Yeah for companies, sure it's great. My steam account is almost 15 years old, I have about 700 games on it. I also have an Origin, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Battle.net, and few other small various launchers. Tons of passwords, multistep logins, which all this creates is a pain, to the point where some games not launching on steam just means I'm going to pass, and I know others that feel the same way.
Also, most of these other companies offer little support, no refunds, no player counts like we can get from steam charts and the other little things Valve took a long time to give to consumers.
With most companies failing to deliver fully made games, burning out the player base before early access should have even happened and other nonsense, Valve has on multiple occasions been the reason we've not been burned.
<snip>
Maybe - and this is just an idea mind - the reason that "these other companies" struggle to provide support and the reason Valve was able to provide player counts et. al. is because Valve takes a large cut of the money?
The difference between 30% and 12% (or whatever) may only be 18% but after covering costs could be the difference between 2% profit and 20% profit. If indeed they are making a profit at all.
How about continuing development on the Unreal Tournament game sitting in limbo????
At this point they should really just cancel the thing. Arena shooters are dead, Unreal Tournament doesn't carry the weight it once did, and dangling an open alpha in people's faces is just giving them false hope.
Steam has already countered. They are lowering their rev share (slightly)
70/30 on the first $10M 75/25 on $10M to $50M 80/20 on $50M +
The fact that they responded this quickly shows that they take it seriously. The fact that they are not offering much of a change shows that they dont feel threatened much AT THIS TIME. They will likely add more discounts if they feel pressured by the competition.
Also, this Epic storefront subsidizes Unreal. If a developer is licensing Unreal, the cost of the engine is included in the 12% storefront cost. That's a huge deal, and is going to make the Unreal engine an even better value prospect.
If the UI and community features are up to par, this WILL be a major competitor to Steam.
What's the refund policy and will they also have summer/winter/etc sales which is where i buy most of my games? I rarely buy new games at release nowadays because they are buggy unfinished overpriced messes. Wait for a sale when they are patched up and its win win for me.
"I used to think the worst thing in life was to be all alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone." Robin Williams
More competition is usually better but I'm worried the market might get too fragmented. We could see the same thing in streaming services as more companies look to take on Netflix, with Disney going to be the big player. If Epic doesn't have similar refund policy to Steam, then I probably wouldn't buy anything from them unless it's a super deal that isn't available anywhere else. I'm getting old and it's getting harder to remember all the many user names and passwords from my emails, game accounts and from work that I really don't want to add to it.
Is a man not entitled to the herp of his derp?
Remember, I live in a world where juggalos and yugioh players are real things.
what are the conditions? especially with steam's changest last year, this could be a welcome change for private game devs (yes, we still exist)
any "you wanna use us, pay us!" prices?
uh, and who the hell plays on linux....
I own a lot of old games that work better on Linux than Windows...
As for the new ones,Proton is a little miracle ^^
I was a long time user of Microsoft products (Windows,Xbox,Accessories...) but Windowspy 10 with forced update in your face...nope,I can't,sorry...
Uninstalled Windows 10 on my New Gaming PC...then reinstalled Windows 7 and Kubuntu for testing.
Now,I mainly use Kubuntu for everything
I see some people that are pointing out Valve's 30% cut as being too high. Keep in mind that standard retail store fronts plus distributor costs usually add up to around 70%, with the developer only getting around 30% in the end. That was one of the hooks Valve used initially to attract so many developers to their platform; they were giving the developers a much better deal than they would get at a retail storefront by swapping the cuts because there's no distributor.
Granted, 12% is better than 30%, but let's not forget the history.
I think of them as a distributor for sure. I don't see how them taking 30% is different than Google Play or iTunes. it is good news of course but people will still sell their games on Steam just to capture the market. Take an indie game, taking 70% of the same of your game is pretty good if it reaches 2X the number of people and I am guessing it means a LOT more than that.
The best of both worlds I suppose. They can sell on both. I suppose now it depends on how they price the games.
The moment I see a game that is a blank world with nothing but 3 unineractive trees in it and 2 guns if you switch to the 2nd gun the games unloaded assets refuse to load selling for $15 and people buying it then I'll stick to steam since you get that anyways with steam.
I see some people that are pointing out Valve's 30% cut as being too high. Keep in mind that standard retail store fronts plus distributor costs usually add up to around 70%, with the developer only getting around 30% in the end. That was one of the hooks Valve used initially to attract so many developers to their platform; they were giving the developers a much better deal than they would get at a retail storefront by swapping the cuts because there's no distributor.
Granted, 12% is better than 30%, but let's not forget the history.
I think of them as a distributor for sure. I don't see how them taking 30% is different than Google Play or iTunes. it is good news of course but people will still sell their games on Steam just to capture the market. Take an indie game, taking 70% of the same of your game is pretty good if it reaches 2X the number of people and I am guessing it means a LOT more than that.
The best of both worlds I suppose. They can sell on both. I suppose now it depends on how they price the games.
Coming soon, Epic only exclusives, same for Steam.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I see some people that are pointing out Valve's 30% cut as being too high. Keep in mind that standard retail store fronts plus distributor costs usually add up to around 70%, with the developer only getting around 30% in the end. That was one of the hooks Valve used initially to attract so many developers to their platform; they were giving the developers a much better deal than they would get at a retail storefront by swapping the cuts because there's no distributor.
