While this might not be specific to Linux gaming, it's still something interesting I've wanted to talk about. Metro Exodus from 4A Games and Deep Silver has jumped ship from Steam to the Epic Store.
I waited for the situation to become clear before saying anything on this, as it got a little…ugly.
Last night, the team behind Metro Exodus announced the change saying that "the digital PC version of Metro Exodus will now be available to purchase solely through EpicGames.com". In their official announcement, nothing about it being a timed exclusive was mentioned and so a lot of people were left quite unhappy.
This led Valve, to actually put out a statement on the Steam store page, which reads:
Notice: Sales of Metro Exodus have been discontinued on Steam due to a publisher decision to make the game exclusive to another PC store.
The developer and publisher have assured us that all prior sales of the game on Steam will be fulfilled on Steam, and Steam owners will be able to access the game and any future updates or DLC through Steam.
We think the decision to remove the game is unfair to Steam customers, especially after a long pre-sale period. We apologize to Steam customers that were expecting it to be available for sale through the February 15th release date, but we were only recently informed of the decision and given limited time to let everyone know.
Soon after this, the Metro team put up an announcement on Steam where it does actually mention that Metro Exodus will come back to Steam "after 14th February 2020". To do this so close to release, feels really off.
I've seen a lot of arguments both for and against the Epic Store across the net, with wildly varying opinions on each side of the argument. For gamers, competition between stores can be a really good and helpful thing and we all know Steam could do with a little competition. Valve have dragged their heels on so many things over the years, I firmly hope this is a good kick up their backside to do better.
However, the way Epic is going about it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. I don't think forcing and annoying people into using another launcher is a good way to go, at all. Rather than compete on customer service, value for money, features and so on Epic are forcing people to look at them. For developers, the short-term gain might be good but do they really, honestly, expect the free to play Fortnite audience which is Epic's bread and butter to translate into sales for AAA games? I've become a lot more sceptical of this recently and I think it's largely the reason Epic is throwing money around to try and force a change.
As Epic Games continue throwing money at developers and publishers, I expect things to get even uglier as the year goes on. For us, it's not a good thing, as time and time again Epic Games have shown how little they care about Linux (we're not even on the damn roadmap) and that's sad as we will be the ones losing out.
For Valve, the more they lose like this the quicker they will need to react. I'm going to end up sounding like a broken record here, but they need to seriously get back into their own IP. Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal and so on. Especially after Artifact basically failed them, although they again said they're "Still in it for the long haul" in the most recent update to it.
Not just that, reducing their cut from developers may be inevitable too, it would certainly show they understand the market is changing considering how many developers feel Steam's 30% cut isn't worth it. The most recent "GDC State of the Industry report" showed that only six percent of developers thought Valve were doing enough for it. I don't think Valve need to match Epic on the cut either given how popular Steam already is, even a 5% reduction could be massive for smaller developers.
Linux gamers might think differently on that point though, since Valve help to fund various open source projects and that would likely reduce their ability or enthusiasm to do so. We're not a big enough audience for them to put more of their eggs in our basket—yet.
No matter what happens, I can't imagine Valve just rolling over and allowing Epic to set up shop on their lawn. I'm very curious to see what they have up their sleeves. A competitive Steam is good for everyone!
At least by the time Metro Exodus comes back to Steam, we will see if they made any sort of decision on Linux support (as they currently won't say—likely a no). If not, that's a long time for Steam Play to mature for those who use it.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
So, stinking rich. Just outside of the top 500 richest people on earth. As an aside, while Epic is raking it in, Tim Sweeney, as CEO, is only (ha!) worth $75m, reported mid last year.
Last edited by crt0mega on 1 February 2019 at 8:29 am UTC
Quoting: crt0megaAh, yes. The guy who complained that installing Linux would be like moving to Canada has opened his own Canada :D.
It's more like a North Corea.
"Deep Silver sacks 50% of its staff and closes Studio 4A Games."
Basingstoke, UK: Publisher Deep Silver announced in a press release that 50% of its workforce had already been dismissed at the turn of the month. At the same time, Studio 4A Games, which has made a name for itself with the development of games from the Metro series, was closed. The background is supposed to be the sales figures of "Metro: Exodus", which lagged far behind expectations. (...)"
