The Outer Worlds goes Epic Games Store-exclusive (also Windows Store)

[ERYFKRAD]

obnoxious attitude.

 

[Thonius]

Colony Ship will be epic exlusive you heard it here first! Screencap it and save!

 

[rusty_shackleford]

ust because there's a publishing deal doesn't mean that Take2 can do whatever they fucking want.

They can do whatever the fuck the deal says they can do. That's exactly "how these things work". Since you're not privvy to the contents of said deal, perhaps you should tone down the obnoxious attitude.

Not to mention there's leverage - the IP itself, which is enough to give Take2 a reason to treat Obsidian as a partner rather than an indentured servant who has no say in this matter.

Obsidian is now a Microsoft company. There will be no more deals with outside publishers, from now on everything from Obsidian will be published and financed by Microsoft. There is no incentive for Take2 to consider any future "partnership" with Obsidian, there's no "future partnership" to be had.

This is Take2 and Obsidian fulfilling a contract made when Obsidian was an independent developer. Microsoft isn't going to be using Take2 to publish their IPs going forward, of that you can be sure.

As a consumer it is Not My Problem. Obsidian put themselves in this situation and if they can't get out of it then it's their fault.
The amount of consumers willing to eat any shit shoveled in front of their face is one of the main problems with this industry.
"Going forward they won't require you to install chinese spyware to buy their games! Thank goodness they've graced us with their product and are so gracious as to allow us lowly peasants to buy it!"

 

[Oracsbox]

Game could be utter horsehit anyway.
Even if it isn't I seldom buy games new and RPG's often need a year of patches (unless it's Bethesda and then we know it'll never be patched properly )and dlc shit to be worth playing and if obsidian want to bugger about with exclusivity I can wait.

 

[True Ukrainian]

ust because there's a publishing deal doesn't mean that Take2 can do whatever they fucking want.

They can do whatever the fuck the deal says they can do. That's exactly "how these things work". Since you're not privvy to the contents of said deal, perhaps you should tone down the obnoxious attitude.

Not to mention there's leverage - the IP itself, which is enough to give Take2 a reason to treat Obsidian as a partner rather than an indentured servant who has no say in this matter.

Obsidian is now a Microsoft company. There will be no more deals with outside publishers, from now on everything from Obsidian will be published and financed by Microsoft. There is no incentive for Take2 to consider any future "partnership" with Obsidian, there's no "future partnership" to be had.

This is Take2 and Obsidian fulfilling a contract made when Obsidian was an independent developer. Microsoft isn't going to be using Take2 to publish their IPs going forward, of that you can be sure.

As a consumer it is Not My Problem. Obsidian put themselves in this situation and if they can't get out of it then it's their fault.
The amount of consumers willing to eat any shit shoveled in front of their face is one of the main problems with this industry.
"Going forward they won't require you to install chinese spyware to buy their games! Thank goodness they've graced us with their product and are so gracious as to allow us lowly peasants to buy it!"

Then as a consumer just do not buy it instead of whining ad nauseam of how the dev betrayed you, of how sinister installing chinese spyware is and how Steam no longer has a monopoly over your ass. The very fact that consumers are "willing to eat shit" as you put it means that those concerns are ultimately minor and most people do not see it as a big deal.

 

[Glenda Glenn]

we'll take everything up to, like, an R-rated movie or an M-rated game

© Tim Sweeney, 2019

Any guesses for the ESRB rating?

Spoiler

 

[Turtle-Zone 3000]

 

[True Ukrainian]

No! I am not sore about no longer being part of Obsidian! Nuh uh! Everything is happy. I am happy. You hear me? HAPPY!

 

[rusty_shackleford]

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

ust because there's a publishing deal doesn't mean that Take2 can do whatever they fucking want.

They can do whatever the fuck the deal says they can do. That's exactly "how these things work". Since you're not privvy to the contents of said deal, perhaps you should tone down the obnoxious attitude.

Not to mention there's leverage - the IP itself, which is enough to give Take2 a reason to treat Obsidian as a partner rather than an indentured servant who has no say in this matter.

Obsidian is now a Microsoft company. There will be no more deals with outside publishers, from now on everything from Obsidian will be published and financed by Microsoft. There is no incentive for Take2 to consider any future "partnership" with Obsidian, there's no "future partnership" to be had.

