[poll]Epic store opinions...

[Taleweaver]

So...it's been just over a year since Epic unleashed their game store onto the internet. It garnished some criticism because it was missing some key elements PC gamers gotten used to having on steam...and a whole lot more criticism after it became clear that some highly anticipated games (metro exodus and anno 1800, to name a few) dropped from steam to become an Epic exclusive. Heck...even some almost unknown indie game (ooblets) received violent threats because they went for an exclusivity deal with epic. Sure, developers had good monetary reasons to go there (the cut epic asked per sold game was about half what steam or GoG asked), but with a store that was lacking some serious features steam was offering (a wishlist, steam trading cards, a good way to organize your library and my personal pet peeve: VERY decent linux support) it wasn't as if the users were getting much.

But it's been a year now. While epic is far from up to par with steam, their platform is at the very least a major improvement to what it was. And what perhaps came as a surprise for a store that by their own standards makes less on games than their competition: they tend to hold sales as well from time to time. More so: since some time, they give out free games on a weekly basis (between Christmas and new year even on a daily basis). And no half baked stuff or games you already have multiple copies of either: usually either acclaimed indie titles (think Celeste, into the breach or Stories untold) or even AAA-titles (e.g. Rayman origins, steep).

Epic has stated that the controversy surrounding their store didn't have much impacted sales. Apparently some gamers were too busy playing borderslands 3 to reply on forums that they didn't mind the platform.



So at this point, I'm curious to see what's the general opinion is on Epic's store. I'm not affiliated with them, but I'm curious whether my prediction came through (I said something in the area of "it's just a platform. When steam released, it was deemed "a steaming pile of ****" as well. Controversy doesn't mean much if it's done by a loud minority"). So...yer votes, please?

 

[linuxares]

The store need to get atleast on the level with GOG or Steam. But I can't take their practices... I don't like what they become.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

In general, I still don't like EGS for a variety of reasons; being an extremely barebones launcher/storefront and lacking any useful features that most other launchers include, snagging "exclusives" that make 0 sense in the PC gaming ecosystem, stealing steam data without consent, etc etc.

However, the free games they manage to give away are somewhat impressive, and it's the only reason I have it installed at all (and because Satisfactory is a shitty "exclusive").

If Epic actually designed a launcher that wasn't complete dog shit, I might use it for more than free game occasionally, but seeing as they're more interested in limiting the PC gaming ecosystem instead of improving their service, it probably won't happen soon.

 

[FAST6191]

I would rather have a service you can resell on but if they care to try to give Steam a black eye then other than the data thing I have no problems with competition joining the party. Them buying in publishing rights is just that really and something I can't see being upset about, I did not get that one at all when people were being upset.
Them not having reviews and other microgames... fortunately we have this little thing called the internet.

I could see some being upset that they care less for Linux than the token efforts Valve makes.

 

[Chary]

I accept their existence because they have a chance of giving Steam a reason to actually keep up and not stagnate. I don't use Epic, though it wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to, but if their competition makes Steam--the service I actually do use--better in the end, I'm happy.

 

[Zense]

I agree with all points by @FAST6191 . I see no harm in giving Steam and Valve some much needed competition. A lot of the arguments made during launch of EGL were pretty low as well. For example, how it lacked a cart in the store section. Like wtf? Who cares?

I've only bought 2 games there so far, Journey and Borderlands 3, and I'm happy to have finally been able to play Journey. Playing them went smooth enough, though my main complaint was maybe that egl lacked a voice chat function,however the in-game one in BL3 worked just as well. And this is what matters to me: what games will I be able to play and do they play well?

Sure enough, Steam will continue to be my main avenue for pc games, especially considering some of the features like local multiplayer over Remoteplay (which curiously came out after EGL had been campaigning for a while and gaining some traction), and fairly decent support for Linux and Mac and the list goes on.

 

[zergoven]

I've got used to Steam and a bit of GOG. I despise Epic Store because it doesen't have that many games and features as Steam, like workshop, community profiles etc. I also don't want to get spied on by Chinese, nor support them. There are also not that many games that interest me, and if I really want to get them, they most likely are also released on Console.

 

[subcon959]

I don't hate it specifically. I'm still bitter in general that we no longer get those lovely big boxes and artwork/manuals. I still can't believe that everyone just accepted no longer owning their games or having the right to resell them.

 

[Minox]

I used to use their launcher before it was a store. Now I'm just appalled that they have so little features and yet try to compete.