4 ms·

Very well deserved. Having worked on 3D capture and reconstruction for the last 10 years I can say that CR is really way ahead of everyone else technologically

by rsp1984 6y ago

Very well deserved. Having worked on 3D capture and reconstruction for the last 10 years I can say that CR is really way ahead of everyone else technologically and it was only a matter of time before someone would buy them out. I'm glad it was Epic.

fearface 6y ago
Why are you glad it’s Epic?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- dave_sullivan 6y ago
  Not OP, but possibly because they are working to upend steams monopoly on game distribution and offer an arguably better engine than the venture backed/pressured unity.
  - Jcowell 6y ago
    Is steam really a monopoly ? There are other stores and launchers no?
    - dave_sullivan 6y ago
      They're a monopoly the way apple is a monopoly. Maybe "anti-competitive" is a better word. There are other choices, but they have such a large share of the market "locked in" to their specific platforms that developers are forced to work with them or get out of the business. Good luck not having an iOS version of your app or not launching your game on steam, etc. With proper competitive pressure, the price of distributing a game or app should go down over time, not stay pegged at an arbitrary 30%. > What makes you think that the Epic Store won't be exactly the same given half the chance? The laws of competitive pressure.
      - zimpenfish 6y ago
        > they have such a large share of the market "locked in" to their specific platforms that developers are forced to work with them What makes you think that the Epic Store won't be exactly the same given half the chance?
        krageon 6y ago
        They will, but it's pathologically impossible for either side to see that literally every option is elbow deep in corporate evil. Something has to be celebrated.
      - vimacs2 6y ago
        I'm not a fan of Steam simply because it is a form of DRM (and I hate the way library sharing works) but this is such a bs comparison it's hard to take seriously. Steam is not remotely equivalent to the Apple Store in terms of anti-competitiveness. For one, I do not have to jailbreak my computer to install games outside of Steam and neither does doing so violate the TOS of Steam. In fact, steam literally lets you add non-steam games to it's library as well as let you access features such as the overlay and Steam input. If anything, Epic Games is the one who is practising anti-competitive behaviour here by trying to force their way into the market by buying out developers over providing a better service. If they ever took the dominant position in the market over Steam, I would be shocked if we don't end up in a situation that is worse off for both the customers and developers. Also, "the laws of competitive pressure" only really work out well for the customers unless we have many truly viable competitors. What is far more likely to happen here is an oligopoly and we know how well those turn out.
      - kbenson 6y ago
        I'm not familiar enough with the specifics of anything Valve/Steam might be doing, but I don't think they're necessarily anti-competitive (at least not in the same way Apple is). One way to think of this is that it doesn't take Steam being bad or anti-competitive to still have people benefit from alternatives and competition, so we can all be happy about more competition to Steam. Apple, on the other hand, does many anti-competitive things to do with locking people into their whole ecosystem, such as restricting their software to run on their hardware (and their hardware to run with their software in the case of phones), and their store to run on their software, etc. It's not so much that they have a walled garden, but that the garden is within a walled city and the city is within a locked down nation with mostly closed borders. If Steam is anti-competitive (I don't know, perhaps they are) it may be best to note how, especially if you going to equate it to Apple's situation. Otherwise, people will likely see and focus on the ways they are different and/or think Apple's situation is similar, when it may not be.

fearface 6y ago

Why are you glad it’s Epic?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
dave_sullivan 6y ago
Not OP, but possibly because they are working to upend steams monopoly on game distribution and offer an arguably better engine than the venture backed/pressured unity.
- Jcowell 6y ago
  Is steam really a monopoly ? There are other stores and launchers no?
  - dave_sullivan 6y ago
    They're a monopoly the way apple is a monopoly. Maybe "anti-competitive" is a better word. There are other choices, but they have such a large share of the market "locked in" to their specific platforms that developers are forced to work with them or get out of the business. Good luck not having an iOS version of your app or not launching your game on steam, etc. With proper competitive pressure, the price of distributing a game or app should go down over time, not stay pegged at an arbitrary 30%. > What makes you think that the Epic Store won't be exactly the same given half the chance? The laws of competitive pressure.
    - zimpenfish 6y ago
      > they have such a large share of the market "locked in" to their specific platforms that developers are forced to work with them What makes you think that the Epic Store won't be exactly the same given half the chance?
      - krageon 6y ago
        They will, but it's pathologically impossible for either side to see that literally every option is elbow deep in corporate evil. Something has to be celebrated.
    - vimacs2 6y ago
      I'm not a fan of Steam simply because it is a form of DRM (and I hate the way library sharing works) but this is such a bs comparison it's hard to take seriously. Steam is not remotely equivalent to the Apple Store in terms of anti-competitiveness. For one, I do not have to jailbreak my computer to install games outside of Steam and neither does doing so violate the TOS of Steam. In fact, steam literally lets you add non-steam games to it's library as well as let you access features such as the overlay and Steam input. If anything, Epic Games is the one who is practising anti-competitive behaviour here by trying to force their way into the market by buying out developers over providing a better service. If they ever took the dominant position in the market over Steam, I would be shocked if we don't end up in a situation that is worse off for both the customers and developers. Also, "the laws of competitive pressure" only really work out well for the customers unless we have many truly viable competitors. What is far more likely to happen here is an oligopoly and we know how well those turn out.
    - kbenson 6y ago
      I'm not familiar enough with the specifics of anything Valve/Steam might be doing, but I don't think they're necessarily anti-competitive (at least not in the same way Apple is). One way to think of this is that it doesn't take Steam being bad or anti-competitive to still have people benefit from alternatives and competition, so we can all be happy about more competition to Steam. Apple, on the other hand, does many anti-competitive things to do with locking people into their whole ecosystem, such as restricting their software to run on their hardware (and their hardware to run with their software in the case of phones), and their store to run on their software, etc. It's not so much that they have a walled garden, but that the garden is within a walled city and the city is within a locked down nation with mostly closed borders. If Steam is anti-competitive (I don't know, perhaps they are) it may be best to note how, especially if you going to equate it to Apple's situation. Otherwise, people will likely see and focus on the ways they are different and/or think Apple's situation is similar, when it may not be.