Tim Sweeny Explains Exclusive Game Reasoning Via Twitter

"UbiSoft agreed to a co-exclusive on UPlay and the Epic Games store. Epic Games seeks exclusive games in order to have a unique lineup of games so there’s another reason for gamers to come to our store."

[Jin_Sakai]

This is not how you should go about opening a store on PC which is an open platform.

[Godmars290]

Correction: use to be an open platform. From now on there will only be more challengers to Steam, more publishers crating their own dedicated download platforms, so more market division for one that was never truly singular, that stopped being singular, since Steam.

The mentality of corporate consumerism has caught up, overtaken rundown, and is currently gutting that idealized notion of what consumerism should that libertarians are always going on about.

[Teflon02]

Well steam was and is open to the community, while every other platform is closed and more about the dev. Steams only issue is DRM but realistically outside it's crappy 1 week time to sign in. Everything is about the consumer. All these other platforms are extremly limited. I was fine with Origin and battle.net since I played only MP titles on both. But all this crap is going overboard. Epic doesn't release enough to warrant a platform and they're only paying for exclusive releases because all that fortnite money for sure. Scummy business by these guys all the time. I knew immediately from the moment the y refused to release on the Playstore they were a unhealthy bunch for the gaming community

[Godmars290]

@Teflon02:
GOG, which came about in direct response to Steam's DRM, says "hi"?

[tontontam0]

Years ago we can still install physical games and play it without activating it through steam. then games that required "STEAM ACTIVATION" starts appearing. I remember backlash from the community during those times, epic is just doing what steam did first.

[Michiel1989]

its still an open platform

[Godmars290]

@tontontam0: Only its not only doing so at less than the quality/ability Steam did it then, but aggressively poaching titles off Steam, effectively using Steam to advertise for them, amid spyware allegations.

Again: not only are they doing every dirty thing that they can in order to get you to use their launcher, but they're then using that launch to steal your personal information.

[HighlyDoubtful]

Crating? Seriously? Crating tho?

[Eldyraen]

It hasn’t really been that “open” in years.

Most every publisher has their own store now and only a few allow their games elsewhere. Smaller titles float around usually simply because Steam will let just about any trash title on it as well as the good ones (more than any other Store). So they go everywhere to try to get money from whoever will buy them.

Epic just does part of that for them now (cash up front). If they give them timed exclusivity (like Metro) then they also get to go elsewhere later on... and likely wait a bit longer for Steam’s constant (3 months or so) 25-75% off sales that some gamers wait for anyways.

Steam is phenomenal for gamers because of that, but probably not the best for publishers or devs. Plus the whole 30% cut issue.

Epic’s exclusives deals are definitely not ideal, but pc has been moving towards a divided platform of some type for years. Some publishers have even started publishing third party indies (publish rights but not full control) and I bet it’s just a matter of time until they do more or make them exclusive store titles as well.

[annoyedgamer]

"Smaller titles float around usually simply because Steam will let just about any trash title on it as well as the good one"

Stopped reading right there.

[FGHFGHFGH]

open platform = anyone can make software for it

[Christopher]

Devil's Advocate: There's a reason Steam is #1 and that's because competing with them is like asking Google to create a console better than Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo out of the gate. There's legit no real way for them to compete with Steam at this time than what they're doing, but if they don't evolve the platform to a necessary point in a year or so, Steam will still have won in the end.

[2pacalypsenow]

Was this ever in question?

[crazyCoconuts]

Right. Like...duh

[eddvdm]

I guess saying "Epic Games" brings in a lot of Fortnite players. So, I guess not a matter of question, but actually understanding, eh.

[TK-66]

So lets just analyse this. Epic offers a far better deal for developers compared to Steam, but you still need to pay them to release their games on your service? It's almost as if despite all the criticism Steam gets from developers it actually offers better visibility and sales potential. Who'd have thunk it, eh?

