News Epic Games Store

[C-Dub]

The collective gaslighting by the press and industry against those who they brand as "Gamers (TM)" (shorthand for Gamergater, even if they're actually pretty anti-GG -- used as a dismissive way of silencing people) is getting out of hand. Frankly I've just gone on a blocking spree on Twitter because I'm tired of seeing pundits and clearly self-interested industry insiders congratulating themselves over all of this nonsense while repeating the same lies over and over again while denying the reality of the situation.

And we should call it exactly what it is: gaslighting.

Jim Sterling talked about this in regards to microtransactions on The Jimquisition podcast this week, and I can see exactly the same thing happening with Epic Games Store.

 

[gabbo]

Yeah, it really does seem personal and petty against steam and Gabe. I wonder if Gabe went against Sweeney in some industry meeting or something behind the scenes? EGS seems like it was rushed to launch but for what deadline i have no idea. I'm just glad Valve are mainly staying out of it and just getting on with stuff leaving Sweeney to vent on twitter. It's a bizarre situation but i imagine this is what it's always been like but now Social Media provides an outlet for what would previously be just snidey emails and whispers behind closed doors.

I remember in interviews with Ken Levine and i want to say Warren Spectre, years ago; mentioning using private dev mIRC channels to shit talk and talk shop with each other back in the day. All the vitriol, kept to themselves.

I guess some never adapted to the change in medium

 

[RionaaM]

the "REEEEEE" meme is used to make fun and insult autistic people.

That's fine, as these guys said the game represents their views and personalities. During the second mission you can bully an autistic kid to get his lunch money, that's how nice they are. And in the final area you can exploit ugly tragedies for internet sympathy and to stick it to entitled manbabies.

 

[Eferis]

The Twitter crowd claiming that you shouldn't preemptively despise Epic is quite something.

Yes I should preemptively hate Epic and Google and Amazon and a gazillion other companies because they've shown time and time again they're a bunch of rich assholes that care about nothing else other than becoming even richer assholes. No benefit of the fucking doubt applies to them. It doesn't take much to understand that.

 

[derExperte]

Preemptively? How does that work when I despise them for things they've already done and doing right now?

Also being critical of Google and Amazon is fine, just don't question Epic's connection with Tencent if you don't wanna get exposed as a vile racist.

the "REEEEEE" meme is used to make fun and insult autistic people.

And you'll get instabanned on ERA for posting it. Of course if you're against Steam and angry infantile gamers it is very much alright to use or like all day long because consistency and integrity is for boring people.

Jim Sterling talked about this in regards to microtransactions on The Jimquisition podcast this week, and I can see exactly the same thing happening with Epic Games Store.

Listening now, I completely missed Bethesda's head of PR claiming that those mtx-shenangians in Youngblood didn't happen and making fun of those saying (and being able to prove) the opposite.

 

[Eferis]

Preemptively? How does that work when I despise them for things they've already done and doing right now?

If I punch you in the face you can despise me only while I'm doing it, not in the intervals between the punches.

 

[C-Dub]

Listening now, I completely missed Bethesda's head of PR claiming that those mtx-shenangians in Youngblood didn't happen and making fun of those saying (and being able to prove) the opposite.

It wasn't even just the PR guy, but members of the press actively joined in on the dogpile too, in some sort of "let's own the Gamer" kinda attitude they have now. And they're all perpetuating this fucking lie. It's absolutely absurd and Orwellian in its triviality.

And they're doing similar with EGS. They are just taking the same talking points and just repeating them ad infinitum. Like, the amount of times I saw the "HUR DURR WHEN NINJA DOES IT IT'S SAVVY BUSINESS!" argument regurgitated by several industry pundits within the space of a day, and it's clear they're just parroting one another.

What's sad is that it probably isn't even coordinated, but some sort of loose industry groupthink that has a life of its own and perpetuates itself on the basis that these pundits don't want to piss off a developer or publisher who may be their future employer or currently employs some/all of their friends/former colleagues.

 

[Trisolarian]

wasnt alan wake given for free few times already?? (iirc on humble and steam)

Oh yeah. I just wasn't aware and missed out lol.

For Honor too!

 

[low-G]

Yeah, it really does seem personal and petty against steam and Gabe. I wonder if Gabe went against Sweeney in some industry meeting or something behind the scenes? EGS seems like it was rushed to launch but for what deadline i have no idea. I'm just glad Valve are mainly staying out of it and just getting on with stuff leaving Sweeney to vent on twitter. It's a bizarre situation but i imagine this is what it's always been like but now Social Media provides an outlet for what would previously be just snidey emails and whispers behind closed doors.

