Metro Exodus Ditches Steam for Epic Games Store as Timed Exclusive

[bajs11]

As of right now it is still available on Steam. Supposedly, if you buy before the change over(later today) you will still be able to access through Steam.

As a side note a company called Tencent Holdings Limited owns 48% of Epic games. It is a Chinese company and is the largest gaming company in the world. They also handle the majority of money transactions for gaming in China. not sure how that shakes out with Epic.

I just got it on Steam.

One more reason not to get this new platform

according to this article Tencent is among the largest internet companies in the world.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/18/world/asia/china-internet.html

 

[Vayra86]

View attachment 115282

FTFY

Ironically, the most crucial item in my book, is missing: 2 hour tryout / free refund option. That IMO is the only unique selling point Steam really has. The rest is just 'its easy and I can do it all from one place' - which is inherent with being locked to the platform because you're lazy.

Plus, it smells just as bad as pre-orders: with preorders you are committed to a game without knowing whether it's shit or not, and with buying a game on a new platform you are getting committed to this platform without a guarantee that it won't disappear next month/year due to lack of content publishers or content consumers.

Of course not. There is a legal obligation to keep your license to the product intact. Epic going broke means you need to be provided access to the license in another way, and its not rocket science how that'll be worked out.

One more reason not to get this new platform

according to this article Tencent is among the largest internet companies in the world.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/18/world/asia/china-internet.html

In that case, please hand over... almost everything else that's in your home, because it also contains stuff 'Made in China'.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Oh good so I am not the only one who hates having more than one gaming client (Steam, Origins, Ubisoft) on my system. Seriously can we go back to the days of games on disc and it plays on anything regardless of internet? How lame. Everything is ruined.

 

[Ruru]

Oh good so I am not the only one who hates having more than one gaming client (Steam, Origins, Ubisoft) on my system. Seriously can we go back to the days of games on disc and it plays on anything regardless of internet? How lame. Everything is ruined.

Well, optical drives on PCs are a pretty rare sight these days.

 

[TheOne]

Ironically, the most crucial item in my book, is missing: 2 hour tryout / free refund option. That IMO is the only unique selling point Steam really has.

Epic copied Steams Refund Policy.

https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/store-refund-policy

 

[jabbadap]

Well, optical drives on PCs are a pretty rare sight these days.

Heh, I still have one, but can't even remember when I last used it. Was probably even before current build... But why not any of these physical games come on USB ROM?

 

[bajs11]

In that case, please hand over... almost everything else that's in your home, because it also contains stuff 'Made in China'.

there is a difference between "made in" and controlled by

manufacturers like Samsung and Apple are neither created nor controlled by the regime

from the NYT article

That’s why the best way for tech companies to thrive in China is to make themselves useful to the state. Nearly everyone in China uses WeChat, making the social network a great way for the authorities to police what people say and do. SenseTime, whose facial recognition technology powers those fun filters in video apps, also sells software to law enforcement.

fyi WeChat is developed by Tencent

also
https://www.ft.com/content/e90c3800-aad3-11e8-94bd-cba20d67390c

 

[Easy Rhino]

Well, optical drives on PCs are a pretty rare sight these days.

True. It could even be as simple as putting the game on a cheap thumbdrive.

 

[Vayra86]

there is a difference between "made in" and controlled by

manufacturers like Samsung and Apple are neither created nor controlled by the regime

from the NYT article

fyi WeChat is developed by Tencent

also
https://www.ft.com/content/e90c3800-aad3-11e8-94bd-cba20d67390c

True, that. And its an interesting thought. If a little bit hypocritical... But definitely valid in the larger scheme of things yes. China's degree of control and influence over the internet and in tech is scary. But, I'm just as scared by the US companies doing similar things, just in a different way. As much as Bill Clinton used to think that 'the internet will make China an open society', that same open society in the West is just as easily used to exercise a similar form of power and control, except the way its being done is a bit more nuanced and 'we' have (the illusion of?) more influence on the process. We just package it differently. I think this is a different discussion though

On the other hand, if Chinese state support gets us big budget, quality games, I'm not complaining at all. Regardless of the store they're sold in. But this may very well be a divide&conquer attempt from Tencent, I can see that.

 

[xorbe]

How does EpicVR compare to SteamVR?

 

[lexluthermiester]

There are a number of games on Steam that will run straight from the .exe without Steam open. Divinity Original Sin 1&2 are an example.

While that's true, it's mostly older/classic titles and is the exception rather than the rule. At least from what I've seen, but that is admittedly a limited experience as I have only a few titles on Steam and most are older/classic titles.

 

[bajs11]

True, that. And its an interesting thought. If a little bit hypocritical... But definitely valid in the larger scheme of things yes. China's degree of control and influence over the internet and in tech is scary. But, I'm just as scared by the US companies doing similar things, just in a different way. As much as Bill Clinton used to think that 'the internet will make China an open society', that same open society in the West is just as easily used to exercise a similar form of power and control, except the way its being done is a bit more nuanced and 'we' have (the illusion of?) more influence on the process. We just package it differently. I think this is a different discussion though

On the other hand, if Chinese state support gets us big budget, quality games, I'm not complaining at all. Regardless of the store they're sold in. But this may very well be a divide&conquer attempt from Tencent, I can see that.

