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Retr0gamer

If anyone is going to break Steam's stranglehold on the market it's going to have to do extreme things like this. However I doubt Metro is the game to do it. It needs HL2 level game really.

K.O.Kiki

I don't think anything on GOG is "exclusive" - they just happen to repackage & sell the old games that players want & other storefronts didn't want to bother with.
And they have no DRM!
Plus they do that GOGconnect thing that lets you put non-GOG games you bought elsewhere into your GOG library!
AND their pricing is affordable!

Don't lump GOG with the rest of 'em.

gizmo

EoinHef wrote: »

The EPIC store currently offers no benefits,its literally a storefront DRM. No cloud saves,spotty back end,no forums,no workshop etc. Absolutely zero features,all you can do with it is buy the game from it.

In that sense steam has much more value adds. Surely that has to mean something to consumers? Its not just the hassle of having another icon as people always seem to suggest.

True but it's worth noting that Epic have posted a road map for many of these features coming in the future. It's debatable whether they should have waited until they had reached feature parity before launching however, when you're going up against a company who have been earning approximately 30% of the lion's share of PC game sales for over a decade, I'm willing to cut any competitor some slack when going up against them.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I think developers need to take responsibility here. Steam codes are generated by the publisher, not Valve. If a dodgy seller is looking to bulk buy codes the publisher generates them not valve. And then it's the publishers problem if eastern European codes end up on cd key sites. If you want to control how many codes get out into the wild then sell them to reputable sellers only. If you sell codes to someone with a fraudulent credit card then figure out how to avoid bad debts. Cheap game codes are a result of the global market which is good for consumers.

Some responsibility, yes. Regional pricing isn't as straight-forward as many believe and it's not just dodgy sellers that are the problem. I recommend giving this article a read which covers the topic, and others, from the perspective of a number of developers.

As for that last point, it's worthy of discussion in and of itself but in short, I disagree, this particular system is good for consumers who live in countries with a generally higher standard of living. For the folk from the regions where that pricing is applicable, they're not "cheap" and it's not something I think others should feel entitled to.

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I don't think anything on GOG is "exclusive" - they just happen to repackage & sell the old games that players want & other storefronts didn't want to bother with.

I don't have an exhaustive list but GoG most definitely do feature exclusives, both timed and otherwise. Project Warlock was the most recent example of a timed one, both Nightdive Studios and Beamdog releases have been unique to GoG in terms of release date and/or their actual content and while I've not seen a reason for it, I still find it odd that SWAT 4 isn't on Steam but is on GoG when it's prequel is. There's Thronebreaker too but including that may not be fair under the circumstances.

Dyr

TitianGerm wrote: »

It's a matter of downloading another store. It's not like you need to buy a new PC to use the Epic Store.

It's a matter of me not having a choice to buy the product in whatever store suits me best because one store has paid the producer to take that choice away.

Steam having competition would be be good for consumers. This is not competition and it's bad for consumers.

And frankly, I think the reason a lot of bods in the gaming milieu are cheerleading for Epic is because Valve refused to indulge their PMRC style purse clutching

Skerries

Kiith wrote: »

Steam, Uplay, Origin, Epic and GOG...have i forgotten any?

Blizzard

Retr0gamer

Bambi wrote: »

And frankly, I think the reason a lot of bods in the gaming milieu are cheerleading for Epic is because Valve refused to indulge their PMRC style purse clutching

Well they did make changes recently that really benefit publishers.... if you are a massive publisher expecting millions of sales.

The indie devs just got a massive **** you.

Stone Deaf 4evr

TitianGerm wrote: »

Epic are looking for a way to spend all the Fortnite money. They are building their store to ensure different revenue streams for the future.

I reckon you're not far off the mark there, between all the money they paid out to the people who had created stuff in the unreal engine store or whatever its called and this, it seems like they're trying to finally put together a genuine challenger to steam, it'll be interesting to see how it goes, particularly when you have the likes of Ubisoft, who also have their own store, moving their titles to epic.

