this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2024
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I'm genuinely shocked how much Epic poured into the store and it still lacks so much basic features. Sorting games is still extremely barebones, store is filled with NFT/crypto garbage, the store still looks like a college student's first front-end project, and last time I used the launcher to pick up free games (last year), it was still slow as hell. What were they doing in the past 5 years aside from dropping millions on exclusivity deals?

Epic is going to have to prioritize the store and try some new initiatives while also doubling down on earning pivotal exclusives if it is going to have a chance. I also hope other viable competitors arrive.

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[–] [email protected] 114 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

I see some larger publishers bemoan the fact that Epic hasn't caught on, but it should be pretty obvious why. Markets that favor the buyer more than they favor sellers will typically attract the largest user base, and the sellers don't have a choice to not sell where the buyers are.

Epic giving away free games is a nice buyer friendly action, but literally everything else they've done, from paid exclusives to poor client experience isn't favorable to buyers. They've created a market that no buyers want to use unless the product is free or literally not available anywhere else.

Giving publishers/devs better cuts is great, but it does nothing for you if all the buyers are on Steam instead.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

Advertising better cuts to publishers doesn't mean much when the price is the same across platforms. If epic was consistently 10% cheaper than steam it would get better traction.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

They do often have better sales, but you have to launch the store to know and personally I would rather pay the extra $1 to buy on Steam...

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Steam also has a lot of other stores selling their games though. Unless epic is giving it away for free, I'm probably going to get a better deal through a fanatical bundle or someone else than I would on epic.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago

This is true, here in Brazil we have an official key seller called Nuuvem that has prices so good TikTok banned their ads thinking it was a scam, since they often have small discounts even on new games.

Just have to be careful because sometimes the key is for Uplay instead of steam.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 weeks ago (10 children)

I always say the reason they give so many free games is because the real price is in having to use that goddamn launcher

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't even get their free stuff. And if it's only epic, I won't even bother checking it out or well...ya know.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

I hope it’s okay to ask, because I am being genuine, but why is using the Epic Games Launcher such a deal breaker for you? I have Steam, Epic, Ubisoft, Xbox, Battle.net and I’m sure more that I’m forgetting and I honestly don’t mind at all. It’s never been an issue for me but I think that I’m in the minority on that so I was curious to hear your thoughts.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago

No official Linux support, which means no Steam Deck support as well. Yes, there's Legendary but I shouldn't have to jump through those hoops.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I also think that developers/publishers don’t care about the % cut that much, they would rather just sell a lot of games. Which comes back to your point, the value proposition of EGS isn’t appealing to the buyer.

It’s like I make a competition to Uber with better cuts and working conditions to drivers. That is nice, but if the consumer has to wait 25 mins for my taxi while the Uber is there immediately, than they will not pick me for the same price.

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[–] [email protected] 106 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

Fuck Epic. I will never forgive them for buying Rocket League and ripping it away from my Linux library on steam. I will never do business with them, never play any of their games, never give them a dime, never even sign up to claim their free slop of the week. Fuck Epic with a cactus.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I own the original CD release of Unreal Tournament 2004, made by Epic, it includes a native Linux installer on disc, you get the full game, and it worked fine.

It makes me so sad that they did a complete 180 on this.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

My theory has always been they wanted to keep the door open for Microsoft if things just go under. When you think about it, they were struggling quite a bit in the early 2000's until gears. Microsoft really propped them up with that franchise, then they made fortnite, lost a lot of money until they pivoted to the BR mode and now they make millions every damn day.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 weeks ago

To be fair, Rocket League runs fine in Proton.

Also, to be fair.....agreed. Fuck Epic.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (12 children)

I like how many games they give away for free, but tbh I've never played any of them there. Some of those games I decided to buy later on Steam anyway just to do achievements (epic launcher doesn't have achievements, cards, any meaningful statistics, etc).

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Sorry if this comes across pedantic, but in case anybody isn't aware there are some games that offer Achievements (Alan Wake 2 is one I know).

I do agree though, Epic just doesn't have the features Steam does. I don't think their barrage of free games idea is a bad one, but it feels like an afterthought when it's just not as fun to play them there. (Better Linux support would be nice too, at least there's Heroic.)

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[–] msage 44 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I am always suprised that people expected anything differently.

Epic was from the start doing things the wrong way, and I will not support any store that has exclusives.

Making a good gaming platform that could rival Steam would take A LOT of time and money and dare I say - no company is willing to lose that for a chance of one day perhaps being only slightly worse competitor that still can't convince people to migrate.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There are only a few companies that could even hope to take on Valve, at this stage. The likes of EA and others. But by definition, their company culture means they'll never be able to take on Valve.

Someone else made a comment about what will happen when Gabe steps down and I suddenly realize what a short-term golden age we're likely living in, even with all the bullshit.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

I can support a store if they keep their own games exclusive. Completely fair game. But fuck the gobble up companies.

[–] Tamo240 7 points 2 weeks ago

Making a platform that was simply a copy of all of Steam's features would certainly take a lot of time. That's why to break into the space a new platform would need to actually innovate a killer feature that brings early adopters to it even without having all the bells and whistles Steam has. Then the user base can and will grow as you fill in the gaps so the 'sacrifice' of using your platform is lessened.

