Humble Bundle Partners With Epic Games

Some interesting news out of GDC 2019. Epic is now partnered with HB you can read about it in a brief article here

I'm guessing we will be seeing games for the Epic Store in HB bundles as well as the monthly soon.

5 years ago*

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Only time will tell...

I wish someone would just pin one EPIC thread instead of starting a new one each little bit of news that comes out.

5 years ago
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once in the future at … EpicGifts.com

5 years ago
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Never.

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Valve should change the publisher agreement so that they get a hefty advertisement bill if they pull the game from steam and release it elsewhere. Half of the monies should then be distributed as wallet credit among users who wishlisted the game. ;-)

5 years ago
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yes.

5 years ago
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I would prefer they just compete against other stores in a fair way.

5 years ago
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It's not about competing, it's about not getting used. How would you feel if a guy/girl dated you just because you were popular and could get them to high places, but once they got to know enough people, they dumped you for someone else? Well of course you wouldn't sue them for damages but you would probably feel that your time invested in that relationship was wasted and you might also feel like an ass in eyes of the people you introduced him/her to as your partner. Business-wise it's easily translated to money.

5 years ago
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If we have to go into analogies.
Then steam is that abusive relationship you have been part of for many years but because the person is very popular it would be seen as social suicide to leave that person.
Along the way comes this hot new guy to the scene, who is not abusing you and you take your chance with him.

Steam got big because it was the only one around for a VERY long time. Thus they could set the prices at unreasonable levels.
Personally I think steam should have been hit by a monopoly strike and billed heavily so that others would have a chance to make a competitive market, and as they say, competition can only be good for the consumer.
Now other places are trying to get into the market but to take just a tiny bit of the pie they have to make deals.
And as mentioned these are only timed exclusives. Though some might be permanent if all things go well for them.

5 years ago
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steam should have been hit by a monopoly strike and billed heavily

How does Steam misuse its monopoly status? It doesn't prevent developers from selling their games elsewhere.

5 years ago
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Thus they could set the prices at unreasonable levels.

  • Valve doesn't set game prices. Publishers/devs do.
  • Valve took the same cut physical retailers were taking (30%), but without the additional overhead of physical copies in stores. That's why they were so successful. They made devs/publishers more money than they were selling physical copies. Hardly a bad thing.
  • The monopoly thing doesn't apply at all, especially given that devs can get keys generated for free to sell elsewhere (for which Valve gets no cut).
  • Edit: Valve also provided a platform to show games that couldn't afford to release physical copies in stores. Most of these developers wouldn't have been able to get off the ground without Valve/Steam.
5 years ago
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True.

5 years ago
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people look at the behemoth Steam, and automatically assume they're evil.

There's nothing wrong with being a monopoly (there are plenty of monopolies all around). It's only when a company abuses their monopoly position that it's a problem

5 years ago
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Yep. Look at old Microsoft vs. new Microsoft. Completely different animal. They're still far from perfect, but once they got all responsible and stopped abusing their power, started caring about quality/security/etc., they suddenly became what passes for the "good guy" among all of the big tech companies (it sure as @#$! isn't Apple...lol).

I see Steam like that. They're big, and they get in their own way sometimes, and they definitely have curation/quality issues. But, by and large, it's not nefarious. They're not successful because they're evil...they're successful because no one else has previously had the wherewithal to have their vision and scale.And, overall, what they provide service-wise is very good, which is why we all have a Steam account.

5 years ago
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Well put. :)

5 years ago
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can we please stop believing valve, who owns the largest digital distribution gaming service in the world, has zero clout with publishers who use it. If valve wanted to enforce pricing caps to stop regional price gouging, THEY COULD. publishers would DEFINITELY agree to them, if the alternative was that they could no longer use the most profitable digital platform in the world. Valve simply has NO INTEREST in addressing pricing unfairness, because the more publisher price gouge, the more profit valve makes.

5 years ago
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No one said they don't have any clout.
I said they don't use it.

