460°

THQ Nordic issues official statement about Metro Exodus releasing as timed-exclusive on Epic's store

DSOGaming writes: "In a series of tweets, THQ Nordic stated its official stance regarding the timed-exclusive release of Metro Exodus on Epic’s digital store. According to THQ Nordic, the decision to release the game initially only on Epic’s store was made entirely by Koch Media who is responsible for Deep Silver’s games."

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Vits1951d ago (Edited 1951d ago )

"It wasn't us who decided take the game out of Steam two weeks before launch, even though the game was up to pre-orders there for a month. It was our subsidiary that made that call, even though we do have control over them".

Pretty basic PR response.

fiveby91951d ago

I will not purchase any game on PC exclusive to the EPIC store. So two games which I had interest are off my buy list, The Div 2 and Metro Exodus. I like competition for Valve but not this way. Plus EPIC has no user reviews on their store. Valve's user reviews which show the number of hours played alongside the user who posted the review are very useful. I am not blindly loyal to Valve / Steam but EPIC's storefront is not the way to go right now.

Profchaos1951d ago

I don't see a problem with epics store it's probably on par with origin and battlenet it's not feature rich at the moment but it's early days. Like most people I'd prefer to have my games in the one place but these days that's impossible

DefenderOfDoom21951d ago

Do Steam users not have the ability to watch or read reviews outside the Steam site , heck no.!

fiveby91951d ago

@DefenderofDoom2 What is useful about Steam user reviews is they are accompanied by the number of hours a person played the game. So it is known that the account posting the review actually owns and has played teh game. But yes I do agree that it is still important to watch streams or YT vids of a game before making a purchasing decision.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 1951d ago
Nitrowolf21951d ago (Edited 1951d ago )

That last statement sounds so contradicting

They didn’t make the call, but the people that they are in charge of made the call. -_-

I mean that sounds like they went over their head then, and if that’s the case than why not reverse the decision if they are trying to shift the blame yet say they have control over it, what?!?!?!

crazyCoconuts1951d ago

Yeah, that's crazy. Either defend your people's decision or make it right.

Vits1951d ago

This is me summarizing their answer though. Their original comment is obviously far less sincere and don't touch on the fact that THQ Nordic are the owner of Koch Media, they actually try to spin it calling it a "sister company".

UltraNova1951d ago

Watch THQ Nordic go through the same shit Crystal Dynamics went through when they decided to upset the market by making the TR reboot exclusive to Xbox for one year.

Obscure_Observer1951d ago

@UltraNova

"Watch THQ Nordic go through the same shit Crystal Dynamics went through when they decided to upset the market by making the TR reboot exclusive to Xbox for one year."

It wasn´t the TR reboot. It was the sequel, Rise of the Tomb Rider. If you want to start something, a least get your facts straight.

UltraNova1950d ago

Obscure,

Provided you skiped my point entirely, you admit it was a bad move on behalf of CD. Great nice to see some sense into to you for a change.

*I meant the series reboot. You knew it, you're just salty as a beef jerky.

yomfweeee1951d ago

Even though we do have control over them? What the hell? Then it was you.

fiveby91951d ago

@Profchaos For me it's less about the additional launcher than the lack of user reviews and exclusivity. Currently having no user reviews is a minus IMO. Publishers would like to stifle user reviews on the store where they hope to sell you their game. Why not sell the game on both Steam, EPIC, and others? Perhaps Valve will modify their cost model for publishers someday. Or maybe EPIC will enable reviews in their store.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 1950d ago
kevnb1951d ago (Edited 1951d ago )

easy guaranteed money for the publisher...

GhostTurtle1951d ago

At the cost of a shit ton of sales, sure!

--bienio--1951d ago

For me metro Exodus not exist at the moment simply as that. We can complain steam for different things,but remove game two weeks before release is shot at the foot. Epic fail.

badz1491950d ago

@--bienio--

upvoted for "Epic fail"

LOL

Taz X141951d ago

While I understand their reasoning for doing this, I think the fact they had pre-orders on steam for ages before mentioning this is probably the worst way to announce exclusivity. I'd be interested to know if the number of sales they expect to lose over this debacle gets offset from the increased profits they'll get from Epic's reduced take.

crazyCoconuts1951d ago

Right. And by the time it hits Steam, I don't think they'll be able to pull off full price.

badz1491950d ago

WIN-WIN for Steam customers, no?

I know the urge to play a game on day-1 but I found it very hard to justify that decision nowadays due to the seasonal sales and Humble Bundle etc. personally this applies to multiplats on PC for me. I have only EVER bought 1 game on launch day on Steam which was SSOD but that was $10. the other hundreds of games in my Steam Library cost me like $60 or maybe less. not each, but ALL ~= $60 because I waited for sales and bundles before I got them.

maybe it's just me but I don't really like digital only like on PC due to the fact that they are unsellable after. they are stuck to my account forever thus I don't feel like spending a serious amount of cash for them. I only spend when I think the amount is not gonna sting so that's why I wait most of the time.