Mr Bloat

You'd swear that Steam launched with discussion areas, workshops and all the other parts that people take for granted, the way people are going on about this. Initially, Steam was seen as a PITA for people used to installing games from CDs.
Epic are using financial clout to try to break into an area that Steam has had dominance in for more than 10 years, of course they need to do something radical to shake things up. Free games and exclusivity deals are just to grab headlines and to make people aware that there is an alternative to Steam. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a sign of things to come.

EoinHef

gizmo wrote: »

True but it's worth noting that Epic have posted a road map for many of these features coming in the future. It's debatable whether they should have waited until they had reached feature parity before launching however, when you're going up against a company who have been earning approximately 30% of the lion's share of PC game sales for over a decade, I'm willing to cut any competitor some slack when going up against them.

Fair enough wanting to give them a chance but at the moment there paying to take games from other storefronts that already offer those features,which for the consumer isnt great.

Givin epics warchest id imagine the store will get there but for now its sub what has become the standard for launchers.

EoinHef

Mr Bloat wrote: »

You'd swear that Steam launched with discussion areas, workshops and all the other parts that people take for granted, the way people are going on about this. Initially, Steam was seen as a PITA for people used to installing games from CDs.
Epic are using financial clout to try to break into an area that Steam has had dominance in for more than 10 years, of course they need to do something radical to shake things up. Free games and exclusivity deals are just to grab headlines and to make people aware that there is an alternative to Steam. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a sign of things to come.

No it didnt launch with those features,but it has them now so why would people want to be forced to use a store that doesnt have them?

Im not beholden to steam,but when you look at it it has the most features of any of the PC storefronts so makes sense to have a preference to it at the moment. Thats not blind loyalty,its just a fact.

Im not against epic trying to come into the space,far from it,they have just launched a barebones store that offers no value other than buying the games with no extras. If they werent buying up games to make them exclusive i dont think anyone would care.

In the long run im sure they will get the store up to speed but atm its not.

Grumpypants

Never tried it but https://playnite.link/ claims to link your Steam, GOG, Origin, Uplay and Battlenet games and have one single launcher.

Mr Bloat

EoinHef wrote: »

No it didnt launch with those features,but it has them now so why would people want to be forced to use a store that doesnt have them?

Im not beholden to steam,but when you look at it it has the most features of any of the PC storefronts so makes sense to have a preference to it at the moment. Thats not blind loyalty,its just a fact.

Im not against epic trying to come into the space,far from it,they have just launched a barebones store that offers no value other than buying the games with no extras. If they werent buying up games to make them exclusive i dont think anyone would care.

In the long run im sure they will get the store up to speed but atm its not.

Well, precisely. Nobody would care and nobody would have a reason to try out their store. If I shopped in the same supermarket every week and another one opened nearby selling the same stuff for the same price, I wouldn't bother changing. However, free stuff and a few exclusive items would make me check it out and perhaps entice me to move. After a while though, parity is achieved and both places end up with a share of customers, selling the same stuff at roughly the same price.

Retr0gamer

Quantic Dream will no longer be making PlayStation exclusives and will be going multiplatform.

David Cage obviously wasn't happy with just inflicting his own brand of awful on Sony fans. Now he wants to inflict it on everyone else.

Is no one safe from awful dialogue, squandered ideas, awkward sex scenes and creepy shower scenes that add nothing to the plot.

Won't some one think of the children?

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-01-29-heavy-rain-studio-quantic-dream-no-longer-making-playstation-exclusives

Varik

Grumpypants wrote: »

Never tried it but https://playnite.link/ claims to link your Steam, GOG, Origin, Uplay and Battlenet games and have one single launcher.

Problem is eventually they'll try to sell you something, or lock it down in some way that makes it the same as the rest.

Don't know about AMD but Nvidia have a very limited launcher/library in their geforce experience. If either of them tried to build their own at least it might try to stay somewhat open to the different other platforms.

earthwormjack

TitianGerm wrote: »

It's a matter of downloading another store. It's not like you need to buy a new PC to use the Epic Store.

No it isn't. You're completely missing the point of why people aren't happy about this.