That I do agree
but the large corporations here in the West have been scrutinized by both journalists, the users/customers and politicians. They are usually accountable for their actions.
While the same can't really be said of the corporations controlled by authoritarian regimes, at least not in their own countries anyway then even if they get banned or punished here in the west the regime have their ways to retaliate, as we have seen in the Huawei case.

Of course, I wouldn't mind buying games developed by Chinese developers. In fact one of my favorite games Alice nightmare returns were developed by them (rip Spicy Horse)
but they may will encounter the same problem there. That the state may will influence or use the developers or simply censor titles they don't like.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/18/world/asia/china-movies.html

When was the last time you watched a movie with a Chinese villain?
If you can’t remember, that may not be too surprising. Take the 2012 remake of the Cold War drama “Red Dawn.” It depicted Chinese enemies invading an American town.
At least it did until the script was leaked and angered the Chinese state media.
In the end, MGM spent $1 million digitally erasing evidence of the Chinese Army, frame by frame, and substituting in North Koreans instead.

Lets hope the same won't happen to the gaming industry. I am actually surprised that they haven't banned Fallout games.

 

[Vayra86]

Lets hope the same won't happen to the gaming industry. I am actually surprised that they haven't banned Fallout games.

An interesting one, that last quote you placed there. Look at the typical Hollywood formula, and how the US flag & its soldiers are typically depicted I don't think I need to say more. The only difference with China is that we also allow content like Jarhead alongside the heroic same-old. But at the same time, there is só much noise on the big budget titles that most don't even know the 'other' movies exist, they sure as hell aren't mainstream. So again, 'we' go about it differently, but there are similar powers at work here, with largely the same goal: control of hearts and minds, both domestic and abroad. Its cultural export, as well, and this is tightly controlled by every country. The only reason we aren't actively asking for censorship elsewhere is because we simply don't need to - there's no market for Chinese content in the West, and if there is, its super niche. But we don't refrain from similar measures on other markets, think about solar panels for example. Regardless, Chinese actions like this are a threat to us, and this works both ways of course.

Anyway. This is getting strangely political, I'm dropping it now

 

[Ruru]

Heh, I still have one, but can't even remember when I last used it. Was probably even before current build... But why not any of these physical games come on USB ROM?

I had a BD-ROM drive few years ago, and I used it about five times just for movies. For my retro rigs, they need a DVD drive for installing games (and an OS for the Socket A machine)

 

[John Naylor]

My preference lies with GOG ... https://www.gog.com/

Aside from MMOs, if it requires an internet connection. I'm not playing.

 

[Liquid Cool]

As a huge fan of of Metro...I'll be waiting for a GOG release.

Closed my accounts at EA, Ubisoft, Battle.net, and Twitch as well.

Lost 200 games, but gained better sleep at night...wouldn't go back.

Same feeling I had after giving Windows the boot. I don't have that(or any) daunting EULA(s) bothering me. With Debian...there are no EULA's.

Best,

Liquid Cool

 

[psyko12]

I'm all in to supporting 4A as a fan of Metro series and the book, but does EPIC have offline mode to play the game? If not a years wait is ok for me.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Nope. You can't even see your library in the client without being online and it has no "offline mode." This is what I got when I tried to launch the What Remains of Edith Finch with my NIC disabled:

 

[rtwjunkie]

Nope. You can't even see your library in the client without being online and it has no "offline mode." This is what I got when I tried to launch the What Remains of Edith Finch with my NIC disabled:
View attachment 115570

Well that’s not cool. People have internet go down. Do they not understand this concept? I recommend getting the game on GOG!

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I don't think Epic Games will stop the game once it is already running. That's something the game developer would have to bake into their executable.

But when you have no internet access, the Epic Games client literally changes you to "offline" so it doesn't even know who you are until it can go back online. Here's hoping they fix that but for the time being, it's very internet dependent.

 

[vega22]

We need more competition and epic have the bank to take valve on.

If this also means people making games earn more money and are able to make better games then even better.

 

[Super XP]

We need more competition and epic have the bank to take valve on.

If this also means people making games earn more money and are able to make better games then even better.

In a perfect world. In the real world, why on earth would people want to buy this game on Epic? Epic offers Nothing where as Steam offers everything needed to ensure your purchase and support is ongoing.

I'll postpone my purchase till there's a Steam Release.
I also see very low sales, with an early Steam Release to further mitigate bad sales.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Nothing where as Steam offers everything needed to ensure your purchase and support is ongoing.

Why Steam? Support for a game, no matter what game client it is on, lasts only as long as the developer keeps providing patches and support. Steam or any other client is just a distribution means for them and has no inherent advantage.

If support for a game disappears, the fault is with a dev and/or publisher.

 

[Super XP]

Why Steam? Support for a game, no matter what game client it is on, lasts only as long as the developer keeps providing patches and support. Steam or any other client is just a distribution means for them and has no inherent advantage.

If support for a game disappears, the fault is with a dev and/or publisher.

Yes but I have OLD games I purchased on Steam and to this date they get updated with patches and firmware or what ever. We are talking about 10+ year old games lol

So the publishers provide the updates. OK. Anyhow I'll still wait for a Steam Release. Don't like the Epic store front. Perhaps opinion will change. We'll See.

 

[hat]

Nope. You can't even see your library in the client without being online and it has no "offline mode." This is what I got when I tried to launch the What Remains of Edith Finch with my NIC disabled:
View attachment 115570

Oh, that sucks. Guess I have another reason to stay away from the Epic (fail) launcher.