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 2 Jun 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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Epic 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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After 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 Jun 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.
"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 Jun 2020 at 5:13 pm UTC
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Mohandevir 2 Jun 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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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.
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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Epic 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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"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 2 Jun 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.
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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also it will be free for the first 24 hours it launches on epic.make sure you guys wishlist that care.
Not sure what you're driving at here, you want us to get it free on Epic Store?
It's safe to say that giving a game away on day one is going to cost Epic. There are two options, either Epic pays per freely given game, or they paid a fixed price. If the first is true, then having as many people get it as possible would increase the cost for Epic. For the second it might make the deal for CA a bit less interesting than they thought it was. Either way could lower the chances of it happening again.
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And yet several games will be released on both stores at the same time.
And many games ready to be released in Steam vanish for a year as well. With all the information we have now days is completely reasonable to think that some shady things happens with new games on Epic. IMO the
Last edited by x_wing on 2 Jun 2020 at 5:33 pm UTC
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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.
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.
Yep - Overwatch genuinely feels native for me on Lutris. Perfect sync of mouse on/off screen, no minimising of the app when I click out of it, superb performance, all features fully supported. It's excellent!
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Mohandevir 2 Jun 2020
Yep - Overwatch genuinely feels native for me on Lutris. Perfect sync of mouse on/off screen, no minimising of the app when I click out of it, superb performance, all features fully supported. It's excellent!
My son played a lot of Overwatch on our PS4, but he discovered the PC platform lately (gave him my older i7-3770, GTX960 4Gb). He asked me to show him how to run it on his Linux Mint desktop and he was hyped... Told him he would loose all of his progression on the PS4... "Don't care, playing on PC looks awesome."
What more to say? "... Ok." :)
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also it will be free for the first 24 hours it launches on epic.make sure you guys wishlist that care.
Not sure what you're driving at here, you want us to get it free on Epic Store?
um just mentioning that it is free.
0 Likes
Release it on several stores then. It's not like it's complicated.
Last I heard it's very complicated. Each store has its own toolset for uploads, its own publishing requirements, its own system for how updates and patches are handled. An indie dev once compared the experience between GOG, itch.io (the easiest) and Steam (the most complicated), but that was before EGS existed and I can't find the article now. But the conclusion was "think carefully before adding another store", so it seems it isn't something you just do on a whim.
That's ridiculous. It's fucking SEGA. Even if the toolsets are a bit complicated... that's no reason to go to just one store. They got a ton of cash. That's it.
Except its not this was Creative Assembly call as it was there call to port the other total war games and alien isolation to linux its why there are no sonic games etc on linux sega have not authorised any linux ports. I do not have the tweet about it anymore but this was a CA lead decision.
SEGA, CA, whatever... fucking tiny indies are able to set up Steam and sell their shit. Saying it's too complicated makes no sense.
oh you don't understand it not difficult its cash and you cant say in the same position you would do the the same exmaple i will give you two million upfront for a year of exclusivity on your game plus i will compensate you for lost sales plus i am going to take less of a cut of your profits. Still going to be noble and say no ?
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Epic still exists?
0 Likes
Release it on several stores then. It's not like it's complicated.
Last I heard it's very complicated. Each store has its own toolset for uploads, its own publishing requirements, its own system for how updates and patches are handled. An indie dev once compared the experience between GOG, itch.io (the easiest) and Steam (the most complicated), but that was before EGS existed and I can't find the article now. But the conclusion was "think carefully before adding another store", so it seems it isn't something you just do on a whim.
That's ridiculous. It's fucking SEGA. Even if the toolsets are a bit complicated... that's no reason to go to just one store. They got a ton of cash. That's it.
Except its not this was Creative Assembly call as it was there call to port the other total war games and alien isolation to linux its why there are no sonic games etc on linux sega have not authorised any linux ports. I do not have the tweet about it anymore but this was a CA lead decision.
SEGA, CA, whatever... fucking tiny indies are able to set up Steam and sell their shit. Saying it's too complicated makes no sense.
oh you don't understand it not difficult its cash and you cant say in the same position you would do the the same exmaple i will give you two million upfront for a year of exclusivity on your game plus i will compensate you for lost sales plus i am going to take less of a cut of your profits. Still going to be noble and say no ?
Indies should always... ALWAYS... take the cash deal. The smaller the indie, the more they should take it. I mean, I'll stop patronising them (the few that I do) and I won't buy their game until it hits Itch, GOG, or Steam, but they should ALWAYS take the money.
But bigger studios? TOTAL WAR?? C'mon. They can absolutely do one in my opinion. Money talks, but won't see any of this consumer's money. Ever. Maybe not ever again - I'm not that bitter and twisted, but I won't support exclusivity deals in the same way I won't support Denuvo. Once those barriers are out of the way, I'll reconsider. But I'll usually remember that exclusivity deal and think "hmmmm... maybe not".
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Release it on several stores then. It's not like it's complicated.
Last I heard it's very complicated. Each store has its own toolset for uploads, its own publishing requirements, its own system for how updates and patches are handled. An indie dev once compared the experience between GOG, itch.io (the easiest) and Steam (the most complicated), but that was before EGS existed and I can't find the article now. But the conclusion was "think carefully before adding another store", so it seems it isn't something you just do on a whim.
That's ridiculous. It's fucking SEGA. Even if the toolsets are a bit complicated... that's no reason to go to just one store. They got a ton of cash. That's it.
Except its not this was Creative Assembly call as it was there call to port the other total war games and alien isolation to linux its why there are no sonic games etc on linux sega have not authorised any linux ports. I do not have the tweet about it anymore but this was a CA lead decision.
SEGA, CA, whatever... fucking tiny indies are able to set up Steam and sell their shit. Saying it's too complicated makes no sense.
oh you don't understand it not difficult its cash and you cant say in the same position you would do the the same exmaple i will give you two million upfront for a year of exclusivity on your game plus i will compensate you for lost sales plus i am going to take less of a cut of your profits. Still going to be noble and say no ?
What does that have to do with the argument?
The argument was that it's allegedly too complicated to upload the game on multiple stores. It's not.
Also: they said they want to offer their games on multiple stores, but they do the opposite. Don't say this bullshit then.
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The real question is, is this kind of thing working for Epic, or are they just throwing money into a pit?
I'm not convinced it's working. Steam use keeps growing and the last figures I saw about Epic store sales (other than Fortnite) looked big until I compared them with the size of the market, at which point they looked tiny.
Anyone got any more recent stats?
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 2 Jun 2020 at 6:24 pm UTC
I'm not convinced it's working. Steam use keeps growing and the last figures I saw about Epic store sales (other than Fortnite) looked big until I compared them with the size of the market, at which point they looked tiny.
Anyone got any more recent stats?
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 2 Jun 2020 at 6:24 pm UTC
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