Sonics2k

Mr Bloat wrote: »

You'd swear that Steam launched with discussion areas, workshops and all the other parts that people take for granted, the way people are going on about this. Initially, Steam was seen as a PITA for people used to installing games from CDs.
Epic are using financial clout to try to break into an area that Steam has had dominance in for more than 10 years, of course they need to do something radical to shake things up. Free games and exclusivity deals are just to grab headlines and to make people aware that there is an alternative to Steam. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a sign of things to come.

To be fair, Steam launched way back in 2003. Workshops, built in screenshots and a lot of that stuff simply wasn't feasible at the time.

Epic however are releasing their platform in 2018/19 and given their financial backing have little reason not to include such basic stuff as cloud saves and screenshotting.

Skerries

Retr0gamer wrote: »

David Cage obviously wasn't happy with just inflicting his own brand of awful on Sony fans. Now he wants to inflict it on everyone else.

Is no one safe from awful dialogue, squandered ideas, awkward sex scenes and creepy shower scenes that add nothing to the plot.

I love his zany, crazy games and will continue to buy and play them on whatever platform he puts them on

Retr0gamer

Skerries wrote: »

I love his zany, crazy games and will continue to buy and play them on whatever platform he puts them on

I enjoy them the way I enjoy The Room. With friends and booze to laugh at how bad they are.

johnny_ultimate

Sonics2k wrote: »

Epic however are releasing their platform in 2018/19 and given their financial backing have little reason not to include such basic stuff as cloud saves and screenshotting.

They do have one exceedingly good reason - Fortnite They have a platform that hosts the biggest game on the planet. So they’ve relatively sensibly launched while the iron is hot and they command an extraordinarily large audience.

You could also argue a steady stream of new features (familiar and standard though they may be) and exclusives over the next few months guarantees them coverage - gentle reminders that “we’re still here” after the big launch, rather than just something that gets a bit of buzz at first before fading from general consciousness. If nothing else, we’re still talking about the Epic store a month or two after launch.

gizmo

Penn wrote: »

Ubisoft have also cancelled 'Pioneer', a space-based exploration game hinted at in Watch Dogs 2.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-01-15-pioneer-the-space-exploration-game-teased-in-watch-dogs-2-is-reportedly-dead

On that subject...

The Real Story Behind Pioneer, the Troubled Sci-Fi Game Teased in Watch Dogs 2

Dr. Bre

Will we see a watch dogs 3?

K.O.Kiki

DOTA Auto Chess seems to be the first sleeper hit of 2019.

Sieghardt

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Well they did make changes recently that really benefit publishers.... if you are a massive publisher expecting millions of sales.

The indie devs just got a massive **** you.

Well, since Epic store wont allow the majority of indies on it, they still dont have much competition in that area

K.O.Kiki

Varik wrote: »

Problem is eventually they'll try to sell you something, or lock it down in some way that makes it the same as the rest.

Don't know about AMD but Nvidia have a very limited launcher/library in their geforce experience. If either of them tried to build their own at least it might try to stay somewhat open to the different other platforms.

Playnite is just a program that launches your library of installed games, and tracks your playtime.
It even can be used to launch specific games in emulators.

At least LOOK at the link before you be a cynic about it! :rolleyes:

Varik

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Playnite is just a program that launches your library of installed games, and tracks your playtime.
It even can be used to launch specific games in emulators.

At least LOOK at the link before you be a cynic about it! :rolleyes:

So you mean what Discord used to do, with a nice little library.

AND now they sell you ****.

Jordan 199

Dr. Bre wrote: »

Will we see a watch dogs 3?

Hopefully.

K.O.Kiki

Varik wrote: »

So you mean what Discord used to do, with a nice little library.

AND now they sell you ****.

open source video game library manager

They will never sell you shít.
Go sit in the corner :pac:

BeerWolf

For Honor and Hitman Season 1 is given out on PlayStation Plus thisFebruary.

Good Stuff.

ERG89

https://twitter.com/Slasher/status/1091685477730738178

A Titan-less Titanfall game.

Skerries

prepare for Titan fail