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

[Tanner Glass]

"What, you thought you would get this game because you paid for it? Oh, how privileged you are. You paid for the developers, like we said, not for entertainment purposes. It's not our fault you're so stupid." - Epic Games, probably.

The best part about this article is that Epic was the only one who responded back to them and, like a teenager pretending not to talk to someone that they're mad at, just told them to go talk to the developer, even though vg247 told them that they did, and still couldn't get an answer.

It's even worse, because the game is still purchasable elsewhere and redeemable though EGS.

Literally only Epic would know why the game was delisted from the Epic Games Store, the absolute assholes.

 

[SiccDicc]

Sweeney recently did an interview where he said that video games need not be focused on politics and should actually be divorced from the present nonsense.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney stated during his keynote speech at the DICE Summit 2020 that games should divorce themselves from politics, and discussed political topics in games in general.

Sweeney’s comments (via IGN, the official DICE 2020 media partner), touched on numerous topics- including (also via Gamasutra) lootboxes, cross-play, and platform exclusivity becoming non-existent in the future. Something that some are sure to find ironic given the Epic Game Store’s recent history.

He began his keynote focusing on games in politics, or rather how it harms when it is not done correctly. At first, he seemed to welcome it.

“If you think back to To Kill a Mockingbird and the impact that had on people’s views in the time, I think that’s a genuine outlet for games. It really makes people think about things.”

However, Sweeney then stated there need to be a “separation of church and state” between politics and gaming companies, and that they “should get the marketing departments out of politics.”

“The world is really screwed up right now. Right now our political orientations determine which fast-food chicken restaurant you go to? And that’s really dumb. There’s no reason to drag divisive topics like that into gaming at all.”

He also argued businesses should operate “as neutral venues for entertainment and employees, customers – everybody else can hold their own views and not be judged by us for that.”

“A company is a group of people who get together to accomplish a mission that is larger than what any one person can do. And a company’s mission is a holy thing to it, right? Epic’s mission is to build great technology and great games. And we can count on every employee at Epic — we can even demand every employee at Epic unite behind that mission. But every other matter we have to respect their personal opinions. And they may differ from management’s or each other’s or whatever.

See, if it wasn't him being a dick with EGS that I might actually like this guy. Except he has to be the most anti-consumer I've seen with that bullshit.

 

[Pissmaster]

Sweeney recently did an interview where he said that video games need not be focused on politics and should actually be divorced from the present nonsense.



See, if it wasn't him being a dick with EGS that I might actually like this guy. Except he has to be the most anti-consumer I've seen with that bullshit.

I can already hear Jim Sterling furiously masturbating while dictating next week's Jimquisiton about how Sweeny is wrong and bad and all games ever made going forward need to be political and all about smashing the fash.

 

[CreamyHerman’s]

I can already hear Jim Sterling furiously masturbating while dictating next week's Jimquisiton about how Sweeny is wrong and bad and all games ever made going forward need to be political and all about smashing the fash.

I know Jim sucks anyone's dick though. He was sucking Sweeney's off earlier last year, when the exclusives sheningans started to go down

 

[KanaPostsonKiwi]

I spent some moments of my day reading this: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/84288219/diabotical-by-the-gd-studio/comments
The comments raise some good points about just using Kickstarter backing as an interest-free loan and then stabbing them in the back for some chinese money.
Oh, and the refunds are more than 2 months late now. The rep claims that this was mentioned on a stream (doesn't of course mention which stream), and reddit (to which they also don't link). Of course the Kickstarter also promised the game on Steam.

Curiously they also market this game as "developed by former Quake and Esports professionals", yet you can't find anything concrete about the developers in question on the game's page, the kickstarter itself, nor does their company have a webpage.

 

[BrunoMattei]

And this is why no one should ever trust Kickstarter for games.

 

[CreamyHerman’s]

And this is why no one should ever trust Kickstarter for games.

Honestly, I only backed 3 games, in which 1 keeps delaying the early access version(which doesn't make sense) but they are fairly active on twitch/twitter and discord, and the other one actually went through Kickstarter and is one of my favorite PC games, so I know they will follow through. I have faith in the 3rd one, but I know it's not going to be out until at least 2021.

