Aaaaaaaah nuts.
Epic has done it again! Late last night, Obsidian Games together with their publisher Private Division, announced that the studio was not going to be releasing The Outer Worlds on Steam as previously planned, and instead was going into a timed exclusivity deal with the Epic Games Store in addition to their already planned launch on the Microsoft Store for Windows 10. Chalk up another one for Epic’s store.
The announcement is part of several others that relate to Epic’s store this week, which includes Private Division’s other title, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, also landing an exclusivity deal with Epic. The Outer Worlds was originally slated for a release simultaneously on the Windows Store and Steam (as seen below from the screenshot from the announcement trailer barely three months old).
This is the second major title that was heavily wishlisted and marketed on Steam to be ripped from the store and given a year’s hiatus. Metro: Exodus recently got a lot of gamers up in arms over Deep Silver’s decision to switch to Epic’s store exclusively less than a month before the game would launch, reprinting labels to cover the Steam store instructions on the physical box covers and hastily changing product descriptions to reflect the change (cutting out several third-party key resellers from revenue from the game’s launch).
The Outer Worlds will now launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, the Microsoft Store, and the Epic Games Store later this year. The change appears to have been made in the last few hours, as the Steam depot for the game’s achievements was updated only five hours before the announcement was made. The Steam version of the game now has a “2020” placeholder for its launch date.
Last Updated: March 22, 2019
Pariah
March 22, 2019 at 13:22
I’m all for competition and consumer choice. But this isn’t it. It’s a dick way of getting your business off the ground that’s anti-consumer. Sure, devs get a better deal. We don’t. Give us the fucking choice.
MaSeKind
March 22, 2019 at 14:25
Yep. I’d be happy too use the Epic Sore* if they actually gave something for the consumer. I wouldn’t even mind if they just said yes we’re throwing money around to force people to use us. So far I’ve been fine with the exclusives but I really want to play Outer Worlds. My main issue now is the lack of regional pricing. I’m almost sure we’ll be paying more because everything is in dollars. I ended up buying Division 2 directly through Uplay. I still want to check what the price for it would have been through Epic. Not like Uplays prices are good in anyway.
I’ve seen other people say they are going to pirate it and then eventually buy it on Steam. I’ve not pirated games in more than 10 years but I’m pissed off at this and it’s starting to sound like a good idea. Not a situation I’d thought I’d ever be in again
* Can’t take credit for that sadly
Pariah
March 22, 2019 at 15:01
Regional pricing is such a big deal for us. Steam’s local pricing often works out to just over half the dollar cost, ie. the Epic store cost. Without sales. This hurts us more than anything else.
Pieter Kruger
March 22, 2019 at 14:36
But you have choices, 7 of them actually….
1. Buy from Epic
2. Buy from Windows Store
3. Buy on Xbox
4. Buy on PS
5. Wait a year and buy on Steam
6. Pirate
7. Don’t buy at all
MaSeKind
March 22, 2019 at 14:48
Don’t own consoles so not valid choices for me. The issue here is Epic paid to NOT have the game on Steam. And yes we might have other choices but that’s still a shitty thing to do on my book. And I don’t believe in awarding companies that do shitty things.
EDIT: What pisses me off more is the developers are getting crap for these things while it’s the management and publishers that are making these deals. Hell even Chris Avellone is pissed off at this and he helped found the studio. He’s made a few comments on the upper management of Obsidian and how he believes they are causing more harm than good
Dresden
March 22, 2019 at 15:01
Steam is the only GOOD choice, so they aren’t really giving us a choice.
Pariah
March 22, 2019 at 15:01
Honestly if it was available on both, I’d probably just buy it on Steam for convenience-sake. However, if you’d like to support the devs a bit more, the option to buy on Epic instead is a good deal for everyone involved. But forcing it is just BS.
Pariah
March 22, 2019 at 15:01
So let me get this straight.
1) Buy from Epic.
2) Buy from a store literally no gamer uses for obvious reasons.
3) Buy an Xbox to be able to buy the game on Xbox.
4) Buy a PS4 to be able to buy the game on PS.
5) Get the game on sale a year after the hype.
6) No. Fuck off.
7) What will really happen.
Pieter Kruger
March 22, 2019 at 19:58
Just buy from Epic, the developer will get a better cut and that’s good! Epic store can’t be that bad having 85 million registered users and all?