All exclusive games do is build resentment in your customers at being forced to use an inferior product.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I've said it before, but until Epic adds some way to provide feedback to others, I won't spend any money on it. Being able to read if a game is buggy, runs on my hardware, etc, is too essential to the experience to not have.

Epic wants to be the pro-developer storefront, but since that seems to involve being anti-consumer, I as the consumer have no interest.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (7 children)

I'm far from being a business savvy person, but honestly, from business perspective what exactly is Epic offering that sets them apart from other competitors? Even if Epic fixed their launcher issues, how would they be different to Steam that is already well established for 20 years? That's why I like GOG as Steam's competitor. GOG focuses on selling DRM-free and retro games. If a game also happens to be available in GOG, I would prefer to buy it from there than Steam. Moreover, GOG keep old games well maintained and updated to run in modern computers; something that Steam is very poor at doing. What does Epic even do differently, apart from doing exclusives which any companies could do?

[–] ChairmanMeow 28 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

It's slightly cheaper for developers to put their games on there. But that sucks as a business model, because game prices aren't any lower so for the end user it doesn't matter. And on features, Epic just loses every matchup against Steam.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago

Hmm... that's fair but it seems that Epic even forgot to think of end users-- the gamers-- in that regard before trying to compete with Steam. They prioritised devs first over the actually most important stakeholder.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

As the customer, which in a practical sense is the only perspective that matters to me day-to-day, Epic offers me nothing close to what Steam or GOG can give me. Hell, even EA's and Ubisofts launchers were more useful since they at least had exclusives. All Epic has is Fortnite and for someone like myself that doesn't care for that kind of game, there is no reason to even consider their platform for anything.

And given my recent switch away from Windows and to Linux full time on my gaming PC to put a further wedge between me and the things Microsoft has been doing with Windows that I don't like that is a good thing given Epics history of embracing things that will never work as smoothly on Linux as Steam games do with Proton or GOG's native Linux options do.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

This CEO may think it's developer-friendly, but I highly doubt if Epic will keep such developer-friendly stance if Epic becomes a giant in this industry.

Epic burnt so much money on Epic store these years. If it succeeds, it's very likely Epic will try to earn it back. From player? Will players willing to pay more in Epic store than the others? If the answer is no.. Sometimes it really makes me wonder if these CEOs are really that stupid..

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Epic burnt so much money on Epic store these years

It burned money on exclusives. The free games are a much cheaper marketing tool than advertising.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

They burn a ton of money on free games too. They're only free to us. Epic pays for them at wholesale rates.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I've bought one game on the epic store.

I then immediately had to install the EA app, because you... didn't buy it on the epic store? You bought a license that you have to activate on EA's shit instead.

Kinda thinking there's no point to that, and I should have skipped epic (I had a coupon).

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Oh so it's just EA sucking, then. Well, it's nice to know nothing ever really changes I suppose.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If Borderlands 3 had released on Steam, I'd have probably bought it when it came out because I still had a lot of goodwill for the series at that time. Instead, I had to wait until the Steam release when the game already had loads of negative press. Exclusive deals are idiotic

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Epic store not being profitable and despite the backing of Fortnite and Unreal Engine surplas being at the state that it is shows that it is probably much more expensive than expected to make a feature rich launcher. What epic has is more a glorified storefront like humble bundle or Fanatical but worse because it isn't even selling keys for the platform of your choice, and they have to handle server costs of storing all the games too.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (5 children)

They didn't invest in features.

They "invested" in paying out the ass for exclusivity and loss leaders thinking that buying users would result in users ignoring how terrible their store was and buying more games there.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago

In a way it like trying to enter the smartphone market and paying for app exclusives then ignoring the part about polishing the OS experience as much as possible and putting out something that is from the flip phone era.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

EGS was always shit, I've said it since the beginning, and if they totally shut down and a bunch of dipshits lose their free libraries, all I'll do is laugh. Every downvote I've ever gotten for saying Epic is shit is just another tear for my collection.

You should have been able to see this coming the first (and every) time they bought a dev studio and immediately blocked game sales on Steam, or set games to exclusive for no reason other than locking out people who don't use their shitty store. Companies that can compete on their own merits don't have to do that, and being a fanboy because they gave out free games you probably already bought is fucking stupid.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

I mean, you can get banned from Steam and lose all your games at well...

You know, the centralization around Steam isn't a thing people should be wishing for...

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

I've heard of people getting banned from online play on steam, but haven't heard of anyone losing their library. I guess if you only play online, it could be the same effect (so maybe don't be a douchebag when playing online?)

I don't play multiplayer, except the rare occasion, and it's usually direct connect (which you can't be banned from), so I wouldn't care.

At any rate, I'm not saying steam is perfect or should be the only store, just that EGS fucking sucks. I agree with Randy Pitchford; We should have many viable competitors. Options are good. Epic is not a good option.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago

Randy is not known for being very smart.

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