While this might not be specific to Linux gaming, it's still something interesting I've wanted to talk about. Metro Exodus from 4A Games and Deep Silver has jumped ship from Steam to the Epic Store.
I waited for the situation to become clear before saying anything on this, as it got a little…ugly.
Last night, the team behind Metro Exodus announced the change saying that "the digital PC version of Metro Exodus will now be available to purchase solely through EpicGames.com". In their official announcement, nothing about it being a timed exclusive was mentioned and so a lot of people were left quite unhappy.
This led Valve, to actually put out a statement on the Steam store page, which reads:
Notice: Sales of Metro Exodus have been discontinued on Steam due to a publisher decision to make the game exclusive to another PC store.
The developer and publisher have assured us that all prior sales of the game on Steam will be fulfilled on Steam, and Steam owners will be able to access the game and any future updates or DLC through Steam.
We think the decision to remove the game is unfair to Steam customers, especially after a long pre-sale period. We apologize to Steam customers that were expecting it to be available for sale through the February 15th release date, but we were only recently informed of the decision and given limited time to let everyone know.
Soon after this, the Metro team put up an announcement on Steam where it does actually mention that Metro Exodus will come back to Steam "after 14th February 2020". To do this so close to release, feels really off.
I've seen a lot of arguments both for and against the Epic Store across the net, with wildly varying opinions on each side of the argument. For gamers, competition between stores can be a really good and helpful thing and we all know Steam could do with a little competition. Valve have dragged their heels on so many things over the years, I firmly hope this is a good kick up their backside to do better.
However, the way Epic is going about it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. I don't think forcing and annoying people into using another launcher is a good way to go, at all. Rather than compete on customer service, value for money, features and so on Epic are forcing people to look at them. For developers, the short-term gain might be good but do they really, honestly, expect the free to play Fortnite audience which is Epic's bread and butter to translate into sales for AAA games? I've become a lot more sceptical of this recently and I think it's largely the reason Epic is throwing money around to try and force a change.
As Epic Games continue throwing money at developers and publishers, I expect things to get even uglier as the year goes on. For us, it's not a good thing, as time and time again Epic Games have shown how little they care about Linux (we're not even on the damn roadmap) and that's sad as we will be the ones losing out.
For Valve, the more they lose like this the quicker they will need to react. I'm going to end up sounding like a broken record here, but they need to seriously get back into their own IP. Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal and so on. Especially after Artifact basically failed them, although they again said they're "Still in it for the long haul" in the most recent update to it.
Not just that, reducing their cut from developers may be inevitable too, it would certainly show they understand the market is changing considering how many developers feel Steam's 30% cut isn't worth it. The most recent "GDC State of the Industry report" showed that only six percent of developers thought Valve were doing enough for it. I don't think Valve need to match Epic on the cut either given how popular Steam already is, even a 5% reduction could be massive for smaller developers.
Linux gamers might think differently on that point though, since Valve help to fund various open source projects and that would likely reduce their ability or enthusiasm to do so. We're not a big enough audience for them to put more of their eggs in our basket—yet.
No matter what happens, I can't imagine Valve just rolling over and allowing Epic to set up shop on their lawn. I'm very curious to see what they have up their sleeves. A competitive Steam is good for everyone!
At least by the time Metro Exodus comes back to Steam, we will see if they made any sort of decision on Linux support (as they currently won't say—likely a no). If not, that's a long time for Steam Play to mature for those who use it.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: MohandevirFor the rest, Deep Silver got 129 pages of hateful comments on a 3 hours span. Steam users are pissed off and a part of them will avoid the game.
Yes well the internet has a memory span of a couple of hours, when the game is out the very people that wrote there will install the launcher and buy the game... not all of them, but enough of them for deep silver to still earn enough profit to sleep with Epic again...
Quoting: KimyrielleQuoting: rat2000Why is everyone bashing only Epic?
Epic is coercing people into exclusive contracts with them by offering them monetary incentives. They are the source of the problem. The Metro guys just fell to that temptation and took their money.
Did you read all my post? I am saying they are EQUALY at fault maybe DeepSilver even more...
Quoting: EhvisMost of the users here I would say they are above average, but think of the average joe that is out there in the wild... We, unfortunately, are greatly outnumbered...Quoting: rat2000I can only hope that as a community(of steam users not linux users) we can restrain ourself from buying the game on epic but we all know we will fail miserable on this...
I have no intention of buying a Windows game at or close to full price. Ever. And with the complete disaster that is the Epic Launcher in Wine, it's wouldn't be a fun ride.
Last edited by mihaib on 29 January 2019 at 5:31 pm UTC
Quoting: eldakingI agree that it is very unfair to consumers. Changing something crucial right before the release, after taking pre-orders, is not cool. You can't just change your mind after advertising and selling your product.Honestly I don't see that as being the case here. They say the people who preordered on Steam will get the game, DLC and updates as expected. They're just no longer taking orders via Steam anymore. It's weird, and shitty by virtue of serving exclusivity, but at least no one is getting cheated out of their money. For those who bought it, the product remains the same. The only thing being taken away from anyone is the opportunity to buy it at a certain venue, for those who haven't already done so, and frankly that's the publisher's prerogative no matter the justification.