BakedBagel
March 25, 2019 at 10:54
GEE
https://www.mcvuk.com/business/valve-to-investigate-epics-use-of-steam-data-after-users-raise-privacy-concerns
I
https://elpaisanoonline.com/ae/2019/03/24/epic-games-caught-stealing-your-steam-data/
WONDER
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/51495a7caea8ffad8b6da15df59ddfbd3167a69ce970511aada2c723fc906fbc.jpg
Werent you the EA shill running around telling people that EA is NOT that bad.
I would tell you to stfu about promoting things but you do you.
Captain JJ
March 25, 2019 at 11:13
I would rather use Origin (which I refuse to) before using epic.
BakedBagel
March 25, 2019 at 11:23
I use GoG. I bought my copy of tw3 on GoG
I use uplay too (lmao) and origin (lmao)
But the biggest difference between all of these people, they didnt try and force their launchers in the public sphere, maybe EA did with origin, but its expected from EA.
Oh and btw, you can compare the actions of GoG and Epic as they are and essentially were in the same boat.
And the actions speak wildly different stories.
Oh and i also try and avoid Chinese launchers, i dont like how close RSA and China are politically.
Captain JJ
March 25, 2019 at 11:23
I use GoG, Steam and Uplay. Won’t bother with Origin because they don’t release anything decent anyway, and it’s EA.
But buying exclusive rights like this is just a douche move. It defies the point of pc’s not having exclusivity problems. The MS store doesn’t exist in my eyes anyway, so that means nothing.
But it’s not like I pre-order or buy games day one often anyway. So waiting a year is perfectly fine for me.
BakedBagel
March 25, 2019 at 11:23
Patches, DLC’s, and extra’s shoved into a Collectors Edition 1 year on.
No issues with me. Im a ARRRRGGGHHH anyway so it honestly doesnt bother me.
I just dont understand why as a company you would not want your product on as many store fronts as possible, maybe im dumb lmao, but it doesnt make sense to me, are they banking on FOMO?
The exclusivity rights and privacy are my biggest turn off’s too epic.
I didnt agree with Exclusive titles for consoles so this is just shoving the knife deeper tbh 🙁
Captain JJ
March 25, 2019 at 11:33
They’re probably getting paid a sweet MG by Epic.
Not a lot of people seem to care that Epic’s been hacked tons of times. I didn’t even know I had an account…must’ve been from some game long ago, and even I got a mail saying someone tried to log into my account.
Now I’ve killed that account.
BakedBagel
March 25, 2019 at 11:33
Im sure there where a bunch of things you could have had an account for. Unreal Engine or something 😛 dont have an epic account, dont think i ever will. I have 0 interest in forknife (their only game), And by God im not having a chinese launcher on my pc 🙂
Captain JJ
March 25, 2019 at 11:33
No they’re mining personal data no doubt. Just check all the things people have already picked up from that client. It even extracts information from your Steam folders…
BakedBagel
March 25, 2019 at 11:33
Aye, dont you love it when security takes a backseat to your chinese overlords.
Steam is not too happy about that either. Thing is, if Epic had to ask steam. Steam probably would have allowed them. But no, They gotta be shady about it.
Captain JJ
March 25, 2019 at 11:13
No fkn way will I put my details on that store. They can keep their games.
Hell, put it on Steam and charge me the extra 20% or whateverthefuck they’re gaining. I don’t care. I actually value my own privacy enough to pay that levy.
Captain JJ
March 25, 2019 at 11:43
That number is way overinflated. They’re part of Tencent, who has previously been known for creating false account registrations to boost numbers.
HairyEwok
March 25, 2019 at 16:21
I’m not 100 on this, but I think 80 million of those 85 million registered users are exclusively fortnite accounts.
Captain JJ
March 25, 2019 at 11:13
I’d say number 6 is becoming the most reasonable one at this stage. Because buying from Epic with all their data mining, security issues and questionable practices, is just an absolute no.
G8crasha
March 25, 2019 at 08:45
We all have our own opinions on this, but for me, it doesn’t make much difference. I still get to play the game one way or another.
Steffmeister
March 25, 2019 at 10:31
I can easily wait a year for a game. For me always online is the deal breaker. On Friday I was without internet for the whole day, and I was still able to play my single player games on Steam.
Captain JJ
March 25, 2019 at 11:13
This is doing wonders for my gaming budget. So many games I won’t be buying anymore.
Captain JJ
March 25, 2019 at 11:23
Saying it’s on the Windows Store too is like telling me I can pick it up from the bottom of the ocean as well.
Pariah
March 25, 2019 at 11:52
Women are from Venus. Men are from Mars. The Windows Store is from Pluto.