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The link you provided doesn't say what you claim it says. The parent post is discussing giving away free games, not acquisitions. What is unhealthy about the wa

The link you provided doesn't say what you claim it says. The parent post is discussing giving away free games, not acquisitions. What is unhealthy about the way Epic is trying to attract users? I know they've received some negative press but I have yet to see a good argument for this.

Causality1 7y ago
Buying IP in order to pull it off competing storefronts is anti-consumer. >thereafter it will continue to be supported on Steam for all existing purchasers
- onien11235 7y ago
  From the update at the very top of the article the GP linked: > Epic has offered an update on the confusingly worded statement issued to press earlier today regarding Rocket League's future status on Steam, now insisting that it has "not announced plans to stop selling the game there". Even if they do pull future sales of Rocket League off of Steam why is that a problem? Valve has purchased game companies. I've never seen anyone complain that you can't buy Left 4 Dead on GoG.
  - ripdog 7y ago
    Valve made L4D2. Or at least did a significant portion of the work. The problem with Epic is that they are either paying publishers for timed exclusives, or purchasing publishers outright in order to create artificial monopolies, and restricting consumer choice.
    - onien11235 7y ago
      Turtle Rock made L4D. Valve bought Turtle Rock. If paying for exclusives is bad what viable alternative strategy should Epic be using to get users to their store?
      - benj111 7y ago
        Making a good store that people want to visit? Edit: I was being serious. "what viable alternative strategy should Epic be using to get users to their store?" What's preferable for the consumer? buying a monopoly, or competing on quality, price, customer service, etc, etc, etc.
        noirbot 7y ago
        This is really a big part of it for me. I have no problem using multiple launchers, but Epic has given me little reason to think that they'll secure my payment info or account details.
        onien11235 7y ago
        > competing on quality, price, customer service, etc, etc, etc. What metric are you using to define quality and how would it make people use this store over Steam? How much cheaper would you need to sell games to get people to go to the Epic store? Would developers put there games on the Epic store if the price had to be so low that they made more per sale on Steam? Good customer service being a factor requires having customers to experience it. It helps long term but won't get your first wave of customers.
        benj111 7y ago
        Quality in this case could be website design, the overall quality of games, or discoverability of good games. Price in this case would be margin. If Steam takes 10%, Epic could take 5%. Games makers could pass the savings on, or increase their own margins. Yes good customer service requires customers. What's your point? Your first customer experiences good customer service, mentions it to their friends, who then shop with you, who then mention it to their friends. It's called word of mouth. It's a powerful marketing tool.
        onien11235 7y ago
        Website design won't drive customers to a new store instead of Steam. Epic is curating their store so that should already cover quality and discoverability. Apparently they think that isn't enough. > Price in this case would be margin. If Steam takes 10%, Epic could take 5%. Games makers could pass the savings on, or increase their own margins. Steam takes 30% and Epic takes 12%. Very few games have chosen to reduce their price to go with the increased percentage. For a web based store customer service only matters when things go wrong. Most customers should get a fairly standard experience of paying money and receiving their product. Do you consider Steam's customer service bad? Would a marginal improvement in customer service convince you to deal with the hassle of installing another launcher, setting up a payment method on a new store, and splitting your game library?
  - MayeulC 7y ago
    IIRC, Valve games were available on Origin. When EA pulled their games from Steam, Valve replied in kind. One thing that irks me is that Valve seems way more committed to interoperability, open standards and its consumers' wellness than its competitors (likely as a result of being privately owned); while the competitors in question use every trick in the evil corporate playbook to try to increase their marketshare. We've seen how they play, and the friendly façade is likely to change to ad more value-extracting one once/if they gain marketshare.
    - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
      No shit. Linux gaming make's Valve a ludicrously small amount of money compared the the, frankly herculean, effort they've put into making it viable.

Causality1 7y ago

Buying IP in order to pull it off competing storefronts is anti-consumer. >thereafter it will continue to be supported on Steam for all existing purchasers

onien11235 7y ago
From the update at the very top of the article the GP linked: > Epic has offered an update on the confusingly worded statement issued to press earlier today regarding Rocket League's future status on Steam, now insisting that it has "not announced plans to stop selling the game there". Even if they do pull future sales of Rocket League off of Steam why is that a problem? Valve has purchased game companies. I've never seen anyone complain that you can't buy Left 4 Dead on GoG.
- ripdog 7y ago
  Valve made L4D2. Or at least did a significant portion of the work. The problem with Epic is that they are either paying publishers for timed exclusives, or purchasing publishers outright in order to create artificial monopolies, and restricting consumer choice.
  - onien11235 7y ago
    Turtle Rock made L4D. Valve bought Turtle Rock. If paying for exclusives is bad what viable alternative strategy should Epic be using to get users to their store?
    - benj111 7y ago
      Making a good store that people want to visit? Edit: I was being serious. "what viable alternative strategy should Epic be using to get users to their store?" What's preferable for the consumer? buying a monopoly, or competing on quality, price, customer service, etc, etc, etc.
      - noirbot 7y ago
        This is really a big part of it for me. I have no problem using multiple launchers, but Epic has given me little reason to think that they'll secure my payment info or account details.
      - onien11235 7y ago
        > competing on quality, price, customer service, etc, etc, etc. What metric are you using to define quality and how would it make people use this store over Steam? How much cheaper would you need to sell games to get people to go to the Epic store? Would developers put there games on the Epic store if the price had to be so low that they made more per sale on Steam? Good customer service being a factor requires having customers to experience it. It helps long term but won't get your first wave of customers.
        benj111 7y ago
        Quality in this case could be website design, the overall quality of games, or discoverability of good games. Price in this case would be margin. If Steam takes 10%, Epic could take 5%. Games makers could pass the savings on, or increase their own margins. Yes good customer service requires customers. What's your point? Your first customer experiences good customer service, mentions it to their friends, who then shop with you, who then mention it to their friends. It's called word of mouth. It's a powerful marketing tool.
        onien11235 7y ago
        Website design won't drive customers to a new store instead of Steam. Epic is curating their store so that should already cover quality and discoverability. Apparently they think that isn't enough. > Price in this case would be margin. If Steam takes 10%, Epic could take 5%. Games makers could pass the savings on, or increase their own margins. Steam takes 30% and Epic takes 12%. Very few games have chosen to reduce their price to go with the increased percentage. For a web based store customer service only matters when things go wrong. Most customers should get a fairly standard experience of paying money and receiving their product. Do you consider Steam's customer service bad? Would a marginal improvement in customer service convince you to deal with the hassle of installing another launcher, setting up a payment method on a new store, and splitting your game library?
- MayeulC 7y ago
  IIRC, Valve games were available on Origin. When EA pulled their games from Steam, Valve replied in kind. One thing that irks me is that Valve seems way more committed to interoperability, open standards and its consumers' wellness than its competitors (likely as a result of being privately owned); while the competitors in question use every trick in the evil corporate playbook to try to increase their marketshare. We've seen how they play, and the friendly façade is likely to change to ad more value-extracting one once/if they gain marketshare.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
    No shit. Linux gaming make's Valve a ludicrously small amount of money compared the the, frankly herculean, effort they've put into making it viable.