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> Epic buys Rocket League publisher, announces Epic Launcher exclusive, and goes silent after backlash Seems like a better way to put it. They are buying IP le

by figgis 7y ago

> Epic buys Rocket League publisher, announces Epic Launcher exclusive, and goes silent after backlash Seems like a better way to put it. They are buying IP left and right and pushing their unfinished, buggy client in a very unhealthy way. [0] - https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-05-01-epic-acquires-psyonix-will-remove-rocket-league-from-sale-on-steam-later-this-year https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-05-01-epic-acquires-...

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
onien11235 7y ago
The link you provided doesn't say what you claim it says. The parent post is discussing giving away free games, not acquisitions. What is unhealthy about the way Epic is trying to attract users? I know they've received some negative press but I have yet to see a good argument for this.
- Causality1 7y ago
  Buying IP in order to pull it off competing storefronts is anti-consumer. >thereafter it will continue to be supported on Steam for all existing purchasers
  - onien11235 7y ago
    From the update at the very top of the article the GP linked: > Epic has offered an update on the confusingly worded statement issued to press earlier today regarding Rocket League's future status on Steam, now insisting that it has "not announced plans to stop selling the game there". Even if they do pull future sales of Rocket League off of Steam why is that a problem? Valve has purchased game companies. I've never seen anyone complain that you can't buy Left 4 Dead on GoG.
    - ripdog 7y ago
      Valve made L4D2. Or at least did a significant portion of the work. The problem with Epic is that they are either paying publishers for timed exclusives, or purchasing publishers outright in order to create artificial monopolies, and restricting consumer choice.
      - onien11235 7y ago
        Turtle Rock made L4D. Valve bought Turtle Rock. If paying for exclusives is bad what viable alternative strategy should Epic be using to get users to their store?
        sshagent 7y ago
        How about releasing the games at a cheaper price, as Epic charge so much less? Cheaper prices for games, shows a real commitement to the End User.
        aepiepaey 7y ago
        I've seen several comparisons showing that Epic's prices are not actually lower than Steam's (in general). Can't find them right now, and don't have the time to do a thorough comparison, but looking at the first three games on the Epic Store front page that also have Steam pages with prices seems to confirm this. That's "Oxygen not Included", "Vampire: The Masquerade® - Bloodlines™ 2" and "Outward", all of which are priced the same on both stores (€22.99, €59.99 and €39.99, respectively).
        benj111 7y ago
        Making a good store that people want to visit? Edit: I was being serious. "what viable alternative strategy should Epic be using to get users to their store?" What's preferable for the consumer? buying a monopoly, or competing on quality, price, customer service, etc, etc, etc.
        noirbot 7y ago
Creationer 7y ago
I've bought a few games on Epic, and had no problems. The lack of junkware like on Steam is great – I can honestly browse the store knowing that every game is high quality (even if not necessarily in the genre I enjoy). Achieveemnts not popping up helps focus on the actual game. Cloud save, family sharing etc. are of marginal use for me and I imagine 99% of consumers outside the vocal minority.
- gambiting 7y ago
  Well, I was about to comment that the lack of cloud save is the absolute dealbraker for me as I play games at home and at work, so if I can't sync saves automatically then I won't buy a game from there(#1 reason why I haven't bought Metro Exodus for instance, game which I am otherwise super interested in). But I guess that makes me a vocal minority :P
  - rangibaby 7y ago
    I used to “cloud save” my Borderlands 2 save files by symlinking the save game folder to a Dropbox folder
    - gambiting 7y ago
      Yes, that would be an option if my work allowed any services like that(and yes, it's slightly odd that dropbox/google drive are not allowed, but Steam cloud sync is).
      - efreak 7y ago
        Not sure if it helps any, but box.net allows webdav access and can be mounted natively by Windows.
        gambiting 7y ago
        Oh but it's not a technical issue - both dropbox and google drive would install and work fine, we have full administrative access on our machines with no restrictions. But it is against policy.
pbhjpbhj 7y ago
Epic are trying to do with gaming what Disney are doing with TV -- not pay distributers when they can do that but themselves, and use a strong monopoly on a sector of popular material to leverage their way in to distribution. It sucks for consumers.

by figgis 7y ago

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

onien11235 7y ago

The link you provided doesn't say what you claim it says. The parent post is discussing giving away free games, not acquisitions. What is unhealthy about the way Epic is trying to attract users? I know they've received some negative press but I have yet to see a good argument for this.

