Epic says Steam "can only be challenged through exclusives"

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has defended the company’s "unpopular" strategy of signing PC exclusives for its digital storefront, claiming it’s "working" and is the only way to challenge Steam.

[killswitch80]

Which is true. Even if someone makes a better Store front people will only buy games on Steam or from GOG only. Not saying Epic is a better storefront but if they ever did it could not compete with out exclusives.

[harmny]

Yes

[GottaBjimmyb]

Same reason people stick with android/iOS to a lesser extent. They have all their purchased content and function on that platform, so using a new platform, in this case means you will have your content split between the two (in the epic/steam case) specifically all hour old content, which means people would be less inclined to use another platform or even give it a try, without it. Though it is a pretty crappy business policy, it is no different than any other market/product, so it is weird to see the outsized complaining.

[harmny]

@TheGreek I don't defend epic. I don't like the blind rage it always get. They act like valve is a charity instead of a company that makes millions every minute.
Epic is competing. Whether you think its fair or not.
Exclusives work.
Free games work.
Unreal engine 4 is amazing and it has helped the industry a lot. Look at how many games you like use it.
The store sucks though

[DaCajun]

First exclusives is not the only way to challenge Steam. What they are doing if they succeed and put steam out of business by buying up exclusives and games away from Steam and other PC digital storefronts is an anti-trust monopoly lawsuit waiting to happen. Plus they are not just challenging Steam they are also stealing business from other digital storefronts too. So Steam is not the only company losing sale to Epics monopoly tactics.

How about since the devs get more profit from the sale of the game on the Epic storefront they sell at a lower price than it would sale on the other storefronts and let people decide with their money instead of forcing us to buy from them and their unethical monopoly tactics.

They say they are both pro-dev and pro-consumer but they just care about what every business cares about in the end. the money and nothing else. Just like every other company out there except they go around saying they aren't which makes them just hypocrites. They are praised for having a lower 12% cut so why aren't the consumers seeing any benefit from it. I remember when Netflix was cheap and Hulu was free with commercial now you have to pay for Hulu with commercials. Companies all do the same thing, they bait you in with lower initial prices then when have a monopoly they start raising their prices until they are the same as their competitors or more.

[Rude-ro]

The issue is the monopoly tactic behind epics word “exclusive”.

That does not truly define the situation.

Microsoft does the same thing.. and over time, mostly everyone caught on and since it is NOT a positive approach... they pulled back and now have nothing but the old AAA crutches.

Epic, make your exclusives that people want instead of paying other developers to not release their products on another service.
That is the very definition of monopolizing.

I see so many that pushed Sony for cross play and cross save, yes I realize it was just a Microsoft media tactic to benefit themselves, but.. as players celebrate the changes.. on consoles... pc is now going all exclusive with services and exclusive third party games.

So the title of this article should read “why epic thinks monopolizing games to be exclusive is ok.”

[cemelc]

"That is the very definition of monopolizing. "

Lol, youre terribly wrong about this, cos they are not in a position of power pushing people out of the bussiness, they are creating a place for them to compete.

Most people will blindly support steam, and put the most nonsensical drivel to defend a steam monopoly

Pc by definition is an open platform, infinite choices is okey for pc, thats kinda the point

[Rude-ro]

@cemeic
I am very right.
How do you get the power to control?
Through monopolizing a market.

Monopolizing is more based on purchasing than just being dominate.
Paying to make third party products unique to a company in order to control where said products can be obtained in order to hurt competitors is what it all means.

[spicelicka]

"I see so many that pushed Sony for cross play and cross save, yes I realize it was just a Microsoft media tactic to benefit themselves"

Wtf are you talking about.

"Microsoft does the same thing.. and over time, mostly everyone caught on and since it is NOT a positive approach...

Epic, make your exclusives that people want instead of paying other developers to not release their products on another service.
That is the very definition of monopolizing. "

Are you referring to timed exclusives or third party exclusives? All companies do it. Forgetting the Sony deal with Bungie on destiny?

And what do you mean by monpolizing? Monopoly on video games? Monopoly on IP? Monopoly on distribution? Timed and third party exclusives are not good, but that's not monopolizing.