:P
Quoting: scaineMinor point to the above - Valve is privately owned, so there's not shareholders to pay dividends to. Not only is it privately owned, GabeN owns more than 50% personally. He's valued at just $4Bn as an individual. Richer than Trump basically (assuming you believe his $3Bn valuation... I'm sceptical).
So, stinking rich. Just outside of the top 500 richest people on earth. As an aside, while Epic is raking it in, Tim Sweeney, as CEO, is only (ha!) worth $75m, reported mid last year.
I don't know what the articles of association for Valve Corporation are, but in general private companies can, and usually do, have shares. They are simply not listed anywhere for public trading, but can be sold in private transactions, and used in share option schemes etc. Similarly, private companies can, and do, pay dividends.
I would think that Gaben's net worth is primarily his 50% stake in Valve. Valuations of people and companies ( public or private ) are, of course, of questionable real value, except as an indicator of immediate financial clout. And valuations can often change quite quickly if not based on diversified assets.
Quoting: etonbearsQuoting: scaineMinor point to the above - Valve is privately owned, so there's not shareholders to pay dividends to. Not only is it privately owned, GabeN owns more than 50% personally. He's valued at just $4Bn as an individual. Richer than Trump basically (assuming you believe his $3Bn valuation... I'm sceptical).
So, stinking rich. Just outside of the top 500 richest people on earth. As an aside, while Epic is raking it in, Tim Sweeney, as CEO, is only (ha!) worth $75m, reported mid last year.
I don't know what the articles of association for Valve Corporation are, but in general private companies can, and usually do, have shares. They are simply not listed anywhere for public trading, but can be sold in private transactions, and used in share option schemes etc. Similarly, private companies can, and do, pay dividends.
I would think that Gaben's net worth is primarily his 50% stake in Valve. Valuations of people and companies ( public or private ) are, of course, of questionable real value, except as an indicator of immediate financial clout. And valuations can often change quite quickly if not based on diversified assets.
Of course, and obviously Valve do have shares - it's public knowledge that GabeN holds just over 50% of Valve, for example. But there's a gigantic difference between a publicly traded company which is beholden to shareholders short term expectation of both performance and dividend, and a privately owned company which sells its shares to its employees. It's suspected that most of Valve's executives hold the rest of the shares, with some options available to general staff. However, of course, since they're privately owned, they have no obligation to reveal the split and to date (that I could find) never have.
Privately owned means that most of this is guesswork.
gradyvuckovic Feb 1, 2019
I already have a Steam account.
I already have over 200 games in Steam.
I have no desire to see Steam suffer, because any threat to Steam is a treat to my game library.
Steam is run by Valve. Valve heavily supports Linux, more so than any commercial entity would while thinking rationally and I am infinitely grateful to them as a result.
Exclusives aren't competition, exclusives are the opposite of competition. I refuse to be forced to use a platform due to exclusives.
I wouldn't buy a game from a store that doesn't even have a native Linux client, even if I was interested in shopping elsewhere.
What cut Valve takes from devs is irrelevant to me, as Steam's prices are usually better than what I get in retail stores, they run frequent specials with great discounts.
Steam's service is fantastic imo, and I am not on board with the mindset of 'Everything needs to be redesigned every 2 years to stay cool', that's not actually user friendly at all. If something is already great, it doesn't need to be redesigned, it just needs to be refined and Valve have been refining Steam for a decade. It's almost perfect the way it is.
Fortnite needs to die as soon as possible to cut off Epic's source of revenue, I can't believe I use to think they were an OK company.
Quoting: gradyvuckovicIt's pretty simple for me.Terrific post! All of the salient points clearly and precisely delineated. Well done...
Also, it says New User next to your name. Welcome!
Last edited by iiari on 1 February 2019 at 1:29 pm UTC
Mohandevir Feb 1, 2019
Quoting: EikeI wonder how big the influence of Fortnite really is. People played PUBG before, they'll wander off to WhatEver then... I get it that they are making lots of money and why they are trying to turn it into something lasting longer, but I'm unsure this will work out.
Thing is... I don't know if the target audience of Fortnite is the same than the one for games like The Division 2 and Metro: Exodus. Personnally, I wouldn't allow a 10-12 year old to play Metro: Exodus. But hey, that's just me. I might be wrong, but the target audience of games like Metro: Exodus is probably on Steam (somewhat more mature users), and now, they are pissed off, big time! When you kick the hornet's nest...
https://www.pcgamer.com/metro-review-bomb-steam/
Let's wait and see what happens.
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