The Outer Worlds won't launch on Steam

[Zoraptor]

I've seen people state there wouldn't be any mods without steam workshop, so why not no patch notes as well?

 

Practically, most don't offer their own digital distribution due to steam's monopolist position and leveraging of that position. Can't undercut steam and be on steam, can't offer exclusive content on your own store and be on steam*, so what's the point unless you're a big player with guaranteed sales and a lot of clout like EA? You just end up with a lot of infrastructure costs and no competitive advantage plus run the risk of the PC gamer steam inghimasi pronouncing takfir on you for not worshiping PC Gaming gaben enough. You'll definitely be accused of going 'exclusive' too, even if your games are available all sorts of other places except for steam.

 

*Those two policies were brought in to kill off forthcoming steam competitors like Paradox Connect rather than Origin, and for that they worked perfectly. Sure, Paradox, you could offer your own MP and store infrastructure, but don't think you'll be undercutting steam or you'll get kicked and all your fans who are really steam fans will pitch a fit and blame you for it. Or you could just use steam and not worry about anything! It's a nice company you've got there after all, be such a shame if anything happened to it.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Zoraptor

[JBento]

"Can't undercut Steam" is an actual, factual lie - I could get Grim Dawn for about 15-20% cheaper on the GD site than I can on Steam, for instance.

 

So is "no exclusive content elsewhere" - different preorder bonuses from different places are rather more abundant that I'd like, for example (I'd like them to be zero, for the record).

 

And yes, implementing stuff like forums and stuff costs money. In fact, I'd suggest that if someone is putting up and maintaining a forum for your product they should receive monetary compensation. Like, maybe by taking a cut off the money you make from said product. Can't think of anyone who does that, and I've been trying so hard there's Smoke (or something like it) coming from my ears.

[Zoraptor]

They're a bit more complicated/ nuanced than simple four word summary clause (obviously), but as a summary I've been accurate. They're both anti siphoning measures written into contracts. Note that Grim Dawn is significantly cheaper on steam than on Crate's website for me, for example, as they don't have regional pricing while steam does- and since valve pays gst it ought to be the reverse if all other things were equal.

 

You can undercut during sales, and obviously regional pricings and currencies simply cannot match all the time.

 

If you're selling stuff for a game on steam it has to be available for the steam version and must use the steam wallet and steamworks api; that's publicly verifiable last time I checked via their steamworks developers' website. If that weren't so then, for example, there would be zero drawback to CDPR offering Gwent on Steam since it's free to play and they could gate microtransactions through Galaxy or whatever.

 

Of course, if you're a big publisher you can negotiate better terms. Even something as immutable as the 30% steam tax can get reduced if you're big enough- but the vast majority aren't big enough.

[JBento]

I was under the impression that the 30% gets slashed depending not on how big you are, but on how much you sell - past a certain number of sales for a specific product, Steam lowers those 30%. Obviously, big players still have the advantage here, because titles by big players tend to sell better.

[Thebest5599]

I've been playing Obsidian's games since I first played Fallout 2 in 2004, (yes I'm aware it didn't come out in 2004 but I didn't play PC games in 1998) I was hooked from that moment on. When I heard about this I was. First of all, I don't believe that an Epic exclusivity deal was communicated with the developers at Obsidian at all, as the is proof that they had been adding achievements to and updating the Steam page even the day of the announcement. Basically what I'm saying is I think people's anger is well founded, but it is directed at the wrong company. Distribution would have been managed by the publisher not the developer, so people should be angry at Bethesda not Obsidian, and if people really want to voice they're anger, don't pirate the game, vote with your money and buy it on another platform like the microsoft store (Under no circumstances would I normally advise using this unholy abomination of a launcher but if it can fight Epic and tencent then so be it), or a console if you own one.

[Boeroer]

Bethesda?

[M4xw0lf]

I agree people should be angry at Bethesda. Just in general.

[JBento]

I think you mean Private Division - they're the TOW publishers. But you don't get a get out of jail fee card just because you didn't bother to check if what you were hitching your cart to was a calm ox or a raging bull.

 

Nevertheless, feel free to be angry at Bethesda - the NV deal, the low-quality betas they try to pass off as finished games, the entire debaucle that is 76... You're not exactly begging for reasons, here.

[InsaneCommander]

There is only one person worth listening to and that’s Jim****ingStelingSon (thank God for him).

 

 

"You can have a baby before Epic has a shopping cart"

 

lol

[johnmr531]

I won't buy from epic games.  All these pc store fronts are ridiculous just to play some games.  Please put on steam and or other platforms, this exclusive store front business is crazy.

So lets see we have steam, epic games, ea origins, ubisoft, bethseda, gog and what else.

[Gorth]

I won't buy from epic games.  All these pc store fronts are ridiculous just to play some games.  Please put on steam and or other platforms, this exclusive store front business is crazy.

So lets see we have steam, epic games, ea origins, ubisoft, bethseda, gog and what else.

I used to have Origin installed, but since the last Bioware game I was interested in (ME3) got released a long time ago, I don't have it installed any more.

 

Gog and Steam for me in that order, Epic when hell freezes over. Never had games that required the Ubi or Bethsoft launcher, so no idea how good or bad they are.

 

Edit: Small correction, I probably use proprietary, game specific launchers the most for the two games spent the most time on the last 7 years, swtor and GW2

[Sanjid099]

Y'all are just salty. Think of this exclusivity as EGS beta-testing the Outer Worlds for us. By the time TOW releases on steam, several dlcs and bug-fixes will be available. And not to mention, the Outer Worlds modding community will be much more lively.