[rainslacker]

"That is the very definition of monopolizing."

No, it's not.

That's paying a company to sell their products exclusively. It's not monopolization in any way, shape, or form. It happens frequently, across many industries and products, and it's not illegal, considered anti-consumer in a legal sense, and is a part of the free market system. A company is as free to sell their products where they want, for the reasons they want, so long as it doesn't fall into illegal territory such as price fixing, discrimination, or collusion to control a market.

[Rude-ro]

@rain
😂 always. 😂

Go open up a business with a successful idea.. you will find out what monopoly means.

You are not even close.

You can go back and look at all the court cases against major companies like Microsoft to get a better understanding of what monopoly means. There are a lot of cases to pick apart for you to get a better understanding.

“Sony does it too” (really want that baby crying gif to go with this)
I’m sorry, how much of a stranglehold has Sony put on third party games?

Sony fought back against Microsofts huge stranglehold they put on games last gen and the beginning of this gen. That is not “monopolizing” the market.

You have to calculate what is it you provide to a market, how much you purchase to INCREASE your value to the market, how much you block the market from competitors. The monopoly equation. This helps businesses defend their products.

“With video games” thought or argument? < read a book.
If you created the worlds best shampoo.. you do realize there are many facets other than just your best shampoo to sell it right? It can be blocked by competitors according to where you sell it. Advertising can be choked out if your competitors have better national/global partnership with said advertisers.. on and on. So yes.. you can monopolize anything in many ways.
Those many ways exist because of past loop holes major companies had created to bypass the appearance.

Sony built a product for another company. That is what Sony did. Make things to sell. They did copy the vcr, the made the vhs. A competing product as an example.
Said deal did not go through, so Sony made a gaming alternative with roadmaps that improves game development of which saw developers leave the cartridge style builds for the new technology st the time offered in Sony’s version of a console.

Microsoft was not a gaming company, they bought up small developers to have ips to call their own, then with the 360 they made massive deals with activision and ea to either have some sort of exclusive content, timed exclusive content, or have a game be exclusive to just their console. From the major third party developers of the time.
Weighing Microsoft’s own output vs what they were buying began to lean towards monopolizing the market.
Their purchasing of software, Ie “commercial products” outweighed Microsoft’s own output with the intent to boost their own need while blocking the competition.
This is the very opening of said conversation in any monopoly case.

[GottaBjimmyb]

"Epic, make your exclusives that people want instead of paying other developers to not release their products on another service."

You do realize first and third party exclusives are games made by a developer for a platform holder for money. If Epic is paying developers for their content, why is is so upsetting for them to expect that content to benefit them? It isn't you guys are just Steam fanboys.

I am more interested in more developers having a choice of platform, with a choice between hosting/platform costs, and potential exclusivity deals that allow that developer to create games that otherwise they could not, or have devs survive in the event they make a great game, that doesn't sell well, or have to sell out to a publisher to create a second game which 90% of the time results in a worse game.

It is literally the difference in 30% of their profit being taken by Steam or 12%, IDK how any developer would choose to use Steam given that alone, not to mention the other incentives.

Walmart and Best Buy (and every company in the world) Very frequently require companies to sell exclusively to them, in order to carry their product. Lowe's and Home Depot each have certain brands of tools that ONLY they carry. Noone ever is concerned there, because only the people on this site are such idiots that they cannot understand simple business realities.

[Wolffenblitz]

Lets stop calling this a competition. Because it's not.

Epic is paying to have the other runners removed from the race.

Simple as that.

[rainslacker]

I've owned several successful businesses in my life. What you're talking about isnt a monopoly any more than game stop and Amazon paying to sell a game exclusively, or get exclusive content to a game, or the console manufacturers doing the same thing.

Such methods can be used as a way to eventually form a monopoly by pushing out competition, but the act of buying exclusives, is certainly not the definition of a monopoly. It's the definition of competition, and it happens frequently, and across many industries.

I was Iowes a couple months ago, and they had a washer and dryer combo that was exclusive to lowes. Some special color or something. Lowes paid for that to potentially get customers in the store. Is lowes now trying to form a monopoly? The answer is no, and it's the exact same thing that epic is doing now. Maybe in a different way by offering larger returns on the back end, but the result is the same.

