Yea of course they do. I've got it turned on and it works for both the website and the launcher.
But, hey, don't let facts get in the way of slagging off the launcher!
Epic Games Store now open!
- Thread starter ic1male
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Yea of course they do. I've got it turned on and it works for both the website and the launcher.
But, hey, don't let facts get in the way of slagging off the launcher!
Soldato
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Yea of course they do. I've got it turned on and it works for both the website and the launcher.
But, hey, don't let facts get in the way of slagging off the launcher!
I stand corrected...
I guess I'll just stick to the other countless reasons why the launcher and storefront are subpar instead
Soldato
EPIC are claiming to be good for developers, but I'm not seeing a consumer benefit. The consumer doesn't pay less on EPIC than they would on Steam as far as I can see, only the developers sees more money.
On top of that they are actively going after exclusives, and developers are signing on board, presumably because the cash money that EPIC are giving them is worthwhile.
We had Metro Exodus with the old bait and switch that was removed from Steam in the last few weeks before release. Phoenix Point, which was crowdfunded long before EPIC store came to be, has also recently gone for an EPIC exclusive. This wasn't even a game they self-funded!
The spying on Steam user data is just another reason not to use it on top of the other existing reasons (exclusives, lack of features, "another launcher").
On top of that they are actively going after exclusives, and developers are signing on board, presumably because the cash money that EPIC are giving them is worthwhile.
We had Metro Exodus with the old bait and switch that was removed from Steam in the last few weeks before release. Phoenix Point, which was crowdfunded long before EPIC store came to be, has also recently gone for an EPIC exclusive. This wasn't even a game they self-funded!
The spying on Steam user data is just another reason not to use it on top of the other existing reasons (exclusives, lack of features, "another launcher").
There is no benefit to consumers only developers.
The launcher has less features, the games are no cheaper, users have to install a launcher now they didnt have before if they want to play one of these exclusives and games can even be more expensive as well.
The launcher has less features, the games are no cheaper, users have to install a launcher now they didnt have before if they want to play one of these exclusives and games can even be more expensive as well.
Soldato
I'm certain one developer made a post or blog post about giving back the savings to the gamers. I think they reduced the price of the game by like £5 moving to Epic.
Cant remember which game it was though.
Cant remember which game it was though.
Soldato
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There's not really a benefit to developers either because eventually the free money Epic is throwing at devs will run dry and all those devs will be left with is an angry mob of ex fans who will never touch any of their products ever again
The only winner is Epic, until their business models ends up biting them in the ass which it will as Fortnite won't be a forever cash cow for them
Let's not forget that Steam has regular sales, it will be interesting to see if Epic follows suit with a similar sales program but I doubt we'll start seeing anything like that until the library of games is well into the hundreds
Steam sales have been lacklustre for a while now IMO.
Soldato
Depends on what you're comparing them too, if you are comparing them to CDKeys then sure as Steam just can't compete with that type of pricing. Other places like GreenManGaming do generally have around the same sale price as Steam, but also offers things like 10-15% vouchers off the sale price. Steam can't win and Epic will be the same.
Soldato
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Metro isnone example of this. Sadly for what ever reason we didn't get the discount only Americans (not sure about Europeans)
I do like the way he claims they only do something with the users consent, then goes straight on to explain how the software automatically accesses and copies your data before asking for consent xD
Soldato
Seems that the amount of network traffic the Epic launcher is sending from the client is coming into question, the poster who has raised the thread had posed some interesting questions with seemingly strange behaviour evidenced. I'm no expert in this matter so can only rely on the word of people that if it looks questionable, then it should be questioned.
https://www.reddit.com/r/PhoenixPoint/comments/b0rxdq/epic_game_store_spyware_tracking_and_you/
https://www.reddit.com/r/PhoenixPoint/comments/b0rxdq/epic_game_store_spyware_tracking_and_you/
Soldato
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probably because they dont allow crap like "Rape Day!" on their store.
Frankly the lack of QC and the avalanche of utter tripe on steam is enough for me to want to see another store. unless small indies get very lucky even hidden gems get lost in the quagmire. IF nothing else, if having rival stores makes Valve take stock and up their own game then it is job done as far as i am concerned.
Soldato
This.
It's just spyware. When I had it installed I found it accessed processes\files that had nothing to do with epic.
Glad I deleted everything to do with epic.
Soldato
You have a point on that, Steam should have some control of what is allowed on their storefront. I tend to know what I am after though rather than relying on searching.
Not sure I really care about quality control from steam, do we really want them to deem what is and isn't good enough? Obviously happy for them not to sell stuff like rape day, but that's a different issue. They have user reviews and a 2 hour refund window, that's enough to make sure nobody gets burnt wasting their money on trash.
Soldato
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They do have control, which is why you won't find that game on there now... Yes it shouldn't have gotten there in the first place especially with the word "Rape" in the title, and yes it should have been acted on more quickly, but to try and paint a picture like Valve were somehow condoning it is silly - they took it down, just like they did with the school shooter game from a few months ago... Their approach of letting anything on and then dealing with it after-the-fact is stupid, for sure, but they obviously don't want games like that on their service (no matter how much the gaming gutter rags and anti-Steam brigade want it to be true)
I don't expect many people really try to use any game storefront's "discovery" or browsing features to find new games to play... most people watch reviews or streamers/youtubers or see what Humble or their friends are promoting and talking about, so although it's true that Steam is stuffed full of low effort copy-paste rubbish, who cares? Do you really think Epic won't do the same if/once their store gets more popular? (Nah they wouldn't do that, they've already shown they've got players and the communities best interests at heart by bringing petty console exclusivity to the PC)
Associate
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The way Epic are going about it isn't going to get Steam to change anything. All we've learned so far is if you hand a publisher enough money they'll be willing to hold off putting their game elsewhere for a while. Until they're going exclusive without any inducement, Valve isn't going to change a thing. I've no idea how discoverability can be fixed, but I don't think heavy curation is the answer. There are more great games to play that there is enough free time to play them so going that route will leave some worthwhile games out in the cold. GOG's turned down quite a few games I really like.
Soldato
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Valve's philosophy is that if anybody is using the discovery tools then an obvious metric people would use to filter on would be user reviews... and as a result any games that are terrible crappy asset-flips won't get good reviews so should be easier to ignore and will effectively fade into obscurity. In theory it could work, in the same way that Reddit posts with the most upvotes rise to the top and those with heavy downvotes get hidden...
What they perhaps didn't bank on though is that there are plenty of people out there positively desperate to virtue signal on twitter as hard as they can and plenty of sites wanting to rake in those precious clicks by sensationalising an edgy game that, if not for their involvement, would likely go completely unnoticed by the vast majority of people on the service, and do little but waste the money/time of the dumb kid who put it there
And I agree, Epic aren't going to affect any change here... If they'd come out with a product with a great UI that does everything Steam does without too many flaws, with better QC of the games, and subsidised it to have better prices than Steam whilst also taking a lower cut from developers (which they could have done instead of throwing cash at devs for exclusivity) they could have absolutely shaken things up... People would buy the games on their platform not because they're being forced to but because it offered a better experience... Then Valve would have to react in some way by improving their own offering... How can they react to this exclusivity nonsense? Offer devs an even higher payoff to be exclusive to Steam instead? Because that's such an aspirational quality of the Console landscape 2 big companies fighting to out-exclusive each other...