RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS

[LadyCrimson]

If it possibly saves the company from going under, that feels more understandable. I still think it's an icky thing to do, but sometimes business/running a company ends up like that. Hard decisions have to be made and it's not about malice or pure greed ... but such doesn't always make the consumer feel better or more accepting about feeling like expectations/promises aren't being met in the original promised form (not having to wait a delayed year if you wanted Steam/God, for example). Grey areas.

[Vitalis]

 

Of course I know that Epic is trying to diversify, but Phoenix Point seems like a really bad choice. It's a niche game in an already niche market that most people only care about because XCOM was a hit for some reason.

Yeah, but what other turn-based tactical games are being released? Legit question. I suppose they could court Goldhawk, but Xenonauts' footprint isn't much bigger. The obvious alternative is Firaxis, but I'm guessing Epic would have to offer 2K more money than an exclusivity deal is worth to them.

 

Poaching small and medium size developers is likely to get them the most bang for their buck, and megapublishers are notoriously risk-averse anyway.

 

I would be surprised if they haven't contacted PDX regarding Rome. Just imagine...

Paradox is just fine on their own, besides they also have their own launcher and store. Edited March 13, 2019 by Vitalis

[Hurlshort]

 But I guess you don't care about those because Julian's game will be good, right? Maybe? He told us as much.

 

 

That is literally the most important thing for me as a consumer. I didn't buy the game because it was going to be on GoG or Steam, I bought it to play it. Now if they suddenly decided to put it on a separate platform that I don't have access to, that would be a dealbreaker. I'd get my money back. Totally understandable to get a refund in those situations, and it would be wrong not to offer it on their part.

 

Again, it was also a small investment, so the idea that they took advantage of zero interest isn't a big deal to me. Savings account give what, 1.5%? I will not lose sleep over the extra cents they owe me.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Hurlshot

[Malcador]

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/03/gearbox-teases-likely-borderlands-3-announcement-for-march-28/

 

 

Epic exclusive I am hoping.

[Katphood]

Atomicrops is effin' sweet yo!

 

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-03-13-atomicrops-takes-farming-sims-beyond-the-nuclear-apocalypse

 

And at the end of the day Malcador's right: All that will be forgotten, like tears in the rain, by the time the game's released.

Err...time to die?! Edited March 14, 2019 by Katphood

[Gorth]

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/03/gearbox-teases-likely-borderlands-3-announcement-for-march-28/

 

 

Epic exclusive I am hoping.

In which case.... bye bye sale

[Agiel]

I can think of one potential upside of the whole Epic Games debacle: If it manages to succeed in taking a big bite out of Steam's market share (and it's an "if" that's the size of the Seawise Giant) then perhaps it might persuade Valve to finally get off their fannies and get on with making a killer app people actually want that might move the goalposts again, be it Half-Life 3 or Left 4 Dead 3.

 

Granted this is easy speculation on my part; the games I'm looking forward to likely won't be made exclusive to the Epic Launcher (like Digital Combat Simulator or Slitherine's wargames) or are pretty much guaranteed to be available on another platform (Cyberpunk 2077 on GOG).

[Gorth]

For me, it's very simple. The friends I play online games with love Steam. That means we games we play online, are either MMO's or Steam based for the ease of use when teaming up for co-op games. If a multiplayer/co-op game doesn't fit one of those 2, it will get the pass from us and we will look for other games. Not because of any love for Steam, but because it's just games and none of us likes to have many launchers installed. I'm the "worst" of the bunch because I have Origin installed besides Steam. No Ubi stuff, no Battlenet, no whatever.

 

Edit: That included a bit of a half truth as I did have battlenet installed for a while when trying out the free version of WoW. It disappeared together with Wow again.

[Fenixp]

Also they've ****ed over companies that might need crowd funding the future, this is another nail in the coffin because a lot of people have been burnt by arseholes.