And before you say there are other options if people want a washer and dryer, there are other options for games as well

The funny thing is, valve paid to do similar things way back when they were first getting started, except instead of taking from other stores, they took from retail. So, for many at the time, they were pretty much denied access as broadband wasn't as ubiquitous as it is today. Steam is closer to a monopoly than epic is right now, but them paying for those games back in the day was a way to promote their store, the monopoly part came from building their store and not really having much competition.

[Dandizzle]

Epic's goal is to be the new steam but more controlling and foster a full blown PC game monopoly. The second they get the dominant market position prices will rise and the % of developers get will slowly shrink. I wouldn't be surprised if their end goal is to harm other game engines, give games who are made with unreal better % and other advantages, over time this would greatly harm other engines trying to compete. Which ultimately harms the indie game market.

[Unspoken]

Nice narrative. No matter the store front you can play on any PC config. Steam has gone way of the indie and I welcome a new store bring games I want to play. In reality it's the total opposite of what you are saying.

[spicelicka]

That's the most loose application of the word "monopolizing" ever, which is why no one else in the world is calling it that. There is clear competition and plenty of substitutes, they're temporary exclusive rights to a video game not exclusive rights to a Cancer cure.

[UltraNova]

All I see here is hypocrisy, on PC gamers behalf. Why? Because PC is heralded as the temple of "open" and "free to do as you will" and "choice" and "no constraints" but they are mad and enraged and blindly defending a status quo, a platform with almost total PC gaming control, Steam when someone else [Epic] is trying to lessen their grip. How can they challenge such control other than offering something the controler doesn't have? Why aren't PC gamers directing their hate to the devs that happily take the money and play dump? They are as much to blame as Epic if not more because no one forced them to take the damn check! That's the very definition of hypocrisy.

Make up your damn minds.

[jts1891]

It's blatantly false. Pretty much every 'competitor' with Steam in the past has had the same problem. They don't offer anything that would make customers consider switching. They don't offer better features, service, or prices. In fact, they are usually much worse in pretty much every way.

Epic is following the same path. Their store is terrible, they have horrible security and customer service, and despite taking much less of a cut than Steam and promising better prices, games cost pretty much the same.

Saying the only way for them to compete is through exclusives when they aren't even trying to be competitive in any real way is ridiculous.

[rainslacker]

EGS is more beneficial for devs than the customer. I think epic will improve. I understand people's concerns right now, but it's somewhat undermined because people were all over them before they ended up doing anything "wrong". Or rather, being a serious contender to steam is what many people think is a wrong thing to do.

EGS started off innocently enough...more a way to avoid mobile game space fees, then it grew.rather quickly, and I think it was maybe expanded prematurely. Itll.go through some.growing pains, but Epic isnt known for.resting in its laurels if it has its sites set on doing something.

[CyrusRiffs]

"...and despite taking much less of a cut than Steam and promising better prices, games cost pretty much the same."

That's a draw for the developers, not the consumers. Steam takes advantage of it's position by charging too much to devs. There needs to be some competition so they can't essentially strong arm devs into handing over way more than they're due.

[tontontam0]

Yeah that's true

GOG: no DRM games

Steamfanboys: that's cute but I want my games on one launcher. TRANSLATION: I'll never buy games on other launchers ever even if it is free.

[roland82]

I’ve never heard anyone say that. Most people like GOG because of the drm free and it at least has basic features like cloud saves and user reviews.

[harmny]

They "like" GOG. But they don't use it.
Truth is people don't like change. GOG is better but I have my friends and library on steam. So why would I buy from them? That's what they think.
Epic on the other hand doesn't let you choose. So if you want to play x game you have to install the EGS. 100% efficient

[tontontam0]

"I’ve never heard anyone say that."

LOL

[TK-66]

If the narrative you're pushing is true why was everyone years ago saying to buy The Witcher 3 through GoG? Because at launch I believe if you pre-ordered on GoG you got the Witcher 1 and 2 for free and everyone was saying to buy it there instead of Steam. Why have we not seen this outrage with Origin or Battle.net? We didn't even see this backlash to the Uplay launcher which has been trash ever since it launched.

