6 ms·

PAYING game developers for exclusivity is much different than CHARGING game developers 30% of their revenue. Also, the PC is an open platform. Game developers

PAYING game developers for exclusivity is much different than CHARGING game developers 30% of their revenue. Also, the PC is an open platform. Game developers don't have to use Epic's or anyone else' store to distribute games on PC. With iOS you have no choice.

n42 6y ago
sure, there is a difference for the developer. anyone who is deluding themselves into thinking that Epic is fighting for the consumer here will be sorely disappointed. Epic recently raised $1.78 billion dollars in capital. how do you think they intend to deliver a return on such a massive investment? anyone paying attention to their moves sees this as what it is. Epic wants to be the exclusive destination to build, buy and play video games. they're fighting Apple because they beat them to the punch. this is not some idealistic martyrdom. it's multi-billion dollar company fights multi-trillion dollar company for market share.
user5994461 6y ago
Indeed, it is paying in order to make sure that 100% of developer revenues go through one platform... the platform may or may not take a 30% cut.
judge2020 6y ago
> PAYING game developers for exclusivity is much different than CHARGING game developers 30% of their revenue. It definitely is - one store, Epic, offers deals publishers can't refuse to make a game exclusive to their storefront which limits a consumer's ability to use a platform of their choice to purchase a game. The other, steam, puts no limits on where you can distribute your game (unless you use assets from Valve's own games, but I digress) and has done no exclusivity deals that would force a game to only use their store. Publishers are free to use steam if they want to have 30% taken, but otherwise they can completely forego steam in their distribution.
- gsich 6y ago
  Can't refuse? Is this the Godfather now?
  - Cyph0n 6y ago
    Didn’t you know that Epic holds developers hostage until they agree to their terms? I thought this was common knowledge!
    - DivisionSol 6y ago
      Just like Apple holds a gun to developer’s heads to develop for the iOS. Epic is at least bringing the joy of console exclusives to the desktop. Innovative!
      - chc 6y ago
        Apple holds the majority of the US market to developers' heads to develop for iOS.
      - damnyou 6y ago
        Buying a new console costs hundreds of dollars, while creating an Epic Store account costs nothing. It's really not the same situation.
  - judge2020 6y ago
    https://screenrant.com/borderlands-3-sales-5-million-unites-epic-store-exclusive/ https://screenrant.com/borderlands-3-sales-5-million-unites-... > a recent financial report suggested that Epic paid over $10 million to get Control as an Epic Game Store exclusive on PC, and it's possible the company has done the same to snag some of the more important releases of the year. A little hard to turn down 10 million.
    - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
      > A little hard to turn down 10 million. What if the game would have made $20m if it was non-exclusive? Exclusivity deals mean both parties - or either party - is making a huge risk or there's information-asymmetry involved.
- ThatPlayer 6y ago
  And that's why it's competition. Steam could offer the same, but they don't. Epic is offering a service that Steam isn't.
- judge2020 6y ago
  https://www.techradar.com/news/epic-games-store-to-keep-nabbing-exclusives-even-with-titles-already-on-steam https://www.techradar.com/news/epic-games-store-to-keep-nabb...
cringepirate 6y ago
>PAYING game developers for exclusivity is much different than CHARGING game developers 30% of their revenue. The way you frame it is totally incorrect and completely misrepresents Steam (who is obviously relevant in the PC space) doesn't "charge" developers 30% of the revenue. Steam is acting as an affiliate. Affiliate agreements work on the fact that one party will get a commission for driving sales of a particular product. Steam drives sales of a particular product by providing the market place, they provide the payment mechanism, the hosting and update infrastructure and probably a bunch of things I am not aware of. Also the 30/70% split for an affiliate relationship is standard across many industries. This could be Travel, Gambling, House hold items. > Also, the PC is an open platform. Game developers don't have to use Epic's or anyone else' store to distribute games on PC. With iOS you have no choice. You are getting wrong way around. If would be fine if the EPIC store offered the same games as Steam at a lower price (by taking a lower commission). Then that would drive competition and that would benefit the consumer. However that isn't happening here. They are artificially dividing an open market by making some PC games exclusive to their store. This stops competition because the two store fronts can't compete because they cannot offer the same games. In the same way that if you wanna play Halo you aren't doing it on a PlayStation. GoG and Steam will have many of the same games sold on them. I end up buying them on the GoG store, why is that? GoG is guaranteed to be DRM free. That choice cannot exist when some games are exclusive to one store. So GoG competes with the Steam store and offers a better refund policy (you can refund for any reason and at any time) and no DRM. Now it may benefit developers to be exclusive to the EPIC store but this will ultimately make the PC ecosystem less open for the consumer.
- paulryanrogers 6y ago
  Are the exclusives permanent?
- damnyou 6y ago
  Now consider that Valve games like Half Life: Alyx are platform exclusive to Steam -- presumably because Valve gets ~100% of the money spent on Valve games on Steam. Is that "less open for the consumer" as well?

