Home Gaming Metro Exodus is vacating Steam, moving to Epic Store for exclusive launch

Metro Exodus is vacating Steam, moving to Epic Store for exclusive launch

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The Epic Games Store continues to gain traction as a viable distribution alternative for game developers and publishers. Following the recent announcement that Ubisoft’s Division 2 would be an exclusive offer on the new platform, there is now another headliner.

Yesterday, Epic Games and Deep Silver announced that the publisher’s upcoming FPS title Metro Exodus would be exclusively offered by the store and hereby vacating its sales position on Steam.

Launching on February 15, Metro Exodus will be available for purchase for $49.99, down 10 dollars from its original listing on Steam. Deluxe editions will also be available, including the soundtrack and digital art books. Deep Silver have also stated that previous Metro titles 2033 Redux and Last Light Redux will be made available on the platform for purchase later this year.

In its announcement, Deep Silver CEO Dr. Klemens Kundratitz explained that the move from Steam to Epic had to do with the revenue earnings allocated between developers and the distributing platform, saying that “Epic’s generous revenue terms are a game changer that will allow publishers to invest more into content creation, or pass on savings to the players.” Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney mirrored this sentiment in his statement, saying that Epic’s partnership with Deep Silver was “Underpinned by Epic’s marketing support and commitment to offering an 88% revenue split, enabling game creators to further reinvest in building great games and improving the economics of game stores for everybody.”

For those who may have already pre-ordered Exodus on Steam, do not fret. Orders on the platform are still available (for now) and will be honoured come the release date, and any future DLCs or expansions for Exodus will also be made available to Steam users. Deep Silver also noted that Exodus would return to being available for purchase on Steam one year after its launch, on 14 February 2020.

However, Steam did have something to say about Metro Exodus’s departure, writing in a post on the sales page:

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.

As well as PC, Metro Exodus will be released on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Last Updated: January 29, 2019

98 Comments

  1. Captain JJ

    January 29, 2019 at 08:04

    Well, what this means to me…I see it has dropped off my Steam wishlist.
    So guess I won’t be getting it then.

    Reply

  2. Kromas

    January 29, 2019 at 08:04

    Finally Valve is getting a wake up call. Steam’s store has become nothing but junk and pricing has really gone up.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ

      January 29, 2019 at 08:04

      It’s cheaper than Origin, Uplay and Windows Store. Also, pricing is set by the publisher, not the client.

      Reply

      • Kromas

        January 29, 2019 at 08:11

        Actually Uplay has always been cheaper on their games except on sales. Origin is EA so no matter where the price would have been the same and windows store is not for games.Also if you did not know Steam always used to take 30% no matter who or what. That meant price increases across the board. In fact I think it was the Ubisoft CEO who blamed them for the price increase in games.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ

          January 29, 2019 at 08:11

          Oh, I know exactly how Steam’s internal operations work regarding pricing, profits etc.
          But hey, it’s okay that EA charges a stupid amount of money, but oh god Steam please just don’t have games priced within 30% of that, then you’re just being greedy.
          Don’t forget everything that Steam offers compared to other clients. People tend to forget just how bare-bones other clients are .

          Reply

          • Kromas

            January 29, 2019 at 08:16

            That is the problem. EA charges 200% on EA games. Steam charges 30% on EVERYTHING for literally doing nothing.

            Also remember steam has 300+ employees at the moment so it isn’t even a thing about overheads. They are literally printing money. They don’t even actively develop the source engine anymore.

          • Raptor Rants

            January 29, 2019 at 08:31

            To be fair, Steam supplies distribution services, visibility (Arguable with all the stuff on their I know, but AAA titles tend to get shown fairly visibly), content services etc.

            So I wouldn’t say “nothing”. Valve have pretty much left their source engine alone to become a content provider. I know it’s fun to hate on Valve for not releasing Half life 3 but the point of the platform has long since evolved from promoting their games.

          • Kromas

            January 29, 2019 at 08:31

            I don’t “hate” valve. I have been long over the fact that we won’t get HL3,Portal 3 and even L4D3. Steam is also a great client. However to ignore the fact that steam has basically left the store undamaged for years and just keep on profiting for very little effort with most devs complaining about it should at least give you some indication as to why devs are moving away.

          • Raptor Rants

            January 29, 2019 at 08:36

            Again, it’s the fact they are a middle man. Services like that cost. Hosting environments on the scale Valve need don’t come cheap.

