The Outer Worlds won't launch on Steam

[AeonsLegend]

We see the same happening with streaming services. I currently only have Netflix, but with the coming service from Disney this may mean that all Disney owned material will be moved to their own streaming service exclusively. I can totally understand this from a money making perspective. It will give Disney more control and more income in the end. For us? I would need to get another subscription and spend more money than I did before for the SAME content. Everything is being split up so if I wanted to watch GoT I need HBO, if I want to watch Stranger things I need Netflix. If I want some of the hulu exclusives I need hulu. It's a total disaster from a consumers perspective. It's unsustainable and I am not willing to spend all that money on these services and then having to switch between them.

 

I completely understand that having exclusive content is a way to draw in customers. A streaming service is defined by it's content first and foremost. It's a bit similar when it comes to game services. There are some like Steam and GoG that have the largest marketshare and they need to be challenged. I believe this is good. What I don't think is good is to force people to use both systems. If Epic is better for developers than Steam then they should be able to offer games cheaper. Let THAT and the client determine which platform to use, not whether or not it is exclusive to something. Because that is basically controlling the herd. You don't get a choice as a consumer, you're being forced to use multiple systems to access the same content. It won't be long before these systems become unsustainable and start asking money for their services. I call it right here. And then WE as the consumer will the ones (litteraly) paying the price. The infighting in the industry and backhanded competition between services will hurt only us in the long run.

 

Interesting read here. It's old, but it gives some insight in why Epic is in the position it is in right now. https://variety.com/2018/gaming/opinion/epic-game-store-by-the-numbers-1203089336/

 

Now Valve can turn the tables if they want. They have been on top for a long time and that position creates a monopoly which is unhealthy for both the industry and the gaming community as well, but at least it is clear. As long as competition is fair and even and we get a choice then I say it's ok. But if I'm force to use systems because exclusivity then I'm out.

[MDMAisGOOD]

yeah, that's a thing i say for a while now more or less.

the likes of Steam, EPIG, GOG and whatever else will start wanting money, monthly or annual or whatever to use their Store.

all like them Netfilx and ... others, with the difference that you have to pay extra for the games, and you will get, if you'r nice, a free game they provide once in a blue moon.

Edited March 21, 2019 by MDMAisGOOD

[daven]

Happened with the Premier League/Champions league with Sky Sports and BT Sports. People complained for a while then it was just accepted that we pay twice to get what we used to pay for once.

[AeonsLegend]

Happened with the Premier League/Champions league with Sky Sports and BT Sports. People complained for a while then it was just accepted that we pay twice to get what we used to pay for once.

I just stopped watching sports altogether. Well save for eSports, I watch those (for ffing free). But yea, in general people will succumb. My point is more that it is wrong to punish consumers. I'm not saying people will not ultimately accept this exortion.

[daven]

Steam is a complete mess right now, let's face it. There's never ending garbage to sift through. This should give them a kick up the arse.

[AeonsLegend]

Steam is a complete mess right now, let's face it. There's never ending garbage to sift through. This should give them a kick up the arse.

I don't understand what you're saying here. Sifting through the so called "garbage" is optional. You don't have to do that.

[Sanjid099]

Welp, all my hype for TOW just went down the sitter. CD Projekt Red is the only company I can trust now. CDPR, if you're reading this, please don't follow the same path as Private Division with Cyberpunk! T.T

Edited March 21, 2019 by Sanjid099

[IndiraLightfoot]

I'll join the chorus of those not buying this much anticipated game anymore because of this epically bad decision. Sure, as others have said, I'll buy it on a Steam sale 2-3 years from now for peanuts.

[Infinitron]

Welp, all my hype for TOW just went down the sitter. CD Projekt Red is the only company I can trust now. CDPR, if you're reading this, please don't follow the same path as Private Division with Cyberpunk! T.T

 

How do you feel about GOG.com exclusives?

Edited March 21, 2019 by Infinitron

[Sanjid099]

It's actually a good thing TOW is coming to steam a year later. By that time, all the bugs will be ironed out and the game will be exponentially cheaper. It seems like the Epic Store is basically beta-testing the game

[Sanjid099]

 

Welp, all my hype for TOW just went down the sitter. CD Projekt Red is the only company I can trust now. CDPR, if you're reading this, please don't follow the same path as Private Division with Cyberpunk! T.T

 

How do you feel about GOG.com exclusives?

 

 

I'm actually okay with GOG exclusivity since GOG is a secure platform, unlike the Epic Store which is a spyware for the Chinese

Edited March 21, 2019 by Sanjid099

[AeonsLegend]

 

 

Welp, all my hype for TOW just went down the sitter. CD Projekt Red is the only company I can trust now. CDPR, if you're reading this, please don't follow the same path as Private Division with Cyberpunk! T.T

 

How do you feel about GOG.com exclusives?