 

[BrunoMattei]

Honestly, I only backed 3 games, in which 1 keeps delaying the early access version(which doesn't make sense) but they are fairly active on twitch/twitter and discord, and the other one actually went through Kickstarter and is one of my favorite PC games, so I know they will follow through. I have faith in the 3rd one, but I know it's not going to be out until at least 2021.

I backed Scorn for $20 and still waiting for any news on that one. I also backed Hide or Die for $20 and regretted that one when it flopped and so far the devs haven't said anything publicly since September.

 

[Exceptionally Exceptional]

The only game I've EVER backed on Kickstarter was Wasteland 2. This is because I'm familiar with Brian Fargo and a lot of the guys at inXile. They're passionate devs who I trusted to make me a quality product. Was not disappointed.
But I won't fund a project if I can't absolutely trust the developer.

I didn't even back Mighty No. 9 because, while I love Megaman, Inafune was just too much of an unknown vector to be trustworthy with my money. Fargo I've actually spoken to briefly on a few occasions in various capacities, including meeting him at a gaming expo.
Dude is actually pretty chill. Has a really good work ethic, too.

 

[spannerslob]

I backed a lot of the early and middle period wave of Kickstarter/Indiegogo titles like CLANG!, Shadowrun Returns, Dead State, Wasteland 2, PoE etc. Pretty much all of them turned out to be very average, at best. It was kind of surreal seeing all this talk about a "CRPG Renaissance". That's not counting the stuff that never got made at all, though I was fairly careful with those and "only" three of the campaigns I backed failed (two of them ended up being made much later anyway). I haven't donated to any of that stuff for years.

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

I’ll be getting it on Switch, but please don’t let 101 be an epic exclusive. Platinum really doesn’t need the bullshit. Did Tencent get any shares when they invested in them?

 

[KingofNothing]

Tim swinging in with another cool take. If only he could recognize why people have such big problems with the Epic Store

 

[BrokenWokenBespoken]

And this is why no one should ever trust Kickstarter for games.

Funny thing is the games I have backed haven't broken any promises and I kind of expected the same problems game development would have.

 

[Peasant]

Tim swinging in with another cool take. If only he could recognize why people have such big problems with the Epic Store

View attachment 1156924

Maintaining your social credit is important, you know; keeps you employed.

 

[Exceptionally Exceptional]

Tim swinging in with another cool take. If only he could recognize why people have such big problems with the Epic Store

View attachment 1156924

I don't want to buy games from the Epic store unless the submission process is opened up to every dev on equal terms. Right now it's a system for doling out favors to devs willing to sign exclusivity agreements with Epic and refusing to host games by devs that won't accept exclusivity.

 

[KanaPostsonKiwi]

Right now it's a system for doling out favors to devs willing to sign exclusivity agreements

It's not even that always. They're fine with non-exclusivity, they don't care if it's hosted on Uplay store or Microsoft store, it's most commonly specifically anti-Steam deals because they know they will be eaten alive in a fair competition. I'm not even sure if there's a word for that. They know that Microsoft Store is utter, horrible shit to use and Uplay store, while better, is generally disliked because it's a tack-on launcher that brought significant problems when it was brought in (even if it has gotten unnoticeable since then).

 

[BrunoMattei]

It's not even that always. They're fine with non-exclusivity, they don't care if it's hosted on Uplay store or Microsoft store, it's most commonly specifically anti-Steam deals because they know they will be eaten alive in a fair competition. I'm not even sure if there's a word for that. They know that Microsoft Store is utter, horrible shit to use and Uplay store, while better, is generally disliked because it's a tack-on launcher that brought significant problems when it was brought in (even if it has gotten unnoticeable since then).

Windows Store has game pass and it's a helluva bargain. That's something.

Uplay is dog shit, I agree.

 

[Tour of Italy]

Sweeney recently did an interview where he said that video games need not be focused on politics and should actually be divorced from the present nonsense.



See, if it wasn't him being a dick with EGS that I might actually like this guy. Except he has to be the most anti-consumer I've seen with that bullshit.

