Epic Games absolutely committed to exclusive deals

Source: https://www.dsogaming.com/news/tim-sweeney-founder-of-epic-games-comments-current-and-future-epic-store-exclusive-games/

When a Twitter user suggested Epic stop with the exclusivity deals as its harming their image, they had this to say:

"I understand your sentiment and the convenience factor of a single store, but Epic is absolutely committed to this path. Exclusives are by the far the most potent tool for our 88% revenue share making inroads against 70% stores."

Looks like Epic doesn't plan on stopping any time soon.

Sorry if it's OT, just wanted to say I never understood why STEAM doesn't offer an optional subs service. There are probably very good reasons why not, but I'm scratching my head as to what they are.

Epic Games just started the New Pirate era now a whole new generation of pirates are searching the for the legendary pirate bay where they can be as free as they can be.

@NoodleFighter: One Piece is great :)

@sancho_panzer: I'm not sure what you mean by a subs service.

@XVision84: Like a Game Pass kind of thing - make deals with developers and publishers to rotate games in and out of a subscription service. Could give them a strong market advantage, since they've already got a much greater total mass than Epic's puny catalogue.

Haha, I mean I'm really taking liberties with topic relevance here, but I don't have any post-its to hand. My apologies.

@NoodleFighter: Ah so pirates have an excuse now.

And I'm very committed to never use their store. If I want one if their games, there's always piratebay.

@sancho_panzer: No need to apologize :). I see what you're saying and it's possible we might see something like that further down the line. It would require a lot of work to get all the publishers on board though.

To be honest, I really like Valve's laissez-faire style of management with steam. No exclusive deals, no aggressive policies, just a simple service that does everything you expect it to. Even if they don't employ strategies like your suggestion, I'm fine with how things are.

@i_p_daily: Hmmm download a launcher that supposedly isn't Chinese spyware despite it taking people's information on other platforms without their consent and if it isn't spyware their security is piss poor with a high chance of your account getting hacked. Reward the company of this launcher for their anti consumer practices of locking down games to a barebone platform instead of providing features for it that make it more appealing for players. Versus getting the game locked into the exclusivity deal for free through other means and not going through any of that crap and companies get a message of what we'll do if they agree to platform exclusivity on a crap platform.

TIME TO PLUNDER THE SHIP FOR THEIR BOOTY! WE AIN'T WASTING NO DUBLOONS WITHOUT MAKING SURE WE GOT THE REAL DEAL.

@NoodleFighter said:

@i_p_daily: Hmmm download a launcher that supposedly isn't Chinese spyware despite it taking people's information on other platforms without their consent and if it isn't spyware their security is piss poor with a high chance of your account getting hacked. Reward the company of this launcher for their anti consumer practices of locking down games to a barebone platform instead of providing features for it that make it more appealing for players. Versus getting the game locked into the exclusivity deal for free through other means and not going through any of that crap and companies get a message of what we'll do if they agree to platform exclusivity on a crap platform.

TIME TO PLUNDER THE SHIP FOR THEIR BOOTY! WE AIN'T WASTING NO DUBLOONS WITHOUT MAKING SURE WE GOT THE REAL DEAL.

So do unto them before they do unto you huh.

Simple don't buy the games, but to steal makes you no better than the people you are complaining about.

The pirates are providing a more convenient service for PC games than epic.

Sadly, but this.

So long as it's not permanent exclusivity, I don't mind it too much,

I can't speak for all PC gamers, though.

Not really, but when the main reason for piracy decreasing these past few years has been convenience, and if they take away that convenience, then it's pretty obvious what it will lead to.

Steam and GOG is all I will use on pc. The rest.... well if I gotta piratebay I gotta. I don’t like the idea of Epic store stealing my data from steam the second I link an account with them. They wanna treat my info like it’s booty then I can treat their products like booty since the pirates make it more convenient and always offline.

Ditto. Both provide a great service.

Epic provides migraines.

@i_p_daily said:

@NoodleFighter said:

@i_p_daily: Hmmm download a launcher that supposedly isn't Chinese spyware despite it taking people's information on other platforms without their consent and if it isn't spyware their security is piss poor with a high chance of your account getting hacked. Reward the company of this launcher for their anti consumer practices of locking down games to a barebone platform instead of providing features for it that make it more appealing for players. Versus getting the game locked into the exclusivity deal for free through other means and not going through any of that crap and companies get a message of what we'll do if they agree to platform exclusivity on a crap platform.

TIME TO PLUNDER THE SHIP FOR THEIR BOOTY! WE AIN'T WASTING NO DUBLOONS WITHOUT MAKING SURE WE GOT THE REAL DEAL.

So do unto them before they do unto you huh.

Simple don't buy the games, but to steal makes you no better than the people you are complaining about.

