Customer reviews and support will be opt-in features on the Epic Games Store
49 replies, posted
Not to mention the Devs are actively losing money due to the Exclusivity deal because Steam has way more Active members than Epic.
Steam has 125 Million, I am not sure about Epic but I have a rough estimation.
The only demographic on Epic Games is those who play Fortnite, since Fortnite is the only Game on it that is successful.
Total accounts registered for Fortnite is 200 Million.
Let's keep in mind that Fortnite is on Switch, Xbox and PS4 alongside PC.
Let's divide equally by 4, not the best way but it's fair enough.
That is 50 Million each, and also there are the iOS and Android ports but that just makes it less.
Epic has 75 million LESS than Steam.
That is 75 million potential buyers, that is assuming those 50 million Epic accounts buy Exodus which I highly doubt since I assure you, a decent chunk are just kids who want to play fortnite.
Of course I am pulling numbers out of my ass but the point is, as a business stand point, this HURTS the Dev money wise, since while yes the Exclusivity money is nice, not only are the Devs getting at best half of it, they're losing more money by having it on Epic.
https://i.redd.it/wp047tkqxdd21.png
"competition"
https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/4/11160104/tim-sweeney-microsoft-walled-garden-criticism
UWP is part of Microsoft's effort to create universal apps that run across all sizes and types of devices, and is closely tied to the Windows Store. Sweeney's displeasure stems from the fact that Microsoft has launched new Windows features exclusively in UWP, incentivizing developers to get on board if they want access to those features. He sees that move as forcing developers to cede control over their app distribution — which would be done through the Windows Store — and to lose their direct relationship with customers, while also "curtailing users’ freedom to install full-featured PC software."
As the developer of the massively successful Gears of War and Unreal Tournament franchises along with the Unreal Engine for game development, Epic Games is a big and influential name in the games industry. Like Valve's Gabe Newell, Tim Sweeney's name is instantly recognizable to gamers, and he will have thought long and hard before expressing such strident criticism of Microsoft's actions. "In my view, if Microsoft does not commit to opening PC UWP up ... then PC UWP can, should, must and will, die as a result of industry backlash," says the Epic Games chief.
Just imagine poaching apps and games for your storefront and cutting off all contact with end users and saying this is better for the entire industry. Wait a second,
March 4th, 2016
I wonder how this has changed recently.
https://wccftech.com/tim-sweeney-defends-epic-games-store/
Oh...
Sir, please get off the armchair you've nested yourself in. Your family is concerned that you insist on giving half-baked business arguments on the internet.
making everything like steam but like x10
Seems pretty obvious by now that Epic is trying to make a launcher for developers/publishers, not for customers and so the only way they can "attract"(force) customers to their platform is with exclusive bullshittery.
With exclusive shit they don't have to worry about improving their platform or being better than Steam, they only need to suck publishers off for money and exclusive deals.
This is not competition.
GOG: DRM-less games, oldschool games properly working and patched, client-less downloads, <...>
Humble: Great bundles and deals, DRM-less from time to time, <...>
Itch.io: Loads of smaller indie titles, client-less, DRM-less
Steam: In-House Streaming, Major Linux investments, proper controller support for a load of titles (with cloud controller profiles, can access my controller scheme even on a different account due to the UUID on DS4s), decent chat, great lobby support, cloud saves, community forums, non-optional reviews, gives batches of free keys for developers/publishers for free to foster competing platforms, fair regional pricing (varies from publisher to publisher, RE2Remake's price was spot on)
Epic Store: Does shady deals with publishers to lock people out of their favorite platforms and to strong arm people into adopting a platform that gives me no value
Microsoft funds their own "exclusives".
Sure, I can just download another game launcher. But should competition really be who throws the most money at a publisher to pull their game off of a competitor's storefront shortly before release?
Honestly, Epic's idea of user reviews and support forums being optional is actually not that bad. I mean, publishers who are confident in their product wouldn't be afraid to opt in for reviews, while those who have something to hide have a convenient option. As for support, again - if the publisher is pro-consumer, he would definitely make it easier for players and opt in for support forums, so that people who bought the game could get help in the same place where they bought it.
Overall, it gives more freedom to publishers and more insight on whether the game is good or should be avoided - as long as you're not brainless and can't figure out that having no user reviews is not a good sign.
Epic didn't fund a dev in exchange for exclusivity. Epic paid the publisher money to remove the game from all other storefronts, which includes Steam but also others like GOG. There's a big difference between funding a game and bribing publishers to remove competition.
While console exclusives suck for people who don't own the consoles, without the funding from Microsoft/Sony, it's likely the games wouldn't exist at all. I can't blame them for keeping it exclusive to their platform when they created it or directly paid a dev to create it. If Epic actually funded Metro: Exodus and it wouldn't have been made otherwise, the reactions would've been different, likely the same as when EA moved their exclusives to their platform. Metro: Exodus was announced more than a year before the Epic store even existed, and the game would've been made regardless of Epic's involvement, as evidenced by the fact that the game is still available on Steam for anyone who bought it there.
At this point it feels like the majority of journalists have gotten blacklisted by Konami having temper tantrums, and plenty of other developers use loss of review copies as a threat; anyone remember Kane and Lynch?
We've known this since last year just before they announced the service even.
Ideally, reviews should just be a thing, but with Steam reviews sometimes being abused by consumers and developers alike, I can see why making them opt-in would be on the table. Ideally, we'd want a review system that can't be abused, but we can't really do that without denying the public a way to voice their opinions or giving the publisher/developer a way to tailor them.
At the very least, Epic should do what Steam and Discord do, and provide the Metacritic score for the game on the store page.
i'll give you a silly hypethitical: imagine buying metro for your console of choice (ps4/xbone is all good) but suddenly two weeks later they signed console exlusivity for the ouya. wouldnt that be fucked up or what?
I'm sorry, I'm not buying a product without customer reviews. No one in their right mind would buy expensive things from Amazon, Walmart, any online retailers without it.
It's purely scummy to not have it.
It means taht they're not confident. There's no reason to avoid reviews unless you're afraid that they'll reflect poorly on your game. So I would take any game on Epic's store that doesn't have reviews as an indication from the game's devs that they're not confident it's actually a good game. And thus I wouldn't consider purchasing it.
Unfortunately people are fucking retarded so plenty of people will still purchase games even without reviews being available. (And then proceed to be disappointed when it turns out a shit game was shit.)
Epic game store is the Tidal of game delivery platforms
Imagine being mad that a product doesn't have the option for consumers to leave a review instead of just not bothering with such a shady product to begin with
Any dev worth their weight will keep reviews open, since having even halfway decent reviews are the best way to encourage people to actually hit the Buy button. If a AAA game doesn't publish reviews on their store page, you can be damned sure that the rest of the internet will give you the reason why.
Good lord, it really is 2014 all over again!
For those not in the loop, Tidal is what Epic Games Store is today.
Garnering exclusives and having the backing of Jay-Z as the head of the platform. It's biggest controversy was, obtaining the exclusive release of Kanye West's upcoming album The Life of Pablo among other things.
History does repeat itself, doesn't it?
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