I have both Metro Redux and you guess it, I got both for <$5. Good games are good games 4-5 years later too. even if they age badly, well...at least you didn't splash too much for them.

lelo2play1951d ago

So it's timed exclusive...
Ok.

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200°

Take-Two CEO Doesn’t Think AI Will Reduce Employment or Dev Costs; “Stupidest Thing” He’s Heard

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick doesn't think AI will reduce employment or lower development costs, and calls it "stupidest thing" he's ever heard.

lodossrage9h ago(Edited 9h ago)

They already have AI trained to do coding.......

How he thinks it's stupid is beyond me, Especially since we see it happening in real time.

CS77h ago

Company A has 300 employees and lays of 200 to replace them with AI to release the same quality game.

Company B has 300 employees and keeps all 300 but instead uses AI to release a game with dramatically larger scale, scope, complexity, short dev cycle etc.

Company B would release a dramatically better product by using humans + AI and consumers would buy the better game.

I actually agree with this concept.

Huey_My_D_Long7h ago(Edited 7h ago)

This is key facet. Its how the AI is used. It's actually is impressive as is and really would make an amazing addition to alot of people in their jobs, not just tech. It also has the potential for businesses to use to lay off large amounts of people, as much as they could to save money on labor. I hope too many companies don't go with the latter. But since usually companies are worried about bottom line over people...we will see some try and hopefully fail. But yeah, if its to help workers like in your company B scenario I'm totally down...Just scared Company A may be too enticing to some ceos and businesses.

Darkegg6h ago

Value of AI and value of humans will both be increased with human-AI complex. Each, by themselves, will not be independently better than the other. Whether AI will ever be independent from humans is the fear question of humans, ironically because of our doing. At this stage, most of the doing is because of humans, not because of AI. AI is doing exactly that by our design, until we have failed ourselves with an AI development that went awry. The biggest take is that humans have only ourselves to blame when things become wrong, and we have to decide what is the ultimate goal with AI we want to accomplish. It would take a person with high morals and high ethics to make right of AI. I would not want businessman to decide what AI should do or what capabilities it can have. AI should be in the hands of people with high moral fiber, or those operating on love, kindness, and compassion.

BlackOni6h ago

AI is SUPPOSED to be used as a tool, not a replacement. It's designed to do two important things artists can take advantage of immediately.

- Make the ideation/reference imaging process much quicker and easier (basically using it as a google search)
- Make mundane and time consuming tasks faster and easier so more time is spent on creation.

Unfortunately, what many have done is used it as a way to replace rather than supplement.

Einhander19723h ago(Edited 3h ago)

CS7

In the ideal world yes.

In the real world where companies have shown little desire to innovate and spent every effort to maximize profits the end result will be the same quality games (if were lucky) made by less people and more AI.

Company Real World: Fires 200 people and makes the same game cheaper using AI and the executives get record bonuses.

Edit:

Lets look at history, specifically auto manufacturing.

In the 70's and 80's the auto unions tried to oppose automation of jobs (robots) stating that they would take peoples jobs. And the people in charge who wanted to make more money said the exact same types of things that are being said about AI. But we can look at history and see that countless types of jobs were in fact replaced by automation, that was of course even compounded upon by computers.

The net effect was that the rich got richer less jobs were needed so wages were forced down by competition for the jobs that were left.

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Number1TailzFan7h ago

You can already make your own SFX with text prompts now as well, of course it will lower development cost and time

1Victor6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

WARNING WARNING ‼️ SARCASM AHEAD
Sure Strauss and robots didn’t take jobs from car factories.
Edit:Sad thing is he believes it and unfortunately he won’t be replaced for a long time by AI

senorfartcushion5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

He doesn't, he's just lying. These people lay people off so they can get bonuses. If AI takes jobs, their bonus goes bigger and the workforce goes smaller.

porkChop3h ago

Because he sees AI as a tool to aid development. He wants to use AI to help make bigger and better games in the same timeframe. Other CEOs want to replace devs with AI to cut costs and make lifeless games faster for a quick buck. Strauss has the right idea, this is how AI should be used. To extend and expand the capabilities of devs.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 2h ago
jambola9h ago

Ceo says stupid thing
Part 5837384

Zeref7h ago(Edited 7h ago)

I think maybe sometimes we give people in these positions too much credit when it comes to intelligence.

romulus237h ago

As long as it doesn't effect his inflated executive salary or his ridiculous bonuses I'm sure he's fine with it.

RNTody7h ago

Hahaha yeah trust the CEO suit over the actual developers making the games. Good one.

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200°

Sony shares big new PS Plus stat, but not the one we want to see

PlayStation Plus has improved the split of PS4 and PS5 players on its priciest tiers, but Sony continues to hide total subscriber numbers.