It is what it is, whether it suits you or not.

5 years ago
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the way you word it infers that valve is not to blame for pricing unfairness on their platform when in fact any complaint anyone has about pricing is fair to blamed as much on valve as publishers due to their inaction. Just because valve refuses to take responsibility for what publishers do on their store is no reason not to take valve to task for allowing shit behavior that they COULD (and any responsible, consumer-focused company WOULD) change.

5 years ago
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Valve doesn't set game prices. Publishers/devs do.

was in response to

Thus they could set the prices at unreasonable levels.

I wasn't inferring anything. I stated it outright.

5 years ago
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Everything about this wrong on almost every level.

5 years ago
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I guess in your world GOG and Itch.io don't exist/count.

4 years ago
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5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Yes, it's called a timed exclusive which is mentioned in the OP.

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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looks pants - a mix of space engineers and fortresscraft evolved (*cough factorio). it will be pants.

5 years ago
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im ez rdy to wait these games, since they are timed exclusives

5 years ago
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Good luck with sales, then.

5 years ago
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I don't think they are going to have any issues at all with sales.

5 years ago
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u dont get 1 simple thing, are there many people who will install epics client for some exclusive indie games?:)

5 years ago
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I don't think you get 1 simple thing lol. And that's how many people have the client already installed on their pc.

5 years ago
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kids play fortnite, who said that they will buy games?:)

5 years ago
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lol I'm guessing this isn't a serious comment but ya never know.

5 years ago
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I'm guessing it's a very serious comment, and one to be taken seriously.
The audience to which you're marketing a product (or in this case, a whole platform) most definitely plays a huge part.

5 years ago
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The reason I wasn't finding it serious is because a very large portion that make up the Fortnite population are old enough to have jobs. And the portion that aren't old enough to have jobs, their parents probably do buy games for them.

5 years ago
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Old enough to have jobs doesn't matter. Providing games that audience will enjoy is what matters.

5 years ago
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My comment about the people playing fortnite having jobs was a direct reply to a comment about them being kids and questioning if they will buy games.

Of course providing games the audience enjoys is a big part of it. Who said it wasn't? I'm sure that just like most game stores they are going to be doing just that.

5 years ago*
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Everything I've seen you say is "I think" and "I believe" and "I'm sure." You're making assumptions.

I'm going by what I see right now. And right now, I don't see anything on their store to cause that audience with "the client already installed" to spend any money on any game but the one for which they installed that client.

5 years ago
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You are assuming that every person who has the client installed already won't spend any money on another game on store right now because you can't see it happening.. Come on now..

5 years ago
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You are assuming that every person

Incorrect. Will there be some crossover? Sure.

But using "they already have a huge client user-base" as grounds for claiming their store's success -- based on a crowd who installed it for one particular game in one particular genre -- is a huge assumption, and a huge risk for Epic, not to mention a risk for developers, who are shunning the wide and varied audience Steam has already built in favor of a platform that, right now, is built around one particular game.

I'm saying things could go either way for Epic. Are you sure it's me who "can't see it happening?"

5 years ago
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I find this move by Epic very interesting and it could go either way. I've taken a sort of special interest in what's going on due to several things, so I am very curious on how things will go and what things will look like in a month or two.

5 years ago
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I don't think Epic have a hope in hell. EA can't even get Valves scraps and their client has exclusivity over some of the most consistently popular games in gaming. FIFA and Madden for example hit top 10 lists nearly every year.

5 years ago
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By marketing different games, and well in the way they are currently, you open a new market and attract new customers. The kiddos stay on Fortnite and others will always flock to beautiful indie games. And their homepage does an amazing job of showcasing games with unique and appealing aesthetics. It's a smart move on their part. But total crap for any games that "decided to pull" after using steam's huge platform to market the games to interested parties by a well-constructed algorithm.

5 years ago
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He is right in one thing though: the majority of the Fortnite users are just kids who rely on pocket money as income. This is the one thing that Valve still has, that the average age of their most-used MP-only lootbox cashfest game is closer to 20 than to 10.

