What's up with Epic Games?
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.
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This has nothing to do with Linux. Gamers in general, the cast majority being in Windows, hate EGS. It makes contracts for exclusivity, the launcher is apparently atrocious and there's an almost inherent bias against any launcher/storefront that isn't Steam. You'll find those three reasons in just about any conversation about EGS.
And, to actually address your Linux theory, all I have to do is to open Heroic, sign in if I haven't already, download the game and run it through Proton, in exactly the same way I do on Steam. Epic's hate for Linux isn't really that much of a problem.
"Gamers in general"
No. Gamers in general aren't on gaming discussion platforms to see the minority complaining about the things that bothers them, the vast majority of gamers are playing games wherever they are.
What do gaming forums have to do with it? Anecdotally I know plenty of people who would never be on a gaming forum who also hate EGS. I mean it's no secret the store hemorrhages money, there must be some reason for that. The UI is slow and the feature set is basically non-existent, it's pretty obvious spending 5 minutes with it that it really doesn't have anything to offer over Steam.
The opinions shared in gaming media and on gaming social media doesn't matter to the vast majority of gamers that doesn't look at them. Fortnite is one of the biggest video games success story ever, these players don't care about the opinion of a minority that's mad that a company is trying to break the Steam monopoly.
It's self-evident to anyone that uses it that the software is severely lacking, they don't need social media to form their opinions.
About 80% of Fortnite players are on console, and it's not like those playing on PC have much of a choice in the matter. Fortnite's success doesn't magically make EGS not shit, but it does imply...
...that Steam doesn't have a monopoly. Fortnite, Minecraft, ROBLOX, League, Valorant, WoW, Genshin Impact, Crossfire, Freefire, DNF, Ragnarok Online, Sudden Attack, FIFA Online? All of these are not on Steam and most of these games have playercounts that completely dwarf anything on Steam. Remember the top PC gaming market by users is Asia and Steam has a very limited presence there. Shit, League of Legends alone has a higher MAU than all of Steam (132m to 152m). How can you have a monopoly and not even beat one singular game in MAU?
Steam as a game store has a monopoly, just like Google as a search engine has a monopoly, other options exist but their reach is small enough that Valve and Alphabet can decide what happens with the market.
"They have a very limited presence in Asia"... Yeah, just like Google, we're not talking about Asia.
EGS is perfectly fine and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks it's Steam that's bloated and has a load of useless stuff that's only there to monetize whales (cards, tradeable items...)
Of course we are talking about Asia, lmao. Why would we just arbitrarily leave them out, because it makes your argument look bad? Their money is just as green as any other place. And considering the multitude of extremely profitable Asian PC gaming platforms, no: Steam as a game store does not have a monopoly. Not even close. They are not even the market leader! The Riot launcher is also a PC gaming store/platform, and has higher MAU than Steam. Just calling Steam a monoply over and over again doesn't just magically make it true.
Well then no monopolies exist if we look on a global scale for everything, thank you for fixing all of the world's market!
You only have a single option for an internet provider where you live? Well they don't have a monopoly because in the next town over they have another option!
You're
A
Fucking
Genius
Happy holidays to you buddy!