Wednesday, March 20th 2019

The EPIC Games Store Odyssey: Obsidian's "The Outer Worlds", Remedy's "Control" Exclusive for One Year

It seems that the EPIC Game Store exclusivity saga is still coming strong, with not one, but two AA games coming to PC that are exclusive to the new games distribution platform. Obsidian's The Outer Worlds is likely one of the most anticipated RPG games this side of Fallout 76, and Remedy has always been known for great single-player games that push the boundaries of the medium - and sometimes wreck those boundaries completely, as it happened with Quantum Break.

Now, both games are known to be part of EPIC's Game Store in a time-limited exclusive format for one year after launch, much like has happened with Metro Exodus - though here there is no sudden Steam departure to be met with. The Outer Worlds will also be available in Microsoft Store, true (Obsidian is now part of Microsoft's Game Studios, remember?).
Sources: Remedy, via DSOGaming, Obsidian, via DSOGaming
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53 Comments on The EPIC Games Store Odyssey: Obsidian's "The Outer Worlds", Remedy's "Control" Exclusive for One Year

#26
rtwjunkie
PC Gaming Enthusiast
TheOneWill Epic do the same sales as Steam.
Who knows? They have a small library still, even with the high profile announcements recently.
Posted on Reply
#27
Easo
I can only guess that we will see more suddent announcements like these very soon. Epic's marketing division must be running around like crazy to all the big gaming studios.
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#28
Eric3988
I am all for competition on the PC platform but I'm getting frustrated with EPIC. I dislike exclusives on console and I am beginning to despise it on PC. I understand if it's an in-house title that they don't want to sell it on their competitors platform but there's no reason to take a 3rd party title and keep it hostage for a year. It's essentially anti-competitive and anti-consumer to do so.
Posted on Reply
#29
rtwjunkie
PC Gaming Enthusiast
Eric3988I am all for competition on the PC platform but I'm getting frustrated with EPIC. I dislike exclusives on console and I am beginning to despise it on PC. I understand if it's an in-house title that they don't want to sell it on their competitors platform but there's no reason to take a 3rd party title and keep it hostage for a year. It's essentially anti-competitive and anti-consumer to do so.
So basically, the fact that Valve had every opportunity to stop resting on its fat laurels and get out there and make some deals...but didnt, doesn't factor into it at all? Valve has been sitting on an old business model and obviously not even employing a sales force for too long. They got complacent and started assuming evey publisher would just come to them.

Epic at least recognizes that there are limited titles available and obviously they need to sell themselves and make good deals to attract business. You should be upset that Steam hasn't been more proactive in years.

No, I've not installed EGS yet. I will though. Life is too short, with tomorow never guarranteed. I'm not going to deny myself something I enjoy.
Posted on Reply
#30
biffzinker
rtwjunkieNo, I've not installed EGS yet. I will though. Life is too short, with tomorow never guarranteed. I'm not going to deny myself something I enjoy.
Way ahead of you, I did for the free games.
Posted on Reply
#31
INSTG8R
Vanguard Beta Tester
rtwjunkieSo basically, the fact that Valve had every opportunity to stop resting on its fat laurels and get out there and make some deals...but didnt, doesn't dactor into it at all? Valve has been sitting on an old business model and obviously not even employing a sales force for too long. They got complacent and started assuming evey publisher would just come to them.

Epic at least recognizes that there are limited titles available and obviously they need to sell themselves andmake good deals to attract business. You should be upset that Steam hasn't been more proactive in years.

No, I've not installed EGS yet. I will though. Life is too short, with tomorow never guarranteed. I'm not going to deny myself something I enjoy.
It’s the “one year exclusive” that’s the problem. This isn’t consoles. People like to say Steam is monopolistic but grabbing up all these games and locking them down is actually monopolistic behaviours. Phoenix Point was a kickstarter game that promised Steam and GoG keys. They’ve now backpedaled and taken a wad of cash so big the Devs have said they could refund everyone and still be in the black. That in itself is concerning, why continue to support your game when you’ve already turned a profit before you’ve even released it. Can just coast away locked on a terrible platform not needing to even care about it anymore. Yeah Steam needs to drop their high take but they certainly don’t play the “exclusives” game that is the most troubling thing. Epic is literally holding games for ransom from gamers forcing them to use their currently terrible service.
Posted on Reply
#32
Eric3988
rtwjunkieSo basically, the fact that Valve had every opportunity to stop resting on its fat laurels and get out there and make some deals...but didnt, doesn't factor into it at all? Valve has been sitting on an old business model and obviously not even employing a sales force for too long. They got complacent and started assuming evey publisher would just come to them.