 

 

I'm actually okay with GOG exclusivity since GOG is a secure platform, unlike the Epic Store which is a spyware for the Chinese

 

I doubt ProjektRed will go exclusive on GOG. I mean since they own the platform sure they could do it, but I highly doubt it. I've been waiting for Cyberpunk since 2013 so I'm kind of in the middle. I will most likely go to GOG if it were to only be available there. It's all upto, can I wait? How much do I want this game?

Edited March 21, 2019 by AeonsLegend

[nocoolnamejim]

Happened with the Premier League/Champions league with Sky Sports and BT Sports. People complained for a while then it was just accepted that we pay twice to get what we used to pay for once.

 

OTOH, ESPN tried to have both ESPN Insider and ESPN+, people started cancelling their subscription en masse, and ESPN cancelled that policy and merged the two back into one.

[nocoolnamejim]

 

Steam is a complete mess right now, let's face it. There's never ending garbage to sift through. This should give them a kick up the arse.

I don't understand what you're saying here. Sifting through the so called "garbage" is optional. You don't have to do that.

 

 

Exactly. Steam needs to do a better job in some areas. It's got a ton of garbage due to not doing enough to filter what gets published. It's customer support is somewhat garbage.

 

But it's not exactly hard to find any game that you want if it's on the platform. Enter the name of the game in Search and boom, done.

[kanisatha]

 

Too tempting, they are handing out sweet deals like there is no tomorrow. On the whole though, if the STEAM monopoly breaks, that's not a bad thing. Competition and all. It's going to make STEAM better too. 

That's not how competition works. EGS wasn't making their platforms better, they are just throwing money away to get market share, and they will get these money back when they get enought market share, from the consumers. It's not competition they want, it's monoploly.

Yep, it's the equivalent of dumping in international trade. You dump your (inferior) product on to the market at below market prices to drive your competiton out of business so you can then have a monopoly for yourself. For this to be a viable strategy you have to have very deep pockets or someone else bankrolling/subsidizing you so you can survive your own dumping - which Epic/Tencent has.

[Pidesco]

 

 

Welp, all my hype for TOW just went down the sitter. CD Projekt Red is the only company I can trust now. CDPR, if you're reading this, please don't follow the same path as Private Division with Cyberpunk! T.T

 

How do you feel about GOG.com exclusives?

 

 

I'm actually okay with GOG exclusivity since GOG is a secure platform, unlike the Epic Store which is a spyware for the Chinese

 

 

Uh, that's not true?

[nocoolnamejim]

 

 

 

Welp, all my hype for TOW just went down the sitter. CD Projekt Red is the only company I can trust now. CDPR, if you're reading this, please don't follow the same path as Private Division with Cyberpunk! T.T

 

How do you feel about GOG.com exclusives?

 

 

I'm actually okay with GOG exclusivity since GOG is a secure platform, unlike the Epic Store which is a spyware for the Chinese

 

 

Uh, that's not true?

 

 

Which part? The part about GoG being secure or the part about the Epic store being spyware?

 

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/03/16/valve-to-investigate-epic-game-stores-use-of-steam-files

 

I have not seen any sort of evidence that the Epic store spies for the Chinese government specifically, but it's had more than it's share of privacy concerns over the last few months.

[Pidesco]

 

 

 

 

Welp, all my hype for TOW just went down the sitter. CD Projekt Red is the only company I can trust now. CDPR, if you're reading this, please don't follow the same path as Private Division with Cyberpunk! T.T

 

How do you feel about GOG.com exclusives?

 

 

I'm actually okay with GOG exclusivity since GOG is a secure platform, unlike the Epic Store which is a spyware for the Chinese

 

 

Uh, that's not true?

 

 

Which part? The part about GoG being secure or the part about the Epic store being spyware?

 

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/03/16/valve-to-investigate-epic-game-stores-use-of-steam-files

 

I have not seen any sort of evidence that the Epic store spies for the Chinese government specifically, but it's had more than it's share of privacy concerns over the last few months.

 

 

As far as I know the spyware accusation is based exclusively on the import friends from Steam feature, and it is baseless.

 

The bit about China is just silly.

[C2B]

 

 

 

 

 

Welp, all my hype for TOW just went down the sitter. CD Projekt Red is the only company I can trust now. CDPR, if you're reading this, please don't follow the same path as Private Division with Cyberpunk! T.T

 

 

How do you feel about GOG.com exclusives?

 

I'm actually okay with GOG exclusivity since GOG is a secure platform, unlike the Epic Store which is a spyware for the Chinese

 

Uh, that's not true?

 

Which part? The part about GoG being secure or the part about the Epic store being spyware?

