The Outer Worlds won't launch on Steam

[Mikeymoonshine]

One thing I must commed Epic is their choice of titles. From all the sea of average they tend to pick the few titles I am interested in.

Well they seem to be picking games that are getting a lot of buzz from the gaming communities. A lot of these deals are obviously very last minute as a few of these games were already announced as being on Steam before they became EIC exclusives. They want to attract dedicated gamers to their service, people who don't just play fortnite.

 

As for being the service without all the trash, isn't gog already that service?

[Wormerine]

As for being the service without all the trash, isn't gog already that service?

Yes, but unfortunately my guess would be that GOGs no DRM policy scares off every major release. There are too few major releases missing there, and those that come out are greatly delayed (wooo Hitman Blood Money and Absolution were just added to gog library... while being quite obsolete with release of two excellent seasons of DRM heavy new Hitman-thingy).

 

GOG did some interesting things by currently being the only source of Diablo1 and Warcraft 1&2, but well, those types of exclusives will only get them that far. I know were I go for old games and indies but all new shiny releases are not to be found on GOG, and probably either never be, or after they lost their relevance to wider public.

 

My biggest worry with Epic snatching exclusives, is that if they continue to grab promising Indie Games, it will hurt gog even more, and they already seem to be having problems.

[cacaongu]

Can they remove steam logo its not like they sell on steam in a year ????

[JBento]

Remember back in the day... you didnt even need any of this junk to play pc games. Now steam has everyone by the balls, same as amazon and youtube and facebook.

No, but you DID have to make sure that you never misplaced your manual or your codewheel or whatever ridiculous hell of a copyprotection method devs thought was a good idea to cram into their games. If anything, "using Steam to verify the game is legit" was an immense step down in the "hassle the legit consumers and literally nobody else" practice.

 

And, as this can't be said enough, copyprotection is the most ridiculously useless crap to ever be coded - if your game is getting pirated, it's not EACH PIRATE breaking your precious DRM, it's like 10 guys all over the world who then make the files available to everyone, and there's literally nothing you can do that can beat any of those 10 guys.

[Gorgon]

Well, who even has a CD/DVD drive anymore. These days it's Denuvo and an internet connection to even get to play a game, and there is no way around that unless you want to chose what games you play on the basis of DRM, which is going a bit too far in my book.

[cacaongu]

Well, who even has a CD/DVD drive anymore.

I do

[Boeroer]

That was a rethorical question.

[Celan]

I haven't been on here since Deadfire but just logging on again to register my disappointment with this decision. I was mildly interested in The Outer Worlds but now I plan to not buy it, ever. This isn't how you treat the PC players who supported Obsidian with our goodwill and then our Kickstarter dollars.

[Aldaron]

Honestly this sucks. Not only Epic Store is by far a worse platform for consumers, it's also WAY more expensive for me. In Argentina at least Steam is really cheap and lets you pay without a credit card.

 

I try to support the companies that make games like Obsidian but I won't back this. 

[Verde]

Just read this interview about Super Meat Boy Forever, and there is an interesting bit later on about Epic Store. Partially interesting, because it confirms what I posted about while ago: there is more appeal of Epic store to developers than just cash. (Yay me smart).

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/04/05/team-meat-on-the-return-of-super-meat-boy/

 

Excerpt:

 

[With Epic] actually going through and making sure they feel like this game is good enough, I feel, like, really honoured to be considered for the Epic Games Store. Everything that’s coming out and everything I know that’s coming out [there], I’m like, ‘Wow I’m in really good company’ and I can’t necessarily say that with Steam, because the company is everybody. I’m on the same platform as Borderlands 2 or whatever but I’m also on the same platform as that rape game, which is kinda like ehhhh.

That proves nothing except for the delusions of exclusivity.

[Wormerine]

 

Well, there's a fairly clearly broadcast point of no return, yes. Unless you choose not to read, you can't really miss it.

 

While I haven't played it myself, it is my understanding that both the expansions for The Witcher 3 are designed in such a way that it does not matter how far along you are in the main game before you play them, so that something like White March doesn't happen.

That’s not exactly true. While Blood and Wine is a sort of stand alone epilogue, which works best after the main game, Heart of Stone fits into main game story and has some pre-end game foreshadowing.

 

The only difference is that Witcher lets you free roam after you completed the game (and therefore you can reload the end-game save), while PoEs don’t - meaning you can play White March after completing the main game you just need to reload pre-end game save, which is automatically made about an hour before the conclusion of the title (and more like 10-15 minutes if you rush through dialogue).

 

 

 

That proves nothing except for the delusions of exclusivity.

I don’t even know what is that supposed to mean :D

[SonnySahl]

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/109203-actions-have-consequences/

[Morrydwen]

Will it be released on GOG?

[SonnySahl]

Will it be released on GOG?

