-sense is not over yet:
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-are-not-happy

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/outer-wilds?media_id=i90

This is gona damage a lot of trust of people in future video game projects that are croudfounded.

[KevyB]

I will enjoy seeing EGS die, i will enjoy even more Tim Shittey crying and rambling, together with his favorite unstable cuck - randy bitchford.

[D3athsting]

In case you missed: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gh.../1100-6466794/

[Onikaroshi]

In case you missed: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gh.../1100-6466794/

Ubisoft is a weird one... no matter what you need to use uplay anyway... may as well buy it for uplay.

[Senphiroth1134]

San Diego was and still is a pretty bad place for game development....

The whole point of Everquest and that was to separate Video games for Comics...

If you can believe it they spent 30 years basically chasing the EQ developers basically across the United States.... and into
foreign countries...

Because the infrastructure put in place by the US to essentially control nerds after WW2 (the comic culture) was already so fierce and extreme... and the idea of something
else being more harder for them to understand basically put them into denail.

dena denial rather*... none of this is being reporeted etc but I can tell you it's quite extreme.

I know this is crazy but in all honestly one of the EQ devs is basically the inspiration of for Daenaerys.... if you can believe it that's like 1999 San Diego being
portrayed.... no joke.... Astapor is like this weird pocket culture they made because they were "non-confomring" etc....

Pretty depressing all around... for everyone more or less...

The real takeaway though is that video games and comics are separate ... and San Diego sucks...

I think this flatly contradcits one post I made possibly... sorta anyway.... because it's not clear whether I'm just am making stuff up
to mislead people or am I a crazy person or what....

But I can tell you... that they frequently come after people so they maybe have been hovering on tis very site at times and well anyway
sometimes it's possibly itentionally misleading them but not others and so on....

...Yeahn it's a weird situation....

Basically the US has a problem with Roman by descent/etnicity children... they were sure they were all dead but effectively they're not...

So the whole LGBTQ framework and Americas position as an ethical nation is being threatened....

And all this stuff is just fallout/related and it's unrelenting because America is just flat out in denial.

The Rocket League devs were either ignornant as all get out or in on it... both are pretty depressing.

Romans are strong... they basically nearly eradicated the white races in the entirety.... possibly actually did there's records of people
in Scotland and descriptions such as the Caledonians who may have been a particular type of person and who are now extinct
through the intensity of those wars.

We all know the solution should have been and still should be everyone walks away but we know how hard America makes the point
that they never give up ona nything.

I imagine those Calend Caledonians didn't either... I'm sure they viewed themselves as the exception.... but the way I see it
is they lost... they're no longer here.... they're just a footnote... what other standard should we be using?

Your all in the middle of something which will withotu a doubt be written in the same way as the civil war and regarding
African Americans and that whole thing...

the US govt consideres people property... period... period.... they aren't just who you work for or whatever they consider you to be
owned by them... and if that's hard to understand it's because maybe you all haven't been as close to this as some.

Personally I think there is some hope though... they still rely on kind o the game and the framework for who wins/loses...
And all these video games keep making money which is putting all their conventional assets out of business...

And well that's been screwing them as hard as anything and they just won't quit so frankkly a lot of eg good people have been rep
reaping the gains for decades now... who knows if they will ever stop also.... it could end up just ending the US as an indepedent
and powerful political entity... already many states on the eastern sw seaboard have become irrelevant and powerless....

It's quite extreme honestly everything that's happening and very momentous.

Well hopefully this post doesn't get singed... at any rate....

What I argue is happening now actually is the democratic great depression.... the one side lets say screwd up everything in the 20s invovling
banks and all that...

But across these deacdes it's been the other side and it's because they see something valuable but don't understand it themselves.

Well I can tell you if you want to understand more maybe you can and maybe I can help but not if I get dinged for more heated tyhpes
of posts because the thats occasionally where I think thtings got to go to get people to understand.

So here's one truth... WoW is in a rut but it's not dead by any means... but we lost the Roman front basically putting capitalism in war terms
hopefully people don't mind....

They weren't appreciated enough and just fixation ont he one game....

I'm pretty sure people can play mutlilple MMOs... that's the solution to the content draught... it's not to have the one team make more
stuff it's to have

a whole different company do something entirely different.

And I can tell you Secret Society Games is totally obscure but there the ones who are supposed to be rebuilding it now so hopefully this
will all get fixe.d

[Mister Cheese]

In case you missed: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gh.../1100-6466794/

Not like I liked ghost recon anyway. But another reason to dislike Epic and Ubisoft. They don't need to make their game epic exclusive but they do so anyway. Because $$$$$