5 years ago
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Does one need a(nother) client to get games from the Epic Store?
How does their privacy policies stack up vs Valve's?

And the big question for me--will they (like Steam) have gift cards in Walgreens? I know of many $100s spent at steam because of gift cards. My cousin will be getting a steam card for Christmas. If all the big games leave Steam, will the gift cards be popular enough to continue to stock them? (Will there even be any point to having a Steamcard then, or would one need to buy gift cars to 20 different publisher's store(s)?)

These are some of the concerns I have with this whole trend of publishers leaving Steam for their own clients.

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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You don't need to install it. Just add game from the web site ;)

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Wait, what? I will have to investigate this... xD

5 years ago
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None of the currently announced timed exclusives bother me that much, though the fact that they are exclusives, and for a year, does bother me a bit. I'm sure it'll become far more annoying when Epic does this to a game I care more about.

I'm definitely curious to see how well they do, but, who knows if we'll even see the sales numbers ever. I'm fine with pushing Valve to lower their cut, but, I don't feel like refusing to put their games on Steam for a year is going to help all that much in that regard.

The Epic store itself sounds pretty bad, feature-wise, so I can't see myself ever making an account, unless one of the free games they give away is something I want. I doubt I'll ever buy anything from them. If exclusives are only a year, I'll just wait for it to be on Steam, then in a bundle.

5 years ago
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There's only one exclusive that's been announced and that's Satisfactory and it isn't just for 1 year it's permanent I believe. I wouldn't be surprised if more are announced soon. Timed exclusives are the ones that are for a limited amount of time and that can vary in time length depending on the contract.

5 years ago
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I'm not sure where I saw the posts about some of them saying a one year exclusive, I'll have to look through a million threads again to find those posts. But other games that are exclusive, timed or permanent are Ashen, Super Meat Boy Forever, Hades, The Pathless, and Journey.

5 years ago
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I figured that those would be one of the two I just haven't seen an official announcement yet. If you find something on any of those please let me know so I can update the thread.

5 years ago
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and Rebel Galaxy 2 is another one, and with the one year thing https://rebel-galaxy.com/rebel-galaxy-outlaw-launching-on-epic-games-store-qa/

I could swear there was a second game that said one year exclusive, but, I'm struggling to find it again.

5 years ago
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Yeah Rebel Galaxy Outlaw and Genesis Alpha One are timed exclusives. The info is up in the thread already.

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Journey will also be exclusive to the Epic Games Store.

5 years ago
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There's only one exclusive that's been announced and that's Satisfactory and it isn't just for 1 year it's permanent I believe.

Actually it's a timed exclusive.
https://youtu.be/7V4UPiBOshY?t=161

5 years ago
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Thanks, updated.

5 years ago
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Just release on multiple platforms. Cutting out a chance at one revenue stream for another is dumb. Especially when you could have the game on different platforms. Most people installing Epic's client are only going to be doing it for the free games anyway.

5 years ago
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Like they all do on various platforms;

  • Origin
  • Uplay
  • Battle.net

They all can try, but establish a community is a hard feat.

Blizzard did that cuz of it´s huge success of good old, StarCraft , Diablo and WarCraft..

GoG managed this over more than a decade of hard work, with men power from polish company CD Project

So why not, but I advise to be cautious.

5 years ago
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i understand that there needs to be competition. Competition drives innovation. But what's in it there for me ? i already need to deal with 3 digital distribution ( steam, uplay just for r6 siege even though i have it on steam, battle.net for overwatch ). Steam provides me with regional pricing. Tho i understand i own games from other platforms but those are only 1 per platform. And if your game is good it will do good wherever its releases. What's this exclusivity shit ???

