News Epic Games Store

ExistentialThought

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Feb 29, 2020
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I wonder if the store opening up will change one of the perceived advantages of being a more curated experience over Steam. The list of items not allowed are still very broad without toeing how the store will handle titles it does not want on the store for other reasons (e.g. They were direct at not allowing asset flips and low-effort titles to flood the store). The little dialogue they have had on this topic has been more, "we will know when we see it," which still tells me they have no solution beyond setting an arbitrary line and holding that line.

If there are curation guidelines beyond those points, then I wonder how long until we hear from a developer of a rejected game or even a game banned after it was already being sold on the store.

I also wonder how long until more of the store agreements leak.
 

Nabs

Hyper˗Toxic Pro˗Consumer
Oct 23, 2018
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gonna be hilarious ... pening floodgates for store with zero discovery tools
The last sale was so funny. They highlighted 5 or so games. If you didn't take a major buyout from Epic, you're just going into the bin.
 
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ISee

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Mar 1, 2019
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If there are curation guidelines beyond those points, then I wonder how long until we hear from a developer of a rejected game or even a game banned after it was already being sold on the store.
I do not think they have any kind of guidelines beyond: "Do we think this has a chance to sell and are we braking laws by selling it?"
"Curation" was just a PR friendly word that could be bounced off multiple times, allowing them to take shots at their competition, to mask how fundamentally empty their store was in comparison and to disguise that games had to be added manually.
Maybe I am to harsh, I'm sure there are people at Epic caring about games, about quality and people who have some kind of vision they are following.
It's just not the tragic schemers at the helm.
Good games will be rejected, because they are to niche. Bad games will be added because they have money potential: (Exhibit A: Fortnite ;); j/k)

I see the merit of good curation, but the PC market is going into all directions simultaneously. We have big, expansive AAA games and we have independent developers making games for every kind of tastes and niches. It's fantastic and curation will only introduce a road block to that creativity and abundance of games. Not necessarily a bad thing, some games surely shouldn't exist like the mentioned asset flips.
Still, I prefer the floodgate approach, instead of curation. Yes, many good games do not make it because there is too much noise. But as you fear: Many good games will also shatter against the wall of curation.
It's a bit of an open market vs. closed of market situation.

But that's just my opinion. There is no right or wrong here. I understand people being tired of the flood gates.
 

fantomena

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Dec 17, 2018
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I don't think it's a good idea to require too much from an indie dev, despite that the requirements is good for the customers (like the crossplay thing). Not every indie dev have all the techinical expertise to implement everything. I mean, I get annoyed when a dev doesn't implement Steam cheevos, but it's better than not releasing the game at all (Paradise Killer comes to mind). If there are too many requirements, indie devs will decide wherever or not to skip the storefront.
 

Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
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lmao, which one of you wrote this? :dmcblob:
Jez is awesome. He's a huge Xbox fan, but he has been criticizing Microsofts pc efforts from the very beginning. And Microsoft even listened to him 😁




The last sale was so funny. They highlighted 5 or so games. If you didn't take a major buyout from Epic, you're just going into the bin.
Perhaps that's Epic's long term plan? Exclusively in exchange for visibility instead of minimum guarantee?
 
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madjoki

👀 I see you
Sep 19, 2018
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gonna be hilarious ... pening floodgates for store with zero discovery tools
Don't expect any either cuz when EGS really opens up, game submitted will be hidden behind search (which sometimes doesn't even find by game name).
I think there was Hades where it failed while recording their noclip at launch and some other dev got hit with it too lol.

 

Rockin' Ranger

Rangers With Candy
Nov 7, 2018
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Don't expect any either cuz when EGS really opens up, game submitted will be hidden behind search (which sometimes doesn't even find by game name).
I think there was Hades where it failed while recording their noclip at launch and some other dev got hit with it too lol.

Well there's discoverability right there, customers will be shown your game as the top search result when they're looking for something else.
 