History has shown billionaires aren’t necessarily mature, calculating, intelligent, nor knowledgeable. He is personally shielded from failure. If video games collectively failed today Sweeney could still buy a Lamborghini and a house every single day for the rest of his life and feel no lack.

Heck look at Musk hurting himself all the time with his stupid comments.

He doesn’t need any reason to behave in any way at all.

 

[derExperte]

And they're doing similar with EGS. They are just taking the same talking points and just repeating them ad infinitum. Like, the amount of times I saw the "HUR DURR WHEN NINJA DOES IT IT'S SAVVY BUSINESS!" argument regurgitated by several industry pundits within the space of a day, and it's clear they're just parroting one another.

Saw Rami posting just that and relpied with "HUR DURR WHEN NINJA DOES IT IT'S ANTI-COMPETITIVE!". Throw their shit back at them, don't bother wasting time making arguments, staying truthful and making any kind of sense, we're apparently way past conversing like adults.

 

[Gengis Khan]

It's hard to even imagine another industry so hellbent in making a proud and blatant display of contempt toward their user base as the gaming industry has been doing in the last years.
And that's true for both developers and gaming press.

It's genuinely baffling to witness.

 

[derExperte]

It's hard to even imagine another industry so hellbent in making a proud and blatant display of contempt toward their user base as the gaming industry has been doing in the last years.
And that's true for both developers and gaming press.

It's genuinely baffling to witness.

The movie industry is going down a similar path, it's not quite as bad yet overall but the inherent issues are quite comparable (e.g. journalists not wanting to piss off studios (well, Disney, not much else left) and rabid fans screaming everyone down who doesn't like their favorite mainstream crap or shady business tactics well enough).

 

[Deleted member 113]

To lighten up the mood a bit, I'm sure many are already aware, but I was checking the launch trailer for Jupiter Hell (a game that looks rather cool), and I had to laugh when this bit came up:

 

[lashman]

 

[Swenhir]

Remind me, when are the community forums coming again? To build bridges between developers and gam- oh that's right.

 

[Wok]

 

[lashman]

lol

 

[morningbus]

The next evolution of Epic Game Store discussion is the Republican/NRA "thoughts and prayers" model of being too close to the event to discuss it.

I've already seen some effectively say that the announcement of exclusivity is not the time to discuss the exclusivity.

When do I get to say I don't like it? Sometime shortly before the heat death of the universe but only immediately after you wish the developer the best and that their children grow to be statuesque demigods with imperial fiefdoms to make Latter-Day Saints envious.

 

[lashman]

When do I get to say I don't like it?

never ... that's the idea

 

[BernardoOne]

Sweeney's tweets make it seem like he doesn't care if anyone wants to buy games from EGS or not. It's like there's something personal between him and Gaben and he just burns money to get revenge.

Maybe Gaben made fun of him at the Valve Conrrespondent Dinner and he made his life's mission to go after him

 

[Big_Al]

Maybe Gaben made fun of him at the Valve Conrrespondent Dinner and he made his life's mission to go after him

Maybe it's because Tims pal Randy told him about how Gearbox got their name and now he hates Gabe.

 

[Le Pertti]

Those involved with egs keep complaining about tax(valves), do backroom deals for millions, shit on the costumer, promise trickle down, doesn't care about foreigners, exploit it's employees and so on and so on.

Aaaaaawefully familiar.

 

[lashman]

... aaaaaaaaaaaaand we've finally arrived here:


epic won ...

You need to react to this post in order to see this content.

 

[Big_Al]

I love how you say random tweet from random person and I have no fucking idea who the fuck Campster is

 

[lashman]

Campster

Errant Signal

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/errantsignal Here at Errant Signal we felt the world was lacking in internet reviews of videogames, so we set out to fill th...

www.youtube.com

 

[Big_Al]

Errant Signal

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/errantsignal Here at Errant Signal we felt the world was lacking in internet reviews of videogames, so we set out to fill th...

www.youtube.com

Ah Errant Signal, watched a few of their videos before and wasn't impressed.

 

[lashman]

Ah Errant Signal, watched a few of their videos before and wasn't impressed.

nah, he does pretty good videos ....

it's just sad to see him retweet stuff like that

 

[Le Pertti]

Many tried to push that angle at the start, so sad that we are back to that shit.

 

[Eferis]

nothing to see here

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

It's fake.

 

[Eferis]

It's fake.

Oh, ok. Good.

 

[Big_Al]

That's a bit daft, you don't need to make anything up or create fake pics to show the Ooblet devs being arseholes. Makes people start doubting you.

 

[morningbus]

We're in the Putin era of post-truth. Putin's entire goal was to destabilize people's very trust in reality and as a result we have Trump and Sweeney allowed to run roughshod over their respective industries and trolls with ulterior motives who will pose as supporters to make them look bad.