To copy the game files and play the game is exactly the same to the company as not buying the game. They get an equal amount of 0 money. No, actually it's better for the company if people download their game for free instead of not playing it at all, since then, if the game is good, the player might go online and say nice things about the game and recommend it to potential buyers. Game is then not completely ignored, as it would be if no one bought or pirated it.

Pretending that all people who download things are crooks is really fucking silly.

@Litchie said:

@i_p_daily said:

@NoodleFighter said:

@i_p_daily: Hmmm download a launcher that supposedly isn't Chinese spyware despite it taking people's information on other platforms without their consent and if it isn't spyware their security is piss poor with a high chance of your account getting hacked. Reward the company of this launcher for their anti consumer practices of locking down games to a barebone platform instead of providing features for it that make it more appealing for players. Versus getting the game locked into the exclusivity deal for free through other means and not going through any of that crap and companies get a message of what we'll do if they agree to platform exclusivity on a crap platform.

TIME TO PLUNDER THE SHIP FOR THEIR BOOTY! WE AIN'T WASTING NO DUBLOONS WITHOUT MAKING SURE WE GOT THE REAL DEAL.

So do unto them before they do unto you huh.

Simple don't buy the games, but to steal makes you no better than the people you are complaining about.

To copy the game files and play the game is exactly the same to the company as not buying the game. They get an equal amount of 0 money. No, actually it's better for the company if people download their game for free instead of not playing it at all, since then, if the game is good, the player might go online and say nice things about the game and recommend it to potential buyers. Game is then not completely ignored, as it would be if no one bought or pirated it.

Pretending that all people who download things are crooks is really fucking silly.

Stealing is stealing no matter how you try to justify it. Trying to defend it is the real stupid here.

All I see in here is hermits trying to justify theft, such a master race.

@i_p_daily said:

@Litchie said:

@i_p_daily said:

@NoodleFighter said:

@i_p_daily: Hmmm download a launcher that supposedly isn't Chinese spyware despite it taking people's information on other platforms without their consent and if it isn't spyware their security is piss poor with a high chance of your account getting hacked. Reward the company of this launcher for their anti consumer practices of locking down games to a barebone platform instead of providing features for it that make it more appealing for players. Versus getting the game locked into the exclusivity deal for free through other means and not going through any of that crap and companies get a message of what we'll do if they agree to platform exclusivity on a crap platform.

TIME TO PLUNDER THE SHIP FOR THEIR BOOTY! WE AIN'T WASTING NO DUBLOONS WITHOUT MAKING SURE WE GOT THE REAL DEAL.

So do unto them before they do unto you huh.

Simple don't buy the games, but to steal makes you no better than the people you are complaining about.

To copy the game files and play the game is exactly the same to the company as not buying the game. They get an equal amount of 0 money. No, actually it's better for the company if people download their game for free instead of not playing it at all, since then, if the game is good, the player might go online and say nice things about the game and recommend it to potential buyers. Game is then not completely ignored, as it would be if no one bought or pirated it.

Pretending that all people who download things are crooks is really fucking silly.

Stealing is stealing no matter how you try to justify it. Trying to defend it is the real stupid here.

Ignorantly call something stealing which isn't really stealing and compare people who do such things to crooks is the real REAL stupid here. "Nah, it's stealing. Stealing is bad". That's your argument. And that argument sucks balls.

But let's call it stealing, since that's what you want. It's still not wrong to pirate in this case.

I'll be straight up honest about this whole Epic Store Exclusive deals. While I mainly use Steam first and foremost, I also use Uplay, Blizzard.net, Origin, GoG, Bethesda launcher, and finally Epic launcher. I have no issues using different launcher unless it's for deals on a game I'm interested but overall, Steam is my domain for gaming needs. If Epic has the game I want to play and I can't get it anywhere else, then so beat it, I don't take sides on anyone or anything, I'm the consumer after all right?

Take The Division 2 for example, I ended up buying it on Uplay over Epic cause the game has to run on Uplay anyways, so it doesn't make any sense for me to buy it on Epic and if The Division 2 was totally exclusive to Epic only, then I'll go buy it from their. Epic themselves don't have total control on the PC market and as long as their are more options (no pirate) to buy a game, PC will always have loopholes.

@davillain-: I was actually hyped about the Epic Store at first thinking it would be great competition to Steam but then all this exclusivity crap started happening and now they're taking peoples' info without their consent. Their store is so barebones and security is poor. I have no problem using Origin, Battle.net and GOG since I can easily add their games to my Steam library if I want access to the Steam overlay while playing. Epic makes it a real pain in the ass to be able to add Fortnite to Steam as it is likely only want you to use their overlay only to make you be more invested in their launcher. I'm going to avoid the Epic Store as much as possible. I don't like how they locked some games into permanent exclusivity. Plus their launcher simply just runs very bad and takes up almost as much resources as Steam despite being incredibly barebone (gee must be that spyware).