Arc

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Sep 19, 2020
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Don't expect any either cuz when EGS really opens up, game submitted will be hidden behind search (which sometimes doesn't even find by game name).
I think there was Hades where it failed while recording their noclip at launch and some other dev got hit with it too lol.

Epic has been talking up influencers and their Support-A-Creator system to work in lieu of discovery. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with influencers, but most influencers will focus on the highest profile games out of their own self interest to stay relevant. Additionally, the Support-A-Creator codes will tack on at least 5% per use so that 12% fee can jump up to >17%. Not that discovery is a silver bullet and there are tons of games on Steam that fall through the cracks, but not having any discovery tools at all seems like a bad idea.
 

Arc

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This seems more like a console-esque system rather than a truly open store. Although it might be closer to the Nintendo eShop than the Playstation.
 

beep boop

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Dec 6, 2018
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This doesn’t seem to touch on getting your game on the store. More about improving backend functionality for developers so there’s less pulleys and knobs Epic needs to manage for them. Presumably (hopefully) an improvement over PlayStation, where sales need to be applied for and approved by Sony 🤡
 
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Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
Sep 7, 2018
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you gotta love how Sergiy only answers at regular basis that Eisberg account that it is clearly astroturfing (not turbosurfing, that's something from the 90's) like Yalt and a new one I found the other day. So fucking shameless
 
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bobnowhere

Careful Icarus
Sep 20, 2018
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Lol, you can be on the store but good luck ever making the front page or a sale spot!

And no way will you make the most important part, the ones just above the free games as not a single fucker has ever scrolled below that part.
 

Copons

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I think y'all are overthinking what Epic is doing with the self-publishing tools.

It's just a slow rollout of a new feature, nothing particularly weird.

Eventually it will turn into something like Steam Direct (at least according to their faqs), but for now they are just testing to a limited number of devs.
Given there might not be billions of devs that want to test the feature, Epic has the opportunity of handpicking the beta testers, which is great for gathering the right feedback (assuming they'll pick a very diverse set of developers).
 

thekeats1999

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Dec 10, 2018
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Wait, the store back end hasn't been open this whole time? Epic were the ones handling store page directly? I have so many questions yet I'm speechless

OK the response is 2 years old now but you would think they would have made some changes by now.
 

Ge0force

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Jan 12, 2019
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The Verge has posted a nice overview of the leaked documents from the Apple vs Epic case:


New information for me is that Epic tried to pay Paradox a huge sum to abandon Steam and switch to EGS instead:

In September 2019, Epic emailed its board of directors to suggest an investment in Paradox, including an undisclosed amount of upfront cash in the form of a minimum sales guarantee, in exchange for its entire back catalog, an exclusive on a hotly anticipated strategy game sequel, and the possibility of “walking away from their business on Steam to come here,” according to Epic emails.

This once again confirms my suspicions that exclusivity is Epic's long term goal to "beat" Steam. I can only hope that EGS doesn't become successful in the next few years, or it's very likely that Paradox (and who knows what other publishers) accept Epic's bribe money after all.

People calling this healthy competition are out of their mind.
 

prudis

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New information for me is that Epic tried to pay Paradox a huge sum to abandon Steam and switch to EGS instead:

In September 2019, Epic emailed its board of directors to suggest an investment in Paradox, including an undisclosed amount of upfront cash in the form of a minimum sales guarantee, in exchange for its entire back catalog, an exclusive on a hotly anticipated strategy game sequel, and the possibility of “walking away from their business on Steam to come here,” according to Epic emails.
love how in reality this resulted only in Surviving the Aftermath Early Access egsclusivity :face-with-tears-of-joy:
 
Dec 5, 2018
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“We will not ever give in to Google pressure to support Google Play, even if Google blocks Fortnite on Android, and even if the battle requires litigation lasting many years,” Sweeney told the company shortly after the August 2018 exclusivity announcement, only to eat humble pie in April 2020 when he revealed Fortnite was coming to Google Play after all.
Heh.

and the possibility of “walking away from their business on Steam to come here,” according to Epic emails.
Bold move, for someone who had just entered the game.