The Epic Games Store is a video game storefront… a controversial one at that. But it looks like the head of the virtual retail client is about to double-down on a move that causes a lot of gamer and fan pushback. According to a new report, Tim Sweeney believes poaching games from Steam and striking exclusive deals is the only way to combat Gaben’s storefront.
In no way is this piece an advocate for Steam, for those wondering, but it is to cover what might come — or in this case what’s already here regarding Shenmue 3 — in that publication site gamingbolt.com discovered a tweet from Sweeney that goes on about how “only exclusive deals can combat Steam”:
“The Epic Games Store has become an unexpected disruption in the ecosystem that has lead to many upset players. At the forefront is the CEO of Epic, Tim Sweeney. He’s not been shy about the strategy of buying exclusive games for the storefront, the crux of many’s issue with the store. Don’t expect it to stop anytime soon, either, because Sweeney thinks it’s the only way to realistically combat Steam.”
Here’s the recent tweet by Sweeney that the website sourced:
Here’s a tweet storm on the topic of “Why Exclusives”? https://t.co/SZgD6OhuiQ
- Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) 26 June 2019
The gist of it all is, Sweeney believes that over time gamers will come to the Epic Games Store if bigger, better games hit the client despite the storefront lacking user-friendly options found on its counterpart (Steam). Sweeney believes that once gamers leave Steam due to Epic Games Store catalog of titles, Gaben and crew will lower the 70|30 split and match it (or even lower it) to that of Epic’s revenue system.
With all of that said, users took to Sweeney’s new tweet to question it (his argument or stance on Epic exclusives) and see if it actually has a substantial leg to stand on, which the first of the many query seekers is Kron:
And, BTW, if you don't like Steam's cut so much, how come your own games are still being sold on Steam but not on EGS?https://t.co/as5UpmskvL
— kron123456789 (@kroshkaruiya1) 26 June 2019
Behold, Kron did not receive a response from Sweeney. However, another user by the name of Raven dissects the 70|30 split argument and receives an answer:
Or are you just afraid that nobody would want to purchase from your store? I mean years ago you complained about Microsoft doing this very same thing and now here you are doing it.
Oh well is what it is I guess..
(2 / 2)— Raven67854 (@Raven67854) 26 June 2019
Here’s Sweeney’s response:
We believe the lock-in effect of having a large library of games on a dominant storefront is more powerful than features, and hence a dominant store can only be challenged through exclusives.
Here’s an article where Bill Gates explores a similar topic: https://t.co/QnkaOmfldd
- Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) 26 June 2019
Raven agrees that a move to dethrone Steam and replace it as the king will be good for Epic (business wise) although he wagers that it seems rather pointless when people like him have 1,793 games on Steam.
That’s kind of the whole point
— Artem Koloskov (@artem_koloskov) 26 June 2019
After a certain Artem (who claims not to be a white-knight for Epic) explains that’s the whole point of Epic’s exclusive move, Raven retorts back saying that he would like it better if Sweeney was transparent about wanting to be top-of-the-crop instead of saying the deal is “good for gamers”:
Oh yes of course we’re working to build a profitable store business for Epic based on our 12% store fee. Said so in the launch announcement here:https://t.co/uO97DRuDh1
- Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) 26 June 2019
The exchanging of words between Sweeney and Raven ends after the following tweet made by the latter:
Yeah I just don’t see the point in using EGS. You keep skating around that question very conveniently. Why should I as a gamer use your store? It lacks features, provides annoyances to the end user and games cost exactly the same. Your exclusives did net me money back from refund
— Raven67854 (@Raven67854) 26 June 2019
So there you have it, the exclusive deals will continue whether you like it or not. If I had to give an educated guess as to what games will potentially go the Epic exclusive route, I’d say unique and different titles like Atomic Heart (runs on Unreal Engine), Biomutant (runs on Unreal Engine), and Scorn (runs on Unreal Engine) will go there along with anything published by Deep Silver.