Gabe Newell has proven that poor sales on PC has more to do with convenience and service than how easy piracy is. The Epic Store has poor regional pricing outside of the USA and UK and while they're in the works of talking with payment providers they say that some of them cost so much that they'll pass the charges onto the customers. Steam absorbs that payment provider process charges so it doesn't increase the price of games in their respective regions. Epic Store isn't in some regions such as China where it is actively blocked and I believe it isn't in Korea yet because of government approval or something. So it's either a game cost too much or they can't buy it at release and have to wait at least a year. Can't really blame these types of people for pirating games because it's either don't play the game, or miss out for a year of a game they were looking forward to within their grasp or go broke buying it.

I'm not really going to pirate these games I'll either wait a year for the exclusivity deal to expire or just straight up skip them if they stay exclusive to the Epic Store forever. But if other people are gonna do it I'm not sinking their ships or looking down on them :P.

LMAO I was going to post that exact sentence.

Exclusives being a thing through stores? Shocking.

Nobody saw that coming...

I'm baffled to read this. PC fannies research hardware for hours, days, months, they read technical sheets about the GPUs, watch benchmarks, spend a LOT of money on their PC and none of this is seen as an inconvenience but suddenly installing another client and buying games through that, something that is, literally, a few clicks away is inconvenient... LMAO.

So much for the "master race".

And LOL @saying buying games through multiple digital stores is less convenient than looking for a pirated game and traveling through shady networks and relying on unreliable servers or shady p2p connections to download the games. L-O-L.

PC fannies are definitely a special breed.

That's fine, but if consumers say "**** the Epic Store," then those 88% margins aren't going to mean much. Unfortunately, we live in a land of idiots, so that probably won't be the case.

@Litchie said:

@i_p_daily said:

@Litchie said:

@i_p_daily said:

@NoodleFighter said:

@i_p_daily: Hmmm download a launcher that supposedly isn't Chinese spyware despite it taking people's information on other platforms without their consent and if it isn't spyware their security is piss poor with a high chance of your account getting hacked. Reward the company of this launcher for their anti consumer practices of locking down games to a barebone platform instead of providing features for it that make it more appealing for players. Versus getting the game locked into the exclusivity deal for free through other means and not going through any of that crap and companies get a message of what we'll do if they agree to platform exclusivity on a crap platform.

TIME TO PLUNDER THE SHIP FOR THEIR BOOTY! WE AIN'T WASTING NO DUBLOONS WITHOUT MAKING SURE WE GOT THE REAL DEAL.

So do unto them before they do unto you huh.

Simple don't buy the games, but to steal makes you no better than the people you are complaining about.

To copy the game files and play the game is exactly the same to the company as not buying the game. They get an equal amount of 0 money. No, actually it's better for the company if people download their game for free instead of not playing it at all, since then, if the game is good, the player might go online and say nice things about the game and recommend it to potential buyers. Game is then not completely ignored, as it would be if no one bought or pirated it.

Pretending that all people who download things are crooks is really fucking silly.

Stealing is stealing no matter how you try to justify it. Trying to defend it is the real stupid here.

Ignorantly call something stealing which isn't really stealing and compare people who do such things to crooks is the real REAL stupid here. "Nah, it's stealing. Stealing is bad". That's your argument. And that argument sucks balls.

But let's call it stealing, since that's what you want. It's still not wrong to pirate in this case.

It's white collar crime for poor people.

Guys, cut it out with the piracy advocation. What you do on your own time is your call, but I don't want to have to moderate good users over this shitbucket of a store

I don't think you realize how easy it is to find pirated games.

I never said it was hard, but it's way more inconvenient to find and crack it than it is to buy them. So inconvenience is not a good excuse. If you can go out of your way to pirate a game, you can go out of your way to install another client and buy games there.

Folks, please don't pirate. You make us look bad, and the console peasants are already jealous enough as it is.

Or waiting one year for the exclusivity deal to expire. That seems to be the norm with them...for now.

Has absolutely nothing to do with convenience. On the topic of being baffled, I am baffled you don't realize this. I already have three (four if you count Windows Store) clients on my PC for buying and downloading games, as do most PC gamers I would assume, so clearly the issue is not with the "convenience" of it.

I don't even mind if Epic sells Epic games exclusively on their store; Origin already does that with EA titles, Microsoft with Microsoft titles, and now Bethesda seems to be doing that. I get it, it's their IP, they retain the right to do that.

