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.
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
All posts need to follow our rules. For users logged in: please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Guest readers can email us for any issues.
Am I the only one to believe this more competition thing is going all wrong?
As a consumer what I want to see is less fees and more money in the pockets of indie developers since they can only do one thing with those pennies: better and more games.
For big publishers though I don't think, as a consumer, that leaving more money in their coffers instead of valve's will translate in better gaming for me. Valve has a very good record in investing in infrastructure and innovation for the whole industry, be it VR, steamplay platform, open source infrastructure for open source OSs (I keep the plural here, just to play Epic game). Whilst for the rest it's more for allowing shareholders to 'invest" in islands as Christmas present for their children.
Yet what's going to happen now is that fees are going to be reduced for large players whilst small keep the burden o the "innovation tax".
Then, as for Valve competitors, to often their contribute to the gaming world stops to a buggy launcher with some nasty DRM at worse and no DRM at all at best. Do these "perks" really justify, as a buyer, a 12% or whatever cut on what you pay?
I'm all for competition. But what I want to see is qualified competition, not just lechers that suck out money from the industry by lowering the quality standards. I hope that Epic, if and when it establishes its store ofc, will distinguish itself from the mass and play the game right. Valve has been left alone to push the industry for to long.
As a consumer what I want to see is less fees and more money in the pockets of indie developers since they can only do one thing with those pennies: better and more games.
For big publishers though I don't think, as a consumer, that leaving more money in their coffers instead of valve's will translate in better gaming for me. Valve has a very good record in investing in infrastructure and innovation for the whole industry, be it VR, steamplay platform, open source infrastructure for open source OSs (I keep the plural here, just to play Epic game). Whilst for the rest it's more for allowing shareholders to 'invest" in islands as Christmas present for their children.
Yet what's going to happen now is that fees are going to be reduced for large players whilst small keep the burden o the "innovation tax".
Then, as for Valve competitors, to often their contribute to the gaming world stops to a buggy launcher with some nasty DRM at worse and no DRM at all at best. Do these "perks" really justify, as a buyer, a 12% or whatever cut on what you pay?
I'm all for competition. But what I want to see is qualified competition, not just lechers that suck out money from the industry by lowering the quality standards. I hope that Epic, if and when it establishes its store ofc, will distinguish itself from the mass and play the game right. Valve has been left alone to push the industry for to long.
7 Likes, Who?
I'm a bit worried about this move actually. I've already seen 4 stores collapse (IndieVania, Desura and Indie Game Stand and ShinyLoot). I don't think Steam may fall any time soon, but i won't be so confident about Itch or GOG. Will these two survive another big store? I hope so but how to be sure? What happens of bought games when the platform closes? Ok games are DRM-Free on GOG, but backups are not the solution here. What about updates?
Developers are i guess more than happy to widen their sales but not that much when it comes to keep all the version in every store in sync: Armello was on GOG, but not its DLC, and now it's even gone. Same story for Human Fall Flat. We have never seen the Linux version of many games on GOG too. Will developers manage to keep the same level of quality for every store? What happen to their users when they they abandon a store?
How about multiplayer? Does every store will have its closed multiplayer pool or will we be able to play with friends from different stores?
I can't help but think that all of this looks like preparations for the next big thing in gaming: streaming.
Developers are i guess more than happy to widen their sales but not that much when it comes to keep all the version in every store in sync: Armello was on GOG, but not its DLC, and now it's even gone. Same story for Human Fall Flat. We have never seen the Linux version of many games on GOG too. Will developers manage to keep the same level of quality for every store? What happen to their users when they they abandon a store?
How about multiplayer? Does every store will have its closed multiplayer pool or will we be able to play with friends from different stores?
I can't help but think that all of this looks like preparations for the next big thing in gaming: streaming.
4 Likes, Who?
I'm a bit worried about this move actually. I've already seen 4 stores collapse (IndieVania, Desura and Indie Game Stand and ShinyLoot). I don't think Steam may fall any time soon, but i won't be so confident about Itch or GOG. Will these two survive another big store? I hope so but how to be sure?