            Yes you can reduce that cost drastically by going at it alone for your own products, but then it’s only your own products.

            If other game clients want to start providing distribution services for all developers to become a more central point they will soon pick up that costs involved don’t come cheap.

            I reckon this is one of the single biggest reasons clients like UPlay, Origin, Battlenet etc have never grown to really include other publishers. The cost involved in distributing other publisher’s content quickly adds up.

          • Kromas

            January 29, 2019 at 08:41

            Actually hosting enviroments for Valve come super cheap as ISPs actually battle it out to get the services on their enviroment so they can do things like zero costs steam updates. Hell even Mweb and IS fought it out for that exact same reason. I thin Mweb got a ton of customers because steam was zero rated back in the day.

          • G8crasha

            January 29, 2019 at 08:47

            How ironic they are all 3s. Does Valve have an issue with the number 3!!!

          • Kromas

            January 29, 2019 at 08:54

            I did not even mention Dota 3 or Team Fortress 3. 😛

          • Raptor Rants

            January 29, 2019 at 08:54

            Yes. Yes they do

  3. Raptor Rants

    January 29, 2019 at 08:16

    This is a mistake. That is all.

    Reply

    • Kromas

      January 29, 2019 at 08:16

      Problem is it is Valves mistake for thinking people won’t switch.

      Reply

      • Raptor Rants

        January 29, 2019 at 08:32

        I won’t be. I know a lot who won’t. If Epic get all the features in that Steam does then maybe there is a chance. They also need a far, far far larger library to get anywhere.

        Steam is aimed at a social community and does it very well. There aren’t any game clients that offer the amount of social interaction, trading etc that Steam does. It’s aimed at a specific target. No one so far has actively breached that market. The Epic store won’t either, not unless they bring in the types of features that steam has.

        So I won’t switch so Valve are not far off the mark thinking a lot of their peeps won’t switch.

        I know there are those that will. But again, Valve still has the largest library.

        If the Epic store grows larger and adds some better social features, sure. Then I can see it. But it’s got a LOOOOOOONG way to go for that

        Reply

        • Kromas

          January 29, 2019 at 08:41

          The Epic Store has millions of users already due to Fortnite BR. Switching won’t be a big deal for most of them.

          Reply

          • Captain JJ

            January 29, 2019 at 08:41

            Fortnite is an MP only game. Lot of people don’t play MP games, and most of those people would be more inclined to buy an SP game like Metro Exodus. Two very different markets.

          • Kromas

            January 29, 2019 at 08:47

            Thinking people who play MP games dislike SP games is a bit narrow. I play both as do many people. Hell I bet you even some people who play CoD at least played DOOM 2016.

          • Captain JJ

            January 29, 2019 at 08:48

            I don’t recall saying that people who play MP dislike SP games. I never even hinted at that. That’s a bit of a big assumption.

            I’m saying the same market that was drawn through Fortnite isn’t necessarily the majority of SP gamers, because like myself and Trevor and most people I know…who would never even consider Fortnite…all have all the metro games. Nothing has drawn us to epic.

          • Kromas

            January 29, 2019 at 08:54

            I suppose it is a moot point. Only sales will tell.

          • Raptor Rants

            January 29, 2019 at 10:48

            The content is still a massive issue. You can’t say you’ve switched if you can’t bring your library across or get a library of many different publishers unfortunately.

            In my mind a switch is “I can get all my stuff I would get on Steam at X. So I prefer X and so my purchases will all happen on X from now on and my legacy stuff will remain on Steam”

            That’s a switch.

            There is no switching happening here unless your library consists of only Epic Games.

          • Kromas

            January 29, 2019 at 10:48

            By switch I meant devs. Ubisoft already switched the division 2 from steam to Epic.

          • Captain JJ

            January 29, 2019 at 10:55

            I’m just thinking. It’s a really damn dodgy move to make, in terms of the publisher/dev..in terms of sales generation.
            If Fallout 76 were on Steam I’m pretty sure it would’ve sold way more. Sure there would’ve been refunds, but there surely would have been a lot more sales.

          • Kromas

            January 29, 2019 at 10:55

            Brand sellers don’t conform to systems. CoD isn’t on steam anymore and it still sold like a MF. Fifa makes Origin it’s money annually. etc etc etc. F76 woulkd have generated a ton more sales it it wasn’t a failure to most people. The next elder scrolls will sell fantasticly because it is the sequel to skyrim regardless of platform.