Causality1 7y ago
Buying IP in order to pull it off competing storefronts is anti-consumer. >thereafter it will continue to be supported on Steam for all existing purchasers
- onien11235 7y ago
  From the update at the very top of the article the GP linked: > Epic has offered an update on the confusingly worded statement issued to press earlier today regarding Rocket League's future status on Steam, now insisting that it has "not announced plans to stop selling the game there". Even if they do pull future sales of Rocket League off of Steam why is that a problem? Valve has purchased game companies. I've never seen anyone complain that you can't buy Left 4 Dead on GoG.
  - ripdog 7y ago
    Valve made L4D2. Or at least did a significant portion of the work. The problem with Epic is that they are either paying publishers for timed exclusives, or purchasing publishers outright in order to create artificial monopolies, and restricting consumer choice.
    - onien11235 7y ago
      Turtle Rock made L4D. Valve bought Turtle Rock. If paying for exclusives is bad what viable alternative strategy should Epic be using to get users to their store?
      - sshagent 7y ago
        How about releasing the games at a cheaper price, as Epic charge so much less? Cheaper prices for games, shows a real commitement to the End User.
        aepiepaey 7y ago
        I've seen several comparisons showing that Epic's prices are not actually lower than Steam's (in general). Can't find them right now, and don't have the time to do a thorough comparison, but looking at the first three games on the Epic Store front page that also have Steam pages with prices seems to confirm this. That's "Oxygen not Included", "Vampire: The Masquerade® - Bloodlines™ 2" and "Outward", all of which are priced the same on both stores (€22.99, €59.99 and €39.99, respectively).
      - benj111 7y ago
        Making a good store that people want to visit? Edit: I was being serious. "what viable alternative strategy should Epic be using to get users to their store?" What's preferable for the consumer? buying a monopoly, or competing on quality, price, customer service, etc, etc, etc.
        noirbot 7y ago

Creationer 7y ago

I've bought a few games on Epic, and had no problems. The lack of junkware like on Steam is great – I can honestly browse the store knowing that every game is high quality (even if not necessarily in the genre I enjoy). Achieveemnts not popping up helps focus on the actual game. Cloud save, family sharing etc. are of marginal use for me and I imagine 99% of consumers outside the vocal minority.

gambiting 7y ago
Well, I was about to comment that the lack of cloud save is the absolute dealbraker for me as I play games at home and at work, so if I can't sync saves automatically then I won't buy a game from there(#1 reason why I haven't bought Metro Exodus for instance, game which I am otherwise super interested in). But I guess that makes me a vocal minority :P
- rangibaby 7y ago
  I used to “cloud save” my Borderlands 2 save files by symlinking the save game folder to a Dropbox folder
  - gambiting 7y ago
    Yes, that would be an option if my work allowed any services like that(and yes, it's slightly odd that dropbox/google drive are not allowed, but Steam cloud sync is).
    - efreak 7y ago
      Not sure if it helps any, but box.net allows webdav access and can be mounted natively by Windows.
      - gambiting 7y ago
        Oh but it's not a technical issue - both dropbox and google drive would install and work fine, we have full administrative access on our machines with no restrictions. But it is against policy.

pbhjpbhj 7y ago

Epic are trying to do with gaming what Disney are doing with TV -- not pay distributers when they can do that but themselves, and use a strong monopoly on a sector of popular material to leverage their way in to distribution. It sucks for consumers.