Steam vs Epic games

"We began this journey with Gears of War 4 and now I feel that we’ve hit our stride with Gears 5," he says. "Part of my mission since 2014 has been, how do I grow the franchise and bring it back? Epic put it on the shelf to essentially die, so Microsoft brought it back. Not only are we trying to bring it back, we want to grow and flourish."

Gears 5 has debuted to critical praise, currently sporting an 86 percent on review aggregator site Metacritic. Meanwhile, the mobile game Gears Pop! hit one million players in its first week of release in late August. There is also the upcoming spinoff title Gears Tactics, a real-time strategy game based in the series' universe; a series of comics; a second novel; and, of course, a feature film in the works at Universal Studios, which Fergusson says he meets with producers on to discuss the script.

As Worrall noted, this is mainly due to the lack of a DRM. In order to demonstrate this exploit, Worrall used Borderlands 3 as an example. This exploit can be easily reproduced on newer EGS accounts, and it most likely affects all games on the store. Now while Borderlands 3 uses the Denuvo anti-tamper tech, it does not – apparently – lock your copy to your Epic Games Store account.

Posted byu/acAltair
It's very rare for someone to infuriate me so much with their garbage propaganda that I have to voice myself. A little background: Tim Sweeney seems to play the role of "I want everything to be open and available, all platforms" bla bla. Yet his actions say otherwise.

Recently it was announced DX12 will come to FortNite. This is not a big issue but consider this...Vulkan API, which is the API that doesn't lock you into an OS, is more in spirit of PC platform but is not prioritized. It was also revealed that development for Vulkan for Unreal Engine has been archived. To reiterate, Vulkan works across many platforms (MacOS through MoltenVK, Switch, Linux, Windows, Stadia). A future where games are easier to port and available on all platforms will happen if Vulkan is adopted. So it's slightly odd that a person who wants "openess" and all that great stuff would at the very least not give Vulkan the same care as DX12. He also expressed interest in games running on Linux through a launcher/compatibility layer manager called Lutris. You know what helps games run on Linux tremendously well through a compatibility layer? Vulkan.

Previously he has used vague statements to imply games that went exclusive for their store are having great success. Like the 2x sales statement for Metro Exodus. Ignoring factors like sequels of established franchises often do better than previous entries. Trying to sell people the idea that sequels to Borderlands sold well on EGS because the store is great when the truth is two fold, sequels sell more and game is only available on that store. Deception.

But if there is one thing that makes him absoutely repulsive person to me is something else. Let's completely discard EGS controversy with it's exclusivity and simply stand behind Sweney and say "That's a shitty practice for consumers but as a businessman your aggressive approach is a good call". Let's say taht and discard that we detest exclusivity. What is unforgettable is this snake is trying to sell PC gamers the idea of "Multi store future!". Gaming has been for a long time multi store. We have GOG, Itchio, Steam, Origin, Uplay, etc. Yet he continues to try sell the idea that this hasn't been around until EGS was established in similar fashion to Brie Laurson gloating about how Captain Marvel is such a ground breaking movie because it features a woman in lead when Wonder Woman and many other movies before had done that. Worse is that the exclusivity deals affects not only Steam but also GOG. Yet the games are made available on all other stores. Multi-store future ladies and gentlemen, except if the stores are GOG or Steam...which are two of the best stores currently!

Another tweet he made, which was about GOG's new iniative to unify all platforms, is more than it appears to be. On surface it may seem like he is just happy for what GOG is trying to do. But if you ask me it is with a motive. One of reasons many people prefer Steam only, in contrast to me (I use all good stores), is because all of the games are conveniently located there. Having to buy games on other platforms treatens that convenience. You have to install another store and also register, and your friends may not use that platform and so on. Convenience is key here. It holds a portion of people back from buying from other stores, which favors Steam. Not that it's a good or bad thing, afterall they were the early bird and so they reaped the benefits. If GOG eliminates the inconvenience that comes with having many launchers and stores, which is what they aim to do, it open peoples mind up to buy on other stores. Which favors? EGS among others.

I hope people will see how two faced this man is. I reiterate even if we dismiss all our objections to EGS exclusivity, the fact he is trying to sell us the idea of a "multi store future" is deceptive and rubbish behaviour.

Pitchford also told Gearbox developers that if they weren’t happy with the royalty system, they were welcome to quit, according to those who were in the meeting.

Epic Games - 40 percent
Tencent's $330 million investment in Epic Games back in June 2012 triggered one of the most dramatic shifts in PC gaming of the last decade, ushering in a new era of free-to-play games as a service. Seeing that "the old model" of selling games wasn't working, Epic founder Tim Sweeney decided to join forces with Tencent to better learn about operating live-service games. It paid off.

