There was a recent article about a dev saying that when their game was given for free on Epic, it increased their sales. But not on Epic Store… They increased on Steam…
The problem with Epic is that they were with the wrong assumption that people will “just” migrate to a new launcher. You might be able to attract new players that don’t have any baggage, but older ones with games on Steam, you’ll need to climb the Everest to convince them.
That task would already be hard even if your platform had 100% parity in features with Steam. But it isn’t, it lacks basic features that Steam has for years, so I’m not sure what they were thinking that giving free games would be enough (and I’m not saying this in hindsight, I’ve been saying this ever since they launched Epic Store)
GOG manages to get by because they offer something different. As long they offer DRM-free games, they will always have an audience. Steam can’t compete with that, unless some day they decide to do the same. So GOG will always have a place in the market.
Epic on the other hand, is picking a fight with Steam, on Steam’s territory, with Steam’s rules. It could be a David vs Goliath story except David doesn’t even have a sling or a stone.
problem with Epic is that they were with the wrong assumption
A lot of Epic was based on very cynical assumptions about who play games and why. Epic and Tim Sweeney see “gamers” as a monotype who spend money like water and have no loyalty to a brand or marketplace. It must be a shock to give away so much stuff and not buy and favor with the community.
Shareholders don’t understand that we have a few games we cherish and spend years playing. Epic never understood it’s audience and still seems to be missing the point.
I’ll be up front, steam is still a corpo and I’ll gladly drop it like a hot rock the second it looks at me funny. That said, decade plus that I’ve been using it, it’s treated me good. Steam runs on Linux without complaints, it doesn’t dick with my very specific file organization, and it doesn’t ask questions when I use it to run cracked software that I aquired dubiously. I don’t even own 100 games on it, I only buy things I’m willing to play and can’t pirate.
The only concievable thing another company could do to get me to pick them over steam is to give me an exact copy of steam but with the option to change the color to anything but blue.
The only concievable thing another company could do to get me to pick them over steam is to give me an exact copy of steam but with the option to change the color to anything but blue.
Well fuck, this gave me a rollercoaster of feelings lol. I love this, but it doesn’t work with flatpack so I have to do a full reinstall of steam. This may be my weekend project lol
You might be able to attract new players that don’t have any baggage, but older ones with games on Steam, you’ll need to climb the Everest to convince them.
At this point, my Epic library is technically bigger than my Steam library, even with family sharing somehow? But its a bunch of free games I don’t care about, except for a few, and steam has modding features built right in, so one of the few games I have played after getting it free on Epic, I eventually bought on steam when it went on sale there. There’s also the history of achievements and friends (and sharing of games with those in my steam family). So if I had to pick between Steam and Epic for a game, I’d pay more for it to be on steam. Still, I’d rather go with GOG or itch if I didn’t still have steam credit from gift cards.
There was a recent article about a dev saying that when their game was given for free on Epic, it increased their sales. But not on Epic Store… They increased on Steam…
The problem with Epic is that they were with the wrong assumption that people will “just” migrate to a new launcher. You might be able to attract new players that don’t have any baggage, but older ones with games on Steam, you’ll need to climb the Everest to convince them.
That task would already be hard even if your platform had 100% parity in features with Steam. But it isn’t, it lacks basic features that Steam has for years, so I’m not sure what they were thinking that giving free games would be enough (and I’m not saying this in hindsight, I’ve been saying this ever since they launched Epic Store)
GOG manages to get by because they offer something different. As long they offer DRM-free games, they will always have an audience. Steam can’t compete with that, unless some day they decide to do the same. So GOG will always have a place in the market.
Epic on the other hand, is picking a fight with Steam, on Steam’s territory, with Steam’s rules. It could be a David vs Goliath story except David doesn’t even have a sling or a stone.
A lot of Epic was based on very cynical assumptions about who play games and why. Epic and Tim Sweeney see “gamers” as a monotype who spend money like water and have no loyalty to a brand or marketplace. It must be a shock to give away so much stuff and not buy and favor with the community.
Shareholders don’t understand that we have a few games we cherish and spend years playing. Epic never understood it’s audience and still seems to be missing the point.
I’ll be up front, steam is still a corpo and I’ll gladly drop it like a hot rock the second it looks at me funny. That said, decade plus that I’ve been using it, it’s treated me good. Steam runs on Linux without complaints, it doesn’t dick with my very specific file organization, and it doesn’t ask questions when I use it to run cracked software that I aquired dubiously. I don’t even own 100 games on it, I only buy things I’m willing to play and can’t pirate.
The only concievable thing another company could do to get me to pick them over steam is to give me an exact copy of steam but with the option to change the color to anything but blue.
YSK, you can change Steam’s look: https://steambrew.app/themes
Well fuck, this gave me a rollercoaster of feelings lol. I love this, but it doesn’t work with flatpack so I have to do a full reinstall of steam. This may be my weekend project lol
At this point, my Epic library is technically bigger than my Steam library, even with family sharing somehow? But its a bunch of free games I don’t care about, except for a few, and steam has modding features built right in, so one of the few games I have played after getting it free on Epic, I eventually bought on steam when it went on sale there. There’s also the history of achievements and friends (and sharing of games with those in my steam family). So if I had to pick between Steam and Epic for a game, I’d pay more for it to be on steam. Still, I’d rather go with GOG or itch if I didn’t still have steam credit from gift cards.