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mandf2d ago

lol acting like it’s equivalent to ms numbers

Mr Logic2d ago

Uh...They're definitely not equivalent.

"Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service now has 34 million subscribers."

"the total number of PS Plus subscribers across all tiers was 47.4 million"

darthv722d ago (Edited 2d ago )

That PSN number seems like it should be much higher... especially when you consider that PS4 alone has a sell through of over 117m. To not even be at least half that is rather interesting.

To the XB side, having 34m to an install base of roughly 50m (XBO sell through) or even 85m (360 sell through) is a greater percentage of unit to member ratio than PSN.

bloop2d ago

That's not the "gotcha" you think it is Darth.

darthv722d ago

^^it's not supposed to be bloop.... it's just an interesting observation.

Einhander19721d 23h ago

darthv72

"That PSN number seems like it should be much higher... especially when you consider that PS4 alone has a sell through of over 117m. To not even be at least half that is rather interesting.

To the XB side, having 34m to an install base of roughly 50m (XBO sell through) or even 85m (360 sell through) is a greater percentage of unit to member ratio than PSN."

Have you ever heard of a PC before? I hear they are pretty popular.

fr0sty1d 17h ago

MS started lumping gold subscribers in with those GP numbers... keep in mind.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 1d 17h ago
shinoff21832d ago (Edited 2d ago )

What. Definitely more os plus subscribers but that makes sense due to actual console sales

Darth the difference between the bases are huge your right but you gotta think. Ps players buy more games, where as the Xbox base relies on gamepass for their gaming. So it makes perfect sense

darthv722d ago (Edited 2d ago )

What makes perfect sense though? You say PS players buy more games... so then logically there should be more PS+ subscribers given the increased number of online multiplayer games in the PS4 generation alone. The PS4 was the first time that + was required for online play much like Gold was for 360 users.

Keep in mind we are talking subscribers, not simply XB/PS users. I assume you meant to say offline single player games, which is most likely true as well. That gen also saw a significant increase in games with an online component comparted to the previous gen.

victorMaje2d ago

I for one will be going back to essential at the next renewal. When I feel a game is good & right up my alley, I’ll check trusted reviews & just buy it.

jznrpg2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

I have the top tier until 2028 as they gave me a massive discount for all the years I had left but I’ll most likely go to essential as well. I buy my games but my kids do use the service occasionally. They do prefer to own their games as well since any game can leave the rental service at some point and they don’t like that idea. They mostly use it to demo games then ask me to buy games if they really like it.

RedDevils1d 22h ago

For me, I will cancel it all together but unfortunately I still have it till 2030 lol

meganick2d ago

I would like to see Sony add a fourth tier of PS Plus for people who just want to be able to play games online without any of the perks like monthly games, store discounts, or anything like that, and it should cost $20 annually, $30 maximum. There’s no way I’m paying $80 just to play games online. Even the original $60 fee was too much, and I would often wait for sales to re-up my subscription.

P_Bomb1d 22h ago (Edited 1d 22h ago )

Essential is too expensive, I agree. We’ve got one Essential and one Premium sub. Dropping the Premium when it expires.

gamerz1d 18h ago

Just let my subscription lapse for the first time since 2010. Will sub again every now and then for a month or so to access my old ps+ games but for me it's the end of an era.

DivineHand1251d 18h ago

Let those numbers continue to drop because it is now too expensive. $80 per year just to play online. I noticed they didn't offer any discounts on the subscription or controllers during this year's days of play for the first time in many years and they will feel it when people choose not to renew.

My subscription will lapse next month and it will stay that way until further notice.

KevtheDuff1d 14h ago

There were savings on subs and controllers here in the UK? I bought a controller yesterday in the sale..
It would be weird if those deals were not in other territories too?

160°

Silent Hill Transmission Livestream

Konami has announced that a Silent Hill Transmission will take place on Thursday, May 30, at 4pm PT/7pm ET that will reveal game updates, a "deeper look at the film," and new merch. Join us at IGN to find out what's next for this beloved franchise.

RaidenBlack3d ago

Hope SH2 gets more polish before release.

P_Bomb3d ago

I’m not paying $94 CAD for what they’ve shown me. Looks rough as sin.

Fishy Fingers2d ago

Ive seen better lip syncing during a Punch and Judy show

Sonic18812d ago (Edited 2d ago )

This looks terrible. Capcom should have done the remake 😂 The animations and gameplay looks stiff.

-Foxtrot2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Okay. I was saying before in another article how SH2 looked better than the last trailer, which is true but damn this looks rough as hell.

I wanted RE4 / Dead Space remake quality

Sonic18812d ago (Edited 2d ago )

I wouldn't buy it for $70 dollars. Maybe when it's on sale.

-Foxtrot2d ago

Yeah full price, deluxe editions, Konami are f***** tripping here.

CrimsonWing692d ago

The characters look terrible to me… like it’s distracting.

repsahj2d ago

I will give this game a chance!!! let's go!

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