I'm sure there are a very small number of people who want all their games on one client but trying to claim that is the primary narrative and that it's the only way to challenge Steam shows a complete lack of understanding about the PC market.

[Seafort]

I bought Witcher 1, 2 and 3 on GoG because CD Projekt is the owner of GoG and CD Projekt RED. I gave 100% of the profits to the actual company that made those games.

I have also bought Cyberpunk 2077 on GoG as well for the same reason.

I will not legitimise Epic policy of buying out games to be exclusive on their store. I will wait for Steam release or get the Xbox game pass for pc like I have done for Epic "exclusive" Metro Exodus. I will do the same for Outer Worlds as well. Another so-called Epic "exclusive".

At this point in time Epic are creating an anti-Steam campaign and it has nothing to do with the 30/70 cut. They just want to bring Steam down.

[thexmanone]

GOG 2.0 is in beta now, All your games in one place now. I sure like it.

[harmny]

Are you in it? Is it good?

[harmny]

Lol. I love GOG. I buy all my games there. I know what it is. But I didn't get into the beta

[PapaBop]

Once upon a time maybe but nowadays, I think most of us have accepted that we need multiple launchers years ago. Sure some Steam diehards might be that stubborn but the rest of us accept that we just can't have everything through one unified program.

[rainslacker]

I think it's a loud minority that are upset about it. Maybe a larger minority than is typical in these cases of outrage, and I actually do understand and think it's a valid concern. I dont really agree with the vitriol that gets attached to it, or how a lot of the same people had these same problems before Epic did anything wrong, because they've been hounded before the exclusive games thing. The exclusives thing just gave them a more valid reason than, "it's not steam, so its evil".

I'd imagine the average PC gamer doesn't really care, or even understand. Ten thousand among a hundred plus million is not really that much in the grand scheme of things.

I also think epic will work to improve the store, and giving positive feedback on how to do that will go a lot further than a bunch of rampant hate over a business practice that they feel is needed to compete for the long term. If the EGS becomes popular enough, I doubt they'll bother paying for the exclusives, and instead rely on the larger cuts for devs, which may or may not make things exclusive, but may put pressure on valve.

As of right now, Epic is trying to capture the customer and devs. Valve doesn't have to concern itself for what little they may be losing through these deals. I would think with how pro- dev everyone is when industry pros talk about their working conditions, they be harassing steam to lower its cuts. But I guess their interests are selective...which isnt surprising.

[JackBNimble]

There is dirty play at work here , buying out exclusives that had been advertised on steam . Even games that people had already preordered on steam were pulled and became exclusive on epic.
Shenmue 3 was not only promised and advertised on steam but backed with crowd funding for steam players. When many people who funded shenmue 3 wanted refunds because they were mislead , they were refused. Completely false advertising with shenmue 3 and anti-consumerism all around.

They want exclusives fine, then stop pulling advertised games and preorders of other platforms.

[mkis007]

Shenmue 3 was not promised a steam copy during the backing phase, only a pc copy. This false narrative needs to die or it looks bad for those who push it.

[Seafort]

@mkis007 The developers did promise a Steam key on the kickstarter. They were even sent a survey to see what version of the game they wanted. PS4 or Steam. So please stop with your BS.

I backed Phoenix Point and I was asked which version of the game I wanted. Steam or GoG. It is now an Epic Store exclusive and I got a refund because the developer lied and took part in false advertising.

[JackBNimble]

You choose what platform when you fund the game, I believe to options were ps4 and steam .

[rainslacker]

Options were ps4 and PC. Storefront wasn't stipulated. Follow ups after the end of the KS campaign stated steam, which makes sense given the time and EGS not existing.

Technically, they're still giving you a PC version, but I think it would be good to just have the steam version available for backers, but not for sale if this had to stay exclusive. I know that's possible to do...but not sure what's required to make it happen.

[Hungryalpaca]

Do you enjoy making things up and upvoting yourself with fake accounts?

[Wolffenblitz]

"Steamfanboys" hurts your argument and every argument against steam.

