Epic Games Store is offering developers 100% of revenue for six months of exclusivity

They can try all they want, but I’ll just wait until the game comes to steam. No game is worth using that dumpster fire of a launcher.

The first few months of a game release are absolutely critical, no matter the size of the studio. I won't buy anything on Epic just out of principle, and I'm sure there are countless other people who share the mindset. A 100% share, vs a 70% one, is definitely appealing at first glance, but it'll butcher your numbers for short-term gain

There seems to be a lot of debate in the comments, that are disingenuous arguments.

I think the quality of the software is a factor for some people, but that's not the main issue here.

Steam has always publicly stated their competition is piracy. They have to be more convenient than piracy to survive. And over steams lifetime I think they've demonstrated that's their goal, yes they have DRM, but only to satisfy publishers, they've done everything they can to keep things as convenient as possible.

Epic, the company, has demonstrated their goal is money. And they've demonstrated an anti-consumer trend, the exclusivity deals are in great indicator of that. If epic became as popular as steam, they would make the experience awful, they would become the Disney of the game world.

So all of the arguments about

*launcher quality

*availability of DRM free games

*some publishers choosing to release on one platform

Are missing the mark, many people don't want to financially support a market participant who will make their lives worse in the future.

If you don't like valve, that's fine, support a different distributor who makes the ecosystem better, like GoG.

Someday maybe they will try to improve the launcher instead of burning all the money in exclusives that only pisses people off. I uninstalled that shit and don't even bother to take the free games anymore.

Man epic games store is actual industry aids. We don't buy games on steam because we have no other choice. We buy them because it's by far and large the best platform. I don't want 10 different apps for different games. I want my collection in one spot. Epic games sucks. I've never given them a single cent and never will. I've claimed many a free game on there but the irony is I just buy them on sale through steam and never actually play them on epic. I want playtimes, achievements and the games themselves in one fucking spot. If steam becomes wildly anti consumer I would absolutely change my stance. But valve and it's customers have a pretty good relationship imo.

Say what you will about epic, but this is compelling as hell for Devs. Hopefully this puts more pressure on Steam to reduce their cut. Competition is good.

If you're so against epic, have a little patience and wait until it comes to steam 6 months later. That's what I'll be doing. But don't just mindlessly shit in epic because you (as a consumer) don't like their business model intended to attract devs. You can dislike something while also recognising the good in it.

you guys can pay developers all you want but nobody is gonna stick if your launcher is still shit

So is it just me or does every game that becomes a epic exclusive never do as well as they should. i think most game developers realize this, which is why epic is desperate to get developers on their failing launcher. maybe they should try offering all the things steam does. regardless i cant switch because i own too many games on steam, im locked in.

Steam has proton, Epic games does nkt even have a linux launcher, its obvious who I'm sticking with

God I hate Epic. I hate them with every fiber of my being. The fact that I have to have their crappy, insecure game store bloatware just to try to learn Unreal for personal projects is dumb. Hence why I am learning Unity and Godot.

Hey maybe you should make a launcher that isn't shit?

I mean, good on you for paying the developers well but Steam became very popular because they kept improving it.

They'll get 100% of my zero dollars that way.

Never forget that GOG is also an option!

"Let us offer you 100% of the money from a marketplace 0.0001% as large! Did we mention you get all the money that neither of us are making? We will throw in all the good will with gamers we've earned too."

I mean that's seems like a decent deal for developers but I'm not buying it until it goes Steam and GoG.

I already block ads and advertisements, so the game will just be completely off my radar for another six months until I see friends start playing it. Eh. It's far too much effort to try a new platform after the dumpsterfires of Origin and Uplay to play 1-3 games.

The only game I'd actually install a new launcher for would be a new Half Life Game.

Lol, Epic losing steam? No pun intended.

Also, fuck Epic.

They've done everything to encourage game developers, expecting consumers to follow. But none of this entices me to leave steam. I, like many, will gladly wait.

A 100% of $0 is still $0.

Other posters seem to forget that competition is very important for this kind of thing.

Sure it's annoying when Epic stops games releasing in other platforms, and especially how the epic launcher and it's games do not support Linux.

But without competition, steam can continue with an insanely high cut of indie game sales, and that is NOT ok.

How about you improve your goddamn service instead of holding my games hostage on your shitty launcher?

Guess I'll get the game on sale

This is probably a worse deal than the previous offer of guaranteed revenue regardless of performance.

Reeks of desperation, Tim's hate boner for Valve seem to drive a lot of Epic's policies

I don't have a problem with Epic offering this. The problem is with publishers that take this offer. Bunch of greedy bastards.

Fuck Epic and any store who tries to remove games from others.

Developers, or their MBA publishers? I HIGHLY doubt developers beyond indie studios benefit from this.

Permanently Deleted

Any game that signs a deal with epic like this goes on my boycott list.

And so the enshitification of epic begins.

Actually a compelling deal for developers, wonder how many indie / AA developers will go for that instead of steam

I don't think I've spent any money on the Epic Launcher yet but I'm happy to see them try their best. Competition is good and needed.

sniff sniff I know this scent, desperation

You mean the publisher?

Weren't they already doing this, and are just making it public with this announcement? So how many months do I have to wait until I can play Valve's games off of Steam, like on GOG?

Is this in lieu of an insentive payout up front or is it supplementary to one? If this is supplementary to an upfront payout I could see how it'd be worth it for a small dev. But if you don't get that payout up front for exclusivity I can't see how this would make any sense. I can't imagine EGS sales amount to much compared to what you'd get from a steam release; even with 100% revenue.

I'd expect EGS exclusivity to be the norm then. People who will buy the game eventually will buy the game eventually. Those are fixed sales since they'd get the same revenue from them either way. It's just a breakdown of the sales lost from people refusing to buy the game ever outweighs the 30% you gain. Which at this point it seems like a ridiculous proposal since every game seems to launch to bigger and bigger numbers regardless of what bullshit the game pulls. People who wait for sales would barely matter since a steam sale is like a year after release and they weren't making bank on them anyways.

But at face value, getting 70% of one Steam sale is only 10% more than you'd make off two copies sold at 100%. So one "never buy" looses you 2.3 sales of a game in revenue. Cool but any converted sale from someone who wouldve bought on Steam but can't wait and buys on EGS offset that in favor of EGS. I guarantee more people will buy from EGS compared to never buying the game. 2.3x more? Yeah, for sure, lol. I'm sure someone could do some clown math for a break even point per 1 million sales at that point. But considering a bulk of a games purchase is at launch it's just skewed so heavily toward EGS exclusivity makes more financial sense.

There's also the percentage that just don't buy on PC and buy on console instead, but again that's the same cut you'd get just launching it on Steam

Temptation

Ouf, crazy how many people are actually pushing for valve to have a complete monopoly. Ya it's a good product but so was chrome. Diversity is important for consumers.

I think they should double their offer and keep the duration adjustable:

Be one week exclusive, get 100% for two weeks,

Be one month exclusive, get 100% for two months.

Then, it becomes a game for the publisher. Launch on Epic and if there are no transactions, abort after one day. But if there are sales, hold on a bit to pocket the 100%.

Publishers will gamble and stay on Epic a bit longer to get better percentages from the strongest fans but they have to end exclusivity to capture the entire market.

Fuck steam and apple but you’re a sucker if you think epic will be any better

There's a lot of weird steam fanboy comments going on in here. A company doesn't need or deserve your loyalty.

Can't wait for all the steam marks to label this anti-consumer.