Studios which succeeded in delivering what they said in their KS, word-to-word, are in the minority. Why? Because game development is a long and non-trivial process. Anyone who thinks that you can create a set of goals and not shift it in the in coming years, especially in the face of circumstances you could have not possibly predicted, should not crowdfund.

 

All things like these do is finally show people crowdfunding for what it actually is and if you're unwilling to accept that, crowdfunding is not for you, plain and simple. So, at the end of the day, only people who actually -understand- what crowdfunding is will stick with it, and I call that a big win.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Fenixp

[AwesomeOcelot]

Why? Because game development is a long and non-trivial process. Anyone who thinks that you can create a set of goals and not shift it in the in coming years, especially in the face of circumstances you could have not possibly predicted, should not crowdfund.

I disagree with your characterization of this, especially when one of your examples of this is Snapshot with Phoenix Point. There's a lot of examples of dev's not fulfilling promises, letting down fans, and going back of their word. In many of these cases it had nothing to do with the complexities of development and everything to do with dishonesty and greed.

All things like these do is finally show people crowdfunding for what it actually is and if you're unwilling to accept that, crowdfunding is not for you, plain and simple. So, at the end of the day, only people who actually -understand- what crowdfunding is will stick with it, and I call that a big win.

Filled with untrustworthy developers who will literally say and do anything. That might be what crowdfunding is, but I don't think people should accept that. Maybe they should be sceptical of it. The success rate of just my backed video game crowd funding list is above 90%, I have had issues with 3 projects I've backed. It's definitely not how it could or should be, there's plenty of developers not acting like arseholes.

[Katphood]

Did anybody here take notice that Epic Games Store doesn't even have half of the features Steam already has?! Sure, it might improve over time but as it is now, I'd rather wait a year and buy the game on Steam but here is the big question: how much will the games cost when they appear on Steam after a year? Full price? 60 dollars?

 

Not that it matters, I am just looking for something to **** about.

[Fenixp]

Did anybody here take notice that Epic Games Store doesn't even have half of the features Steam already has?!

Apparently, by the time Phoenix Point arrives, cloud saves and achievements should be live - the former being pretty much the only thing I personally care about.

 

Anyway, the game costing the same price on Steam launch as it cost on Epic launch would be like selling it at a discount for the devs, since Steam takes a bigger price cut than Epic does, so I'd not be surprised if it did launch fully priced (and, to be fair, how many games permanently drop their price after being on sale for a year?)

 

In many of these cases it had nothing to do with the complexities of development and everything to do with dishonesty and greed.

There's a huge gap between "Keeping the studio afloat for the years to come" and "Dishonesty and greed". In fact, keeping your employer's job secure is by far the most fair way of treating them, whereas the devs quite literally can't really say or do anything online without enraging part of their consumer base.

 

Filled with untrustworthy developers who will literally say and do anything.

If your definition of "Untrustowrthy developer who will literally say and do anything" is a dev team that created precisely the product they promised and will be delivering them on platforms they promised, just with a few caveats introduced along the way, then you should keep as far away from the world of software development as possible. And business world for that matter.

 

But yes, when taking a look at a kickstarter pitch, you should absolutely go in with the mindset that it's just people trying to scam you for money and if you back a project, you should consider that money lost and adjust the amount you're willing to pledge with that in mind.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Fenixp

[bugarup]

I can understand why Epic rammed into this market like brutal smelly hog, it's very hard to win by playing nice and polite with the ultimate dominant like Steam. I still think this is odious practice that must be awarded with utter failure, alas, life is unfair and when it's about big money it's unfair¹⁰. 

 

It'd be funny if Epic pulled the stunt popular with telecommunication (and not only) companies, when they enter with dumped prices (or price cuts in this case) to lure clients in and then raise them over time, expecting those clients to stay out of inertia or unwillingness to go through the hassle again. 

[Katphood]

Nintendo

Xbox Live

PlayStation Network

Steam

Origin

GOG

Epic Games Store

mobile games(android/iphone)

and very soon: Google gaming or whatever it's called

 

...

