Pure speculation: of the people who don’t like Epic, maybe 25% are legitimate, principled objections to their business practices. The rest are split evenly between people who just want to manage their entire library on a single platform, and folks just going along for the hate-ride because it seems like the “safe” position to take.
From a technical stance, Steam and GOG are superior platforms (for different reasons). For equal-price purchases, I can’t think of a single reason to choose Epic over other options. But claiming a game for free? That doesn’t make anyone a bad person.
I’ll be honest, I definitely prefer having everything on one platform for convenience. This is in second place; right after letting me play a game directly from the icon without having to open the damn launcher in the first place.
Also, I am not well educated about the technicalities of Steam or GoG, so all I can say is I’m enjoying the cool factor of GoG combining my accounts in one place. Kinda bummed that Epic’s integration doesn’t have game time and achievement sync… But that’s probably an Epic thing.
Epic Games paid big money to make some games platform exclusive.
Their launcher is, just like Origin and Ubisoft’s one, features wise vastly inferior to Steam.
Smaller indie level multiplayer games do not have crossplatform play with Steam, or other issues like DNF duel breaking player room ping indicators.
None of these explain the amount of frequency of anemosity towards Epic for their store. It seems some are in a parasocial relationship with their Steam launcher. A bit like console fanboy wars. And for some reason they prefer a monopoly without alternatives than one with alternatives. Perhaps some see the installation of another program as an intrusion to to their private comfort. Not rationally like Microsoft’s ill willed spying telemetry, but emotionally led. I encountered a few people who just don’t want to install new programs and perhaps see Epic a threat to their habits.
But I dislike them for dropping Unreal Tournament.
Buying out a game after it was already set to sell on other platforms, and after people had already preordered it from those platforms, because your store lacked such basic functions as a check out cart so no one wanted to use it put them on the curb for me permenantly.
In a capitalist system, companies get worse in quality as they think they can get away with it to improve profit. Starting your store off at such a low point for your customers tells me that they are going to drop much lower once they think they have the stable playerbase to get away with it.
So I am completely disinterested in building a library of games on a platform I see as destined to become worse than the starting line of in the gutter.
Your points are very valid and it was a terrible thing for Epic to do, but they backpedaled on that and have never done the removing a product from Steam afterwards ever again.
No, they have never done it so far. Because it cost them a large amount of public opinion when they had almost nothing else to lean on. It was a decision that they survived only because their other products like unreal and fortnite funded it.
Once they think they have enough dedicated users, who are unwilling to leave their libraries, and they believe they have earned a steam equivalent customer reputation? They will do it again.
Boltgun accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. Great game. It gives me the same sort of power fantasy vibe that Space Hulk: Deathwing did but lets you actually move at the terrifying speed that a space marine should.
In short, Epic is anti-consumer. They claim better support for developers, but in reality consumers are the one paying for that. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but you the consumer have no choice in it. You are forced through exclusives and other limitations to use inferior service for the same price. Even free games they give are there to drag you into their ecosystem and abuse.
This is why Valve doesn’t feel threatened, I assume, and is not likely to feel the pressure from Epic anytime soon. For that to happen, Epic would have to get on par with features and customer benefits equal or better than Steam and that’s not happening anytime soon. Epic would rather throw hundreds of millions on exclusive deal with some developer and force you the consumer to buy the game on EGS than actually improve the service.
I’m pretty pragmatic. While I appreciate what Valve has done for PC gaming, I like the idea of them having some legit competition in the space. So when the Epic store started, I bought a bunch of games there to give it a shot. Outer Worlds, Control… And of course I grabbed up a bunch of free games, too!
…and then, over time, I’ve repurchased all of the games I liked on steam anyway.
Edit: for the downvoters - as OP, I officially congratulate Kecessa on their sick burn. It made me lol. So… If you were feeling conflicted here, go with the upvote.
Epic is not a competition to Valve. They are long ways from that position. If Steam ever was afraid of competitor it was from Windows Marker Place or whatever the name of built-in windows crap is.
Steam and GOG are simply better platforms overall. If you really care about being DRM free and owning your games you go GOG route, otherwise Steam is the king. Epic does not even have a review system.
Epic however is the best source of free games on PC. A lot of the latest games I have played have been from Epic giveaways. Right now they have Outer Worlds and yesterday it was Ghostwire: Tokyo, both of these games I played few months ago after purchasing them through Humble Bundle.
Will I ever buy a game on Epic? Probably not, I prefer Steam, but those that simply refuse to redeem freebies and install their launcher while shouting things like it being spyware are weird.
I'm coming up on the end of Wargroove 2. It's a solid iteration on the first game, with a few new units and mechanics. It's some solid Advance Wars gameplay, and arguably better.
I started playing The Outer Worlds basically right after Starfield, and it's hard to come up with anything that Starfield did better, honestly. This is just a better version of that, for the most part, and with a good sense of humor on top of that.
I've been trying to get to Master rank in Street Fighter 6, and I'm in Diamond 3, inching closer. I'll get there in due time. This game is great for a first version, but it sure would be nice if the input reader was more consistent and if Zangief's lariat hit behind him.
I started playing The Outer Worlds basically right after Starfield, and it’s hard to come up with anything that Starfield did better, honestly. This is just a better version of that, for the most part, and with a good sense of humor on top of that.
Lol, I’ve actually been thinking of replaying it at some point because as soon as I started becoming frustrated with Starfield, I remembered that we already have a way better “Fallout in space” game.
Also, Parvati is my fellow ace BFF. So fucking happy I got to connect with a character, help her find romance, and not be the fucking center of attention for once. Wish RPGs did that more.
Decided to finish up my Mimimi collection now that they’re shutting down and I’m now in full stealth tactics mode.
I’ve been playing Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew and man, I never realized how much I miss tactical stealth games. Having so much fun.
Immediately made a beeline for the Yuki (from Shadow Tactics) DLC as soon as the option opened up.
Love that rascal and her having adopted Kuma is just perfect.
It has a super varied cast of characters as well, and I haven’t unlocked them all yet, but enjoying the ones I have so far.
I also find it kind of funny how “save-scumming” is treated as an integral mechanic in the game. Like, you don’t have to do it at all, but if you want to, the game encourages you to enjoy it and not feel bad about it as long as you’re having fun.
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