Granted, 12% is better than 30%, but let's not forget the history.
I think of them as a distributor for sure. I don't see how them taking 30% is different than Google Play or iTunes. it is good news of course but people will still sell their games on Steam just to capture the market. Take an indie game, taking 70% of the same of your game is pretty good if it reaches 2X the number of people and I am guessing it means a LOT more than that.
The best of both worlds I suppose. They can sell on both. I suppose now it depends on how they price the games.
Coming soon, Epic only exclusives, same for Steam.
Pretty much what EA(Origin) and Ubi(Uplay) do. I personally don't like that Game launcher/store exclusivity. They are all PC games... It's nothing like Sony vs MS vs Nintendo exclusives. It's all Windows based PC games we are talking about. It's a bit ridiculous IMO.
I have *lost count* of all the launchers, I have installed. Who knows how many 3rd party programs they've installed. Steam: Hey! Epic! Welcome to the party, pal!
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I would like to see wherever you BUY the game from, be it steam, Origin, Uplay, GoG, if that said game is available on more than 1 platform then your key should be available to be used on that platform as well (or linking your accounts together) so it will then register what you own and automatically place them into said account that it can also be on.
I don't like having to buy the game more than once, yet some platforms have better discounts than others or at differant times. GoG has something like this already, however one does HAVE to wait till they enable a bunch of games and sometimes they dont register that you have them. Happened with 2 games so far and they havent been back in the GoG Connect program since but at least they are doing something.
While I applaud the new platform and the smaller-than-Steam revenue cut, I really, REALLY don't want another multi-game launcher. Honestly, if games adopt it and offer better prices due to the lower revenue reduction due to Epic's cut, then I'm all for it. We'll see if it takes off.
They'll never lower prices, hell we pay box prices for digital copies of games still. They'll just make more money.
When developers make games I like, I want them to make a lot of money out of it. That encourages them to do it again.
Steam has a huge following of players with massive libraries, too much investment for players to leave.
The only way to compete with Steam at this point is to buy them out and become Steam.
Nice try Epic but I dont think its gonna work long term
I think you're grossly misreading things. It's the developers that have the power here, and most are going to take the platform that makes the most economic sense. And a 12% cut with a subsidized Unreal engine has a much lower overhead cost than what Steam is offering, even with their announced milestone percentage reductions.
They better have some ground breaking exclusives on it, if not I ain't touching it. It would have to be vastly better than Steam and offer some sort of transition perks.
"As far as the forum code of conduct, I would think it's a bit outdated and in need of a refre *CLOSED*"
If I want to play a game, which launcher the game uses isn't really a consideration. I figure out which game I want to play first, and then get whatever launcher it requires. Are there really people who would refuse to play a game that looks interesting just because they can't get it through Steam?
Nah, it won't work. Steam is like super PC marketing. It opens up a game to be seen by millions. You'd make more money if your game was on Steam because you'd sell more... even with the higher cut Steam takes.
It's like.. you might have a higher profit margin selling only in a small town, but there's hardly any people. Open up to the world and you've got transport, supply chain, more staff needed, bigger returns department, etc. etc. The profit margin will go down; you'd make less money from each sale.. but you'll have thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, more sales.
Make $8 each on 100 sales and you've got $800.
Make $6 each on 1000 sales and you've got $6000.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
Comments
The difference between 30% and 12% (or whatever) may only be 18% but after covering costs could be the difference between 2% profit and 20% profit. If indeed they are making a profit at all.
70/30 on the first $10M
75/25 on $10M to $50M
80/20 on $50M +
The fact that they responded this quickly shows that they take it seriously. The fact that they are not offering much of a change shows that they dont feel threatened much AT THIS TIME. They will likely add more discounts if they feel pressured by the competition.
If the UI and community features are up to par, this WILL be a major competitor to Steam.
Is a man not entitled to the herp of his derp?
Remember, I live in a world where juggalos and yugioh players are real things.
I own a lot of old games that work better on Linux than Windows...
As for the new ones,Proton is a little miracle ^^
I was a long time user of Microsoft products (Windows,Xbox,Accessories...) but Windowspy 10 with forced update in your face...nope,I can't,sorry...
Uninstalled Windows 10 on my New Gaming PC...then reinstalled Windows 7 and Kubuntu for testing.
Now,I mainly use Kubuntu for everything
oh wait.
Anything is possible these days.
The best of both worlds I suppose. They can sell on both. I suppose now it depends on how they price the games.
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"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Steam: Hey! Epic! Welcome to the party, pal!
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I don't like having to buy the game more than once, yet some platforms have better discounts than others or at differant times.
GoG has something like this already, however one does HAVE to wait till they enable a bunch of games and sometimes they dont register that you have them. Happened with 2 games so far and they havent been back in the GoG Connect program since
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It's like.. you might have a higher profit margin selling only in a small town, but there's hardly any people. Open up to the world and you've got transport, supply chain, more staff needed, bigger returns department, etc. etc. The profit margin will go down; you'd make less money from each sale.. but you'll have thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, more sales.
Make $8 each on 100 sales and you've got $800.
Make $6 each on 1000 sales and you've got $6000.