Exercise self-protection; avoid deception

*snip*
Understandably, reaction from China’s gamers has been less than ecstatic. The most upvoted comment on a post referencing Win.gg’s report on microblogging platform Weibo echoes the language used when the Chinese government discusses Taiwan:

“The position of China’s Steam fans on the issue of Steam’s foreign relations is very clear. We adhere to the principle of ‘one Steam’ and oppose the ‘split’ position, which is unswerving and will be increasingly recognized and supported by the international community. Any attempt to create ‘two Steams’ is doomed to failure.”

But like it or not, it seems China’s gamers will be forced to make do with a more “harmonious” version of Steam in the not-too-distant future.

Valve officially announced the arrival of Steam China in Shanghai on Wednesday. But Chinese gamers are telling the PC gaming platform to “get lost!”
One of the most upvoted comments wrote, “Steam China get out of China.”
It’s important to point out that gamers are directing their anger at Steam China, not Steam. In fact, Chinese gamers love Steam… the global version of it, anyway.

PC gaming in China is huge. According to Asian games market research firm Niko Partners, there were an estimated 321 million PC gamers in the country in 2019. By comparison, the entire population of the US was around 328 million in 2019.

One of the most popular digital distribution platforms for games is Steam, available in many countries around the world including China, where it has over 30 million users. Despite its popularity in China, Steam operates in a gray area. Certain content and features aren’t accessible without a VPN, but gamers can still purchase games, including some titles that haven’t gone through the official domestic approval process in China. For developers, the approval process can be vague, time-consuming and costly, which is why Steam is such an appealing option.

In 2018, Perfect World announced a partnership with Valve, maker of Steam to develop a localized version of the platform that would be independent from the widely used global version. While no release date has been set, it’s reportedly getting closer to being launched. Meanwhile, uncertainties surrounding Steam China have left some gamers and developers worried they’ll be locked out of the global version of Steam.

To explain to you more about the PC gaming scene in China, and the role that Steam plays in it, watch this video by KrASIA.

INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT TO APPLE’S ANSWER AND COUNTERCLAIMS
Epic’s lawsuit is nothing more than a basic disagreement over money. Although Epic portrays
itself as a modern corporate Robin Hood, in reality it is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that simply
wants to pay nothing for the tremendous value it derives from the App Store.

In its filing, Apple alleges that Epic Games asked for an individual arrangement with Apple, producing three emails from Epic CEO Tim Sweeney that bolster its claim.

Koioua
That entire ad campaign took away any tiny "Robin Hood" message they had. It was carefully planned and they tried to strong arm Apple by having their base of teenagers and kids against them. Epic simply wants the benefit of the Apple ecosystem (Which btw despite being way smaller in terms of market share, brings the most money compared to Android, which own the large majority of the market share) and enjoy the revenue it brings to them while not paying for anything. Apple owns not only the Appstore but the software and developed their phones. They have absolutely say on what happens on their platform. This isn't like Android which is shared by multiple manufacturers and the software is open source.

Epic is just crying now that their strategy didn't work.

r/FortNiteMobile
Epic, you guys really don't care about your playerbase do you?
Wow.

Can't believe I'm watching you guys throw your playerbase in the dumpster fire. First it was STW now it's iOS. It's so sad how little you care about us sometimes, acting like the iOS community will have no problem with playing v13.40 until Epic smartens up.

At first I was on your side. That's before I watched it all unfold. You turned it into a shitty marketing play, using this to boost the attention to the game and sell some stupid merch. Hell, you even threw in a tournament acting like you cared. "Yeah, a free skin is enough compensation for throwing 116 million players under the bus!" It's disgusting to watch you guys do this. And you know what, I really don't feel like seeing the stupid #FreeFortnite slogan blaring at me every time I log into Fortnite iOS. Just let me play my season 3 in peace.

You want to be more than just a game right? You want to make a difference in the world? Getting rid of Apple's 30% cut rate is a cute little idea, but there are much better ways to do it than literally bypassing Apple's system thus breaking the rules. "Oh my goodness, Apple just took our game off the App Store! We totally were in the right what did we do wrong?" All you had to do was file a lawsuit on Apple for taking the 30% cut BEFORE going ahead and bypassing it yourself. Apple can't legally take the game off the App Store just because you have an argument with them. But you just spoonfed them a reason. Great idea!

Oh, and by the way, it's a little sickening how you use children to fight for you. You know full well these kids are not capable of seeing the entire situation and that they'll blindly side with you. They just want their game back for shit's sake.

And honestly, what does everyone else see as they watch this unfold? They see a faceless company that doesn't care about their players' feelings and opinions, while thinking about the fact their platform could be next.