"Just because you are big enough to build something doesn’t mean people will use it."

I did not realize they were trying to compete in the first place.

Being consistently cheaper would actually be attractive to many people. The thing is, none of these competitors can even muster that. Steam consistently has better sales, more often. And it’s pretty funny seeing Amazon of all things not able to match or beat that. They are known for undercutting the competition, even at their own expense, just to get customers; It’s literally how they got to be as big as they are.

JackbyDev
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It would be so easy for another store front to just take a 20% cut instead of 30% and pass the savings on to the end consumer. That would be a pretty strong start. But nope. They just want to charge the same base price.

@[email protected]
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Epic kinda tried that by giving away tons of free games in the Epic Games Store. It didn’t work.

If I want Steam games cheaper, I go buy a Steam key for that game from a separate retailer and activate it on Steam. Save like 50-70% irrespective of Steam sales. It’s remarkable that Steam allows us to even do that in the first place.

@[email protected]
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I’m still gaining more and more games in my epic library I’ll never use but love wasting Tim Sweeneys money. Lmao

@[email protected]
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14M

Me too. I’m not even a gamer, the only game I’ve played is Civilization. And maybe one day I’ll sell my account for sweet sweet money.

@[email protected]
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That reminds me, let me see what’s free today.

Edit: nothing good

@[email protected]
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24M

That reminds me, let me see what’s free today.

Edit: nothing good

I just don’t know how to claim those via web only. I think you have to install the store on Android.

@[email protected]
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14M

Yeah I only used the web only. I’ll double check to make sure I didn’t miss this game.

I pirate so a free game isn’t worth it for me if it means I have to get their store app or whatever.

@[email protected]
cake
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I wouldn’t be surprised if they require a game to be downloaded and played to count. I know on PS , if you have already downloaded, after purchase, a refund is less likely, so downloading likely triggers the sale to be complete, with payment to the seller. It could be similar for free games.

@[email protected]
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54M

I’ve counted 38 games in Epic Games. I’ve played a couple. I’ve spend $0.

@[email protected]
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24M

And their $5 off coupons during numerous sales

@[email protected]
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54M

I am an extremely cheap and patient gamer. This is how I look at both the stores.

If I want free games, I’ll go to Epic.

If I want good deals, I’ll go to Steam.

Why would I go to Epic for good deals when it’ll either have a good deal on Steam OR be free on Epic after a few months or a year?

Maybe if they had done that with brand new games and not just a few good but old games and tons of games nobody has even heard of before. It’s not really even in the same league as just genuinely being cheaper than the competition. It’s a gimmick. Steam also sometimes gives games away for free, while still having tons of deep discounts all year long.

I’m the same. I’ll look on Steam first just because I would prefer to keep all my shit in one place, but if it’s not the cheapest price I’ll get it somewhere else. Although 90% of the time, the cheapest price is just a steam key being sold by a 3rd party (I like Eneba, personally).

The one time Epic was cheaper, was when they gave out Civ6 for free. I bought the two major DLC expansions through Epic instead of buying everything on Steam just because I didn’t have to buy the base game and the DLCs were $10 cheaper anyway.

@[email protected]
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Yep. I have a bunch of Epic’s free games. Never bought a single game from them and probably never will.

The experience on Steam is just better. And Epics lawsuits look less like they’re fighting for the little guy and more that they are envious of the market that other companies have.

@[email protected]
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14M

of course they are, Epic is a shit company

VindictiveJudge
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Epic also generated a lot of bad blood by scooping up Kickstarter projects and ordering the devs to cancel the Steam releases, releases that had already been paid for by backers. A bunch of potential customers refused to buy from Epic on principle after that.

@[email protected]
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Yeah that one rubbed me particularly wrong. Valve can be a bit hit and miss sometimes, but they’ve not actively monopolized games from other devs.

@[email protected]
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I’m one of them. For all their trash talk about Steam being a monopoly, Epic Games sure pulled some hypocritical, anticompetitive shit in their attempt to replace one monopoly with an objectively worse, consumer-hostile one.