5 years ago
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+1 for that

I am looking for a unified platform :)
A neutral platform that brings all others together and is EZ to use ^^

Play PC, Console or Mobile, cross over what ever
I dont care where "frinemis" are coming from ^^

5 years ago
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Hey, I'd advise to check out the Playnite thread on SG :)

5 years ago
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ahh thx I will check it out
Open Source projects are still wuit dangerous to my mind but I will add it onto my frequently to be checked websites
THX ALOT

i guess something like that will conquer and win the fight in the end, if enough work/money gets into that

if not it will fail like trivillian back the days that was able to use ICQ, MSN, mIRC and stuff ^^

5 years ago
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As mentioned in my post above

With Epic only taking 12% of the revenue compared to most stores which take around 1/3 and if the game uses the Unreal Engine Epic will cover the 5% engine royalty out of their 12%. I'm sure this making it hard for studios not to want to put their games on the Epic Games Store.

If I was a developer, especially an indie developer I would be putting my game on it over other stores.

5 years ago*
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Do you really think that to add a new Salemarket onto the internet brings really more money?
Will future publishers/Indie or not, release more stuff on their platform?

I know alot people who either just not get more launchers installed cuz of lazyness (myself included)
GoG needed alot of time and with the STeamconnect they got alot new members in a snap!
So that was a nice move to bring that in, would they succeed with doing that with Uplay?

I can understand that the publishers want to get more from their work.
But do they really have the community, the manpower to handle all sorts of problems.

I can´t say I won´t judge, time will bring the answer, but WHAT IF Valve changes their policities!
Ain´t WE the customers not the ones who are in this battle of "launchers" right now?

Is a game/or many, so much worth to jump through different launchers?
I dont know man....

In the end the customers will decide the fates, as also the content and in the end MONEY.
So who cares, if they support ME as CUSTOMER and provide all needed stuff like

  • Customer Support
  • Multiplayer / cross-over
  • Refunds
  • Friendssystem
  • ect ect ect ect

I agree but well.. we can discuss that alot, they will do it anyways. I hope it works good or it will backfire within the community.
Any Uplay lovers in here?

5 years ago
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I have like 6 launchers on my pc although I don't really use most of them. While I would like everything on one launcher that's just not the way it is. I look at it like this, if a game is exclusive to one launcher and I want to play it, I'll get the launcher. If not then I don't play it.

5 years ago
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I just got a headsup onto this

Playnite unified Launcher

If this works proberly , ther is no need of discussion for me ;)
I can utilize the best offers for me , of whatever launcher/market/publisher...

and just play like I want to

IF really everything sucks, I will stick back to DRM Free DVD Hardcases and will play in LAN or Singleplayer only.
For the rest of my time ^^. Avoiding the rest ^^

5 years ago
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you would and you should. But that shouldn't be exclusive.

5 years ago
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So putting a game on a store that gives you 88% and has an undetermined userbase is somehow preferable to launching on a proven platform that has 125.000.000 users and takes its cut only from copies sold through its own store but provides unlimited free keys, mod support platform and a digital marketplace?

I would go through my excel sheets a few more times before making that switch.

5 years ago
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I'm pretty sure Epic will be adding features and improving things. Only time will tell what will happens, guess we will have to wait and see.

5 years ago
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Sure, I agree.
Just wanted to point out that 18-23% more from the cut might not be as good as it sounds, given that the total tally might be significantly lower than on the well established platform.

5 years ago
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That very well could be the case. I'm just really curious how things are going to look in a month or two.

5 years ago
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But is it true they don't take cuts from generated keys? I'm curious

5 years ago
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Steam does not take cut from keys, only from games/items sold directly via Steam store.

That allowed for a market of official resellers like GMG, Humble bundle, Fanatical, GG etc. to exist and to make Steam even larger.

5 years ago
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Fair enough, it could explain why some retail sites can have bigger discounts than on steam then

5 years ago
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This is not competition. This is fragmentation of the market. For it to be a competition between game clients you'd need all games to be present on all clients. But that is not the case. What we are seeing is exclusivity push from publishers who try and get a bigger % for themselves by fcking up the consumer.