n42 6y ago

sure, there is a difference for the developer. anyone who is deluding themselves into thinking that Epic is fighting for the consumer here will be sorely disappointed. Epic recently raised $1.78 billion dollars in capital. how do you think they intend to deliver a return on such a massive investment? anyone paying attention to their moves sees this as what it is. Epic wants to be the exclusive destination to build, buy and play video games. they're fighting Apple because they beat them to the punch. this is not some idealistic martyrdom. it's multi-billion dollar company fights multi-trillion dollar company for market share.

user5994461 6y ago

Indeed, it is paying in order to make sure that 100% of developer revenues go through one platform... the platform may or may not take a 30% cut.

judge2020 6y ago

> PAYING game developers for exclusivity is much different than CHARGING game developers 30% of their revenue. It definitely is - one store, Epic, offers deals publishers can't refuse to make a game exclusive to their storefront which limits a consumer's ability to use a platform of their choice to purchase a game. The other, steam, puts no limits on where you can distribute your game (unless you use assets from Valve's own games, but I digress) and has done no exclusivity deals that would force a game to only use their store. Publishers are free to use steam if they want to have 30% taken, but otherwise they can completely forego steam in their distribution.

gsich 6y ago
Can't refuse? Is this the Godfather now?
- Cyph0n 6y ago
  Didn’t you know that Epic holds developers hostage until they agree to their terms? I thought this was common knowledge!
  - DivisionSol 6y ago
    Just like Apple holds a gun to developer’s heads to develop for the iOS. Epic is at least bringing the joy of console exclusives to the desktop. Innovative!
    - chc 6y ago
      Apple holds the majority of the US market to developers' heads to develop for iOS.
    - damnyou 6y ago
      Buying a new console costs hundreds of dollars, while creating an Epic Store account costs nothing. It's really not the same situation.
- judge2020 6y ago
  https://screenrant.com/borderlands-3-sales-5-million-unites-epic-store-exclusive/ https://screenrant.com/borderlands-3-sales-5-million-unites-... > a recent financial report suggested that Epic paid over $10 million to get Control as an Epic Game Store exclusive on PC, and it's possible the company has done the same to snag some of the more important releases of the year. A little hard to turn down 10 million.
  - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
    > A little hard to turn down 10 million. What if the game would have made $20m if it was non-exclusive? Exclusivity deals mean both parties - or either party - is making a huge risk or there's information-asymmetry involved.
ThatPlayer 6y ago
And that's why it's competition. Steam could offer the same, but they don't. Epic is offering a service that Steam isn't.
judge2020 6y ago
https://www.techradar.com/news/epic-games-store-to-keep-nabbing-exclusives-even-with-titles-already-on-steam https://www.techradar.com/news/epic-games-store-to-keep-nabb...

cringepirate 6y ago

>PAYING game developers for exclusivity is much different than CHARGING game developers 30% of their revenue. The way you frame it is totally incorrect and completely misrepresents Steam (who is obviously relevant in the PC space) doesn't "charge" developers 30% of the revenue. Steam is acting as an affiliate. Affiliate agreements work on the fact that one party will get a commission for driving sales of a particular product. Steam drives sales of a particular product by providing the market place, they provide the payment mechanism, the hosting and update infrastructure and probably a bunch of things I am not aware of. Also the 30/70% split for an affiliate relationship is standard across many industries. This could be Travel, Gambling, House hold items. > Also, the PC is an open platform. Game developers don't have to use Epic's or anyone else' store to distribute games on PC. With iOS you have no choice. You are getting wrong way around. If would be fine if the EPIC store offered the same games as Steam at a lower price (by taking a lower commission). Then that would drive competition and that would benefit the consumer. However that isn't happening here. They are artificially dividing an open market by making some PC games exclusive to their store. This stops competition because the two store fronts can't compete because they cannot offer the same games. In the same way that if you wanna play Halo you aren't doing it on a PlayStation. GoG and Steam will have many of the same games sold on them. I end up buying them on the GoG store, why is that? GoG is guaranteed to be DRM free. That choice cannot exist when some games are exclusive to one store. So GoG competes with the Steam store and offers a better refund policy (you can refund for any reason and at any time) and no DRM. Now it may benefit developers to be exclusive to the EPIC store but this will ultimately make the PC ecosystem less open for the consumer.

paulryanrogers 6y ago
Are the exclusives permanent?
damnyou 6y ago
Now consider that Valve games like Half Life: Alyx are platform exclusive to Steam -- presumably because Valve gets ~100% of the money spent on Valve games on Steam. Is that "less open for the consumer" as well?