No, the issue is that Epic Store straight up sucks. It's garbage. Let's make a list of the various problems with the Epic Store:

• The problem is with Epic essentially snatching up titles they had absolutely nothing to do with and making them exclusives solely for profit.
• The problem is if I want a game that is Epic Store exclusive, I have to use their inferior service instead of one I prefer.
• The problem is that Epic has a history of mistreating customers, warranting an "F" rating with the Better Business Bureau.
• The problem is Epic is part of Tencent, and is publicly traded, so they are a profit-driven company who won't make decisions that benefit the consumer, but the company, 100% of the time
• The problem with the Epic Store is it lacks any sort of good community features, mod support, forgiving return policy, forums, game guides...basically any sort of service or tool except for the game is completely absent.
• The problem is Epic is partnered with Tencent, and frankly I don't trust Chinese Megacorps to do the right thing.
• The problem is that Epic Store goes against the free, open, consumer-driven nature of PC gaming and instead turns it into a monopoly. People think Steam is a monopoly when, frankly, it's simply the most popular. You can buy most of the games on Steam elsewhere; the reason people don't is because they don't want to.
• They do not pass on the savings to the consumers; it is a publisher-developer-driven store, not a consumer one. In other words, the service only goes one way.
• The problem is they appear to be offering developers "offers they can't refuse"; I have no doubt a lot of these folks that go onto the Epic Store would prefer to have their product sold elsewhere, but when a company offers you a ridiculous sum of money for the rights to sell your game, you don't really say no to that.

"Convenience", as you called it, isn't even on my list of problems with the Epic Store.

It's not at all inconvenient. Literally have to go to one website and that is it. People are more concerned with Epics poor handling of things, having another launcher isn't a big deal, but when it's pile of shit, it sure is.

+1

I'm not gonna pirate because developers and publishers are already wishing to leave the PC platform and because I really don't mind paying upwards of 40 to get a great game at launch. And heck some games are cheap on sales so there really is barely any reason to torrent if you are low on money.

If I don't like a game or a game's tactics I'd just rather not buy it than pirate it.

Please read the bolded parts.

@R4gn4r0k said:Not really, but when the main reason for piracy decreasing these past few years has been convenience, and if they take away that convenience, then it's pretty obvious what it will lead to.

So, you're just using excuses to pirate? Good to know.

@true_link: one of us was talking about piracy, the other is talking about legit storefronts. Not sure why you are so confused about this.

@R4gn4r0k: If anything more publishers are putting their games on PC than ever. Too much easy money not to. A piracy resurgence may hinder that progress though.

@mrbojangles25: I was obviously referring to @R4gnar0k stance on why people will pirate, what you said had nothing to do with the excuses he gave.

Don't see how you get that, just saying that it's very easy to do and that the reason people don't want to have to use this launcher isn't because having to download it is inconvenient but other more serious issues the launcher has. Glad you know how to read.

Still not an excuse to pirate, sorry.

I guess Epic is salty 90% of their users only play Fortnite.

Data mining probably isn't worth much if all your users play the same thing. What can you sell with that? Not really worth anything in aggregate.

same here. GOG and Steam are the only ones i use the last 5 years and when i buy games on other stores i only buy if they provide a steam or GOG key.

Yeah, I was all gung-ho on Epic wanting to make their way into the PC gaming store forefront... but holy shit not like this. They feel like a fleet of Mad Max marauders that come to purge all the good shit instead of working to build a bridge to entice PC gamers. I'm all for devs getting a better cut from distributors, but that wasn't enough, so they chose to go for full disruption. At the point where it seems like they're actively turning devs against the community.

Competition is good, but Epic went from 0 to full shark mode out of the gate. This is the most blatant brute force entrance of the industry there's been in years.

Not making excuses, simple. I don't care what other people do.

And how else does one enter this industry? It's hard to find success in it and even harder to break into unless you're already a big player in the game.

I say, disruption is key. Amazon is another company that could use a little competition to stop being lazy.

@mrbojangles25: Agree wholeheartedly with this. It baffles me how developers can seriously ask people why they have a problem with using the Epic Games store as if it's just an issue of downloading the client.

Well that's nice, isn't that kind of the standard though? I mean for most video game companies I would think not necessarily companes in general or abroad.

Offer a better product or service, for starters. Maybe don't overextend yourself and operate within your budget, for seconds. Doing anything else is dishonest and cheating the customer.

The ideal way to do this would be for Epic to make a new, good game and then say "Hey guys, we are launching our own store alongside this new kickass game" then people would be like "Hey that's all right" and try it out. Ideally, Epic would have top-notch community tools, mod support (if applicable), and so forth. They'd start small.

But not only has Epic not made a great game for years, no no no, they have to bribe other companies and sell theirs. That ain't right.

Everyone thinks "Oh this is capitalism, you have to be cutthroat blah blah blah fight dirty something something" and that is simply not the case. I weep for my country if most people think like that.