This is Take2 and Obsidian fulfilling a contract made when Obsidian was an independent developer. Microsoft isn't going to be using Take2 to publish their IPs going forward, of that you can be sure.

As a consumer it is Not My Problem. Obsidian put themselves in this situation and if they can't get out of it then it's their fault.
The amount of consumers willing to eat any shit shoveled in front of their face is one of the main problems with this industry.
"Going forward they won't require you to install chinese spyware to buy their games! Thank goodness they've graced us with their product and are so gracious as to allow us lowly peasants to buy it!"

Then as a consumer just do not buy it instead of whining ad nauseam of how the dev betrayed you, of how sinister installing chinese spyware is and how Steam no longer has a monopoly over your ass. The very fact that consumers are "willing to eat shit" as you put it means that those concerns are ultimately minor and most people do not see it as a big deal.

If you just don't buy it and don't say anything then the devs don't fucking know why you didn't buy the game? Was is the storefront, was the game released on the wrong time of the year, did players lose faith in the studio, is gaming dying? Fuck if they know. Whining is one of the most beneficial things to do because then the devs know exactly why they've fucked-up. The only issue could be whining on Codex in a civilized manner instead of bothering the devs at twitter.
Also if the publishers cared about players, they'd release it on GOG if they didn't the entire "we want to break the monopoly" excuse is moot. "Release games on good store, don't bother with shitty ones" is not exactly rocket science.

 

[thesheeep]

Also if the publishers cared about players, they'd release it on GOG if they didn't the entire "we want to break the monopoly" excuse is moot. "Release games on good store, don't bother with shitty ones" is not exactly rocket science.

The bold part is
Breaking Steam's quasi-monopoly will in the end (most likely) be beneficial to customers. But I don't think anyone holds that up as the reason to go Epic exclusive. You'd really have to hate Steam with a passion for that, and I don't know any devs who do that.

 

[Doktor Best]

This really is a fucking shame. The game went from instant day1 purchase to "purchase a year and a half later on steam with some discount". Fuck Epic and fuck those on Microsoft/Obsidian who made this call.

Why not both?

 

[Infinitron]

Why not both?

Read the rest of the thread, the angry anti-Epic people actually convinced him of that.

 

[Makabb]

Epic beta testers will test it for us for a year and it will come at 50% off, win-win

 

[Reinhardt]

Epic beta testers will play Fortnite for a year

fixed

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Breaking Steam's quasi-monopoly will in the end (most likely) be beneficial to customers.

Will it?
There won't magically be multiple platforms each having a tiny slice, it will just be replaced with something else dominating the market.
Steam is relatively benign, careful with the monkey's paw.

 

[ZeniBot]

Epic beta testers will test it for us for a year and it will come at 50% off, win-win

So basically what happened with Fallout 76 Makabb eeey

 

[Makabb]

Epic beta testers will test it for us for a year and it will come at 50% off, win-win

So basically what happened with Fallout 76 Makabb eeey

eh, isn't f76 only on bethesda launcher

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Breaking Steam's quasi-monopoly will in the end (most likely) be beneficial to customers.

Again, in the given scenario this approach is just an embodiment of "fabulously optimistic". There's nothing tangible pointing to this benefiting the customers and a lot to suggest that things will get worse. The only positive development is that other players remain cool so far, looking from a distance at epic sperging around offering free booze and hookers to thirsty devs and publishers. But if they decide to retaliate then we're in for a ride and I bet we won't like it. Getting even closer to the autistic console playground is the last thing PC scene needs.

Good thing that there are like two games I'm genuinely looking forward to and I'd be happy with staying with my enormous backlog and replaying my favorites from the nineties, like the jaded cunt that I am.

 

[thesheeep]

Breaking Steam's quasi-monopoly will in the end (most likely) be beneficial to customers.

Again, in the given scenario this approach is just an embodiment of "fabulously optimistic". There's nothing tangible pointing to this benefiting the customers and a lot to suggest that things will get worse. The only positive development is that other players remain cool so far, looking from a distance at epic sperging around offering free booze and hookers to thirsty devs and publishers. But if they decide to retaliate then we're in for a ride and I bet we won't like it.

Retaliate with what? Sales? Cheaper prices? Consumer wins.
Exclusivity? Irrelevant, it's just a fucking launcher, get over it. People will play using whatever launcher is required to play their game.
Game flatrates? Will probably become standard at some point anyway, just like it did with movies and music. Bad for developers, sure, but if music and movie industry can deal with it, so can the games industry.

