I can’t seem to find that one comment explaining the issue with them…

But for the sake of promoting conversation on Lemmy, what’s the issue with Epic, and why should I go for Steam or GoG?

Note: Piracy is not an answer. I understand why, and do agree to a certain extent… But sometimes, the happiness gained by playing something from a legitimate source is far greater 🥹… coming from someone who could never ever afford to purchase games, nor could my parents… Hence I’ve always played bootleg, or pirated games.

TL;DR

What’s wrong?

  • Their launcher has a terrible UI AND UX.
  • They make exclusive deals with studios to prevent other platforms from getting games. (Someone mentioned that Steam did the same thing in their infancy. Also, I have another question; why is it ok for Sony and Microsoft to make exclusive games for their consoles but not ok for these PC platforms to do so?)
  • They have been invested in by a Chinese company, Tencent. (Someone mentioned that it isn’t that big of a deal, but idk.)
  • They are actively anti-linux for some reason.
  • Veritrax@lemmy.worldEnglish
    702·
    1 year ago

    I personally don’t like Epic for paying developers for exclusivity deals, keeping games off other PC platforms for a year or more. Artificial scarcity is bad for consumers.

    • pivot_root@lemmy.worldEnglish
      201·
      1 year ago

      Even worse is that they do this while trying to paint themselves as the underdog against the Steam monopoly. It’s not only hypocritical, but also deceitful. A new monopoly is not a solution to an existing monopoly, but a solution to investments paying off.

      • Killer@lemmy.worldEnglish
        121·
        1 year ago

        Don’t forget them being hypocritical again for suing google/apple for being monopolistic because they don’t want to have to go through them for payment.

          • pivot_root@lemmy.worldEnglish
            112·
            1 year ago

            I do know what it is, and I don’t actually think Steam is one. They have a considerable market share, but they are by no means the only way to get games on PC, nor do they exercise their dominance in a way that stifles competition.

            I’m pretty sure Tim Sweeny knows this as well, but he still calls it a “monopoly” whenever he has the chance.

            • Kecessa@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              36·
              1 year ago

              They were sued in the EU for violating anti trust laws, lost and decided not to cooperate.

              They’re currently getting sued for forcing devs to not sell their games at a lower price on other platforms.

              Their marketshare is more than enough to consider them a monopoly, you don’t need 100% of the market to be one, you just need to be so implanted that you become the default solution. Google doesn’t have 100% of the market, it still is considered a monopoly for search engines

    • ElPussyKangaroo@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      11·
      1 year ago

      Definitely a terrible idea.

      Using money to jump ahead in the line is a terrible mindset. Provide good features, you’ll get your recognition.

      • hh93@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        No it won’t - people are lazy

        Even CDProjekt sold many more copies on steam than GOG when you

        1. Actually own the ge there instead of renting a licence for it.
        2. Know that 100% of your money go to the game developers.
        3. Get many additional goodies for free

        Don’t tell me people are choosing the better deal when it’s all just steam having the might of “I have most of my games there already” on their side…

    • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      39·
      1 year ago

      It doesn’t really bother me since it’s still on pc anyway, it doesn’t matter massively where you get a game from (unless you specifically want drm free copies).

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      411·
      1 year ago

      Why not say fuck the developers instead? They’re the ones accepting guaranteed income in exchange for exclusivity, maybe you should be mad at then for not taking a chance at the “influencer making your game popular enough that you recoup your cost” lottery.

      • CileTheSane@lemmy.caEnglish
        5·
        1 year ago

        Por que no dos?

        If I’m not buying anything on Epic then I’m also not buying from developers that agree to Epic’s exclusivity. Two birds, one stone.

        • Kecessa@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          16·
          1 year ago

          They got paid for the exclusivity, after that if they don’t sell as much then so be it, but just releasing on Steam is like choosing to play the lottery as a retirement plan and signing an exclusivity deal is like having a job, one might pay tens of millions or nothing, the other you’re sure will let you buy food for the next couple of years.

          There’s tons of games on Steam that the devs have put everything they had in it only to never see any success and then you’ve got games like Vampire Survivors where nothing happened for months until suddenly a YouTuber started playing it and it became a major success. And I mean, good for Luca (and eventually for his team), but for every successful small dev there’s tens of unsuccessful ones…