The Epic Games store for PC and Mac [2018-12]

[Pete]

I'll just cut and paste what I wrote in the free games thread:

I finally peeked at the reddit thread about Subnautica and the Epic Games Store:

https://www.reddit.com/r/path%3D%252Fr%252FGameDeals%252Fcomments%252Fa663d5%252F

I don't know how much is fear mongering and how much is legitimate concern, but there are some potential issues and one nice thing (besides the free games):
- apparently you have to opt out of marketing emails (so you must check a box to opt out, as opposed to, say, Humble asking you to check a box to opt in), which seems to run afoul of GDPR
- Epic may send your personal info to other countries where data protection may not be as strong (assuming your info doesn't get hacked, which obviously moots any assurances), Tencent gumble China grumble, use a throwaway email and prepaid cards, etc.
+ Subnautica is DRM-free, so you can run it without the Epic launcher (copy the install folder elsewhere, as it gets deleted with the Epic launcher)

 

[Entropy]

This fragmentation of the gaming landscape on PC is another thing that is slowly driving me away from PC gaming despite my love for PC gaming. That and the fact that NV has almost a monopoly on performant GPU products and has driven the cost of gaming on PC to such ridiculous levels.

The PC is almost completely a commodity device these days. Apple has tiny volumes but has sold over 90% of the $1000+ systems for years, meaning that the Windows market consists mainly of minimum cost administrative systems.
Gaming PCs are the one exception with any volume to speak of. This means that gaming systems look ever more different from the commodity systems, and have to carry much of their own weight in terms of development, and the products in the gaming segment is where manufacturers can enjoy fatter margins. So they do their best to fleece gamers with cheap bling. (Nvidia lets gamers pay for their hardware and software development efforts to attack other markets, be they hpc, automotive or whatever.)
PC gamers are being milked, because they represent one of very few market niches where you can have fat margins and get away with it.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

The PC is almost completely a commodity device these days. Apple has tiny volumes but has sold over 90% of the $1000+ systems for years, meaning that the Windows market consists mainly of minimum cost administrative systems.
Gaming PCs are the one exception with any volume to speak of. This means that gaming systems look ever more different from the commodity systems, and have to carry much of their own weight in terms of development, and the products in the gaming segment is where manufacturers can enjoy fatter margins. So they do their best to fleece gamers with cheap bling. (Nvidia lets gamers pay for their hardware and software development efforts to attack other markets, be they hpc, automotive or whatever.)
PC gamers are being milked, because they represent one of very few market niches where you can have fat margins and get away with it.

Yup and similarly if not for AMD's resurgence in the CPU market, Intel CPUs would also be a fair bit more expensive, although not nearly to the degree of consumer milking as NV.

NV is like Intel at its worst, but 10x worse.

Hence why I hope Intel is successful at their DGPU efforts. We desperately need a second GPU maker that can compete effectively. They don't necessarily need to take the enthusiast class graphics performance crown, but need to be competitive enough that they can keep performance class GPUs reasonably priced.

AMD being competitive again at or near the top would be good also. Otherwise NV and increasing fragmentation of the software market is slowly driving me out of the PC market for games.

I'm just thankful that all the different productivity app makers don't insist on each having their own launcher. Ugh. Imagine if Windows Office insisted on first starting a launcher before you could start any of their individual apps? /shudder

Regards,
SB

 

[BRiT]

Epic's Tim Sweeney responds to concerns about data privacy and offline modes in a Reddit discussion.

We'll be adding offline support to the Epic Games launcher for games that work offline. This is coming in early 2019

Re Epic Games store: Epic does not share user data with Tencent or any other company. We don’t share it, sell it, or broker access to it for advertising like so many other companies do.

I’m the founder and controlling shareholder of Epic and would never allow this to happen.

The language related to sharing data with the parent companies refers to Epic Games Inc. It’s a US-based company. This language exists because when you buy an Epic game in certain territories (like Europe), the seller of record is our local (e.g. European) subsidiary company for tax purposes, but the data is ultimately stored by Epic Games Inc.

Tencent is not a parent company of Epic. Tencent is an independent company that’s a minority investor in Epic, alongside many others. However they do not have any sort of access to our customer data.

The other language around data in the EULA generally exists to cover the cases where we use third party service providers as part of operating our online services. For example, our game servers and databases are hosted on Amazon Web Services. However these third parties do not have the right to use or access Epic customer data in any way except for providing that service.

Reddit links below:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/a9lntx/ubisoft_needs_to_stop_with_this_always_online/ecpif8g

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/a9lntx/ubisoft_needs_to_stop_with_this_always_online/eclrmii

 

[MfA]

It's smart of them to translate their teenage mindshare dominance into a continuing revenue stream.