You can also tell that most of their most recent exclusivity deals have been rushed (proof being with the games boxart having the Steam logo covered with a sticker). It makes me wonder if Epic thought that their 12% cut publicity would be enough of a reason for people to begin purchasing games through their store over Steam. I'm sure that eventually EGS will become a better service but currently I have no incentive to purchase a game there over Steam.

[DaDrunkenJester]

I have no problems with epic opening a store and offering a better deal for devs. I am not even completely against grabbing some timed exclusives to attract attention. But do it with a brand new game and not games due out on another platform a month before it launches.

Also, they have had how many years to observe Steam and GOG and such? To launch a store with next to no features is just lazy and won't attract any gamers to stay. Sure, I bought Metro on Epic, but the store is so bad that I'll only ever use it for the handful of exclusives it buys. Its not going to retain me to buy other things because of how crap it is.

[TK-66]

"I have no problems with epic opening a store and offering a better deal for devs. I am not even completely against grabbing some timed exclusives to attract attention. But do it with a brand new game and not games due out on another platform a month before it launches."

I think I'm still against timed store exclusivity but I would forgive it more if it was announced something like 6-8 months before the game is scheduled for release like you said.

[Wolffenblitz]

Fairly sure we had an article here a week or so ago about Epic saying they're intentionally "running in the red" with their 12% figure.

I have a feeling that 12% is going to go up eventually.

[DaDrunkenJester]

@Wolffen

I think it's more that they are running in the red because they are dropping multi million dollar checks on games to get exclusives.

[TheGamez100]

Ugh wth. Fortnites success really went into their heads.

[-Gespenst-]

Meh, I'm just not going to buy games from the Epic Store. Might end up saving me a lot of money.

And the thing is, Fortnite won't be around forever. It's easy to see it dying just because of how shallow it is, and once it does, bye bye Epic Games store. In other words, I don't even think it would be wise to buy games on it, because who knows how long it's going to last.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Wow, still bribing eh

[Iceball2000]

I will not be supporting this practice. EPIC will not be installed on my system no matter what. Sure Steam has there own issues but this is an other level. What an EPIC fail... I wouldn’t think Tim was like this. Shame :(

[Blu3_Berry]

Lol, he even admits that they are severely lacking in features compared to Steam since they rushed it and that the only way to gain traction is to buy exclusivity rights (which is the scummiest thing to do). He truly doesn't give a crap of the PC gaming community at all. Someone asked him how it benefits us, the consumers in using their store and even Tim didn't provide a straight answer. He simply said it's to give developers more income so they can reinvest in games or provide better savings for us (only in some territories). That's a bunch of baloney. He truly does not give two sh*ts about the PC gaming community and only care about $$$.

[PlayableGamez-]

A lot of dudes are defending this anti-consumer practice.

[NotanotherReboot]

My anger for Epic Games multiplies exponentially by the day

[Miacosa]

Exclusives have been part of the gaming industry since day one and this is not some secret discovery. Spoilers they will continue to be in the near and far future until a better business model comes along.

[Wolffenblitz]

It's not just about Exclusives.

[ShadowWolf712]

...literally nothing in that thread says they pay to keep games off third party sellers.

Letting devs keep more of their money is not paying them. Nor does signing an exclusivity deal mean "payment".

[SkatterBrain]

Everybody left Fortnite to go play Apex Legends, Epic will run out of money and wont be able to buy more exclusives and developers who signed with them will feel dumb and will angrily wait till theyre 1 year exclusivity with steam ends so they can jump on steam again
Fortnite is the reason most people are downloading the Epic Store, once that game becomes Overwatch in player count, the developers signed to Epic will see a huge decline in there game sales, cause honestly i hate opening Origin and Uplay and Steam and updating them to play my game collection, the rockstar social club pisses me off and i can never play GTA5 without internet

[InKnight7s]

So epic want to special market in open industry!!!!

[gangsta_red]

How is this any different from paying for timed exclusively for consoles?

[ShadowWolf712]

Well for one, there's no actual "admission" payment is even going on. That said, it wouldn't be, and people seem all for it when it's their company of choice doing it.