          • Captain JJ

            January 29, 2019 at 11:02

            Well, I’m not getting those games. Lot of people I know don’t have the Bethesda client and don’t plan on getting it.
            And I definitely would’ve considered Fallout 76 were it on Steam.
            it’s a preference. Now I don’t have that option. Now I go somewhere else. I’m even seeing more people pirating games again because of this overflow of clients.

          • Yahtzee

            January 29, 2019 at 11:02

            It should come to steam soon enough. With a hefty R150 price tag.

          • Captain JJ

            January 29, 2019 at 14:11

            That seems like a bit much. Though we are getting 16 times the detail….

          • Yahtzee

            January 29, 2019 at 14:11

            Maybe get some store credit to buy mods?

          • Captain JJ

            January 29, 2019 at 14:16

          • Yahtzee

            January 29, 2019 at 14:22

            Nope. You are going to be $5 short on getting that after compensation.

          • Yahtzee

            January 29, 2019 at 14:22

            Nope. You are going to be $5 short on getting that after compensation.

          • Kromas

            January 29, 2019 at 11:08

            Yes but you are giving steam a hell of a lot of power with those words. I still prefer buying games on steam. However I have most of the clients and will buy a game on them if that is where the game sits.

            If I have a choice between steam or say Uplay I would always get it on steam but if the game is on steam I wouldn’t boycott it. I played the last of Us and that was not even on PC. I enjoyed the living crap out of that game. Not playing it would have been a great experience I lost.

            Basically I am open to new experiences in gaming and am willing to go where I can get it. Steam is great but a monopoly is a monopoly..

          • Captain JJ

            January 29, 2019 at 11:14

            I have no issue with another client. Like Uplay opening up through Steam. That’s all fine and well. I still get to manage all my updates in one play.

            Bethesda having their own client now offers me no value. Nothing is cheaper. Nothing is easier. So there’s no real benefit.

            If someone were to make a proper Elder Scrolls competitor they’d be back on other clients in a heartbeat.

            I agree, nothing is great about having the monopoly, I’m not blind to it. And I definitely don’t support it. But it’s just too much now. If they offer the games across clients…like Uplay, GOG and Origin does with games that are also on Steam…and this at different prices. People will either go where is most convenient, or where the price is better. That’s also healthy competition.
            Exclusives…..which this is, make no mistake…don’t make sense on PC to me.

            But we’ll see in time. A lot of people will start using Epic too. Maybe one day so will I if Steam burns to the ground or implodes. But definitely not soon.

  4. Captain JJ

    January 29, 2019 at 09:06

    Been taking part in some interesting discussions on Steam after this announcement. People don’t seem to be too unreasonable, though they are clearly going to lose out on a lot of sales… Also, it’s quite nice that I get to be part of the metro community and talk about the game, and the previous games……something that Epic doesn’t offer.

    Reply

    • Yahtzee

      January 29, 2019 at 09:12

      6 dots……that’s serious.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ

        January 29, 2019 at 09:18

        Damn straight……

        Reply

  5. CrAiGiSh

    January 29, 2019 at 09:31

    Steam need the competition …

    Reply

  6. HvR

    January 29, 2019 at 09:53

    Judging from the 76th level of fallout on their social media platforms I think we might see it back on steam sooner than 1 year from now.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ

      January 29, 2019 at 10:00

      I see on Steam discussions even people who pre-ordered it on Steam are cancelling out of principle. That’s harsh.

      Reply

  7. HvR

    January 29, 2019 at 10:00

    This is a big conspiracy between Chinese, Swedes and Naspers to screw us over.

    Reply

  8. Steffmeister

    January 29, 2019 at 10:23

    So, Metro has been delayed to 14 February 2020. Fine, that gives me time to upgrade my PC.

    Reply

  9. Alien Emperor Trevor

    January 29, 2019 at 08:04

    Bye. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

    Reply

    • G8crasha

      January 29, 2019 at 08:26

      Personally, I don’t use the social features of Steam, so it makes no difference to me which store sells it. I have been keen for the game since its announcement, and who am I to deny Deep Silver the option to generate more income if they are getting a better offer from Epic. I would assume they put enough effort and time into the game to deserve whatever income they get, so the way I see it, I am primarily supporting a developer that has impressed since the days of Metro 2033, and so be it with Epic games benefiting financially as well.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ

        January 29, 2019 at 08:31

        Then put it on Steam as well and charge me 10% more. I’ll still buy it. Hell, put it on GOG and charge me in 10% more in dollars and I’ll still buy it.
        I’ve done that with tons of games. If the customer is willing to pay the difference, why the hell not?