I'm not sure it's good for PC gaming ... the relatively casual aspect of the Fortnite player base might mean most of the growth would be on Macbooks and the last thing PC gaming need is to lessen its edge in that respect. I also think something like SteamOS is necessary for the future of PC gaming and maybe down the line Epic will agree with me, but that might be too late.

PS. they need a catchy name.

PPS. I wonder if their approach to Android will spell the end of sideloading, I can't see Google turning a blind eye.

 

[Davros]

I also think something like SteamOS is necessary for the future of PC gaming

Why?

 

[MfA]

Because Microsoft is an unreliable partner ... they just don't seem to know what consumer Windows is supposed to be. Is it supposed to be an advertising vehicle? A closed garden with some legacy and underdeveloped win32 on the side? An optionally closed garden where sideloading is an integral part? Only the last option is somewhat acceptable, but whether that will be the direction they go is entirely up in the air.

 

[Davros]

and you think valve would be better ?
the company that basically said to everyone if you dont agree not to sue us we will take all your games from you.
valve in control of the pc would be terrible

 

[MfA]

In the end it's just linux with a container system and open source. Even if they take it close source you can fork the open source release.

It would also do the hardest part, make Vulkan first party instead of an afterthought. There's still only 2 real AAA Vulkan games at the moment Doom and Wolfenstein 2.

 

[Jupiter]

Epic has stepped up its battle with Valve for PC video game sales by cutting a deal with Ubisoft to pull The Division 2 from Steam and instead bring it to its own store: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...-steam-but-it-will-be-on-the-epic-games-store

I will bying this on Uplay anyway.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Welp, UBIsoft becomes the next publisher I don't buy games from. And Epic for pulling this stunt. Was fine with it before, but it's one thing to foster open marketplaces and another to try to buy the market.

Another big stone in the slow death of PC gaming, IMO. Sad, as it went through a massive resurgence just 2 years ago.

Regards,
SB

 

[tuna]

Yeah, competition sucks. I want Gabe Nevell to rule the gaming world!

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Yeah, competition sucks. I want Gabe Nevell to rule the gaming world!

Hopefully you weren't responding to me as that isn't what I said...

Was fine with it before, but it's one thing to foster open marketplaces and another to try to buy the market.

Trying to corner the market and paying to have things unavailable on other storefronts certainly isn't competition...at least not the good kind of competition.

That's using your financial muscle to try to corner the market.

Yup, wanting Epic to rule the gaming world is great. /sarcasm.

At least Valve has never stooped to those pitiable low levels with other publisher's titles, that I'm aware of. Heck, they didn't even include language to prohibit VR Titles that came out on the Vive from being sold on the Oculus storefront, as far as I'm aware.

Regards,
SB

 

[milk]

Yeah, competition sucks. I want Gabe Nevell to rule the gaming world!

Competition is usually productive, but there are forms of competition that are more productive than others. Epic spending money to try and make their service better than Valve's is way better for consumers than they spending that investment to simply money-hat a publisher into an exclusivity deal. The consumer gets nothing out of that.

 

[Pete]

Is this a timed exclusive?

Speaking of timing, the current Unity brouhaha and its subsequent Epic PR is rather fortuitously timed. <Groucho emoji>

 

[BRiT]

Epic Game Store now has a typical game refund policy (Refund within 14 days if under 2 hours played, self-service being worked on) and they're working on regional pricing too:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1083777713670942721

https://twitter.com/x/status/1083780576472113164

 

[Ike Turner]

Is this a timed exclusive?

Speaking of timing, the current Unity brouhaha and its subsequent Epic PR is rather fortuitously timed. <Groucho emoji>

Improbable & Epic where simply full of shit and orchestrated the whole thing to spread FUD against Unity

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/20...ter-all-as-epic-offer-devs-cash-to-go-unreal/

 

[BRiT]

Man, those comments on that last article ... Classics …

“Yes, I spent literally zero time looking into whether what I was being told was true or not, and whether the partner I was entering into a $25 million dollar deal with was lying about their actions in this situation, because I am a fucking moron.”

 

[Malo]

Is this a timed exclusive?

Not really an exclusive per se since you can simply buy it through UPlay, which has to be installed to play it anyway.

 

[MfA]

It's a shame that Epic uses the distribution platform to push their engine ... this isn't good for the industry.

Hopefully all that money will make them a bit more independent in their technology development and Sweeney will stop dragging his feet on Vulkan support. Not optimistic though.