Obsidian shenannigans (The Outer Worlds)

[jasonbarron]

Steam is a storefront, Epic is not. When Epic gets itself up to Steam's or GoG's standard, then I'll consider buying games through it. Also, need to see how it matures, could just end up being a flash in the pan that never gets off the starting blocks. Either way, I'm saving a lot of money as the recent exclusives were all on my must buy list for 2019 and now I won't be touching them for 1-2 years minimum, until they finally show up on a legit store and I buy them on sale.

On a practical front I get that the dev's want to make more money, but it will be interesting to see if a slightly lower share from a much more massive sales platform would have ended up netting them more money in the long run then a bigger slice of the pie up front; at the end of the day it's all about how many people you reach.

 

[Chris Simon]

Steam is a storefront, Epic is not. When Epic gets itself up to Steam's or GoG's standard, then I'll consider buying games through it. Also, need to see how it matures, could just end up being a flash in the pan that never gets off the starting blocks. Either way, I'm saving a lot of money as the recent exclusives were all on my must buy list for 2019 and now I won't be touching them for 1-2 years minimum, until they finally show up on a legit store and I buy them on sale.

On a practical front I get that the dev's want to make more money, but it will be interesting to see if a slightly lower share from a much more massive sales platform would have ended up netting them more money in the long run then a bigger slice of the pie up front; at the end of the day it's all about how many people you reach.

Another problem with Epic store not being a real storefront but more of a "Launcher with added MTX functionality" is the demographics and its spending habits.
This will be oversimplification and exaggeration, perhaps, but although Epic aguably has 60M users, their average age is what, 15?
It's easy to ask mum for a credit card when you want to buy a jacket for your Fortnite character whenever you bring good grades. But asking her to buy you a new game for 60 quid might be harder. "What? After I spent so much money on the first one you just want to play something else?"

That was a joke, of course, but by and large I don't think Epic has anything that could be called "economically strong customer base"

 

[Jenner]

Back on the topic of Outer Worlds... One of the things I was thinking of recently that I really like about this game is the developers stating that it's not one of those huge 100+ hour epic RPGs that we're seeing more and more of. Frankly at the age of 40 I'm ready for more concentrated experiences. I really applaud that. Less is more and all. Not that I'm against those huge epic games, but it's nice to see some smaller titles too that are still high quality.

 

[jasonbarron]

Another problem with Epic store not being a real storefront but more of a "Launcher with added MTX functionality" is the demographics and its spending habits.
This will be oversimplification and exaggeration, perhaps, but although Epic aguably has 60M users, their average age is what, 15?
It's easy to ask mum for a credit card when you want to buy a jacket for your Fortnite character whenever you bring good grades. But asking her to buy you a new game for 60 quid might be harder. "What? After I spent so much money on the first one you just want to play something else?"

That was a joke, of course, but by and large I don't think Epic has anything that could be called "economically strong customer base"

Yeah, agreed. I wouldn't call umpteen million Fortnite customers a real solid foundation for distributing such different experiences such as Outworld or Metro. I doubt if most Fortnite players even care at all about those games, which means their potential buyers probably have to migrate over from elsewhere because of the exclusivity deal.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Steam is a storefront, Epic is not. When Epic gets itself up to Steam's or GoG's standard, then I'll consider buying games through it. Also, need to see how it matures, could just end up being a flash in the pan that never gets off the starting blocks. Either way, I'm saving a lot of money as the recent exclusives were all on my must buy list for 2019 and now I won't be touching them for 1-2 years minimum, until they finally show up on a legit store and I buy them on sale.

On a practical front I get that the dev's want to make more money, but it will be interesting to see if a slightly lower share from a much more massive sales platform would have ended up netting them more money in the long run then a bigger slice of the pie up front; at the end of the day it's all about how many people you reach.

Agree completely.

That Epic trash is not getting on my PC, ever.

 

[Chris Simon]

Back on the topic of Outer Worlds... One of the things I was thinking of recently that I really like about this game is the developers stating that it's not one of those huge 100+ hour epic RPGs that we're seeing more and more of. Frankly at the age of 40 I'm ready for more concentrated experiences. I really applaud that. Less is more and all. Not that I'm against those huge epic games, but it's nice to see some smaller titles too that are still high quality.

Well, I think it will compare to New Vegas vs Fallout 3/4. The world of NV is expansive with things to do but the story is streamlined with more emphasis given to it, while Fallout 3/4 or Skyrim are really a sandbox where the "main story" is just one of the quest lines.
And yeah, I agree it's probably a good thing to drive it this way. We're going to see, soon, where the Starfield will fall on this spectrum between "totally linear" and "totally sanbox", but I believe it will be more on the sand-boxy side of things, true to Bethesda nature. So we will once again have a choice.

 

[Backer42]

Steam is a storefront, Epic is not. When Epic gets itself up to Steam's or GoG's standard, then I'll consider buying games through it. Also, need to see how it matures, could just end up being a flash in the pan that never gets off the starting blocks. Either way, I'm saving a lot of money as the recent exclusives were all on my must buy list for 2019 and now I won't be touching them for 1-2 years minimum, until they finally show up on a legit store and I buy them on sale.