5 years ago
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Don't forget GOG (not the client) for the old games that aren't on steam and for the guarantee that they are DRM-free.

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Time to swap to GameGifts?

5 years ago
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lol

5 years ago
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That's too bad about Rebel Galaxy Outlaw. I bought Rebel Galaxy on GOG and picked it up on Steam in a bundle. I would buy the sequel at release on GOG, but I guess I'll be waiting 12 months. By then it'll probably be 50% off, and it's not like I have a shortage of games to play.

5 years ago
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Well, let's wait and see.
Of course developers/publishers want to maximize profits and want to be on the platform where they only have to take a 12% cut. It will all come down to user and actual buyer numbers of the Epic Games store. Even with a 30% cut, all in all you might get (way) more money out of Steam due to much higher sales due to much more users/buyers.
This is something that, at this time, no one knows and can predict. We have to wait and see how it will play out.

5 years ago
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Add in regional pricing and I'd buy on Epic. Until then, I'd rather wait.

5 years ago
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Steam never forced customers in any way to use exclusively their store for their platform.People said competion is good, well i agree but Epic doesn't try to compete because their store/client is x100 worst than Steam/GoG with zero features.They are just trying to force people to use their store with "time" exclusive titles.I find it quite lame tbh and indie developers shouldn't support it either...

5 years ago
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Agree 100%.

Price/features/quality of service... Those are the things we want to see competition on. "Exclusivity" is just anti-consumer nonsense though. Taking away our choice by throwing sacks of cash at the developers instead. It's what has made the console space so disappointing over the years and now they're doing it again on PC. Launcher wars, here we come. Ugh. :/

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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oh no, i won't be able to play their epic-client-only games. ;_;

fortunately trash like console exclusives has trained me well to ignore all those games and focus on titles i can get on steam. ❤️️

5 years ago
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The only I see right now to get an account with Epic is for Subnautica free. If I really want that game at all. ;-)

5 years ago
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Hmm. I like that they're giving a bigger cut to devs, but the UI is questionable so far. I'll continue using Itch.io (which lets developers choose how big or little a cut they give to the store) when I want to show support for small indie games for now.

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Will their prices be lower for customers or for devs only?

5 years ago*
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They just launched so there's still lots of questions floating around. If it's like a normal digital game store like Steam and GOG there will be game sales. We just have to wait and see though.

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Awesome move in my opinion.

5 years ago
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It is good have real competition since Valve really needs to change their policy in terms of the split and other stuff. HOWEVER, me as a gamer and a customer don't really like to spend money on Epic Games, a.k.a. Tencent. And some indie game devs left steam to gain better revenue, but got their games promoted on steam, treating us a fool.

5 years ago
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if the game price it's the same as steam why we should move to EPIC launcher??? for some exclusive games that can be easy pirate????

idc how many money get EPIC or STEAM for each game, i care for the price for me, if EPIC sell the game more cheap than STEAM i will move to EPIC and let die STEAM that have the worse support ever that i found in my entire life and the entire life of my parents and grandparents (you can't even make a ticket for almost anything, you only can about money problems) and when they answer you it's the tipic control +C control + V that all people get, (probably they use bots for do that...)

5 years ago
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If your main game client is Steam and it's the same price as epic then yeah why would you buy it on the Epic Game Store.

It will be interesting to see if the prices for games that are on Epic and Steam are cheaper on the Epic Games Store. I think what will be even more interesting than that is if there are bigger discounts for the Epic Games Store during sales than what Steam gets.

5 years ago
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idc how many money get EPIC or STEAM for each game, i care for the price for me,

but if the developers want to get more money for their work then they are greedy and entitled :3

5 years ago
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well not all depends of how many the "client" (steam or EPIC) get for each sale.

if EPIC have 50 customers and Steam have 80 millions, developers will stay on STEAM even if they win a bit less, because the potentional of sell games are bigger than on EPIC.

only time will tell if EPIC can get big or not

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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Closed 3 months ago by FateOfOne.