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          January 29, 2019 at 10:37

          Because none of this is about the customer.

          Reply

          • Captain JJ

            January 29, 2019 at 13:47

            Yea. 100% right there.
            It’s almost like people think the game might cost less on Epic now.

          • G8crasha

            January 29, 2019 at 13:47

            As you pointed out in your posts, you will feel the loss because you use the social features of Steam, so I get why you are unhappy with the move. For others, like myself, I won’t feel the pinch because I don’t use Steam’s social features. If anything, the game’s move to Epic is better for me because I pay R130 less for the game on Epic than if I purchased it on Steam. One customer is unhappy (yourself), and another is happy (myself).

          • Captain JJ

            January 29, 2019 at 13:47

            Problem is. Trevor’s not an unhappy customer. He’s a lost sale.
            So am I.

          • G8crasha

            January 29, 2019 at 13:53

            You’re are either unhappy or happy it’s moved. The way I read it, you are unhappy with the move hence you will not invest in the game. If you were happy with the move, why would you not invest in the game. I’m confused. Plus, in general, when one writes: “Bye. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” they are unhappy. The other option I can think of is that you didn’t care one way or another – if anything you are happy it is no longer on Steam. Yeah…I’m confused!!!!

          • Captain JJ

            January 29, 2019 at 13:59

            I just mean in the world of the publisher…Trevor being unhappy doesn’t mean much to them. But Trevor not giving them money…that’s something they feel.

            I’ve got my entire Metro collection on Steam too. Nicely nestled in a category all together. I like things neat and tidy, so now I’m supposed to get this on a different client? Firstly I’ll forget I have it, because I won’t set ALL my clients to run when my pc starts up. And Secondly, now I just actually am not interested in it anymore.

          • Steffmeister

            January 29, 2019 at 16:19

            This is exactly why I will wait for Metro to come to Steam.

          • Yahtzee

            January 29, 2019 at 13:59

            There is only steam. And once Fork Knife runs it’s course that client is deadz.

            *Also those other two are nasty trolls. Avoid at all cost

          • Captain JJ

            January 29, 2019 at 13:59

            Who are you calling “those”!?

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            January 29, 2019 at 14:16

            But the billions of Fortnite users who play nothing else will suddenly start buying all their games on Epic!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            January 29, 2019 at 14:06

            Or I’m quite neutral about it because my statement was dismissive, not unhappy. They’ve moved because they believe it’s better for them, I won’t follow them because I don’t believe it’s better for me based on my preferences. That’s it. I did the same with EA & Origin. I’m not losing anything by not playing a certain game, I just play something else.

          • Captain JJ

            January 29, 2019 at 13:47

            Yea. 100% right there.
            It’s almost like people think the game might cost less on Epic now.

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        January 29, 2019 at 08:31

        Like I said further below, I do use the social features, so that matters to me. If Deep Silver makes more money per sale by selling the game on Epic, good for them. But they’re not getting my purchase. And I’m sure that doesn’t make the slightest difference to them, but it does to me.

        Reply

  10. Geoffrey Tim

    January 29, 2019 at 08:16

    The Epic Store kinda sucks right now (no regional pricing, shit refunds, etc), but I play games not platforms.

    Reply

    • G8crasha

      January 29, 2019 at 08:48

      You preach, brother!!!!

      Reply

    • HvR

      January 29, 2019 at 09:53

      Well it seems they do regional pricing in some form as we do not get the $10.

      That sucks Epically.

      Reply

  11. G8crasha

    January 29, 2019 at 08:36

    I guess we’ll just have to see later on if this was a bad move for them or not. Maybe they’ll lose sales, maybe it won’t make any difference to sale numbers. At the end of the day, all I want to know is whether or not the game will live up to my hype.

    Reply

  12. BakedBagel

    January 29, 2019 at 10:49

    No one has given me a good reason as to why a company will actively *NOT* put their game on a game distribution platform, Surely you want the eyes on your product, Charge it for less on epic, but to entirely eliminate it from Steam is just remedial.
    imo.

    Reply

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