Dragon Rider (drag)
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Epic Games is creating a monopoly in PC gaming - they keep making bad decisions and leaving Steam as the only good option

@[email protected]
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Look at market shares, Steam is in a monopolistic position, they can turn around and fuck up the whole market whenever they want, and people like you are encouraging it.

You realize that they’re anti DEI over there? I don’t think drag would ever be hired by Valve!

Dragon Rider (drag)
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Source?

@[email protected]
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https://youtu.be/s9aCwCKgkLo

They wouldn’t even release a statement about George Floyd because it was too divisive for them, they instead gave 10k to each employee to spend on whatever they wanted, which might just as well have been BLM or a white supremacist group, they didn’t check!

Dragon Rider (drag)
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That’s not a proper citation. The video is 47 minutes long. Provide a timestamp or a quote.

JokeDeity
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Delete it now

@[email protected]
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134M

Yup, that and pushing “exclusive” bs in general made sure I will never use Epic.

@[email protected]
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So you want all devs to just play the lottery and hope that some Twitch star picks up their game to make it popular?

BombOmOm
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He wants games to release on all platforms. Where is the ‘lottery’ rhetoric coming from?

@[email protected]
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The exclusivity contract comes with guaranteed funds for the devs. That’s like choosing between a job where you work 100% for commission or one where you’re salaried + bonus, not everyone wants their income to be 100% dependent on sales, especially if those sales will probably be based on the luck of the draw rather than the quality of the product they’re selling.

You can make an awesome game, if no streamer picks it up it will all be for nothing. Last year 18935 games released on Steam, that’s 52 games a day, being successful in that space isn’t just about making a quality product.

Also, you can have the greatest idea for a game but not have the budget to just drop everything and start working on it for the years to come.

@[email protected]
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I don’t care about the devs profits. I’m not fucking myself over so you can stay in business.

@[email protected]
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Another ridiculous take, you’re very good at that aren’t you?

.Donuts
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You can make an awesome game, if no streamer picks it up it will all be for nothing. Last year 18935 games released on Steam, that’s 52 games a day, being successful in that space isn’t just about making a quality product.

Yep. Best example I can think of is Among Us: 2018 release that got massively popular due to content creators during the covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

I do not blame developers for accepting funds to carry out their dreams instead of being thrown into the ocean of “let’s see if our years-long investment will pay itself back”. Epic grants guarantee that the game gets made.

If you want to play a game only on Steam, you’ll just have to wait. Can’t have it both ways.

@[email protected]
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I sure blame them. Multiple games have lost sales from me, only they know if it’s worth it long term.

Exclusivity is cancer, fuck right off back to consoles, please take loot boxes with you.

Dragon Rider (drag)
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The Epic bros think that businesses shouldn’t have to compete on the market to sell their product, they should just get a big grant from Epic Games for making their game exclusive.

That’s some pretty communist rhetoric coming from a group worshipping a corporation. Epic Games are not your communist revolutionaries.

@[email protected]
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No, I believe that devs should have the choice to take a chance and just hope their game sells OR sign and exclusivity contract in exchange for money that guarantees then they won’t have worked for nothing if the game is a flop.

Releasing a game these days is a gamble because there’s so many being released every day, you can make an awesome game and it just won’t sell while an average game gets picked up by a couple of Twitch streamers and the dev becomes a multi millionaire.

Dragon Rider (drag)
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The rights of the consumer are more important. Monopolies are too high a price to pay.

@[email protected]
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The timed exclusivity deals are what did it for me

Bringing that bullshit to the PC gaming market guaranteed I’ll never spend a penny on their storefront.

If the carrot they’re leading with is limiting choice, I’m not going to hang around waiting to find out what the stick might be if they get successful

m-p{3}
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Epic is doing me a favor, I get to keep my money while I play my backlog, then I buy the game on Steam / GOG for cheaper later on.

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