Quoting: johndoe86xWhen Epic and Steam compete, then consumers will win. You can buy the game on the Epic store for $10 less than you would on Steam, and you can import into your Steam library and use Proton.I don't feel like giving money to the company that does nothing to support your market and using the free services of the company that does is a sustainable strategy. Yes Valve is a company that's out to make money, and no matter how frequently people make the assumption that Steam users worship Gabe and/or his company, I think we're all aware of that. But in a market of self-serving corporations, Valve still sets itself apart by supporting our market segment with more dedication than any other. That makes it easy for me to pick who gets my money.
Quoting: pbWhat makes me wonder is:I can't cite anything on the matter, but I don't think publishers can generate keys at will anymore (if they ever really could). I seem to recall Valve making a change about that related to companies giving keys away to buy positive reviews or something. I doubt Valve would let any publisher sell thousands of keys without taking their cut, no matter if the keys come in a box or an e-mail.
- the boxed editions will come with a Steam key, so...
- we might see an unprecedented interest in the boxed edition over the digital one, and...
- the game will probably weigh about 100GB, and...
- Valve will need to pay for all that bandwidth without getting anything in return, since the keys can be generated for free.
Mohandevir Jan 29, 2019
Quoting: rat2000Yes well the internet has a memory span of a couple of hours, when the game is out the very people that wrote there will install the launcher and buy the game... not all of them, but enough of them for deep silver to still earn enough profit to sleep with Epic again...
Before taking that as granted, I would like to see Steam's sales figure for this game. The damage might already be done. I can't say for sure, but add to this some form of boycott and Epic might not break even in this deal. Deep Silver might even come to the realization that the game sold much better on Steam.
Time will tell... That's my wish, at least. :)
Last edited by Mohandevir on 29 January 2019 at 5:45 pm UTC
Mohandevir Jan 29, 2019
Quoting: GuestQuoting: MohandevirQuoting: rat2000Yes well the internet has a memory span of a couple of hours, when the game is out the very people that wrote there will install the launcher and buy the game... not all of them, but enough of them for deep silver to still earn enough profit to sleep with Epic again...
Before taking that as granted, I would like to see Steam's sales figure for this game. The damage might already be done. I can't say for sure, but add to this some form of boycott and Epic might not break even in this deal. Deep Silver might even come to the realization that the game sold much better on Steam.
Time will tell...
They will buy it. They dont have the "Willpower" to withstand it.
You don't get my point. If they bought it on Steam, they won't buy it on Epic. I just don't know the proportion. And if a quarter of the users that claim they won't buy it at all stand to their claims (being conservative) it's another blow.
Edit: By the way, the group on your pic has 31 pages. Taking the first page is not a significative sample, imo.
Edit2: This said, Modern Warfare 2 wasn't the most successful of the series either.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 29 January 2019 at 6:00 pm UTC
Jan 29, 2019
Quoting: johndoe86xYou can buy the game on the Epic store for $10 less than you would on Steam, and you can import into your Steam library and use Proton.
It was 59,99€ in Germany on Steam, it's 59,99€ in Germany on EGS.
Quoting: KimyrielleQuoting: rat2000Why is everyone bashing only Epic?
Epic is coercing people into exclusive contracts with them by offering them monetary incentives. They are the source of the problem. The Metro guys just fell to that temptation and took their money.
Those who take bribes are part of the problem as well.
Mohandevir Jan 29, 2019
Quoting: GuestQuoting: MohandevirQuoting: GuestQuoting: MohandevirQuoting: rat2000Yes well the internet has a memory span of a couple of hours, when the game is out the very people that wrote there will install the launcher and buy the game... not all of them, but enough of them for deep silver to still earn enough profit to sleep with Epic again...
Before taking that as granted, I would like to see Steam's sales figure for this game. The damage might already be done. I can't say for sure, but add to this some form of boycott and Epic might not break even in this deal. Deep Silver might even come to the realization that the game sold much better on Steam.
Time will tell...
They will buy it. They dont have the "Willpower" to withstand it.
You don't get my point. If they bought it on Steam, they won't buy it on Epic. I just don't know the proportion. And if a quarter of the users that claim they won't buy it stand to their claims (just like on your pic) it's another blow.
Edit: By the way, the group on your pic has 31 pages. Taking the first page is not a significative sample, imo.
Just in case you didnt notice i did not made that Picture. Just google modern warfare 2 boycott and there are tons of those Pictures. I just used it to show that even when ppl say "i wont buy it" they will buy it. The same thing is with EA all say EA is so bad and their games are bad but they still sell like hot cakes.
Yep! But that's still not my point. What if the best sales figure was done during the pre-sale on Steam? That's my point.
I might be wrong, but harcore fans are usually more prone to pre-sales.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 29 January 2019 at 6:07 pm UTC
Quoting: MohandevirThing is, judging by the wave of angry comments on the Steam page, 4A Games / Deep Silver seem to have hurt it's Metro fan base. Really bad move to pull it off like that, 2 weeks before release after having built such a hype for it. We now have a full year to discover if it's a good game. Who knows, we might have saved 60$.
Mmm yes plus not a good sign for a whole host of games given Deep silver is now owned by THQ Nordic and if they are going to pull this crap with everyone one of their franchises linux ports could be a long way off.
Quoting: ZeloxHmm... I get it, competition is great, and even greater for us gejmers. But I wasn't expecting exclusives to come along with it. And epic really starts to get on my nerv.... with these exclusives and pre releases on there store.
But i also get it they need to compete in a market where valve is dominate would you have as many concerns about what epic was doing if Epics store was on linux as a native app and Metro had been confirmed as coming to linux (which it isnt and based on the exclusive period no linux port/proton work is going to start until 2020)
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