Yeah, they expressed that they wanted to join the online game store scene and the big feature they were offering to draw in users was… anticompetitive exclusivity deals!
Plus the company killed off the unreal tournament franchise because they didn’t want it to compete with fortnite.
I have no interest in supporting a company that thinks removing options is the best way to get users to use their products.
It’s the same shit that has turned streaming services from great back when it was new to now having content spread across many competing services. I’d rather they competed based on their own platform’s features and advantages than the whole “if you want to watch x, you must use service y”. It’s just a series of mini monopolies.
Imagine if they succeed with the exclusivity tactics, how other companies will respond to that? Doing the exactly same thing.
Let some years of exclusivity wars and the PC gaming will look like the streaming, a bunch of storefronts offering the same poor service and the clients doesn’t know where to buy what they want because at any moment another exclusivity deal could be made and the entire library moved to another storefront, just like streaming.
Exactly. Oh and I also just remembered another angle: their anti-linux stance. They used to make games with native Linux support, but as I understand it, they’ve even removed Linux support from some games that already had it, trying to keep the Microsoft monopoly going. I wonder how much money ms is giving epic for that.
Same reason why a lot of the non-steam handhelds are non-starters for me. And yeah, I can live without games that depend on Windows kernel-level anti-cheat.
My backlog is so full I could keep entertained even if I ignore every single game I don’t currently have in my steam library. Hell, I even ignore some that are there when I realized they have denuvo or something like that after buying and the refund window has already passed when I do notice.
They used to make games with native Linux support, but as I understand it, they’ve even removed Linux support from some games that already had it, trying to keep the Microsoft monopoly going. I wonder how much money ms is giving epic for that.
Probably none, the CEO with the small dick energy just hate Steam so if Steam is pro Linux he will do the opposite of it.
Tldr: Kickstarter Game with a lot of interest while in development announces a release date on Steam. After the date announcement they get contacted by Epic saying “we’d love to host your game” for an exclusivity deal.
Dev responds that they would be happy to have their game on Epic but promises were made during crowd funding that it would be available on Steam.
Epic replies that they aren’t interested if it’s not exclusive.
This tells me that
Epic is full of shit. "We’d love to have your game, but only if it’s exclusive.
Epic doesn’t care about being a better service for its customers. Having the game available on Epic as well is strictly better for Epic’s customers and they easily could have done that. They chose not to.
Epic is not interested in actually having to compete with other companies. This would require them to provide a better service in some fashion. They are only interested if they can force people “if you want to purchase this game you have to buy it through us” which is anti-consumer.
Basically watch games being promoted on steam pre-release and when games get popular, reach out to them and offer them money to be exclusive on EGS for a period of time despite all the publicity the game got being on Steam.
Downloading the games does not cost Epic anything. They paid a flat rate to make it free to download, regardless of how many people actually download it.
You signing into the store and claiming the free games provides user metrics that Epic can use to entice investors.
Think of it as a “this game is not yet available for purchase” seal. It may also mean “we know our game is not up to standards (it wouldn’t sell well on Steam), so we chose to let idiots at epic decide if they want to pay for it, and hey it worked so that’s something”.
How is it insane? These games are made to take your money, so they quickly get cheaper until they no longer make meaningful sales. It's why you should never buy AAA games for the first 6-12 months, they will very quickly be a lot cheaper after the publishers scam from the initial hype purchases.
Does anyone else find it really difficult to play evil in games, like emotionally and morally?
I loved fable and got my angel wings and halo easy-pie; I never managed the horns and huge black wings. I tried, I really did, but I just can’t do it properly… I feel bad for it.
Edit: Or wait is that what this is about, rather than just a specific game…?
Most people don’t do evil runs cause most games do a shit job at portraying evil.
If I help the nice girl who has the keys to the treasure chest, in order to make her like me, that isn’t a “good” act.
I just want her to trust me so it’s easier to get the keys later.
Motivations make you evil, not actions. Actions can make you evil if the motivation is there, or if you lack any motivation other than self-service, but if you are just a fuckup, are you actually bad? Sure if enough of your actions are bad even if the goal is good, it makes you a bad person, but does it make you evil? (I’ve played enough morally ambiguous virtue games to know the answer is no; they always forgive the antagonist if he repents and tries to do better)
Killing people is often, in games, portrayed as a good thing… but not helping people doesn’t make you a morally reprehensible person… helping them the wrong way does. And that’s hard to encode.
“My husband had to go to xyz to deal with the kobold problem, but he hasn’t come back yet”. Your options are help or ignore, and ignoring it isn’t inherently evil, it’s just not compassionate or caring. Helping the kobolds would be the evil act in this scenario and it’s never an actual option in most games.
I also find it hard to do evil play throughs. I tried to do one on Baldur’s Gate 3, but I couldn’t bring myself to because of how it affects your companions. It doesn’t help that I had already seen most of them work through their trauma on a more good aligned play through
lemmy.world
Ważne