Epic Games have now officially announced their own store, which is certainly going to be one to keep an eye on.
I've been saying it for a while, especially after being privately shown screenshots of their newer launcher that Epic would be doing their own store. I was right on the money—for once.
Soon we'll launch the Epic Games store, and begin a long journey to advance the cause of all developers. The store will launch with a hand-curated set of games on PC and Mac, then it will open up more broadly to other games and to Android and other open platforms throughout 2019.
Emphasis mine, because that could indicate Epic finally moving towards properly supporting Linux. I mean, apart from Windows, Mac and Android - what other open platforms are left that would be worth it? Linux. Apple have a very locked-down platform on mobile, so I would be doubtful of it going there. Same with the consoles, they're locked down.
The interesting thing here, is that Epic quite rightly have a massive pull in the industry. Fornite, only available through their launcher is the number 1 game in the world right now. Everyone knows what it is and so it's going to give Epic Games a good chance to be a very big store.
Not only that, their revenue share is 88% for developers, which is massive compared to most (better than Steam's). On top of that, if you're using Unreal Engine for your game Epic will even cover the 5% engine royalty in their cut. Although, to be clear, they state their store will be open to any game engine.
This is going to be a massive kick up Valve's backside to do better at everything. I'm all for it, competition is healthy even if I do groan at times at "yet another launcher". Epic have been doing good work with their community, so hopefully we will be able to get in on this next year. Heck, if Fortnite came to Linux—my son and I would be over the moon with joy. But I don't want to get too ahead of myself there…
What are your thoughts?
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Time to start tweeting EPIC lobbying for a commitment to a Linux version of the storefront.
morgancoxuk Dec 4, 2018
"...PC and Mac..."
...sounds so not Linux at all :(
Last edited by Boldos on 4 December 2018 at 3:50 pm UTC
Last edited by Shmerl on 4 December 2018 at 3:40 pm UTC
Quoting: x_wingPeople will really piss off for having such a huge number of stores in order to have their games. All this stupidity will just benefit console gaming in the end...
Number of stores is not a problem (or do you prefer oligopoly?), as long as they won't start pushing the sick exclusives approach.
Quoting: ShmerlQuoting: x_wingPeople will really piss off for having such a huge number of stores in order to have their games. All this stupidity will just benefit console gaming in the end...
Number of stores is not a problem (or do you prefer oligopoly?), as long as they won't start pushing the sick exclusives approach.
Each company now has a store, and you're almost forced to have it installed in order to play the game. The problem is that you can't have anymore a standalone installation and that will piss off a lot of people, believe me.
Quoting: x_wingEach company now has a store, and you're almost forced to have it installed in order to play the game. The problem is that you can't have anymore a standalone installation and that will piss off a lot of people, believe me.
I personally don't "install stores" :) I buy only DRM-free games, so yes that mean standalone installation.
Last edited by Shmerl on 4 December 2018 at 3:44 pm UTC
Quoting: ShmerlQuoting: x_wingEach company now has a store, and you're almost forced to have it installed in order to play the game. The problem is that you can't have anymore a standalone installation and that will piss off a lot of people, believe me.
I personally don't "install stores" :) I buy only DRM-free games, so yes that mean standalone installation.
Yes, but even GoG now force you to have their if you want to play on multiplayer some games. Not to mention the bad support that GoG has give to Linux gaming...
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