This EGS thing is making me uncomfortable, maybe it´s time to actually play games and forget about the internet
Well, that's what I've been doing pretty much since the start.
Except, I don't forget about the internet, I remain an avid user of it, I just simply block everyone who is posting idiotic takes on the subject.
I use twitter merely as a way to get updates and news. Whenever I see someone posting something stupid, I simply block them, and by now I surely have hundreds and hundreds of blocked accounts. Life's too short to waste your time getting upset about what some random guy on the internet said.
In terms of this subject, I feel this is a lost cause, in the sense that, no, it's not worth to engage with the developers and publishers who took these deals, and with the people (including many journalists) who are cheerleading them. They aren't going to change their minds. They aren't going back on these deals. They already made a profit with these deals, even without actually launching their products, so in their view they don't need customers, so why court them?
A discussion is only worth having if people have an open mind, and are willing to admit they are wrong, and vice-versa. These people won't.
On top of that, as Tim made it clear recently, they are clearly courting controversy, as a way to promote the brand, and store.
They are clearly following the line of thought that any publicity is good publicity. And, the truth is, if it wasn't for these controversies, and people getting upset whenever a game is announced as an exclusive, pretty much no one would be talking about the EGS. Think about it, even with that aggressive month long sale, where you could get most exclusives, even pre-orders, for next to nothing, you don't hear about any success stories. No, you hear about the "stolen" crowdfunding games, the games that were pre-orderable on Steam that were removed from the store, to become EGS timed exclusives, and similar stuff.
I know most of you disagree with me, but I'll repeat what I mentioned before: gaming, to me, is a hobby. It's supposed to be about having a good time, and not really about arguing and getting upset. Whenever a developer/publisher pulls something like this, I prefer to simply skip these games (and ignore these developers and publishers), and simply take my money, and purchase something else, or some other game. There are still plenty of games being released each and every day, and I can't say I feel like I lost something by skipping these EGS exclusive titles. In fact, I have dozens of better games in my backlog that I haven't touched, so if these people don't want my money, I have plenty of games to keep me busy, without spending another cent.
I honestly feel like ignoring these people, and skipping their games (even when they launch elsewhere), and not giving them the publicity and coverage they crave so much, is more damaging than trying to engage with them, and aggressively complain about them.
And another thing's for sure: no matter what Tim offers, how many discounts are given, how many exclusives he buys, or crowdfunding games he signs at the last minute, he will never get me on his store.
As soon as he adopted the strategy of trying to force people to use his platform (starting with the Phoenix Point deal, where the intention was to simply "purchase" a group of people, backers, who he made the assumption would have no choice but to use his store), he lost me, no matter what he does.