 

I wish all of these could be infused into one platform.

[AwesomeOcelot]

There's a huge gap between "Keeping the studio afloat for the years to come" and "Dishonesty and greed".

There's no gap when you keep the studio afloat through dishonesty. They can't work for a living like other devs, they have to take Epic's bribe? I don't think so. Shows how much they must think of this game.

...just with a few caveats introduced along the way...

Well I can see why you have no problem with Snapshot's dishonesty.

But yes, when taking a look at a kickstarter pitch, you should absolutely go in with the mindset that it's just people trying to scam you for money and if you back a project, you should consider that money lost and adjust the amount you're willing to pledge with that in mind.

That's just cynical bull****. You'll never be disappointed in life, but it's incorrect. It also absolves developers asking for crowd funding of responsibility and that's wrong, that's the problem with half these situations, no responsibility taken. If you go into a pitch with bad faith, you're in the wrong, not the people who backed you. Edited March 14, 2019 by AwesomeOcelot

[marelooke]

Someone posted a rather interesting post about the Epic store on the Phoenix Point reddit. The post itself is a bit old (at least for this instant news age), so maybe some here have already seen it.

 

The tl;dr is that the Epic Store is bad for small developers as well and that, if the cut was such a big deal, there are other alternatives that take even less of a cut that are conveniently ignored when it is brought up. My takeaway here is that the constant bringing up of the smaller cut Epic takes is either misinformed or plain dishonest shilling.

 

My takeaway is that Epic doesn't have anything over the alternatives except for bags of money to throw around, and them doing so effectively hurts some of the better alternatives (eg. the entire Gog thing, but I wouldn't be surprised Humble might also be feeling it)

[Fenixp]

They can't work for a living like other devs, they have to take Epic's bribe?

Software development is work, and vast majority of the fabled "other devs" actually only ever operate by taking "bribes" from "publishers" to develop a product. It's how majority of the industry works - and how a whole bunch of crowdfunded projects went as well, incidentally.

 

Well I can see why you have no problem with Snapshot's dishonesty.

*chuckle*

And I can see you would prefer the dev team's children starving before they took a publisher deal! Why would you murder children!?

Edited March 14, 2019 by Fenixp

[marelooke]

 

They can't work for a living like other devs, they have to take Epic's bribe?

Software development is work, and vast majority of the fabled "other devs" actually only ever operate by taking "bribes" from "publishers" to develop a product. It's how majority of the industry works - and how a whole bunch of crowdfunded projects went as well, incidentally.

 

Well I can see why you have no problem with Snapshot's dishonesty.

*chuckle*

And I can see you would prefer the dev team's children starving before they took a publisher deal! Why would you murder children!?

 

 

I know you're being facetious here, but Bulgaria is a civilized country with a working social security system. If Snapshot Games folds no-one is going to starve.

[AwesomeOcelot]

Software development is work, and vast majority of the fabled "other devs" actually only ever operate by taking "bribes" from "publishers" to develop a product. It's how majority of the industry works - and how a whole bunch of crowdfunded projects went as well, incidentally.

Epic isn't funding the game, the game was already funded. This exclusivity deal from a store is not a publisher deal. It's a bribe, publisher deals are getting paid to do work. Software developers do work, the vast majority of other devs didn't take a bribe from Epic. This is not how the majority of the industry works, that's a complete lie. It's also the first time I've seen a crowdfunded project doing this, and I've backed and seen a lot of projects. I don't know why you want to misrepresent this situation so badly.

*chuckle*

And I can see you would prefer the dev team's children starving before they took a publisher deal! Why would you murder children!?

They didn't take a publisher deal. Also you don't seem to understand the definition of murder. These devs can work for a living, they don't need to take bribes from Epic to live, they can develop and sell games, or do something else if they're ****. Edited March 14, 2019 by AwesomeOcelot

[Fenixp]

Would you look at that, Dwarf Fortress is getting an official graphical pack with some extra features as a part of a paid version on Steam. Fret not, development and support of the free version will continue along with it.

