PC Epic announces its own Games Store offering 88% revenue split with devs, non-Unreal Engine games welcome

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

ABSOLUTELY TOTAL COINCIDENCE that this announced right after Steam's new tiered revenue structure comes into effect, eh?

 

Announcing the Epic Games Store

Developers receive 88% of revenue. There are no tiers or thresholds. Epic takes 12%. And if you’re using Unreal Engine, Epic will cover the 5% engine royalty for sales on the Epic Games store, out of Epic’s 12%.

 

[Zaku3]

Steam is under siege. 

[Brian]

Shots fired. 

[Keyser_Soze]

Gonna grab all the kids who are playing fortnite to build a PC game library on.

[Mr.Vic20]

I can live with 12 launchers is the sales are good! 

[Mr.Vic20]

Also, there is money to be made in making a front end for all of these store fronts like retroarch!  

[BasemntDweller2]

1 minute ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

I can live with 12 launchers is the sales are good! 

 

For real. I never understand why people cry about it. It takes two clicks to open it you lazy fuck! 

[TwinIon]

At this point if you're a major PC game maker and don't have your own storefront, you're leaving money on the table. It seems like they're being rather aggressive with their revenue split, which seems like a good idea. 

[crispy4000]

4 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

At this point if you're a major PC game maker and don't have your own storefront, you're leaving money on the table. It seems like they're being rather aggressive with their revenue split, which seems like a good idea. 

True, but you're also leaving money on the table by not being on Steam. 

... With Fortnite's popularity, of course Epic would try this.  They've got a better shot competing with Valve than anyone else would.

[crispy4000]

1 hour ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Also, there is money to be made in making a front end for all of these store fronts like retroarch!  

There are already a few programs like that, but they mostly only work with installed games.  That's always been the catch-22 for me.  In steam, I add Origin/Uplay/etc games as shortcuts to their launchers.  Really cumbersome.

Steam does have the best tagging system at the moment, and its Big Picture Mode.  It'll stay my primary launcher until something better comes along.

[atom631]

1 hour ago, BasemntDweller2 said:

 

For real. I never understand why people cry about it. It takes two clicks to open it you lazy fuck! 

its bc its nice to have 1 library of all your games. not 12 libraries with 500 in one and 2-3 in the other 11. 

 

@Mr.Vic20 idea of some sort of aggregate overlay launcher would be a nice way to keep it all together. 

[cusideabelincoln]

Battle.net will be next to do this.

[Dre801]

Valve will have to start cranking out games again.

[cusideabelincoln]

2 hours ago, atom631 said:

its bc its nice to have 1 library of all your games. not 12 libraries with 500 in one and 2-3 in the other 11. 

 

@Mr.Vic20 idea of some sort of aggregate overlay launcher would be a nice way to keep it all together. 

 

Discord kind of does that?  I haven't tried using it as a launcher yet but I see the options is there.

[Mr.Vic20]

Just now, cusideabelincoln said:

 

Discord kind of does that?  I haven't tried using it as a launcher yet but I see the options is there.

Oh really? Do you know if it can scan and import directories or is it a manual process like Steam's? 

[RedSoxFan9]

Razer Game Store will win the digital store battle royale 

[cusideabelincoln]

5 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Oh really? Do you know if it can scan and import directories or is it a manual process like Steam's? 

 

Just tried it and it looks completely automatic without a manual way to do it.  Only picked up my Steam and Origin games.  Doesn't seem to pick up my Battle.net or Epic games.  Unsure about Uplay as I don't have any installed directly from them - only have Uplay games through Steam at the moment.

[Mr.Vic20]

1 minute ago, cusideabelincoln said:

 

Just tried it and it looks completely automatic without a manual way to do it.  Only picked up my Steam and Origin games.  Doesn't seem to pick up my Battle.net or Epic games.  Unsure about Uplay as I don't have any installed directly from them - only have Uplay games through Steam at the moment.

Not bad, though odd that it lacks a manual entry system. I'm sure they will update it to include more as this "mall" of store fronts grows. 

[cusideabelincoln]

3 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Not bad, though odd that it lacks a manual entry system. I'm sure they will update it to include more as this "mall" of store fronts grows. 

 

Yep, I think they just added this feature a few months ago.  Plus they do have their own store front too.

 

In any case,  Origin continues to be the worst application of the bunch.  It's a performance hog and navigating the UI is sluggish and aggravating, frequently requiring me to click on some other tab just to "refresh" the tab I want to click on.  Quite frankly I don't know how it can be this bad.  

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Developer reactions:

 

 

 

 

 

 

From a post on ResetERA:

I'm a one-man indie dev who just released their second title on Steam. Would I like to get more than 70% of the revenue? Sure. But for that 18% difference:
1) My games support integrated leaderboards--a critical feature in score-attack games like mine--and I don't have to run any servers.
2) My games support Xbox One/360, DualShock4, Switch Pro, and Steam Controllers, without me having to do anything.
3) My games have a set of Achievements.
4) My games support cloud saving.
5) My games can't be copied/pirated willy-nilly, because they can detect whether they're running through the Steam client, and they quit if they're not.
6) Steam Support has gotten back to me very quickly when I've encountered any issues, and they've been very thorough when reviewing my builds.

