Epic Games General Thread - Its time to talk about what the AAA gaming industry does not understand about the PC console.

[SiccDicc]

In response to IOI's disastrous announcement of H3's carryover, Mr. Timmy puts out a damage control statement, saying that "it will be looked into." Okay, but it doesn't mean much until you do something to rectify the problem. Not to mention that it comes out as Mr. Timmy trying to shift the blame off of EGS, regardless of who is actually at fault for this fiasco.

I'm just saying. If Bungie can shift all the necessary data of Destiny 2 to Steam from Battlenet, then IOI really has no fucking excuse here.

 

[ZMOT]

I'm just saying. If Bungie can shift all the necessary data of Destiny 2 to Steam from Battlenet, then IOI really has no fucking excuse here.

destiny 2's stuff is stored on the servers since it's an online only game, where any "platform" was just arbitrarily separated for extra shekels. the game itself never cared if you played it on pc/playstation/battlenet/wherever.

 

[SiccDicc]

destiny 2's stuff is stored on the servers since it's an online only game, where any "platform" was just arbitrarily separated for extra shekels. the game itself never cared if you played it on pc/playstation/battlenet/wherever.

But isn't the pass shit just data? They can't just generate a key or a flag for the account to be granted access to downloading the pass?

 

[ZMOT]

But isn't the pass shit just data? They can't just generate a key or a flag for the account to be granted access to downloading the pass?

depends how it's handled, of course epic doesn't have access to steam's sales record. they could go via profile, but that would leave the door open to people buying the game, getting the pass on epic, then refund on steam.
I know IOI keeps their own track of eligibility (that's why you have to download and at least log in with hitman 1 to get the pass for 2, thinking about it you could probably pull the same refund scheme there), but that's probably tied to steam for now. considering it's already a clusterfuck on steam, I don't wanna imagine what it will look like across stores. for example, I still don't have the "GOTY legacy pack upgrade" according to the store page, but can play the missions just fine.
not sure epic even has the functionality for that, given the rudimentary state of their store (and I doubt timmy is willing to pay a bunch of H1Bs to pore over each sale to flag accounts).

bunghole saved some of the headache by making destiny 2 free and any other account permissions are handled on their end (probably due to sony not wanting people to buy stuff somewhere else, they're always pissy about that). no idea how they would handle steam refunds tho, but that's probably automated at this point.

TLDR: a clusterfuck that could've been avoided with some foresight.

 

[Thiletonomics]

IOI responded to the massive negative response about the carryover system with this statement:

Spoiler

And yet again, there hasn't been any word on how they plan to rectify this whole mess. Probably still want to hold off on buying the game, or refund your pre-order, just in case they find a way to screw the players over even harder, somehow.

 

[Miller]

It looks like Zombie Army 4 isn't dead anymore: it's now available on Steam.

 

[Thiletonomics]

An update to the IOI Hitman 2 content carry-over fiasco, they finally enabled players to carry their Hitman 2 content from Steam to use with Hitman 3 in EGS.

 

[StraightShooter2]

Borderlands 3 is going to be an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC. Outer Worlds too. Remember Origin Access for EA Games? Activision would like to have a word! (Please sign up, we are lonely).

Its time to talk about PC Gaming. The often forgotten "console" in the gaming industry. And the horrendous mistakes AAA game publishers are making in their approach to the "console".

Mistake 1. PC Gamers are willing to accept multiple accounts for their games.

No. No. No. Fucking no. Even STEAM was a hard sell back in the early 2000's when Sega practically forced it on us in order to play the new total war strategy games, and to get access to Half Life 2 and the Orange Box. Before Steam and the Orange Box, PC Gamers expected to have a hard copy of their game in CD form they could hold for all time. Steam managed to wean us off that through shear convenience and cross generation control. We could get a new computer and still have access to the same games we bought on Steam. So Steam was grudgingly accepted.

Enter EA Origin. EA did not want to play nice with others. So we had to to sign up with a seperate "Steam alternative to play EA games. Activision and Ubisoft followed suit with their own shit. I think my computer still has both programs installed on it? I guess? I only got origin to play dragon age and whatever the fuck Activision calls their shit to play Destiny. The password gatekeeping is annoying though so I have not logged into either in YEARS. I got what I wanted out of both and have no need to log into them ontop of everything else every fucking time I turn my fucking computer on.

Enter the Epic Store. I have never played fortnite. Ever. I don't have the Epic launcher. When total war forced me to install Steam I got pissed and tried to find a way to avoid it, and i destroyed EA origin with my Anti Virus software after I was done with Dragon Age Inquisition. Simply deleting it was too much of an honor, and since Symantec viewed Origin as a virus, I was happy to allow it to destroy the program with extreme prejudice and send the combat report to both EA and Symantec.