 

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/03/16/valve-to-investigate-epic-game-stores-use-of-steam-files

 

I have not seen any sort of evidence that the Epic store spies for the Chinese government specifically, but it's had more than it's share of privacy concerns over the last few months.

 

As far as I know the spyware accusation is based exclusively on the import friends from Steam feature, and it is baseless.

 

The bit about China is just silly.

Its not. Tencent has been involved in multiple scandals based on tracking user data. Also it does not only include friendslist as it looks at a file on your pc where ALL your personal steam info is stored.

[IndiraLightfoot]

 

I think people should be honest with themselves. It's not really about the "exclusivity" or "spyware" or any of that stuff. Those are transparent rationalizations.

 

If you're mad about this, you're probably a hardcore PC gamer who has become heavily invested in the Steam platform over the years. You own hundreds if not thousands of games, you use the chat functionality to talk to all your friends, etc. Using Steam is part of your daily routine as a gamer and you don't understand why you should have to stop using it for this one game. There's nothing really wrong with this - own it.

 

I'm gonna disagree with you there.  I was hesitant to use EGS simply because, yes, I like having my games library in one place: Steam.  When this exclusivity was announced, I sighed and thought to myself "Well, I guess I have a reason to install the EGS launcher."

 

But then, via this controversy, I discovered the issues with privacy and the implications of the kinds of exclusive deals they've been purchasing, and I changed my mind.  I can't support the EGS.

 

Yeah, this is really main reason too. I'm not some Steam fan, but it's grown on me as a practical library/communication platform, as well as for modding, in my case.

[Vitalis]

I think people should be honest with themselves. It's not really about the "exclusivity" or "spyware" or any of that stuff. Those are transparent rationalizations.

 

If you're mad about this, you're probably a hardcore PC gamer who has become heavily invested in the Steam platform over the years. You own hundreds if not thousands of games, you use the chat functionality to talk to all your friends, etc. Using Steam is part of your daily routine as a gamer and you don't understand why you should have to stop using it for this one game. There's nothing really wrong with this - own it.

I'm just going to point out that if you own it on Steam, you don't really own the game. If Steam decides to ban you, you lose access to all of those games.

 

Steam is Pro-Consumer!

[nocoolnamejim]

 

 

 

 

 

Welp, all my hype for TOW just went down the sitter. CD Projekt Red is the only company I can trust now. CDPR, if you're reading this, please don't follow the same path as Private Division with Cyberpunk! T.T

 

How do you feel about GOG.com exclusives?

 

 

I'm actually okay with GOG exclusivity since GOG is a secure platform, unlike the Epic Store which is a spyware for the Chinese

 

 

Uh, that's not true?

 

 

Which part? The part about GoG being secure or the part about the Epic store being spyware?

 

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/03/16/valve-to-investigate-epic-game-stores-use-of-steam-files

 

I have not seen any sort of evidence that the Epic store spies for the Chinese government specifically, but it's had more than it's share of privacy concerns over the last few months.

 

 

As far as I know the spyware accusation is based exclusively on the import friends from Steam feature, and it is baseless.

 

The bit about China is just silly.

 

 

Take a look at the article I linked. It's doing more than just importing friends lists with permission. Epic itself has acknowledged this, but claims it was a mistake and not intentional. From another article...

 

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/epic-games-responds-store-privacy,38835.html

 

"Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney eventually chimed in to explain that "the current implementation is the result of a system that was built quickly and then rapidly modified before launch." (This makes it seem like he's talking about the Epic Games Store launch; in another comment, he said he's talking about Fortnite.)

"It's a klunky method that we'll fix," Sweeney said. He also explained that Epic didn't just use the Steam API because "we avoid including third-party code in our engine wherever possible, as it often brings its own privacy, security, and licensing complications (though Valve has a fine reputation)."

In another comment, Sweeney cited a report about iOS apps sending private data to Facebook to explain "the general concern of APIs collecting more data than expected." He also said:

"You guys are right that we ought to only access the localconfig.vdf file after the user chooses to import Steam friends. The current implementation is a remnant left over from our rush to implement social features in the early days of Fortnite. It's actually my fault for pushing the launcher team to support it super quickly and then identifying that we had to change it. Since this issue came to the forefront, we're going to fix it.""

[Malcador]

You don't seem to understand what the word competition means. Competition would mean Epic, Microsoft, Steam, GOG, etc a sell the game and the customers decide which store/launcher is best. Purchasing exclusivity rights is the opposite of competition.

Still sounds like competing with other platforms - consoles have had this kind of competition as well, no ? And the exclusives are limited anyway, so isn't all that bad.

[Pidesco]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welp, all my hype for TOW just went down the sitter. CD Projekt Red is the only company I can trust now. CDPR, if you're reading this, please don't follow the same path as Private Division with Cyberpunk! T.T

 

How do you feel about GOG.com exclusives?