 

Edit: Removed a bit of the post, sorry!

Edited March 14, 2019 by Fenixp

[Zoraptor]

Someone posted a rather interesting post about the Epic store on the Phoenix Point reddit. The post itself is a bit old (at least for this instant news age), so maybe some here have already seen it.

Being a bit old isn't a problem, being from someone who uses Resetera is. That site is utter cancer. I'm still disappointed they didn't get kicked entirely for their doxxing and harassing rather than just being given a final warning by their host.

 

The tl;dr is that the Epic Store is bad for small developers as well and that, if the cut was such a big deal, there are other alternatives that take even less of a cut that are conveniently ignored when it is brought up. My takeaway here is that the constant bringing up of the smaller cut Epic takes is either misinformed or plain dishonest shilling.

 

If cut were such a big deal... everyone would run their own store and get 100%? Then again, if cut were irrelevant then nobody would run their own store and everyone would just use Steam, and Gaben could put his cut up to to whatever he likes? It's almost as if the situation is a bit more nuanced than he's letting on.

 

Itch.io and Humble aren't even the cheapest options anyway, direct selling via BMTmicro is so far as I am aware, and in reality they're all selling slightly different things- BMT is cheap as chips but completely bare bones, Humble is high(ish nowadays) volume but very low margin, itch.io is tiny; and the bigger players have services with more features. Having said that though many Steam features are designed not carefully to appeal to developers and customers but carefully to promote the maximal amount of lock in to steam as a service- same for Origin (Access especially, though it si very good value if you're willing to cancel your sub when not using it), uPlay and to a lesser extent GOG.

 

My takeaway is that Epic doesn't have anything over the alternatives except for bags of money to throw around, and them doing so effectively hurts some of the better alternatives (eg. the entire Gog thing, but I wouldn't be surprised Humble might also be feeling it)

 

 

Bags of money to throw around is a pretty massive plus to have though. Practically it has a different market from most of the smaller players including GOG (all of whom's greatest competitor is Steam), Humble has a different sales model, while Origin and Uplay exist to sell EA and Ubisoft titles. Epic Store is completely irrelevant to some of those stores and mostly irrelevant to the rest.

 

GOG is hurt by CDPR not having a recent release and still being mostly an old game site where most people have bought what they want. GOG is also not primarily in competition with Epic and Epic Store may actually be better for GOG- as they may well end up getting titles like Metro Exodus the same day that their main competitor (steam) does instead of well after.

[Malcador]

Did anybody here take notice that Epic Games Store doesn't even have half of the features Steam already has?! Sure, it might improve over time but as it is now, I'd rather wait a year and buy the game on Steam but here is the big question: how much will the games cost when they appear on Steam after a year? Full price? 60 dollars?

 

Not that it matters, I am just looking for something to **** about.

 

Only feature you should need is it processing your payment and delivering the game you bought to you

[Hurlshort]

Nintendo

Xbox Live

PlayStation Network

Steam

Origin

GOG

Epic Games Store

mobile games(android/iphone)

and very soon: Google gaming or whatever it's called

 

...

 

I wish all of these could be infused into one platform.

 

A monopoly would come with its own problems though. Why bother with a big sale if you are the only game in town? 

[bugarup]

By the way, where is Sonicmage117? Is he okay? 

[mkreku]

So it looks like Denuvo actually does eat your CPU cycles, thanks to DMC 5's Denuvo free developer fork being public for a few hours alongside the standard denuvoed exe. Up to 25% of your precious fps go straight to the DRM anti tamper. I haven't been so surprised since I last dropped something and it was accelerated towards the object of greatest local mass.

 

Or maybe it's all a plot by dastardly pirates to slander Denuvo's good name...

 

Or.. these developers implemented Denuvo poorly. Or are you suggesting Denuvo has a 25% performance hit every time?