No it is a Epic exclusive, some say that it is also on the win shop, but don't you need win10 for that (it is pretty much just an xbox shop)

 

They advertised on steam for hype, then took the money from Epic and made it exclusive. I have lost alot of respect from obsidian after this! People that care about pro consumer features and choice in where to buy, should not support this practice and the Epic shop (they want a monopoly market ala xbox)

[daven]

 

Will it be released on GOG?

No it is a Epic exclusive, some say that it is also on the win shop, but don't you need win10 for that (it is pretty much just an xbox shop)

 

They advertised on steam for hype, then took the money from Epic and made it exclusive. I have lost alot of respect from obsidian after this! People that care about pro consumer features and choice in where to buy, should not support this practice and the Epic shop (they want a monopoly market ala xbox)

 

 

After 1 year apparently.

 

Obsidian usually take a year after release to finish the game anyway so no harm done.

[JBento]

 

 

Will it be released on GOG?

No it is a Epic exclusive, some say that it is also on the win shop, but don't you need win10 for that (it is pretty much just an xbox shop)

 

They advertised on steam for hype, then took the money from Epic and made it exclusive. I have lost alot of respect from obsidian after this! People that care about pro consumer features and choice in where to buy, should not support this practice and the Epic shop (they want a monopoly market ala xbox)

 

 

After 1 year apparently.

 

Obsidian usually take a year after release to finish the game anyway so no harm done.

 

Except of course, if you have access to the internet, where the game will have been spoilered to hell and back after a few months.

[Celeras]

I'm torn. On the one hand I really want to support Obsidian for the work they've done and buy the game on release. But on the other, there is no way I'm buying anything on neither Epic nor Windows Store.

[injurai]

7 hours ago, Celeras said:

I'm torn. On the one hand I really want to support Obsidian for the work they've done and buy the game on release. But on the other, there is no way I'm buying anything on neither Epic nor Windows Store.

It will later be on Steam, with bug fixes to boot. At this point I don't think it will hurt Obsidian if you buy it at a slightly lower price. It will hurt Take-Two more than anyone.

[waltc]

On 3/20/2019 at 8:04 PM, Aldaron said:

A shame. I won't buy it.

Agreed.  I think Sweeney is often a ridiculous blowhard and Sweeney and company dropped the PC platform (after it put him and his games and his company on the map) to go to consoles, where the money was easy and the competition light--where you could make crud games and still eat and earn a living.  But now after x86 PCs have absorbed the console markets and consoles today are x86 PCs, essentially, and getting more like them with each generation (well, except for hardware expansion and specifications compatibility, of course--nothing will ever top the PC there), Sweeney now wants to come back to the x86 PC markets again.    Fine...he's getting smart--took him a while...;)   But now... he comes up with a gimmick allowing Epic Store to break even while he gives these year-long exclusives for a paltry 12% through the Epic Store, and a few short-sighted developers jump on it thinking to save 8% - 18% over what they are charged by much more mature services with by-comparison *huge* customer bases and decades of proven customer service that offer game customers much more than Epic store does (forums (Steam/Gog), installable game copies (GOG)--guarantees of no DRM (GOG again).)  The problem is that although Epic is saving dev/publishers, supposedly, what incentives are there for the people expected to buy these games?  None, that I can see.  No price reductions for customers.  So why should I be corralled into what is most convenient for the developer publishers but not most convenient for me?   As is evident, Sweeney has not thought it through to that degree--this is a ham-fisted effort.  So here's what the Epic Store needs to do to attract business:

1) Create nice game forums for your store customers for each and every game you sell (GOG and Steam)

2) Deliver customer-installable copies of every game you sell (GOG)

3) Remove/prohibit all DRM in the games you sell (GOG--Steam leaves it up to the dev/publisher, but doesn't enforce it as a policy as GOG does)

4) Discount your new "AAA" exclusive titles 10%-20% for your customers from the first day you offer them--if you don't save your customers money, why should they dance to your tune, Sweeney?

Do these things well...and Epic Store just might have a future.  But the way it looks now from where I'm sitting it seems like Sweeney's real goal is to get Valve to sell his games at big discount ...;)  He just doesn't really seem to care what the buying customers think for some really strange reason...--without those customers, he's sunk!  Unless, as I say, his real goal is to wrangle cheaper fees from the existing services for his games in the future.

 

[smjjames]

It seems to be a first person shooter type thing, probably like New Vegas or something, so, not interested anyway.

[Bandy]

Not going to quote wall of text above, but it is defo not my experience that steam (little s) has "decades of proven customer service", in fact I think steam CS sucks.

I appreciate opinions on not wanting to install/deal with yet another online game store, that's why I do not bother with ubisoft games at all, but they only sell ubisoft games.