I don't think Itch needs to worry (any more than they already did, anyway--I don't know how much profit they make normally). Itch appeals to indie types, it's the good-guy, open source, not-corporate, a bit quirky game store. This thing on the other hand is being created by Really Big Game Company, Inc. and is corporate to the core; I don't think Itch's customer base will be drawn to it.
GOG is a bit like that but not as much any more, as they've grown I think they've attracted plenty of ordinary-gamer customers who could potentially be wooed away by a different store. So I dunno, they might be fine or maybe your fears have some substance there.
3 Likes, Who?
Well. Overall, this is interesting. I have no idea if this thing will have any success--they have some muscle and are offering developers a good deal, but seems to me it's harder than it looks to get one of these things to take off. You're fighting network effects, habits, and there's more to creating a good experience with some value added that competes with other stores than just putting up some games to download.
And I have no idea whether they'll include Linux in any way shape or form, let alone push it in any way useful to us; there are vague hints they might and they may have plausible motivations to do so, but there are also reasons to think they might not. Overall, I'm stumped as to what this could mean.
And I have no idea whether they'll include Linux in any way shape or form, let alone push it in any way useful to us; there are vague hints they might and they may have plausible motivations to do so, but there are also reasons to think they might not. Overall, I'm stumped as to what this could mean.
2 Likes, Who?
I'm surprised they didn't mention Linux explicitly. With Tim Sweeney constantly complaining about MS lock-in, you would have expected him to put Linux front and center in the store announcement. I don't care about launchers, but let's hope the store will have DRM-free options.
Mr. Sweeney is lots of hot air and nothing more, IMO.
As much as I hate Valve, I must give it the credit where it is due. Sweeney was such a crybaby a year ago but in the end it is Valve which is at the receiving end of the blow, not Microsoft: he supports Windows™ as an obedient zealot while trying to undermine Valve's money income (a common trend nowadays, which means Sweeney is a copycat of Ubi, EA, Paradox and others to boot).
I'll believe Mr. Sweeney when he gets his Canadian passport. :)
Steam offers me games on MY currency and also give me servers to download near to my country. Which other stores does this? None.Please, refrain from open hostility and harsh words. The fact that different countries have different base income for habitats (as well as different tax schemes, healthcare and education cost and so on) is not in any way an excuse to call people "elitist first world kids" or the like. No one here deserved such a treatment.
Its easy for Liam and other people here to pretend Epic would be some kind of competency for Steam, you had your prices on dollars, euros or pounds but the rest of the world remain obscure for these stores, while Steam is selling games to penguins on fish currency.
Sorry for sound like a Valve pawn but after the promises of Origin becoming a competency for Steam, well, I dont expect nothing special anymore.
Now, for the second part: in fact, GOG does have regional pricing which most of the time is the same as on Steam™.
Last edited by Alm888 on 4 Dec 2018 at 7:08 pm UTC
6 Likes, Who?
Nevertheless 4 Dec 2018
I'm surprised they didn't mention Linux explicitly. With Tim Sweeney constantly complaining about MS lock-in, you would have expected him to put Linux front and center in the store announcement.Except there's [this tweet](https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/964284402741149698) which is basically a big fat "Nope".
Not exactly. A few days later...
https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/968284883935166466
1 Likes, Who?
There will be no port of Fortnite. They won't even customize their anticheat for DXVK like Blizzard did.What? Never in my life have I heard anyone, ever say Blizzard specially customise their anti cheat for Linux. Hint: they don't, they don't support Linux at all.
They didn't invest a billion dollars, but they simply helped us solve the problem:
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Blizzard-Banning-DXVK-Wine
Epic would never provide such support. They would rather emigrate to Canada.