The long story short? PC Games are console neutral. Efforts to force exclusivity in the PC market are doomed to failure and the only reason Steam dominates is becuase it got their first and isn't doing shit at this point. More importantly though its annoying as fuck to have to set up separate accounts to play separate games. So go ahead and sell your stupid game for money to an audience of people who are playing fortnite, a FREE TO PLAY GAME!. I sure hope those people playing for free want to spend money on the exclusive pay to play game offered on their launcher. They won't btw. If your game is exclusive to a specific launcher on PC, just don't release it on PC at all. Save yourself the aggravation. Nobody is going to buy it. You would be better off trying to get Sony shekels for an exclusive PlayStation Launch. Having to log into Steam every day is aggravating enough. I am not adding another launcher on top of it. Especially after I went to the trouble to making sure my Anti-virus registered the Origin launcher as malware.

Disagree - if I'm hell-bent on getting a specific game, I'd much rather spend 5 minutes setting up an account than buy a console for it.

Sure, lazy people may just check if it's on Steam and otherwise forget it, but that wouldn't be any different than people who only visit GameStop when looking for a new console game and never consider checking other stores out. (There are also 3rd party sites like Gamvio which often sell Steam game keys at a discount price even when the game isn't on sale on Steam, so it's definitely worth broadening one's horizon).

 

[Oddjob OTP]

The keys on those key resale sites are usually bought with stolen credit card info and actually cost developers money so unless you desperately need a Steam key for multiplayer and you also hate the developer you should just buy from Steam/other legitimate stores or sail the high seas.

 

[ZMOT]

Disagree - if I'm hell-bent on getting a specific game, I'd much rather spend 5 minutes setting up an account than buy a console for it.

Sure, lazy people may just check if it's on Steam and otherwise forget it, but that wouldn't be any different than people who only visit GameStop when looking for a new console game and never consider checking other stores out. (There are also 3rd party sites like Gamvio which often sell Steam game keys at a discount price even when the game isn't on sale on Steam, so it's definitely worth broadening one's horizon).

casuals are lazy, very very fast they will stop making an account for every game they wanna play. if they even know about it, if it's not on steam it might as well not exist.
according to epic's own stats they gained 50+ million new customers in 2020, but spending on third party games only increased by 15 million, and in general by 20 million. depending how they spin the numbers this means at best 35 million, unless the 15 came out of the 20. 2020 also conveniently drops how much they spend on coupons etc.

codes went up by 2.5 million, but that means sales on third party stores (assuming that's what they mean).



https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/news/epic-games-store-weekly-free-games-in-2020
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/news/epic-games-store-2020-year-in-review

getting the official 2019 link was fucking cancer, you can't even search for news articles on their shitty store so I had to trawl through news articles.

The keys on those key resale sites are usually bought with stolen credit card info and actually cost developers money so unless you desperately need a Steam key for multiplayer and you also hate the developer you should just buy from Steam/other legitimate stores or sail the high seas.

>official reseller
>stolen keys

that's not how it works.
imagine falling for some bullshit from retarded devs too inept to run a fucking webstore to the point they couldn't even keep track of their own sales or some slavs that just bombed so hard with their latest game everyone will remember that shitshow.

 

[Exceptionally Exceptional]

Since nobody's bothering to post the shit I will.
Apple subpoenaed Valve for sales data related to several hundred games on Steam (that are also apparently also on Epic) as part of their legal slapfight with Epic, which Valve point blank refused.

However, the judge in the case has ordered them to comply and hand over sales data relevant to 436 games on Steam to Apple's attorneys.

Apple itself will not have access to the data, which will be handled entirely by their attorneys, and further Apple must pay for the manpower to collect and collate the data.

I seriously have no goddamn idea what Apple is getting at here or what they seek to prove with the data. They've stated they need it to "define the video game market" but that's vague as fuck.

 

[LegoTugboat]

Since nobody's bothering to post the shit I will.
Apple subpoenaed Valve for sales data related to several hundred games on Steam (that are also apparently also on Epic) as part of their legal slapfight with Epic, which Valve point blank refused.

However, the judge in the case has ordered them to comply and hand over sales data relevant to 436 games on Steam to Apple's attorneys.

Apple itself will not have access to the data, which will be handled entirely by their attorneys, and further Apple must pay for the manpower to collect and collate the data.

I seriously have no goddamn idea what Apple is getting at here or what they seek to prove with the data. They've stated they need it to "define the video game market" but that's vague as fuck.

Apple also tried it with Samsung earlier, but Samsung refused.

Apple's homework is that 30% is a standard fee for the app/games stores, which they're trying to prove by using data from other companies.

Epic's homework is to prove when exactly Apple became a monopoly.

 

[ZMOT]

Since nobody's bothering to post the shit I will.
Apple subpoenaed Valve for sales data related to several hundred games on Steam (that are also apparently also on Epic) as part of their legal slapfight with Epic, which Valve point blank refused.

However, the judge in the case has ordered them to comply and hand over sales data relevant to 436 games on Steam to Apple's attorneys.

Apple itself will not have access to the data, which will be handled entirely by their attorneys, and further Apple must pay for the manpower to collect and collate the data.