This is not a no true scottsmans, I don't trust anyone on the internet anymore.

 

[Myradeer]

... in a very spectacular way too:

This is second humanitarian Epic defenders since Devolver Games. Is Tim actually making the world a better place???

 

[prudis]

This is not a no true scottsmans, I don't trust anyone on the internet anymore.

tbh i dontr trust anyone even outside the internet

 

[RionaaM]

I'm starting to get paranoid, to the point where I believe I'm just a construct of someone else's imagination. And let me tell you, they aren't very imaginative.

 

[C-Dub]

Let’s be honest, that guy directly comparing people being angry at EGS to GG is just someone saying directly what others have been implying.

As someone who abhorred GG, it’s really deeply offensive.

 

[Arsene]

shit guys guess I hate women now since Epic doesn't support my currency, thanks for opening my eyes gaming journalists

/s

 

[Swenhir]

... aaaaaaaaaaaaand we've finally arrived here:


epic won ...

[Hidden content]

Well, show of hands for those surprised. Even if it's fake, I get the feeling they are headed this way. Reacting with gaslighting (as C-Dub mentioned) and circling the wagons instead of doing the right thing is the only way they know of reacting to criticism.

 

[beep boop]

Douchebags comparing Epic criticism to the harassment people underwent in the heat of gamergate are disgusting as fuck. Like jfc, get some perspective. Somebody not being nice to a company is not the same as a mob ruining individuals' lives and threatening their safety. How dense and disrespectful do you have to be to even conceive of such a thing and instrumentalize it to make a point about people unhappy with a store. Nauseating.

 

[goat]

It appears to me, they are realizing that the current strategy of trying to shame us into buying on EGS isn't working so they are moving to more desperate measures. Hopefully most people aren't stupid enough to equate not buying a product to hating and harassing women in the industry.

 

[Derrick01]

wasnt alan wake given for free few times already?? (iirc on humble and steam)

Even if it wasn't I'm pretty sure how I got it on steam was a $2 sale on one of these sites like 5 years ago or more.

It's one of those times where you can't necessarily knock it (free is free after all) but it's kind of like...you can't do any better than a 10 year old game that was on sale for less than a cup of coffee over 5 years ago? I guess I'd criticize EGS less for this than something like PS+/games with gold because on EGS it actually is free whereas the others are a paid sub.

 

[Dandy]

shit guys guess I hate women now since Epic doesn't support my currency, thanks for opening my eyes gaming journalists

/s

Stop being so entitled, Gamer™

Hint: It's not for the reason you're implying.

 

[Le Pertti]

Yeah seems we are officially GG 2 now.

 

[C-Dub]

It appears to me, they are realizing that the current strategy of trying to shame us into buying on EGS isn't working so they are moving to more desperate measures. Hopefully most people aren't stupid enough to equate not buying a product to hating and harassing women in the industry.

Throw in a few self-interested "say the most outrageous thing to try and pimp my Social Media Progressive credentials" individuals, and we're entering a pretty grim period. I bet half the people comparing those talking about the negatives of EGS with GamerGate will have their own Ian Miles Cheong-style about face when their self-aggrandising falls flat on its face.

Nothing but frauds.

 

[Rosenkrantz]

I'm too dumb to understand the current discourse, we are not entitled to get the games on platforms we want, correct? Devs, on the other hand, are entitled to our money, and if we refuse to give it to them, then we are confirmed reincarnation of Hitler (collectively!)? Why? Someone please, summon Ja Rule or my head is going to explode!

 

[Ascheroth]

Yeah seems we are officially GG 2 now.

No. There are definitely shitheads who use this current situation to harass people and do other shitty stuff, and it's quite frustrating, annoying and even offensive to us to be collectively lumped together with those, but "we" are still not part of those.

It's a really shitty situation.

 

[Rosenkrantz]

No. There are definitely shitheads who use this current situation to harass people and do other shitty stuff, and it's quite frustrating, annoying and even offensive to us to be collectively lumped together with those, but "we" are still not part of those.

It's a really shitty situation.

Do you think devs and journos are going to see the difference? I doubt it, for them it's a good opportunity to restrict consumers influence even further. Funniest thing is, some of us are going to applaud to this not realizing that they're treated like a livestock.

 

[Ascheroth]

Do you think devs and journos are going to see the difference?

Nah, but I still wanted to make it clear that I don't want to be labelled like that.

 

[Le Pertti]

Nah, but I still wanted to make it clear that I don't want to be labelled like that.

Ah yeah of course I know what we are, but as Rosenkrantz said, if the gaming press and gaming industry in general see us as that, then that's what we will be seen as. And yeah complete shitty situation.