You forget we've had like 5 other launchers for years before Epic came along.

[KeenBean345]

It's still not an excuse to have a barebones store with a terrible layout though

[TK-66]

But that's not what you're doing. No one has any issue with you creating your own launcher and releasing your own games exclusively on that client like most other large studios do. People take issue to you trying to buy up the market so that for a period of time we can only play it through that one client. It's not real competition because no one actually wants to use your client over steam when they're given a choice. Introduce features that Steam has and make us want to buy the games on your service.

Lets also just acknowledge that it's looking as though this exclusivity deal is designed to specifically exclude Steam because Metro: Exodus is available on the Windows 10 store and XGP on PC.

[PapaBop]

If that is the case, why would you come out and say you'd stop if Valve let developers get a better cut? He's half right here but that doesn't excuse their conduct so far this year.

[SegaGamer]

The guy keeps flip flopping. He's making it up as he goes along.

[nyu1]

um, because the whole point of these statements was the revenue cut...

......

come on guys...

[NiteX]

I don't think it's "working" as well as he thinks.

[bumsick]

Sure, it's working, if you think "working" means making a growing population of PC gamers dislike you for your shitty business tactics. You are not "beating" steam if people don't have a choice, what you are doing is cheating the player base and turning people against your platform.

Personally, i despise the fact Epic are trying to bring exclusive's to PC gaming. It's a crappy practice.

[--bienio--]

Give us RDR 2 and you win win!

[Hungryalpaca]

If it goes epic I’ll just pirate it. 2K is one of the scummiest companies on the planet.

[Blu3_Berry]

The funniest thing about this whole thing, is that Valve hasn't done a thing about it. They have not said one word about this or made any action about the whole situation (besides the Metro Exodus deal), and I think Epic is starting to get annoyed by the fact that absolutely nothing has been said or done. Their whole idea behind trying to get Steam to lower the cuts isn't going to go anywhere. It's gonna be a stalemate for a very long time. The only thing that may change is Epic will either be more aggressive with the exclusives or they will simply give up.

Valve literally doesn't have to do anything right now, and that's honestly the best strategy. Epic wants to get some sort of response or reaction out of Valve, but nothing has happen so far. They are simply keeping quiet and biding their time.

[harmny]

The only reaction epic wants is people spending money on their store

[SegaGamer]

That is the bottom line really.

All of this talk of a monopoly and percentage cut being better for devs, it's all just talk to make themselves look like the good guys. The only thing Epic is interested in is the money, like every big company going.

[rainslacker]

Valve doesn't have to respond for the time being. The relatively few games they're getting are a drop in the bucket for Valve. If Epic improves it's store, and the rampant hate dies down and more publishers start using EGS along with the users migrating over to them, then Valve may respond. But it will be a long time before Valve actually feels any pressure, and being a privately traded company, they don't really have to worry about investors being upset that they started doing 1-2% less revenue in a quarter.

[lazyboyblue]

Epic remind me of Emperor Palpatine. They've been granted emergency powers by the Senate (Tencent) to eradicate the separatists (Steam) and are promising to relinquish said powers (exclusives) when the war is won.

But you didn't did you Palpatine? You won't will you Epic?

[DarkZane]

The moment Steam decide to take a lower cut from developers, developers will drop the Epic Store really fast.

[Vits]

No developer care for the lower cut. We know that because Discord offer a even better deal, but most developers just ignore it and Valve let developers generate Steam Keys and sell to anyone they want without taking any percentage of those sales, but most developers don't even bother to mentioned that.

Plus we already know that a somewhat niche game like Phoenix Point will get at least 3 million USD to become a Epic exclusive. And there are also mentions of Epic guaranting sales, that mean that even if the game fail to sale a certain amount, Epic will pay the developers for the unsold copies.

So no, the lower cut doesn't matter.

[rainslacker]

Ideally, they'd want it in as many places as possible. Depending on the game, that's possible, but sometimes specific steam based features would need to be reworked. The only reason any pub limits a potential selling source would be because it's not worth the effort to release it elsewhere(lack of sales, resources to develop), or because they get paid to do so(buying timed exclusives). Only other reason would be the publisher is the storefront or console maker.

