4 ms·

> AAA studios are simply used to forcing that sort of extractive behavior from users, and users are all too willing to comply. How so? Steam is still alive and

> AAA studios are simply used to forcing that sort of extractive behavior from users, and users are all too willing to comply. How so? Steam is still alive and well, while publisher-exclusive stores are slowly disappearing. Sure, Epic Store still exists and has solid market share, but it's arguably more than just a publisher store.

Apocryphon 4y ago
I might be out of date now but aren't there EA Origin, Ubisoft store, Battle.net, and the Microsoft Store, at least? Those publishers carry a good chunk of titles between them. Is the pendulum swinging back against proliferation of game publisher stores? What I just mean is a few years ago this trend started happening, Epic was but one of them trying to break into the prior Steam/GoG landscape.
- qualudeheart 4y ago
  Those stores are all inferior to Steam. I don't believe the other stores aren’t worse than Steam. They all have a pretty crappy game selection.
  - Apocryphon 4y ago
    Yeah, but it’s their first party exclusives that might lock people in if they’re trying to play Warzone or the latest Assassin’s Creed or any of the ‘crafts. No one really wants to have to deal with another store in addition to Valve and on occasion GoG for older titles, but they’re forced to for those AAA franchises.
- Sebb767 4y ago
  > I might be out of date now but aren't there EA Origin, Ubisoft store, Battle.net, and the Microsoft Store, at least? EA has started putting games back on Steam [0] and so has Ubisoft [1]. I've heard rumors of battle.net going the same way, but nothing seems to be confirmed as of now. Since nearly all of those stores have been inferior to Steam feature-wise with the exception of exclusives, I think it's mostly save to say that publishers have mostly given up on trying to force their users onto their own controlled store. Epic is a different topic, since they seem to actually try to compete with it in terms of features and catalog and opened up the store for third party games, which most publishers did not. As for Microsoft, this might be my bubble, but it seems to me that store isn't really considered a major player, similarly to GOG, itch.io and the likes. [0] https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ea-puts-first-wave-of-games-back-on-steam https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ea-puts-first-wave-of-games-ba... [1] https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ubisoft-games-are-coming-back-to-steam https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ubisoft-games-are-coming-ba...

Apocryphon 4y ago

I might be out of date now but aren't there EA Origin, Ubisoft store, Battle.net, and the Microsoft Store, at least? Those publishers carry a good chunk of titles between them. Is the pendulum swinging back against proliferation of game publisher stores? What I just mean is a few years ago this trend started happening, Epic was but one of them trying to break into the prior Steam/GoG landscape.

qualudeheart 4y ago
Those stores are all inferior to Steam. I don't believe the other stores aren’t worse than Steam. They all have a pretty crappy game selection.
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  Yeah, but it’s their first party exclusives that might lock people in if they’re trying to play Warzone or the latest Assassin’s Creed or any of the ‘crafts. No one really wants to have to deal with another store in addition to Valve and on occasion GoG for older titles, but they’re forced to for those AAA franchises.
Sebb767 4y ago
> I might be out of date now but aren't there EA Origin, Ubisoft store, Battle.net, and the Microsoft Store, at least? EA has started putting games back on Steam [0] and so has Ubisoft [1]. I've heard rumors of battle.net going the same way, but nothing seems to be confirmed as of now. Since nearly all of those stores have been inferior to Steam feature-wise with the exception of exclusives, I think it's mostly save to say that publishers have mostly given up on trying to force their users onto their own controlled store. Epic is a different topic, since they seem to actually try to compete with it in terms of features and catalog and opened up the store for third party games, which most publishers did not. As for Microsoft, this might be my bubble, but it seems to me that store isn't really considered a major player, similarly to GOG, itch.io and the likes. [0] https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ea-puts-first-wave-of-games-back-on-steam https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ea-puts-first-wave-of-games-ba... [1] https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ubisoft-games-are-coming-back-to-steam https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ubisoft-games-are-coming-ba...