Getting even closer to the autistic console playground is the last thing PC scene needs.

I've seen this argument made often, and as usual with tinfoil hatter arguments, it doesn't make sense.
Console exclusivity cannot be compared to PC store exclusivity, because no money is involved in having either/both PC stores. While buying consoles costs money, each - that's a real decision.
Having another store on your PC is just another program, taking a negligible amount of space. You're already registered at dozens of services with your credit card/PayPal/name/etc. As if one more is going to make a difference.

Will it?
There won't magically be multiple platforms each having a tiny slice, it will just be replaced with something else dominating the market.
Steam is relatively benign, careful with the monkey's paw.

I don't see much pointing at EGS not becoming relatively benign. Beyond the nonsensical "China bad!" and "Oh noez! It scans muh files!" stuff.
Keep in mind the store is out only for a very short time and I fully expect it become much better over time, eventually reaching parity with Steam's features. If not, well, then it won't get a big share anyway. Exclusivity will get them a good start, but they cannot keep it up if users leave disappointed in the store.
Their content moderation alone is a huge plus to me, at least it won't have something like Steam's "disovery queue" that is filled with 9/10 asset flip/hentai/crap.

And I don't see what is negative in having two big players vs. just one.
It will be good for developers, because those stores need to compete for them. And it will be good for players, because those stores need to compete for them as well.
Seriously, what worst case scenario are you so afraid of?

 

[Reinhardt]

and I fully expect it become much better over time

But why?

 

[Reinhardt]

It will be good for developers, because those stores need to compete for them.

Buying exclusivity is not "competing".

And it will be good for players, because those stores need to compete for them as well.

But they don't compete. You don't have choice where to buy new Obsidian game.

 

[thesheeep]

and I fully expect it become much better over time

But why?

How about you read the rest of the statement? If the store doesn't improve, people won't stick to it and buy any games on it. Other than exclusives. But exclusives cost them money, they won't be able to pull that off for many titles forever. Epic loses money by doing these exclusivity deals, but it does so for getting potential customers. If those potential customers don't like the store, they won't buy from it (but from Steam instead).

It will be good for developers, because those stores need to compete for them.

Buying exclusivity is not "competing".

It is exactly that. When they bought those developers, they won the competition with Steam - mostly as Steam didn't even bother to make counter offer.
The word competition doesn't include any definition that would imply you can't buy yourself advantages.

And it will be good for players, because those stores need to compete for them as well.

But they don't compete. You don't have choice where to buy new Obsidian game.

Of course I do. I can either buy it on release on EGS, or a year later on any store. My backlog of games to play is so long, I'm actually more likely to do the latter...
There will also no doubt be games that appear on both stores - not every game on EGS is going to be an exclusive.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

You just went full strawman (who the hell ever wrote or thought that exclusivity on PC has anything to do with buying different consoles and what does it have to do with anything?) and wrote a lot of plain stupid stuff. Lower prices as a result of exclusivity wars? Lol.

The relevant part is that if you believe that the "competition is always good and anticonsumer entity will turn super cool as soon as their anticonsumer campaign brings success and it will be good for the consumer in the end" then yeah, take a look at the console market. The competition there has literally been called "wars" since forever, they're fighting tooth and nail for the customer, no quarter given, yada, yada. I'm sure this means that the console games are good, cheap and diverse, compared to 100% open PC with no competition and evil monopoly, right?

Riiiiiight.

Following console templates can only end badly and anyone who wants to deny you one of the biggest advantages of PC as a gaming platform is not your friend. This is as obvious as obvious things can be.

And there's more than that. What stops devs who readily accept cash upfront instead of providing the widest possible audience to their games from forgetting about it as soon as the the money is in their pockets and they notice that it's not selling all that well? Releasing buggy games and dropping support has not been a problem at all, what's the worst that could happen.

And again, in your quest to appear like a cool and level headed guy you accidently forgot to actually mention what's good about all that. Something tangible, that actually happened or is likely to happen based on similar scenarios and that benefits the gamers? Anything?

Lastly, the fact that you rationalize stuff like datamining with ironic and funneh quips does not stop them from being genuine concerns for people.

 

[Reinhardt]

If the store doesn't improve, people won't stick to it and buy any games on it.

People like you will jump on any dick they see.