The irony is that Valve could essentially nuke this in a second just by dropping the amount of the cut it takes, thus eliminating what makes Epic attractive to devs in the first place, but they won't. They'd rather just whine and rally their fanboys.

[Spenok]

Nail on the head with this comment.

[notachance]

dude the article isn't even about that, it's about how epic is forbidding 3rd party key seller such as humble and GmG to sell game keys

[gangsta_red]

Because they're paying for exclusive rights, how is that any different?

[notachance]

...clearly you don't understand huh

[bellome]

Greedy publishers are killing the industry.

[Xavi4K]

I don't understand the rage people having over this....I understand that you want to play your game on your PC on the storefront of your pick...but think of this as a console...no one complains about third-party exclusives for sony or switch before so why start now?

[Elwenil]

If you think no one has complained about 3rd part exclusive deals, then you haven't been paying attention.

[TheColbertinator]

Yeah we figured

[Rachel_Alucard]

I don't know if its just me but it feels like Tim is trying to compete with the Steam from 15 years ago still. He answers questions as if Steam still lacks things that have since been done and when he does comparisons it's based on outdated info. It's like he installed Steam once a decade and a half ago and never went back after.

[Goozex]

This is a similar tactic ms did with timed exclusives during the 360 gen.
I hope this doesnt give ms any ideas for their gamepass

[AmUnRa]

Gozex i would not be surpised if that really hapens....🙄

[Germaximus]

I don't understand the uproar from people about the Epic Games Store.

Try to imagine if they said that about Steam. Imagine how stupid they would sound.

[Rachel_Alucard]

Good thing Steam never paid off devs to keep games hostage from sale off every site.

[Cmoney007]

This makes me never want to spend money on their store ever. The only reason some of us probably even have this launcher is for the free games.

[TheUpbringer]

How did this store go from the Steam-Killer to the shit-starter is such a short amount of time?

[HaVoK308]

Some of are are too young to remember this, but Steam was hated when it first launched. We were forced to install and use it, to play their games. Sure it’s loved now, it’s normal. It’s all a lot of customers know. The same will be true for new launchers/platforms. I really do miss the truly open days of the Internet. But the convenience and playability is hard to deny. You don’t miss what you never had.

[Tross]

Shady business at its finest. Steam isn't perfect, but you don't see Gabe paying off publishers to not release games on their competitors' services. Also, what does it say about a platform if keeping a game exclusive to it would be too costly without some extra cash being forked over under the table? I'm all for Epic wanting to compete with a Goliath like Steam but I don't like how they're going about it.

[Smokehouse]

I feel for PC gamers. I’m used to this as a console gamer on closed platforms but I empathize. It’s a shit model for PC. Real competition would be epic undercutting steam prices, then steam returning the favor, etc. Gamers win when companies fight for business. This timed exclusive garbage is used to sell consoles, not games. It’s artificial, it’s not cheaper games and nobody wins.

[starchild]

Then why can't console makers complete in terms of features and cheaper prices? Why do they have to hold games hostage behind a $400 hardware paywall?

[Smokehouse]

That’s the point, they buy exclusivity to sell their consoles. That’s the only reason to pay a third party for the rights. It makes absolutely no sense on PC.

[XxINFERNUSxX]

I can confirm that I am torrenting all Epic single player games going forward and whatever else they have on their store :D I'm not the one losing Epic you are by not getting a fucking cent from me LMAO. At this rate I will be up tp 95% of games torrented in the future. Companies keep fucking with gamers. It's not hurting me my pocket is full XD

[S2Killinit]

Epic is going to put up a monthly subscription paywall plan soon. Get ready for it.

[NeoGamer232]

This is not at all pro-consumer nor pro competition. This is the easy way to try and get market share.

No platform/store should have game exclusivity. It coerces gamers to buy into a platform/store simply because the content is not available anywhere else. By agreeing to this Ubisoft has lost trust points in me, and Epic never had them to begin with. I probably won't buy the Division 2 on any platform because of this. And Epic can continue to stay on my blacklist.

Platforms/stores should win based on services, innovation, and quality NOT exclusivity.