I can already hear Jim Sterling furiously masturbating while dictating next week's Jimquisiton about how Sweeny is wrong and bad and all games ever made going forward need to be political and all about smashing the fash.

Sweeny is just trying to score easy points with the safe bet that the number of GamerGate leftovers in the PC enthusiast community outnumbers the number of politics-obsessed progressives. Although either group is vastly outnumbered by the amount of people who are either sick of that kind of shit entirely or are either totally indifferent to or happily unaware of the culture war.

I actually think the whole “no politics in games ever” line is kind of stupid. I don’t even think the people who say it are really accurately describing the sentiment.

It’s not the fact that games are expressing political values that gets people upset, it’s the fact that they’ve started expressing political values in the shallowest, stupidest way possible. Current politics are being expressed in the most reductive, condescending way possible that either assumes you’re one of the cool kids, already convinced to that line of thinking or else irredeemable scum unworthy of enjoying the product-turned-propaganda. They’re not self critical, they’re not subtle or layered, and they sure as fuck don’t make any real effort to express their ideas in real human terms that might actually convince someone.

People aren’t sick of politics in general, nor should they be barred from the medium; they’re sick of one-dimensional pandering bullshit that reduces all nuance of the experience to a morality play. People are fucking sick of arrogant art school majors who think they’re clever for writing that operates on black-and-white morality rooted in a caricature of current politics.

I’d play the shit out of a political game with actual depth that understood the issues and respected my intelligence. Too bad no such thing actually fucking exists.

 

[SiccDicc]

It’s not the fact that games are expressing political values that gets people upset, it’s the fact that they’ve started expressing political values in the shallowest, stupidest way possible. Current politics are being expressed in the most reductive, condescending way possible that either assumes you’re one of the cool kids, already convinced to that line of thinking or else irredeemable scum unworthy of enjoying the product-turned-propaganda. They’re not self critical, they’re not subtle or layered, and they sure as fuck don’t make any real effort to express their ideas in real human terms that might actually convince someone.

People aren’t sick of politics in general, nor should they be barred from the medium; they’re sick of one-dimensional pandering bullshit that reduces all nuance of the experience to a morality play. People are fucking sick of arrogant art school majors who think they’re clever for writing that operates on black-and-white morality rooted in a caricature of current politics.

I’d play the shit out of a political game with actual depth that understood the issues and respected my intelligence. Too bad no such thing actually fucking exists.

That's what he's saying, though. Marketing is full of morons and need to get out of politics and if you're making a game it needs to come from a neutral viewpoint meaning that it isn't obviously biased or telling you to think this way or you're a bigot. He talks about To Kill a Mockingbird in that it was an entertaining read despite whatever politics it holds and that got further than straight up telling people to eat at KFC instead of Chik-Fil-A, games should strive for that. Even if the customer disagrees with what you're presenting you should make it as entertaining as possible for them, basically.

 

[KanaPostsonKiwi]

It’s not the fact that games are expressing political values that gets people upset, it’s the fact that they’ve started expressing political values in the shallowest, stupidest way possible. Current politics are being expressed in the most reductive, condescending way possible that either assumes you’re one of the cool kids, already convinced to that line of thinking or else irredeemable scum unworthy of enjoying the product-turned-propaganda. They’re not self critical, they’re not subtle or layered, and they sure as fuck don’t make any real effort to express their ideas in real human terms that might actually convince someone.

If you want the absolute worst hamfisted example of this, check out Timespinner. It's a little game that flew under the radar, but oh boy does it shove its agenda in your face. It's also very small, i'm sure you can find it on the high seas for a fair price, because it fucking ain't worth the admission price with the sole exception of the amazing music and some of the visuals.

I’d play the shit out of a political game with actual depth that understood the issues and respected my intelligence. Too bad no such thing actually fucking exists.

Despite being fucking goofy, CityStates, an old browser game comes relatively close, even if it really doesn't do much from a mechanical perspective. I particularly remember my old creation, a nation which worships grandmothers as half-deities with megaphones blaring how everything is fine on the streets at all times of the day.