On a practical front I get that the dev's want to make more money, but it will be interesting to see if a slightly lower share from a much more massive sales platform would have ended up netting them more money in the long run then a bigger slice of the pie up front; at the end of the day it's all about how many people you reach.

Remember when EA pulled their games from Steam? What happened for me was: Their releases simply became invisible for me. They don't show up anywhere where I look for PC games.

Yes, I have Origin, one Mass Effect and a few freebies in it. But its like that Nintendo console, when you finished with its signature titles: It ends up in the in the closet and you forget, that it exists. I haven't launched Origin for such a long time, that it deleted its saved login credentials.

Ubisoft was smarter and still put their games on Steam, chain-loading their launcher through it.

 

[Jenner]

Agree completely.

That Epic trash is not getting on my PC, ever.

The same was said about Steam back in the day.

 

[Backer42]

The same was said about Steam back in the day.

I don't remember that.

Half-Life users were a bit upset with the cancellation of WON, but otherwise people were happy to not have to endure Games for Windows LIVE, featuring a paid subscription for playing online.

Remember that?

 

[Jenner]

I don't remember that.

Half-Life users were a bit upset with the cancellation of WON, but otherwise people were happy to not have to endure Games for Windows LIVE, featuring a paid subscription for playing online.

Remember that?

I think you are minimizing the initial dislike of Steam, actually. Yes Games for Windows Live was not loved when it was introduced either, but let's not forget how Steam launched:

https://kotaku.com/steam-is-10-today-remember-when-it-sucked-1297594444

You can still find, if you look, forum posts from the time complaining about Steam, complaining about Valve, talking about how the service would ruin PC gaming, how it had ruined Half-Life. In hindsight, these prophets of doom turned out to be so wrong it's adorable.

Sound familiar?

 

[jasonbarron]

I think you are minimizing the initial dislike of Steam, actually. Yes Games for Windows Live was not loved when it was introduced either, but let's not forget how Steam launched:

https://kotaku.com/steam-is-10-today-remember-when-it-sucked-1297594444




Sound familiar?

And after Epic matures and proves that it can stand the test of time to become an actual storefront that not only is stable, but delivers a competent product I'll have another look at picking up all the game's that are going the exclusive route now (such as Outer Worlds & Metro). Until then it's just a wannabe with too much money to throw around.

 

[Backer42]

Sound familiar?

That's an entirely different angle. Valve has ruined PC gaming, which is the reason why we have to deal with crapware like this now. That is a direct result of killing real (retail) PC games and turning PC into a Google Play Store.

It has nothing to do with what happens to you and your personal data, when you install Steam on your PC though. The only complaints I remember were about the need of Internet connection, not everyone had back in the day.

 

[jasonbarron]

That's an entirely different angle. Valve has ruined PC gaming, which is the reason why we have to deal with crapware like this now. That is a direct result of killing real (retail) PC games and turning PC into a Google Play Store.

It has nothing to do with what happens to you and your personal data, when you install Steam on your PC though. The only complaints I remember were about the need of Internet connection, not everyone had back in the day.

Alternatively, if it hadn't been for Steam PC gaming would have just gone down the tubes and we'd all be on consoles right now.

 

[Backer42]

Alternatively, if it hadn't been for Steam PC gaming would have just gone down the tubes and we'd all be on consoles right now.

If that had been the case, PC gaming would have just gone down in 1985 and we'd all be on NES since then.

For some reason this didn't happen, despite no Steam being around in 1985.

 

[Jenner]

That's an entirely different angle. Valve has ruined PC gaming, which is the reason why we have to deal with crapware like this now. That is a direct result of killing real (retail) PC games and turning PC into a Google Play Store.

It has nothing to do with what happens to you and your personal data, when you install Steam on your PC though. The only complaints I remember were about the need of Internet connection, not everyone had back in the day.

Steam hasn't ruined PC gaming. Quite the opposite really. It's done a lot for both consumers and game makers. It is pretty full featured now and a lot of the initial FUD surrounding it was alarmist. Epic, despite currently being inferior, will probably improve and reach a kind of parity with time. I won't go into everything that Steam has done right for the PC games industry because I think its self explanatory and off topic for this thread.

I'm looking forward to Outer Worlds and I'll pick it up on the Epic store most likely. I really am not concerned.

 

[CMDR Dizzy]

I am waiting for EPIC to sort out it's refund policy on games.

 

[Jenner]

Obsidian's PAX East panel, with new gameplay.

 

[mdsilva]

At least it will be on sale at MS store.

 

[Caramel Clown]

I don't like MS store. But I absolutely despise spyware ridden alpha version of a launcher Epic has. Choice is obvious where should I buy it...wait for Steam release.

 

[hunvagy]

At least it will be on sale at MS store.

And unless the gamepass for pc interface is lying (sofar I just trust it, shall see), it's also included in the Game Pass PC. In case someone is running that, should not need to buy it, too.