The price difference is justified imo. My customers get more and I get more.

If Epic offers comparable service in the future, that'd be awesome. I hope they do. But if not, then dollars aren't everything.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SimpleG]

6 hours ago, BasemntDweller2 said:

 

For real. I never understand why people cry about it. It takes two clicks to open it you lazy fuck! 

More launchers means dealing with shitty storefronts and the bad return policy that comes with them. Multiple friends lists with multiple achievements ( for those that care ) list become a hassle to deal with. Steam makes every other store front look 3rd rate at best.

[cusideabelincoln]

I half take back what I said about the Origin app.  Battle.net ties it for being the worst, because about once a month it crashes and I have to reinstall it.

[Dre801]

Half Life 3 announcement soon.

[Xbob42]

Hey guys! Store your credit card info on these 30 launchers! Forget you have accounts for 80% of them, hope nothing bad ever comes of it. 

 

I knew we'd start getting to this point. And it's NEVER competition. It's always just some half-assed attempt that fractures my library that I end up forgetting about until the next big exclusive, like with Origin.

 

I'm really not sure what Epic's plan here is, though. Having 800 billion Fortnite players isn't exactly the kind of eyeballs I'd be after if I was wanting to sign up for a storefront to sell my games. I mean, obviously Fortnite eyes are better than no eyes, but I'm struggling to make any connection to half a nation of 8 year olds playing this free Battle Royale game translating to those same kids spending big bucks on paid games.

 

Strike while the iron's hot, I guess, but "owned by Tencent" does not instill a single iota more confidence in this storefront for me.

 

And again I ask, and will receive no answer: Why do indie developers think someone's gonna be out there to take super special care of them when it comes to storefronts?

 

What indies remember is the brief period of time where any game on Steam was a million copies sold, instantly. And, as I've said a million times before, that was awful. Quality didn't matter, consumer choice didn't matter, it was 100% because the platform was fucking empty. And indies think "Goddammit, there's so much shit on the store! Why won't Valve help me with MY shitty indie game!"

 

Well, Timmy, that's because you are one of those developers clogging up the store. You all want special attention because you all think you're special and that everyone else is making shit. If there's no gatekeeping, then you see just how many other people are making products just like yours, and if there's the gatekeeping you actually want, chances are you'll never have a snowball's chance in hell of making it onto the storefront. We saw this with the Switch, where indies were rejoicing (all 5 of them actually on the store and everyone else thinking they would be) about how many copies they were selling. Then, whoops! Here's all the other indies and now the store is flooded just like every other one.

 

Indie devs have REALLY got to stop relying on everyone else to sell their fucking games for them. This idea of a storefront coming along where all the indies that "deserve" it will suddenly all sell millions of copies and be like Braid and Fez and all that is just unrealistic. You're no longer a novelty, you're a normal part of this part of the industry, and you have to figure out how to turn every little knob in your favor. If you determine that to be releasing on all stores, great! But don't rely on someone "doing something" to help you. We're beyond that unless your title is spectacular, in which case that's typically enough to sell itself.

[Zarich]

I barely open Origin, and I don't think I have opened Uplay in forever.  So yay another one I might not open for years.

[Moa]

Will they accept V-bucks?

[Snaynay1]

17 hours ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Also, there is money to be made in making a front end for all of these store fronts like retroarch!  

I have been paying money to gamex now for a few years.

[Mr.Vic20]

3 hours ago, Snaynay1 said:

I have been paying money to gamex now for a few years.

Interesting, so it browser based? 

[Snaynay1]

On 12/5/2018 at 5:09 AM, Mr.Vic20 said:

Interesting, so it browser based? 

No, it is its own program. But you can run anything from it. 
Works great. Sorry, I just saw this

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Epic Games Store users have been turning to Steam for Subnautica support

[SimpleG]

Genesis Alpha One pulled them selves from releasing on Steam to go to Epic

 

 

Ashen isnt going to Xbox play anywhere as it once was advertised

https://www.windowscentral.com/has-ashen-ditched-xbox-play-anywhere-and-steam-epic-games-exclusivity

 

Epic also picked up The Walking Dead exclusivity 

 

https://www.skybound.com/games/telltales-walking-dead-steam-epic/

[SimpleG]

35 minutes ago, SFLUFAN said:

Epic Games Store users have been turning to Steam for Subnautica support

But how do Epic users deal with all the toxicity ?

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Just now, SimpleG said:

But how do Epic users deal with all the toxicity ?

WE'LL FIND OUT!

[stepee]

2 hours ago, SimpleG said:

Ashen isnt going to Xbox play anywhere as it once was advertised

https://www.windowscentral.com/has-ashen-ditched-xbox-play-anywhere-and-steam-epic-games-exclusivity

 

 

 

That article has actually been updated to say the dev has confirmed they are working on the windows store version and that play anywhere will still eventually happen.