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.
Quoting: BeamboomAnd Spyker is right, the battle for the exclusives are as hard as ever, only they use 1st party devs for that. That's why they (Microsoft, Sony, etc) purchase developers all the time.
Exclusives are only an issue when there is market monopolization. I.e. when publisher owns the distributor as well. As long as market is vertically separated, it's not a problem. The likes of EA who own Origin, or MS who own Windows store / Xbox store are a problem. But for me personally it's not an issue, since accidentally or not, such publishers are also most DRM obsessed, so I don't care about their games. For those who ignore DRM, it can be an issue.
Last edited by Shmerl on 5 December 2018 at 7:31 am UTC
Quoting: ixnariOh 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.
Last edited by Lomkey on 4 December 2018 at 5:25 pm UTC
Quoting: liamdaweWhy are people instantly counting Epic out, when the situation is the same? Like I said in the article, there's no other "open" platform left - it's got to be Linux.
I found this from 2014:
https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/unreal-engine-4-and-linux
It's still up to date. That actually says it all. There will be no port of Fortnite. They won't even customize their anticheat for DXVK like Blizzard did.
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.
Quoting: orochi_kyoAlso to be competency of Steam you have to be more than just a store.I don't mean to be an ass, but since you used it several times: the word you are looking for is competitor :)
Quoting: 0aTTThere 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.
Quoting: 0aTTThe 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.
Quoting: YoRHa-2BOh, yeah, that tweet. That was a really stupid tweet.Quoting: ShmerlI'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 which is basically a big fat "Nope".
GustyGhost Dec 4, 2018
Only, in gaming, replace "subscription" for "locally installed client" and now you have users running a million different launchers in the background. This is the sort of thing that makes PC gaming look bad.
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