 

 

I'm actually okay with GOG exclusivity since GOG is a secure platform, unlike the Epic Store which is a spyware for the Chinese

 

 

Uh, that's not true?

 

 

Which part? The part about GoG being secure or the part about the Epic store being spyware?

 

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/03/16/valve-to-investigate-epic-game-stores-use-of-steam-files

 

I have not seen any sort of evidence that the Epic store spies for the Chinese government specifically, but it's had more than it's share of privacy concerns over the last few months.

 

 

As far as I know the spyware accusation is based exclusively on the import friends from Steam feature, and it is baseless.

 

The bit about China is just silly.

 

 

Take a look at the article I linked. It's doing more than just importing friends lists with permission. Epic itself has acknowledged this, but claims it was a mistake and not intentional. From another article...

 

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/epic-games-responds-store-privacy,38835.html

 

"Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney eventually chimed in to explain that "the current implementation is the result of a system that was built quickly and then rapidly modified before launch." (This makes it seem like he's talking about the Epic Games Store launch; in another comment, he said he's talking about Fortnite.)

"It's a klunky method that we'll fix," Sweeney said. He also explained that Epic didn't just use the Steam API because "we avoid including third-party code in our engine wherever possible, as it often brings its own privacy, security, and licensing complications (though Valve has a fine reputation)."

In another comment, Sweeney cited a report about iOS apps sending private data to Facebook to explain "the general concern of APIs collecting more data than expected." He also said:

"You guys are right that we ought to only access the localconfig.vdf file after the user chooses to import Steam friends. The current implementation is a remnant left over from our rush to implement social features in the early days of Fortnite. It's actually my fault for pushing the launcher team to support it super quickly and then identifying that we had to change it. Since this issue came to the forefront, we're going to fix it.""

 

 

The post that originated the whole controversy if I'm not misinformed:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/PhoenixPoint/comments/b0rxdq

 

 

What is described is mostly normal windows software behaviour. Here's a list not by me:

 

• Windows automatically hits root certificates trying to validate SSL certificates when you load websites, validating the signing on exes, etc.
• Given that nothing but Fiddler and ProcMon are hit by the process enumeration, that's likely a side effect of having Fiddler set up to intercept traffic.
• Same deal for the Fiddler directory DLL hit.
• Using the windows HTTP stack, depending on the use case, automatically hits internet explorer registry and cookies as a side effect.

[JBento]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welp, all my hype for TOW just went down the sitter. CD Projekt Red is the only company I can trust now. CDPR, if you're reading this, please don't follow the same path as Private Division with Cyberpunk! T.T

 

How do you feel about GOG.com exclusives?

 

 

I'm actually okay with GOG exclusivity since GOG is a secure platform, unlike the Epic Store which is a spyware for the Chinese

 

 

Uh, that's not true?

 

 

Which part? The part about GoG being secure or the part about the Epic store being spyware?

 

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/03/16/valve-to-investigate-epic-game-stores-use-of-steam-files

 

I have not seen any sort of evidence that the Epic store spies for the Chinese government specifically, but it's had more than it's share of privacy concerns over the last few months.

 

 

As far as I know the spyware accusation is based exclusively on the import friends from Steam feature, and it is baseless.

 

The bit about China is just silly.

 

 

Take a look at the article I linked. It's doing more than just importing friends lists with permission. Epic itself has acknowledged this, but claims it was a mistake and not intentional. From another article...

 

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/epic-games-responds-store-privacy,38835.html

 

"Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney eventually chimed in to explain that "the current implementation is the result of a system that was built quickly and then rapidly modified before launch." (This makes it seem like he's talking about the Epic Games Store launch; in another comment, he said he's talking about Fortnite.)

"It's a klunky method that we'll fix," Sweeney said. He also explained that Epic didn't just use the Steam API because "we avoid including third-party code in our engine wherever possible, as it often brings its own privacy, security, and licensing complications (though Valve has a fine reputation)."

In another comment, Sweeney cited a report about iOS apps sending private data to Facebook to explain "the general concern of APIs collecting more data than expected." He also said:

"You guys are right that we ought to only access the localconfig.vdf file after the user chooses to import Steam friends. The current implementation is a remnant left over from our rush to implement social features in the early days of Fortnite. It's actually my fault for pushing the launcher team to support it super quickly and then identifying that we had to change it. Since this issue came to the forefront, we're going to fix it.""

 

"Since this issue came to the forefront, we're going to fix it.", in case you're wondering, is corporate speak for "we were totally ok doing something illegal, but since we got caught I guess we're going to pretend to be sorry about it and change it, provided we can't just give the illusion of changing it."