Are Epic games out to KILL Steam? (SIPFFO) related)

[DragonFlyy]

Epic Games Store has been losing money ever since they started it. They can giveaway as many free games as they like or sign as many exclusive deals as they like, people don’t buy games on the EGS, they buy on Steam. Valve have absolutely nothing to worry about, not for a long time.

So yes, EGS loses money, but only on the sales part. They make huge amounts of money on their engine, so technically they are making money, just not from the store. I do however buy on both EGS and Steam. Both my libraries are pretty large, so some of us do buy from EGS.

Also to the OP: EGS isn't trying to shut down Steam. They are just another competitor.

[Johners]

I'm just not sure why SE needed to use a "platform" at all for their PC releases. I got FFXIV straight from their own webpage, why can't I just get the rest of their games from there too?

Publishers use a platform like Steam for a few reasons but mostly because it was historically cheaper to use the big platform instead of rolling your own tech. Even Twitch, a big streaming platform, has this problem in comparison to something like YouTube. The operational cost of delivering that much data while factoring in all the operational demands (customer support, data protection etc) just makes it too expensive to really role your own. Subscription MMOs and F2P online games are the only real exception here because they usually have an audience that only cares for those games and the monetisation/scale balances out.

The other factor is history. Piracy was really damaging the PC gaming industry back when Valve launched Steam and combined with the PS3 & Xbox 360 launching, Valve provided a solution to both digital rights management and the feature set of those consoles that was easy for multiplatform developers/publishers to utilise. Over time people buy into using these tools, like they some people buy into a console platform/ecosystem, and don't want to switch.

Steam is THE platform for PC gaming IMHO as it's the oldest established main platform and has the biggest library, not to mention I've got a massive buy in with a huge games library. I'm not going to start buying games elsewhere and much like I'll happily ignore Xbox exclusives because I own a PlayStation, I can ignore EGS releases to wait for Steam or just pirate if they never reach it.

In-case you want to know why KH3, FF7R, and Wonderlands are EGS exclusive. Square-Enix and gearbox aren't dummies.

Square Enix and Gearbox both received money up front to not publish on Steam for a limited time. Publishers know platforms like Steam and PlayStation sell more than Xbox or EGS, so they want financial compensation for lost sales. More importantly, it's a publishing decision and not a developer decision. There's plenty of situations in which publishers force quite harmful deals onto developers they're publishing for but don't actually own, the story isn't as clear as the number Epic put out.

Square Enix took a deal from Xbox back in 2013 to make Tomb Raider a timed exclusive to the Xbox console. It backfired as the Xbox One was a joke at launch so nobody purchased the game and in the end waiting for the PC and PlayStation release. Hype drops off by then with less sales and a price cut needed for those later releases. It even had a knock on effect for Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. So much so that Square Enix finally did a cut and run of their North American studios and IPs (with a few exceptions and some mismanagement to go with it).

[DragonFlyy]

I'm thinking it's because platforms offer developers money to put the games on their platform. Perhaps they're getting a part of the earnings from sales.

Somewhat. It is more that EGS promises a developer a certain amount in sales by a certain date. If that isn't met, then Epic pays the difference.

[technole]

Epic can sustain store losses for quite a long time, since Unreal Engine prints money. It's a way to build the business since they claimed they had about half the users as Steam did in 2021. Likely a good portion are eating up their free games or paying for exclusives.

Not having to double dip on royalty fees is their biggest carrot, and for a AAA studio like SE or gearbox, 88% revenue is a lot of money for say FF7R and Wonderlands, both are Unreal engine games, even if it's a check in-advance for say 5 million copies.

[Kolsykol]

I just don't want a billion different launchers and stores.
It's kinda sad how NFT's and the discussion surrounding them has turned out because I actually think there could be a really nice application of them in games.
Imagine if you could buy a NFT that gave you ownership of a copy that could be used anywhere, basically you had a '' NFT account '' that you could login with on either Steam or Epic Games whichever you want and use it to verify that you own the game and play it from whatever launcher you wanted to.

[Sililos]

Umm from moment one of being launched Epic games has said they are trying to take Steam down outright lol, its why they are using such S***ty tactics.
Hell they even tried to take on Apple.

They are the annoying yappy dog down the street that wont shut up, but unlike that dog, can actually bite everyone in the Ass and not care about any damage they do.
Im no Steam fanboy, but the moment Epic started tossing toxicity and underhanded tactics around, they totally lost any support I might of had.
Make no mistake, despite what they claim, they don't want a fair market, they want to be the ONLY platform.

As for Stranger of Paradise, that's no mystery, Epic tossed some magic beans SE's way and thy were so blinded by the instant, shiny dollar signs, they couldn't see the larger pile of cash it distracted them from, but well that goes for everyone who chooses a timed exclusive.

I know complaining about it wont change anything as most, just dont care what Epic or frankly, any other gaming company does (People still touch Acti-Blizz products after all), but at least venting helps me feel a little better about something im powerless to change lol.

[TaleraRistain]

They are and have been trying to take Steam down like Sililos said. They haven't succeeded yet. One big issue is they don't want to improve their platform to try to honestly compete, but instead try to force consumers to their platforms by locking games only to it. If they made it something that consumers actually wanted to use and had many of the positives that Steam does, then they could be a true rival. And they could make Steam look more at their relationship with developers. Which would improve the choices for consumers and developers. They don't do that, because like Sililos also said, they don't actually want a free market. They want to provide an inferior product and not allow consumers any other choices.

Funny thing too with SE doing this on PC is they didn't do it on consoles. SIPFFO is on both Playstation and XBox.

[hagare]

I hope EGS gets better. Steam needs competition.

[Kolsykol]

I hope EGS gets better. Steam needs competition.

Steam is doing fine tho?
EGS doesn't even have basic features to this day, I mean Steam as a game studio is kinda shit nowadays.
But as a platform they're pretty great imo and very open.
The fact that they allow adults only games too as opposed to Sony or Microsoft is commendable imo it shows that they're willing to be as open as possible.
There's an argument to be made that they're too open and allow too much shovelware but I'd rather take an open platform with shovelware than a meddling platform sticking their nose into what third parties do.

Even without big competition Steam has been doing great really.

[Alpheus]

Stranger of Paradise is an amazing game. The canonicity of which can be taken or left as per the SoP Devs themselves, but for a possible lead-in story for FF1 it was pretty high concept and it stuck the landing for me. Even though I played this on PS5, DEFINITELY wait for a sale if you are getting this for PC as the performance is pretty rough, and on consoles its not great either, I'm hopeful it will receive performance patches closer to the DLC they have planned.

I'm hyped for the XIV graphic engine overhaul so we can get a Jack Garland collab and can't wait until he hits opera omnia.