[skyrimer]

I think Steam will simply have the last laugh, Battle Royale craze is stopping hard ( https://www.pcgamer.com/the... ) and it's almost 40% less revenue for Fortnite compared to last year ( https://www.pcgamesn.com/fo... ) , so I want to see Epic Game Store compete toe to toe based only on store accesibility, features, forums, cloud saves, reviews etc. once the Fortnite craze (and money) is no longer there, and they can't keep paying crazy amounts of money for exclusivities with only a 10% cut on sales. As it is now, it should be called underwhelming store instead of epic store, it couldn't be more barebones and lifeless.

[Prince-Ali]

100% FACTS!!! This is EXACTLYYY what we have been saying in the console space for YEARS!!!! Yet PC master race laughed at us and downlplayed it's importance and now here we are... EVEN THOUGH PC gamers STILL can download both! They're still bemoaning having to which is just stupidity!!! loool BUT EXCLUSIVES GIVE A PLATFORM IT'S IDENTITY AND USP TO BRINGING IN AN AUDIENCE/CUSTOMER!!! Epic is simply doing that which is why us console gamers are looking at you PC gamers losing your mind over this shit as fucking crazy!!! looool I mean with Gamepass going over to PC now you have to download yet ANOTHER launcher anyways! So this isn't as big a deal at all!!

[SegaGamer]

This post reads like you have been sniffing the white stuff XD

[Prince-Ali]

Which part specifically lool...?

[SegaGamer]

The overuse of exclamation marks and capital letters being all over the place.

[Seafort]

These games aren't exclusive to the platform they are exclusive to a barebones store which most people hate. Try again.

Less drugs, more sense.

[Wolffenblitz]

and it's for like 6-months to a year, not forever. It's just douchebag anti-consumerism

[Prince-Ali]

What about the damn features is impeding you from being able to play the games!? PLEASE explain lool???

[Hungryalpaca]

Thanks, my IQ dropped significantly reading that. You’re clearly too simple to even bother looking up why people don’t like EGS. Your spelling also indicates a simple minded person.

[Prince-Ali]

I dont think you have much wiggle room in the IQ department so you may want to be careful where you lose what you already have.... Also whats with you dumbasses and your insistence on proper grammar and spelling on the internet loooool is that like the ONLY battleground you think you can stumble on a victory or something...? But at least you were on topic for the most part so i can actually respond to you rather than acknowledging you as a dumbasses and keeping it pushing...
ANYWAYS... What part of the barebones store that Epic runs impedes or stops you from being able to play the game...? THAT'S what i wanna know...?

[jznrpg]

Exclusives and lesser fees . Steam is taxing that ass . 30% is robbery

[Hungryalpaca]

I guess Nintendo, MS and Sony are thieves too huh?

Idiot.

[Cmoney007]

I don’t care what these drones think or Epic because I will never spend money on their store. Epic doesn’t want real competition. If they did want that, then these games would be on Steam and Epic. If Epic is becoming such a great platform, then why is it still missing so many features? Free games is the only thing that Epic can offer to me. Epic will probably never stop this exclusive BS. The funny part is that people will continue to make excuses for them. But at least these games will come to Steam. It doesn’t matter to me that the wait will be longer to play Borderlands 3 or Metro.

[Hungryalpaca]

Just do what I do. Pirate it and buy it when it releases on steam. I mean, EA gave us permission. It’s not really piracy. Just a surprise demo.

[Donnie81]

How about competitive pricing. Plenty of good places to buy pc games cheaper than steam.

[Vits]

Epic: "Well, that look good, but.... how about we not only don't drop our prices but also pass the transaction fees to the consumer in some countries, while in others instead of offering a fixed regional pricing we actually make a "regional converting rate" so those people will have to pay a couple more?".

[rainslacker]

A lot of publishers aren't keen on the store from determining the price. They out it up for a certain price, and that's what they want to sell it for, regardless of if they get the same amount in the end. Even with steam sales, valve doesn't determine the price, they put out requests for devs to decide, while taking less of a cut.

