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."

[Vits]

"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.

[fiveby9]

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.

[Dizzy11523]

Good for you.

[Profchaos]

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

[DefenderOfDoom2]

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

[fiveby9]

@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.

[Nitrowolf2]

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?!?!?!

[crazyCoconuts]

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

[Vits]

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".

[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.

[beulahland]

No.

[Obscure_Observer]

@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.

[UltraNova]

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.

[yomfweeee]

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

[blacktiger]

Remind me of Microsoft horrible PR

[beulahland]

Ok

[fiveby9]

@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.

[kevnb]

easy guaranteed money for the publisher...

[GhostTurtle]

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

[--bienio--]

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.

[crazyCoconuts]

Epic Fail. Nice.

[badz149]

@--bienio--

upvoted for "Epic fail"

LOL

[Taz X14]

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.

[crazyCoconuts]

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

[badz149]

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.

[lelo2play]

So it's timed exclusive...
Ok.

[El-GOD]

I would have bought this game instantly on steam, but now I'll wait to 2020, don't like to have games on various accounts

[ocelot07]

I like that VALVE have finally gotten some competition. But timed exclusives is annoying. If I had any interest in this game then I would be buying it on the Epic store as I have no issues with using multiple launchers (I already have to use Steam, Uplay, Origin, GOG, Bethesda Launcher so what is one more).

In my opinion they should release it on Steam but charge for it on steam than the Epic store. Sure it's not great for Steam users. But this would hopefully get Valve to be competitive.

[rainslacker]

That would probabliy be more productive to release it that way. Then when people wonder why, they can see that Steam charges a lot for the privaledge of selling on the store. 20%, I would say no biggie, since that's industry standard for digital store fronts, but 30% means devs don't really make much money. For my part, I think digital store cuts shouldn't be more than 10%, because of their volume, and what they actually provide, isn't really all that costly.

[TK-55]

"In my opinion they should release it on Steam but charge for it on steam than the Epic store. Sure it's not great for Steam users. But this would hopefully get Valve to be competitive."

That's actually funny because EPIC are the ones charging more for games. In the UK Ashen costs more on EGS than it does on XBL, Hello neighbour cost more on EGS than it does on Steam, so how is this competition if they're not being competitive?

[Dizzy11523]

Down with STEAM baby!

[XVision84]

What's the problem with their move though? They're fulfilling all the preorders and they don't have any obligations beyond that. I can understand the need to move on to the Epic store is annoying from a consumer standpoint but if it benefits them (which it clearly does since they're doing this) then I don't see why they wouldn't do it.

[Lionsguard]

"Our decision to nuke Japan was not our call, it was entirely North Dakota's call, whom we have control over...we think."

[Gwiz]

The funny thing is you're not even defending Epic by wanting more stores,more choice of stores (I'm starting to understand why brands get really too big for anyone's good)

When you tell me " get rid of all these clients " then yes,a FULL BLOWN YES. ( I'm not even talking from a purchasing bias as I have put money towards the XBX version)

[logotero]

There are some parallels between Steam when it first launched and the Epic Games store, most notably the exclusives. The difference is Valve made all their exclusives themselves, whereas Epic is buying them up instead.

People pointing out PC users that actually have a clue about what are anti-consumer practices, as simple "people that don't want to download another launcher" are just ignorant. Keep your console culture on your platforms. This is PC Gaming, we are actually INFORMED.

[Zerobalance]

Not a fan of monopolies so good for you Epic.

[badz149]

err...you do know you're saying conflicting things now, right? you're not a fan of monopolies yet you condone Epic's monopoly on Metro like this?

get your shit together dude

[SlagWolf]

I hate this exclusive bullshit. Put it on multiple storefronts and let me decide what one I want to use. I don’t like the way the Epic store front is doing this bull shit and I won’t be using it

[XxINFERNUSxX]

I will not install any other store besides Steam and well I don't really want it battle.net for Overwatch. For me one is all we need. So for all this bullshit with Epic, Uplay, or what ever the fuck else they can come up with going forward, well actually for years I will be torrenting all single player PC games. I do not lose anything at all. But I gain a shit ton of games. You all can complain all you want when it's me who will have the games for free ^_^