The UrealEnginge produce garbage for Linux and you need good porters like Feral to sort this out. The best would be if Epic would stop supporting Linux, so that we can finally play Ark via Proton and not have to wait for ages for ports like LifeIsStrange.Now it's pretty clear you don't know what you're talking about. Ark is nothing at all to do with Epic. Life is Strange Before the Storm is also nothing to do with Epic and was built with Unity. Game developer decisions on their game engine choice and platform release choice is not down to Epic. Do some research.
They helped Wildcard for example with the ARK Dev Kit which, of course, never was ported to Linux. Plus Ark is a ugly mess on Linux thanks to Epic and Unreal Engine. And Life Is Strange based on Unreal Engine 3.
Most of the ports based on the Unreal Engine are construction sites.
1 Likes, Who?
Rubbish. Blizzard unbanning people, then banning some again only this last week (as noted on Reddit) is not Blizzard supporting Linux in any way. Don't see something that isn't there. Blizzard don't support Linux, anyone saying otherwise is just...*sigh*There will be no port of Fortnite. They won't even customize their anticheat for DXVK like Blizzard did.What? Never in my life have I heard anyone, ever say Blizzard specially customise their anti cheat for Linux. Hint: they don't, they don't support Linux at all.
They didn't invest a billion dollars, but they simply helped us solve the problem:
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Blizzard-Banning-DXVK-Wine
Epic would never provide such support. They would rather emigrate to Canada.
They helped Wildcard for example with the ARK Dev Kit which, of course, never was ported to Linux. Plus Ark is a ugly mess on Linux thanks to Epic and Unreal Engine. And Life Is Strange based on Unreal Engine 3.Giving a dev a little help with something, doesn't change anything. Wildcard own ARK, Wildcard are responsible for the Linux version of ARK, not Epic.
Most of the ports based on the Unreal Engine are construction sites.
The original Life is Strange...Unreal Engine 3. Do I need to say more? No official Linux support in UE3 anyway, UE3 and 4 are different beasts.
I really don't know what you're trying to get at. You just seem hellbent on disliking Epic Games with some sort of bias that's showing through very clearly.
1 Likes, Who?
Now, for the second part: in fact, GOG does have regional pricing which most of the time is the same as on Steam™.
No, most of the time it's not. Mostly because Steam sets prices in local currency, while GOG keeps everything in USD.
0 Likes
Nevertheless 4 Dec 2018
Oh good, ANOTHER digital distribution platform. Just what I wanted for xmas.A non-story? Sure, if you live in a tiny bubble. Even without Linux support right now, it's major industry news. One that may have a big effect on the company we rely on quite heavily as a gaming platform.
Speculation and wishful thinking is what all of this boils down to. "Other open platforms" is too vague. Until Epic mentions Linux specifically, this is a non-story.
So many completely different kinds of reactions...
For me it's a big wow! The company of Mr. Sweeney, the one very prominent voice warning about Microsofts plans to close up its walled garden opens up its own store. It is positioned as a competitor of Steam, which is truely a big step, one that probably has mainly become possible by the success of Fortnite...
What's really important to see here in my opinion is: Epic, like Valve emphasized denonstratively openness. It will be open to open platforms, open to competitive engines, and that's great and healthy. If Epic one day will support Linux, their shop will be supportable by my standards!
One thing I have to say though. I for my part will be ever thankful for what Valve did for Linux gaming. Their dedication to open platforms stands out! They were and are the prime mover of Linux gaming.
Last edited by Nevertheless on 4 Dec 2018 at 7:51 pm UTC
2 Likes, Who?
Well, now, this is simply a lie.Now, for the second part: in fact, GOG does have regional pricing which most of the time is the same as on Steam™.
No, most of the time it's not. Mostly because Steam sets prices in local currency, while GOG keeps everything in USD.
GOG neither keeps everything in USD (value-wise) nor enforces USD as a currency.
0 Likes
I play fortnite with my son too! Only because of this game I need to keep windows on both of our computers.