I seriously have no goddamn idea what Apple is getting at here or what they seek to prove with the data. They've stated they need it to "define the video game market" but that's vague as fuck.

it was posted over in the apple/epic kerfuffle thread: https://kiwifarms.net/threads/apple...e-over-dispute-of-30-commission.74813/page-22

the judge's order is new tho, still no idea how a third party can even be dragged into it.

 

[KanaPostsonKiwi]

You're telling me that the average EGS user spent approx $7-10, that is, including all payments for monthly subs et.c. for Fortnite and other shit?
That's... incredibly bad. Why are they putting it all out there in an infographic? That's something that you should hide in absolute shame, and it is way below the profit margin even if they were only paying for upkeep.

 

[AnOminous]

You're telling me that the average EGS user spent approx $7-10, that is, including all payments for monthly subs et.c. for Fortnite and other shit?

I bet it's skewed by the vast majority only being there for the free games and never spending a dime.

 

[The tired cat]

I bet it's skewed by the vast majority only being there for the free games and never spending a dime.

Well correction, they prob do spend some cash during Epic sales, but Epic also tosses in 10$ for each bought game

 

[Disc]

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/news/epic-games-store-weekly-free-games-in-2020
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/news/epic-games-store-2020-year-in-review

So the free games claimed went up about 3.75 times, but the actual sales only went up by 20 million?

The following assumes that the third party sales is a subset of the total sales, and that the first infographic is a one-year period. It may be longer,
The epic games store started early december 2020.

For reference:
The total number of players is up 148%
The free games in terms of number provided is up 141% on last year.
The free downloads are 375% of their last year's results. so that part's pretty good.
The total sales are 102.9% of last year's results
And the total third-party sales are 105.6% of last year's results.
(This means that, for first-party, they only went up about 101.4%)

In short, this means that this store's probably spent significantly more... but only gotten a miniscule fraction's more returns from it.

That's assuming this is year-on-year . The first one might include the end part of 2019, which might be its own thing. Then all the numbers are off and EGS is doing better

However, even if it is, it’s very likely that EGS’ growth is very slow, and the increased scale of free games has not lead to increased scale of purchased ones.

 

[Kane Lives]

So the free games claimed went up about 3.75 times, but the actual sales only went up by 20 million?

The following assumes that the third party sales is a subset of the total sales, and that the first infographic is a one-year period. It may be longer,
The epic games store started early december 2020.

For reference:
The total number of players is up 148%
The free games in terms of number provided is up 141% on last year.
The free downloads are 375% of their last year's results. so that part's pretty good.
The total sales are 102.9% of last year's results
And the total third-party sales are 105.6% of last year's results.
(This means that, for first-party, they only went up about 101.4%)

In short, this means that this store's probably spent significantly more... but only gotten a miniscule fraction's more returns from it.

That's assuming this is year-on-year . The first one might include the end part of 2019, which might be its own thing. Then all the numbers are off and EGS is doing better

However, even if it is, it’s very likely that EGS’ growth is very slow, and the increased scale of free games has not lead to increased scale of purchased ones.

Anecdotal, but everyone in my friend group treats EGS as a free game dispenser and little more than that. Occasionally, the normies might even get an exclusive from it, but a lot simply don't bother and wait for the Steam release.

 

[Rotollo]

Anecdotal, but everyone in my friend group treats EGS as a free game dispenser and little more than that. Occasionally, the normies might even get an exclusive from it, but a lot simply don't bother and wait for the Steam release.

Yeah pretty much this is what I do. Hell even having Samsho isn't enough to make me want to use tim's storefront with my real money. Again EGS would have a much better investment actually improving their storefront than buying exclusives like Shenmue 3

So the free games claimed went up about 3.75 times, but the actual sales only went up by 20 million?

The following assumes that the third party sales is a subset of the total sales, and that the first infographic is a one-year period. It may be longer,
The epic games store started early december 2020.

For reference:
The total number of players is up 148%
The free games in terms of number provided is up 141% on last year.
The free downloads are 375% of their last year's results. so that part's pretty good.
The total sales are 102.9% of last year's results
And the total third-party sales are 105.6% of last year's results.
(This means that, for first-party, they only went up about 101.4%)

In short, this means that this store's probably spent significantly more... but only gotten a miniscule fraction's more returns from it.

That's assuming this is year-on-year . The first one might include the end part of 2019, which might be its own thing. Then all the numbers are off and EGS is doing better

However, even if it is, it’s very likely that EGS’ growth is very slow, and the increased scale of free games has not lead to increased scale of purchased ones.

So Epic is basically burning a hole in it's wallet trying to create a competitor to steam, which is something GoG has been doing far more effortlessly for years. Shit them for stuff like cucking to china but CDPR didn't have to pay people to keep using the service.

 

[Gensou Hadou]

EGS isn't as popular as publishers would like and everyone knows it. It's the difference in marketing campaigns between

Available on PC via Steam!

and

Available on PC!
* Exclusive to Epic Games Store.