Bottom line though, steam pressures game developers and takes a huge cut when the economic facts are that volume should reduce the cut of the middle man.  Sure they throw a bone once in a while in the form of a sale, but really...  Servers and storage are absurdly cheap now, there is no reason anylonger to maintain the same fee to sell a game, and besides I do not use 90% of the crap steam 'offers' and wish their footprint was smaller on my PC.

If epic makes steam play at the same retail level, then why not.  I choose to support game developers I want to regardless of the sale platform as long as they are [relatively] transparent in the process.  Hope that is not naive. 

PS: the public backlash towards titles choosing to use epic makes me think of steam-hired trolls spreading dissent and negative hype.  Somehow Putin's online boys are behind this, or manipulating the gaming community into splinters of its former unity...  LOL BTW...

Edited May 14, 2019 by Bandy

[Gizmo]

On 4/6/2019 at 10:50 AM, Gorgon said:

Well, who even has a CD/DVD drive anymore. These days it's Denuvo and an internet connection to even get to play a game, and there is no way around that unless you want to chose what games you play on the basis of DRM, which is going a bit too far in my book.

I won't run a PC without a Floppy drive; and an optical drive... Alas few motherboards still support the floppy Interface, so I've had to go with a USB floppy.
_______________________________
Gamewise, I only buy from GoG, or occasionally the Humble Bundles—that may include Steam titles; and if so, I'll register them. But Steam won't ever get another dollar direct from me; nor any of the other services like it.  I won't even install the other stores.  I only have Steam because of Obsidian's  Tom Foolery with sending out a collector's edition New Vegas DVD with just a Steam installer instead of the game.  That was a case of fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. No more CE's for me from them.

I'll play Tim's game when it eventually comes to a Humble sale or [some day years away] when it comes to GoG; but I would have bought it day-1 from GoG, or if the developer sold it direct.

Edited May 15, 2019 by Gizmo

[rustypup]

We're confusing a transactional relationship with an emotional one.

Obsidian is a business and will make business-centric decisions. 

We're consumers and are therefore going to make consumer-type decisions. 

Personally, I've decided *not* to purchase because exclusivity is anti-consumer and a cruddy practice. Always has been. Always will be. (Not ignoring the fact the Epic is a horrendous experience). 

I won't whine, gnash my teeth or rant about a business decision. There has been no abuse of trust here because it never, really, existed.

If you want change, vote with the only thing that matters. Your purchasing decision. 

[daven]

14 hours ago, rustypup said:

We're confusing a transactional relationship with an emotional one.

Obsidian is a business and will make business-centric decisions. 

We're consumers and are therefore going to make consumer-type decisions. 

Personally, I've decided *not* to purchase because exclusivity is anti-consumer and a cruddy practice. Always has been. Always will be. (Not ignoring the fact the Epic is a horrendous experience). 

I won't whine, gnash my teeth or rant about a business decision. There has been no abuse of trust here because it never, really, existed.

If you want change, vote with the only thing that matters. Your purchasing decision. 

First sensible thing said about this topic.

[Uburian]

On 5/16/2019 at 10:24 PM, rustypup said:

We're confusing a transactional relationship with an emotional one.

Obsidian is a business and will make business-centric decisions. 

We're consumers and are therefore going to make consumer-type decisions. 

Personally, I've decided *not* to purchase because exclusivity is anti-consumer and a cruddy practice. Always has been. Always will be. (Not ignoring the fact the Epic is a horrendous experience). 

I won't whine, gnash my teeth or rant about a business decision. There has been no abuse of trust here because it never, really, existed.

If you want change, vote with the only thing that matters. Your purchasing decision. 

A reasonable approach, if ultimately futile in this case.

The unfortunate truth is that, in this particular case, voting with our wallets can only provide, at best, some stoic comfort. In one hand Obsidian (trough, Private Division) will receive guaranteed money from Epic if the sales don't reach certain levels anyway, and in the other, all future obsidian titles will be conceived under Microsofts stewardship. If anything, low sales will just incentive publishers to take similar deals from Epic in the future.

Business are business,  and we should not expect Obsidian to prioritize our interests over their economic ones, in a similar way that a creator can not be held accountable for the emotional impact their creations might have on others (within reason, of course). However, we humans are both beings of reason and emotion, and getting unattached from things that we have created a strong emotional connection with is not an easy or painless process (in this case, getting in terms with the fact that one of our most beloved game developer studios will probably never be the same it was), and should not be treated as a non factor either.

In any case, what can we really do about it then, apart from accepting this new status quo? Very little. Buying the game or not will have no impact in the future of Obsidian Private Division or Epic, so our choice should be determined by whether we are willing to deal with the insufferable platform that is the Epic Store (or the windows store) or not.

In my case, i'll gladly wait until the game comes to GoG, if it ever does.

Edited May 19, 2019 by Uburian