Epic at least recognizes that there are limited titles available and obviously they need to sell themselves and make good deals to attract business. You should be upset that Steam hasn't been more proactive in years.

No, I've not installed EGS yet. I will though. Life is too short, with tomorow never guarranteed. I'm not going to deny myself something I enjoy.
I'm not arguing on behalf of Valve, there are other retailers getting cut out like GOG, Uplay, Green Man Gaming and others. Valve could definitely work harder for sure, but Epic snatching up exclusivity every opportunity isn't a good thing either. What if they decide to almost never have sales? Then the pirates will come out and then the Devs will complain about that.
Posted on Reply
#33
rtwjunkie
PC Gaming Enthusiast
@INSTG8R *shrugs* Life is too short. Putting things off for a year that won’t cost me any more money now is just not something I am going to do. I don’t have any loyalty to any game store (although if forced to only have one left in the world available to me I would pick GOG), and want to play the games that interest me.

It should be noted that Quantum Dreams’ games aren’t even just one year. They signed on to just EGS.
Eric3988What if they decide to almost never have sales? Then the pirates will come out and then the Devs will complain about that.
Fair point. But most pirates are going to pirate anyway. DRM or no DRM, sale or no sale, it’s what they do.
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#34
lexluthermiester
64KValve may even get so desperate that they have to go back to developing games again.
So we might actually get Half Life 3? Ok! At least something good would come out of this mess!
rtwjunkieFair point. But most pirates are going to pirate anyway. DRM or no DRM, sale or no sale, it’s what they do.
Exactly right. Pirate do what they do and will not be diswayed.
Posted on Reply
#35
Crackong
EPIC store software is a virus and violates EU laws.
Google that and you will know.
Good luck paying them to steal your personal info.

Won't touch any EPIC exclusive until they fixed these issues.
Posted on Reply
#36
INSTG8R
Vanguard Beta Tester
rtwjunkie@INSTG8R *shrugs* Life is too short. Putting things off for a year that won’t cost me any more money now is just not something I am going to do. I don’t have any loyalty to any game store (although if forced to only have one left in the world available to me I would pick GOG), and want to play the games that interest me.

It should be noted that Quantum Dreams’ games aren’t even just one year. They signed on to just EGS.


Fair point. But most pirates are going to pirate anyway. DRM or no DRM, sale or no sale, it’s what they do.
Yeah in this case. But they’ve gotten Control and it’s looking like Borderlands 3 is gonna jump in and Outer Worlds All “exclusives” barring Outer Worlds will be on Windows Store(thankfully) but Windows prices are insane in my case anyway...
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#37
moproblems99
Clearly the developers aren't happy with the money they have been making with Steam or we wouldn't have this happening. Again, I could care less about Steam, Epic, or whoever. If I had to pick one store, it would be Gog. And pay extra to toss out all that extra crap I don't need with Steam starting with achievements.
Posted on Reply
#38
64K
lexluthermiesterSo we might actually get Half Life 3? Ok! At least something good would come out of this mess!
tbh I'm doubtful. Valve could potentially lose tens of millions of dollars in revenue because of what Epic is doing but it's more likely that they will temporarily lower their cut on Steam to compete with Epic.

It would be very nice to at least get a HL2 Ep3 to wrap up Gordon Freeman's story though. The way Valve left Ep2 on a cliffhanger wasn't right for such a well loved series.
Posted on Reply
#39
TheOne
To be fair HL always ends on a cliff hanger, I also wouldn't be surprised if they have been working on HL3.
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#40
lexluthermiester
64Ktbh I'm doubtful.
One can hope..
64KIt would be very nice to at least get a HL2 Ep3 to wrap up Gordon Freeman's story though. The way Valve left Ep2 on a cliffhanger wasn't right for such a well loved series.
Completely agree. Needs some closure.
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#41
TheOne
At least we have a modding community trying to bring Episode 3's story to life.
Posted on Reply
#42
Joss
Eric3988there's no reason to take a 3rd party title and keep it hostage for a year
This. It's dishonest, simply put.
rtwjunkieValve has been sitting on an old business model...
Valve has done more for gaming in general and Linux gaming in particular than everybody else put together.
And they're hard at work as the new Proton testifies.
Epic is the one bringing nothing new to the table.
Posted on Reply
#43
Unregistered
Ya, I will never do business with EGS. Too many security issues, etc. Plus I just don't like the way they do business. I'm perfectly fine with games being sold on their store, but they should never be exclusive, it's just an anti-consumer practice. If I buy any of these games it will be on Steam.