0 Likes
Rubbish. Blizzard unbanning people, then banning some again only this last week (as noted on Reddit) is not Blizzard supporting Linux in any way. Don't see something that isn't there. Blizzard don't support Linux, anyone saying otherwise is just...*sigh*
Sadly, you'd be right.
They helped Wildcard for example with the ARK Dev Kit which, of course, never was ported to Linux. Plus Ark is a ugly mess on Linux thanks to Epic and Unreal Engine. And Life Is Strange based on Unreal Engine 3.
Most of the ports based on the Unreal Engine are construction sites.
Giving a dev a little help with something, doesn't change anything. Wildcard own ARK, Wildcard are responsible for the Linux version of ARK, not Epic.
It's not about a little help for the developers. The mod support depends on it:
https://www.playark.com/workshop/
I really don't know what you're trying to get at. You just seem hellbent on disliking Epic Games with some sort of bias that's showing through very clearly.
Bias or not. We already have to bypass them together with other rotten fruits:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/5638
With the Unreal Engine there are by far the most problems:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/5638#issuecomment-442359828
I'm sure that option in Proton will come. Otherwise people will use Lutris.
I'm not counting on Epic and these are the reasons. You asked for it.
1 Likes, Who?
So uhhhh https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1070040588739862531?s=19
See his second bullet point reply, notice the smile emoji too. Pretty nice hint that.
See his second bullet point reply, notice the smile emoji too. Pretty nice hint that.
4 Likes, Who?
For me the biggest asset of Valve against any other store is SteamPlay. No other store, company, allows you to code once, deploy in Mac, Linux, Windows and in the future Android.I was under the impression that MacOS isn't supported in SteamPlay. Has that changed, or was Mac support something they intended to work on after DXVK worked well on Linux?
1 Likes, Who?
there is a possibility that even the competition is increased and indie developers gone to epic games, epic games can just stop supporting linux altogether or not support enough at all, in the worst case scenario valve will be not a huge platform and epic games forget about linux and we back to 2013
devs will not care about linux because how bad epic games launcher on linux will be , or will it be ever updated after epic games conquer the indie gaming???
TLDR: there is a small possibility that epic games can damage linux gaming or destroy it, but that's a small chance
why am i thought about this in the first place?
I thrust more to hit a bomb shell from world war 1 with hammer than epic games :O
devs will not care about linux because how bad epic games launcher on linux will be , or will it be ever updated after epic games conquer the indie gaming???
TLDR: there is a small possibility that epic games can damage linux gaming or destroy it, but that's a small chance
why am i thought about this in the first place?
I thrust more to hit a bomb shell from world war 1 with hammer than epic games :O
1 Likes, Who?
walther von stolzing 4 Dec 2018
The other open platform is obviously OpenIndiana, specifically, ['The Hipster Distribution'](https://www.openindiana.org/overview/the-hipster-branch/). That's because they're planning to implement 'cloud saves', and they want to leverage the flexibility of ZFS snapshots for that purpose.
Last edited by walther von stolzing on 4 Dec 2018 at 9:02 pm UTC
Last edited by walther von stolzing on 4 Dec 2018 at 9:02 pm UTC
2 Likes, Who?
That explains the recent Valve royalty cut...
Valve is very greedy and lazy. And sadly they don't show signs of improving. They will only really try to change their ways when it is too late, as is always the case...
you say that after all they did for linux (client, steamOS, wine/proton, dxvk, mesa) for free
7 Likes, Who?
Eh theres already origin uplay they competetion just not under linux
0 Likes
walther von stolzing 4 Dec 2018
Eh theres already origin uplay they competetion just not under linux
Epic is planning to sell other companies' games too, and they offer 'competitive' percentages as to what the respective 'cuts' will be. I'm not sure about 'Origin' (haven't used it in ages); but on their storefront, ubisoft doesn't sell 3rd party games.
0 Likes
Patreon
PayPal
How to set, change and reset your SteamOS / Steam Deck desktop sudo password
How to set up Decky Loader on Steam Deck / SteamOS for easy plugins
See more from me