Edited March 29, 2019 by Sanjid099

[Uburian]

Ironic. A company that made a comeback from the brink of bankruptcy thanks to crowdfunding a video game centered around the topic of defying the will and power of synthetic gods (at least to an extent) will now benefit, even if indirectly, another company which is helping create something that can easily be described as a synthetic god. 

 

I guess that this was mostly private division's doing? A pity, as i was really looking forward to playing The Outer Worlds, but ideologically i simply can't support the game anymore, even if it is also available on the Microsoft Store. Besides, i prefer my games DRM free, and none of those storefronts provide me with that option.

Edited April 2, 2019 by Uburian

[deserk]

I will not be buying this game, despite being a massive Fallout fan and fan of Obsidian games in general. I'm not signing up on another stupid alternative game distribution service. Massive error on your parts, Obsidian.

[Infinitron]

So here's a new thing. Ubisoft's Anno 1800 has just gone Epic-exclusive, but in an interesting twist, they'e continuing to sell the game on Steam as a pre-order until its release date: https://store.steampowered.com/app/916440/Anno_1800/

 

My first thought is, wow, how greedy. Juicing up pre-orders from Epic-hating players desperate to have the game on Steam.

 

But my second thought is...hey, that's not a bad compromise actually.

Edited March 29, 2019 by Infinitron

[IndiraLightfoot]

So here's a new thing. Ubisoft's Anno 1800 has just gone Epic-exclusive, but in an interesting twist, they'e continuing to sell the game on Steam as a pre-order until its release date: https://store.steampowered.com/app/916440/Anno_1800/

 

My first thought is, wow, how greedy. Juicing up pre-orders from Epic-hating players desperate to have the game on Steam.

 

But my second thought is...hey, that's not a bad compromise actually.

Yeah. I can live with that compromise.

 

And Anno 1800 is at #22 in the global sellers top chart atm.

Edited March 29, 2019 by IndiraLightfoot

[Wormerine]

My first thought is, wow, how greedy. Juicing up pre-orders from Epic-hating players desperate to have the game on Steam.

 

But my second thought is...hey, that's not a bad compromise actually.

Well, as long as review embargo will be set before the release day. 

[IndiraLightfoot]

Wow! Anno 1800 is at #17 now on the same chart. I love the series and already eyed this game with keen interest, so I went ahead and secured it on Steam before it's too late. Yup, I'm that kind of sucker.

[Quicknuminex]

i just wanted to say that im from mexico, and this is very bad because the epic store doesn't have local prices or easy pay forms as stem does, i was so expectant for this game but now i **** myself because 1 year exclusivity, so yeah im really pissed.

[Flouride]

So here's a new thing. Ubisoft's Anno 1800 has just gone Epic-exclusive, but in an interesting twist, they'e continuing to sell the game on Steam as a pre-order until its release date: https://store.steampowered.com/app/916440/Anno_1800/

 

My first thought is, wow, how greedy. Juicing up pre-orders from Epic-hating players desperate to have the game on Steam.

 

But my second thought is...hey, that's not a bad compromise actually.

 

That's the smart way to do it. You don't piss off the superfans of your game and you actually get them to buy the game when it's released. Rest of the crown will most likely gladly wait a year or two for sales anyways.

 

Weird though, that even Ubisoft is turning to Epic Store, since they have their own store. Epic must be paying a lot to get someone like Ubisoft to ditch thier own store.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Yeah, Epic Store must have made Ubisoft some uber-offer, considering that they already have UPlay.

 

And yeah #2, why on earth didn't they go this route with Outer Worlds? A customer like me would instabuy it if that would have been the case.

[Infinitron]

Yeah, it's not like Paradox aren't already selling Bloodlines 2 pre-orders a full year before the game releases. If Private Division had done the same thing with The Outer Worlds, a bunch of us would have already owned the game on Steam and could have avoided this.

 

The Epic Games Store - making pre-orders great again.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Infinitron

[213374U]

In this case "Epic-exclusive" means "it won't be available on Steam", rather than actually exclusive. It is still available for purchase directly from the Ubi Store/Uplay, much like The Division 2.

 

Bad Infinitron.

[Infinitron]

In this case "Epic-exclusive" means "it won't be available on Steam", rather than actually exclusive. It is still available for purchase directly from the Ubi Store/Uplay, much like The Division 2.

 

Bad Infinitron.

 

Yeah, and The Outer Worlds is going to be on the Microsoft Store. Doesn't change my argument.

 

If you're mad about not being able to get this game on Steam, you should try applying pressure on Obsidian, Microsoft and Private Division to demand the same deal Ubisoft got.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Infinitron

[213374U]

 

In this case "Epic-exclusive" means "it won't be available on Steam", rather than actually exclusive. It is still available for purchase directly from the Ubi Store/Uplay, much like The Division 2.

 

Bad Infinitron.

 

Yeah, and The Outer Worlds is going to be on the Microsoft Store. Doesn't change my argument.

 

If you're mad about not being able to get this game on Steam, you should try applying pressure on Obsidian, Microsoft and Private Division to demand the same deal Ubisoft got.

Well, if you own (and I use this term loosely) any Ubi games on Steam, you already have to deal with Uplay. It should be not a huge problem to buy whatever directly from there instead of Steam in this case.

 

However, as a W7 user, I do not and cannot have Microsoft Store.

 

But no, I'm not really mad about TOW. I don't buy games on release anymore. I can wait until it comes to GOG.

Edited March 30, 2019 by 213374U