Looks like I'll be sailing the high seas for some of these games.
Posted on Edit | Reply
#44
rtwjunkie
PC Gaming Enthusiast
JossThis. It's dishonest, simply put.

Valve has done more for gaming in general and Linux gaming in particular than everybody else put together.
And they're hard at work as the new Proton testifies.
Epic is the one bringing nothing new to the table.
If Valve was so on top of the gaming industry and trying to get business, Steam would not be losing multiple titles to Epic. Steam once upon a time did much for gaming. The last few years they have become complacent, bloated and lazy.
Posted on Reply
#45
Ubersonic
SystemMechanicWhat is Steam doing lol ?!? They are just letting EPIC steam roll and not responding in anyway..
Do they even need too?

All these anti-consumer attacks by Epic are only serving to turn the PC user base against them, all Valve really need to do at this point is sit there and wait for Fortnite to stop being the flavour of the week game, at which point Epics main source of income will dry up and they won't be able to afford to bribe devs, at which point Steam wins by default as there will be nothing good going for the EGS.
rtwjunkieSo basically, the fact that Valve had every opportunity to stop resting on its fat laurels and get out there and make some deals...but didnt, doesn't factor into it at all? Valve has been sitting on an old business model and obviously not even employing a sales force for too long. They got complacent and started assuming evey publisher would just come to them.

Epic at least recognizes that there are limited titles available and obviously they need to sell themselves and make good deals to attract business. You should be upset that Steam hasn't been more proactive in years.
No offense intended but in in 30 years of using the internet that is one of the worst attempts at logical reasoning I have seen, you may as well be telling people they shouldn't be mad at ISIS for wanting to cut their head off, they should be mad at their own government because it hasn't cut their head off yet...

How exactly is the fact that Valve have never stooped to the same anti-consumer lows that Epic are now spamming, a bad thing? (Hint: it's rhetorical, it's not a bad thing).
Posted on Reply
#46
moproblems99
UbersonicAll these anti-consumer attacks by Epic are only serving to turn the PC user base against them, all Valve really need to do at this point is sit there and wait for Fortnite to stop being the flavour of the week game, at which point Epics main source of income will dry up and they won't be able to afford to bribe devs, at which point Steam wins by default as there will be nothing good going for the EGS.
You are assuming that enough people care. Even bigger, is that you are assuming that people are doing what they say. I would surmise that there are a lot of closet EGS users IF we can take the Exodus sales numbers at face value. Yes, I am aware that is a big if.

If you pay attention to various threads, you will see the a lot of users (even here) says one thing and then turn around and contradict it in another. I think that a lot of people flapping their gums about EGS are not putting their money where their mouth is.
UbersonicHow exactly is the fact that Valve have never stooped to the same anti-consumer lows that Epic are now spamming, a bad thing? (Hint: it's rhetorical, it's not a bad thing).
I think if you looked back in time, Steam has their share of violations.
Posted on Reply
#47
biffzinker
moproblems99If you pay attention to various threads, you will see the a lot of users (even here) says one thing and then turn around and contradict it in another. I think that a lot of people flapping their gums about EGS are not putting their money where their mouth is.
I was more concerned with security but since I've had 2FA turned on before EGS rolled out so eh whatever. Another game launcher plus the current collection means more occupied space so larger drive purchase in the future.
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#48
TheOne
As far as Metro's sales numbers go I would personally be curious to see the Steam and physical pre-orders before the announcement, Steam pre-orders after the announcement, but before it was pulled, and physical and digital pre-orders and after launch sales on Epic.
Posted on Reply
#49
Gasaraki
Epic is really putting the hurt on Steam.
ArpeegeeMakes me hesitant to purchase any new titles on PC. I don't want to be forced off my Steam library and install ANOTHER launcher for one-year exclusives, I can wait.

Plus with the recent reports of Epic launcher snooping around on people's systems and them canceling all their titles besides Fortnite support makes me think they're no better than Valve and will make the same mistakes in time.

PC gaming is dying...
Yeah this sounds like it was written 10 years ago.
Posted on Reply
#50
rtwjunkie
PC Gaming Enthusiast
TheOneAs far as Metro's sales numbers go I would personally be curious to see the Steam and physical pre-orders before the announcement, Steam pre-orders after the announcement, but before it was pulled, and physical and digital pre-orders and after launch sales on Epic.
I would like to see this too, although not likely since Steam is very secret always about sales numbers. What I really want to see are the EGS "2.5 times Metro LL" numbers. Either give numbers or don't, like Steam, but don't make vague sales statements.
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