Total War Saga: TROY, a game that was confirmed to be coming to Linux, is now going to start life as an Epic Games Store exclusive for the first year.
For the Linux version, this would mean a total delay because Epic have no plans to support Linux on their store officially. Creative Assembly announced it will release on EGS in August and be free for 24 hours, with Steam to follow a year later. Creative Assembly mentioned they have "no plans" for future games to be exclusives.
Linux was due to get it "shortly after Windows" originally but now it's entirely unclear. Feral Interactive, the company who work with Creative Assembly to port various titles to Linux and macOS were the company doing Total War Saga: TROY. I spoke to them today but they simply mentioned they have "nothing we can share regarding A Total War Saga: TROY on macOS or Linux".
If / when we hear more about about the Linux version, we will let you know.
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Mohandevir Jun 2, 2020
Oh well! Thank you Epic. You just made my life easier... I always have a "fidelity" issue when Feral publish a game I'm not really interested in, because I feel the need to support them. I guess it won't be the case this time, at least not for a year.
After that, will porting the game still be profitable to Feral, if the game is not sold at the initial launch price?
After that, will porting the game still be profitable to Feral, if the game is not sold at the initial launch price?
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Quoting: TheSHEEEPEpic just has the better deals for developers.If that is your wish than be prepared for the outcomes. Valve takes 30% (as most other stores) and then reinvest that money into developing their platform, but also help with developing games, for example by providing debugging tools, and even more so, they specifically help Linux gaming, for example by hiring developers working on graphics drivers. What do you think will be cut first if Valve cuts down their income?
My hope is that Valve will wake up from its slumber and starts giving developers better deals as well. A cut lower than the absurd 30% would be a very good start.
Concerning the game at hand, it does suck for Feral I imagine, but I was never interested in the "Saga" series to begin with. Too limited in scope.
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Quoting: MohandevirAfter that, will porting the game still be profitable to Feral, if the game is not sold at the initial launch price?
It's going to be (at least) a year late, and a bunch of people are going to have already got it for free. Feral's chances of making it worthwhile to do it have been completely torpedoed.
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So, one of the AAA franchises that has been the most friendly to Linux and was now getting simultaneous releases will - at the very least - be delayed by one year. For the same reasons why timed exclusivity matters to Epic (the initial burst of sales and popularity is huge), this is really bad for the port; a few days or weeks is one thing, but months and years really make it less relevant.
It's not directly relevant to me personally, as even though I like the franchise I won't be getting this game for several years (if I ever get this one in particular). But it is a very troubling trend.
Except that Epic has said at least once before to a dev that they are "not interested in non-exclusive titles" or something to that effect - or, in other words, you either make it an exclusive or you don't get in. (Edit: and that's based on the premise that they just want to be on more stores, ignoring the upfront money in sales guarantees and extra revenue due to the larger cut that would also be reasons to be exclusive anyway).
Last edited by eldaking on 2 June 2020 at 5:13 pm UTC
It's not directly relevant to me personally, as even though I like the franchise I won't be getting this game for several years (if I ever get this one in particular). But it is a very troubling trend.
Quoting: kuhpunkt"As mentioned, and like others in the industry, a key reason for exploring other digital stores is that we don’t want to be limited just to Steam."
Release it on several stores then. It's not like it's complicated.
Except that Epic has said at least once before to a dev that they are "not interested in non-exclusive titles" or something to that effect - or, in other words, you either make it an exclusive or you don't get in. (Edit: and that's based on the premise that they just want to be on more stores, ignoring the upfront money in sales guarantees and extra revenue due to the larger cut that would also be reasons to be exclusive anyway).
Last edited by eldaking on 2 June 2020 at 5:13 pm UTC
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Mohandevir Jun 2, 2020
Personally, I was able to steer my son away from Fortnite. He is now an Overwatch convert. At least, he's not giving any more money to Epic that is used to fight Linux gaming...
Because, for my part, encouraging Epic in anyway is detrimental to Linux gaming. It's probably the single worst threat, atm. It's a total no-go.
Because, for my part, encouraging Epic in anyway is detrimental to Linux gaming. It's probably the single worst threat, atm. It's a total no-go.
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(p.s. I love that this article, despite all the comments, has precisely zero likes at the time of writing this comment!)
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Quoting: MohandevirPersonally, I was able to steer my son away from Fortnite. He is now an Overwatch convert. At least, he's not giving any more money to Epic that is used to fight Linux gaming...
Because, for my part, encouraging Epic in anyway is detrimental to Linux gaming. It's probably the single worst threat, atm. It's a total no-go.
I "liked" your comment because I agree with the concerns around Epic's exclusivity... but omg, Blizzard are hardly a shining beacon of light when it comes to a) being good guys, nor b) supporting Linux! :D
Five minutes watching Jim Sterling's videos on Blizzard would open anyone's eyes on what a shit-show they are!
(Overwatch is great though!)
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Quoting: TheSHEEEPEpic just has the better deals for developers.
My hope is that Valve will wake up from its slumber and starts giving developers better deals as well. A cut lower than the absurd 30% would be a very good start.
Concerning the game at hand, it does suck for Feral I imagine, but I was never interested in the "Saga" series to begin with. Too limited in scope.
Valve already do that. If the issue was the revenue, publisher only have to set their prices 20% higher (or around that value) on Steam compared to the same game in Epic. But nope, seems that if you want to publish on Epic you must go full epic for a year... which definitely points towards that Epic subsidies the publishers.
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Quoting: eldakingQuoting: kuhpunkt"As mentioned, and like others in the industry, a key reason for exploring other digital stores is that we don’t want to be limited just to Steam."
Release it on several stores then. It's not like it's complicated.
Except that Epic has said at least once before to a dev that they are "not interested in non-exclusive titles" or something to that effect - or, in other words, you either make it an exclusive or you don't get in. (Edit: and that's based on the premise that they just want to be on more stores, ignoring the upfront money in sales guarantees and extra revenue due to the larger cut that would also be reasons to be exclusive anyway).
And yet several games will be released on both stores at the same time.
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Mohandevir Jun 2, 2020
Quoting: scaineQuoting: MohandevirPersonally, I was able to steer my son away from Fortnite. He is now an Overwatch convert. At least, he's not giving any more money to Epic that is used to fight Linux gaming...
Because, for my part, encouraging Epic in anyway is detrimental to Linux gaming. It's probably the single worst threat, atm. It's a total no-go.
I "liked" your comment because I agree with the concerns around Epic's exclusivity... but omg, Blizzard are hardly a shining beacon of light when it comes to a) being good guys, nor b) supporting Linux! :D
Five minutes watching Jim Sterling's videos on Blizzard would open anyone's eyes on what a shit-show they are!
(Overwatch is great though!)
Never pretended they were perfect... It's a matter of choosing the least worst. It was Overwatch or Fortnite... I had to find a compromise. :)
This said, there are no exclusivity deals, at Blizzard, that will directly hurt Linux. On top of that, the launcher and the games are running well in Lutris and you shouldn't get banned by using Linux (official Blizzard stance).
So... I can tolerate that.
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