[Dandizzle]

such a bs excuse, if Epic has a better store then I will buy from them. Right now I really hate how Epic thinks that buying up exclusives is the way to go. Right now I'm in the fuck epic camp. I would gladly buy from them if they offered a better customer experience. Right now this is shady buying up games late in the dev cycle, a handful of months before release.

The legit way would be to buy and run their own studios as Sony does, that way when they put out a game it 100% deserves to be exclusively on their platform because they pay the developer wages and invest in the game and industry. Nope, Epic just waits for a hot button game coming out in a few months and pays their fornite money to make it exclusive to attract consumers, their idea is throwing money weight around to try and create a monopoly rather than provide a better service. All this about giving devs more money is such a front of bullshit, they don't care about giving devs more money, they care about destroying steam and trying to create their own monopoly.

I think epic is trying to harm the PC game industry more than help it. If epic get their way I promise you they will try and create a full monopoly then they change the values of what % devs get, then they will charge the consumer more. They will be able to pull this off because their goal is to kill steam and other platforms that sell games. Epic wants to be steam but have more of a monopoly on the game industry.

[Father__Merrin]

over time users will swathe towards EGS especially new PC users. I predict EGS to continue its policy of having all the best AAA games first, One day steam fans will get sick and tired of waiting a year to play the new blockbuster games, EGS is here to stay i hope it goes from strength to strength & i cant wait to see what features it will bring

[SegaGamer]

"All of the best AAA games first"........a bit of an exaggeration there, it's been a few at best.

[AllMightyFox]

These statements only show how stupid the people at Epic are …..

Every developer who has made an exclusive deal with Epic is missing 1 important thing … MY $$$$$

I'm not switching, never will … if they think they can "WIN" me over or whatever they'll be at it for a long time without success

Hail Gaben, and how about before writing more retarded articles about the success of a failure, how about considering if that failure is even competing …

Steam has amazing features that EPIC DOES NOT !!! ….

My point is that Epic isn't even on Steams playing field … so why would I give up so much for a storefront that isn't even offering the things I love and am used too ???

Epic is another attempt in a VERY LONG LINE of competitors who try to dethrone Steam and Fails ….

[zelent]

This is very true, and something I've been telling people for awhile.

[S2Killinit]

Epic/tencent is garbage. They will ruin PC gaming with their shenanigans.

[RizBiz]

F*ck Epic. I'll never support that awful cesspool.

[FranticGR]

Crackwatch.com POWERED by Epic Store. Denuvo is doing a pretty good job lately tho..

[m2stech]

Nope steam can only be challenged through better prices and better features.

[Nerdmaster]

Heavy Rain was just release. One of the best games of all time. If it was released on Steam or GOG (but not Origin) I'd already have bought it. But since it's Epic Store exclusive, I won't even look at it.

[Skuletor]

How long til Epic tells publishers that new PC games on the Unreal engine can only be sold through the Epic Games Store?

[Rachel_Alucard]

I don't trust Epic being a storefront since they are backed by Disney and China, but also the arrogance of TIm spewing out onto the floor. I don't want a world with Tim running the show. I like that Valve has remained completely silent since not playing the game is the way to overcome this. No participation, no competition. Easy.

[DVAcme]

Translation: were too lazy to actually put in the work of offering features and an added value player experience that equals or surpasses Steam's so we'll just throw a bunch of money at other companies to get exclusives.

That's all it is, cause other than exclusives, Epic Store offers ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to the consumer over Steam.

[Chaos-Dad]

Just build a good Store with Community Features, Player Profiles, Reviews, Cloud Saves and a Gamerscore system... Thats what Players want. I love the new Xbox App on PC, i love Steam, i like GoG... But the Epic Store is a Shithole Store with NO Features.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

This is all you need to know about why not to use the Epic Store, beyond the predatory business practices: https://i.imgur.com/SynNfar...

[shauzy]

i don't think steam needs a challenge in terms of prices and providability, they offer the best services that you can never find anywhere else, you can refund with an irrelevant excuse and they will still do it for you

[Smitty2020]

Most of my games are on steam I just cba having another store I like all my head in 1 spot

[slavish0]

so is steam going to..... do anything?