News Epic grabs Metro Exodus from Steam

The last thing we need is for them to charge more for certain launchers, so thanks but no thanks! Games are already ridiculous prices as it is on launch to the point where I've never in the last three years played a PC game on or even near launch day! This often works out to my benefit beyond the obvious price savings because they are almost always a broken mess on release that is patched at a later date, partly because the industry has got complacent and frankly badly needs a shake up. Just look at what Bethesda thought it could get away! Sure they used their own launcher as a form of risk management but they obviously thought they'd make money regardless or the game wouldn't have seen the light of day.

Yes it is nice to have them all in once place but this should promote competition and price wars not increases in prices for people loyal to one platform or another.

 

What was the average price of a Sega Mega Drive game in 1991, though? Was SFII:SCE an extreme case? I don't remember having to save a years worth of pocket money to buy Mega Drive games...

 

I never suggested games were not expensive back in the day and that isn't really my point at all. I'm fully aware that gaming is cheaper today than it was back in the 90s but the industry was also vastly different. Money back then was made almost exclusively on the games themselves and for the odd modified arcade port you picked as an example; in arcades as well. This is why Rockstar invested so much money into making GTA V knowing full well they could make it back with the re-releases, micro transactions etc. So yes it cost a lot more to make but also made vastly more money beyond just the games themselves.

While this may seem like nitpicking; having played it back in the day I should also point out that Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition was not released in 1991 on any platform. It was released in 1992 in arcades and then ported over (with some additions from other versions) to Sega Mega Drive and released in 1993. It is also an extremely odd comparison to GTA V / Horizon Zero Dawn which was built from the ground up where as the Sega Mega Drive version of SF2 was ported from the arcade version with as you mention a small team. Sure if anything that shows how big the mark up was back then but I still find it a bit of an odd one to pick out.... does it hold fond memories or something?!

Regardless I'm simply stating that games are expensive at launch in comparison to a few months down the line, and the last thing we need is there to be a premium for specific platforms. £50 is an awful lot of anyones money and to add £XX on top so you can buy it on a specific platform is an awful suggestion and the last thing us consumers need. I'd rather these highly competitive platforms like Epic store whom are aggressively trying to carve out market share help push the stagnated industry towards healthy competition not the usual anti-consumer "buy from us and you'll get X exclusive skin or DLC".

Personally (and maybe I'm in the minority) I'm more than happy to wait it out to get a patched cheaper title. Timed platform exclusives might be a downer for many but with most people having huge backlogs of unplayed games I don't think it is the huge issue that some people make it out to be.

 

And how man copies did it sell at that price?

Because the total money made from sales compared to the production budget is what actually matters, not the per unit price.

 

Game price is nothing but a symptom while the root issue is how much money companies need to make in order to turn a profit.

 

Anyway ... I would still pay a bit more for my games to ensure I could have them all contained within Steam.

And speed, if they cost a little more, you would just wait a little longer than you do already ... no biggie. I agree games are quite expensive for sometimes a lacklustre experience and buggy.

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Another solution is this timed exclusive with Metro Exodus and other pubs/devs retaining ability to release wherever they like after a year or two. Thereby Steam gets it eventually. And I’m happy. I can wait.

— I have Origin installed. Never played 1 game through it. But through Steam I would ... I know, weird ... shoot me down all you like.

 

Remember: regardless of what store you buy a game through, they already are accessible though a single location, and through a single launcher.

The location is called 'your PC', and the launcher is called 'the OS'.

And it's not just your games, every program (be it a game or otherwise) can be accessed through the same universal route, without needing to jump through the hoop of some companies proprietary 'launcher' first. Steam (or any other store frontend) is not necessary to launch programs, game or otherwise. And even if you want a fancy leanback frontend in the event you are trying to use a PC solely with a gamepad rather than a keyboard & mouse, there are plenty of them available to do so that do not require you to purchase games through that same frontend (e.g.).

 

So, removing the SFII example (as it's definitely an outlier in pricing), it's not near as dramatic as you first made it out to be - Considering that a lot of new releases are around the £50 mark nowadays, that's a, inflation adjusted, ~35% reduction in game prices.

Now, where you really need to dig deep is the cost of things like entertainment/videogames/leisure activities in the early 90's vs the cost of living, then compare that to 2019. I would wager, with wage growth being so stagnant and things like energy and housing costs going through the roof over the past couple of decades, the perceived "value" of such things has become much more skewed.

But that's a whole different study!

 

Yeah, you have to take into account that back then your only other expenses were for the chimney sweep and the cost of string you needed to remove teeth with.

 

Just like the 90's itself, then!

*wishes it was still 1996*

 

Posted in Gaming too. Yeah, I repeat myself.

Outer Worlds initiallty to be released on the Epic Games Store and the Windows Store (just WTF is that?). Other sellers (ie Steam) 12 months later.

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Cool. Another game I won't be buying until next year.

 

The thing is, in 12 months time Outer Worlds and Metro will be released full price on Steam.

I’m not sure I will be buying them full price ...

Xmas 2020. Steam Winter Sale.

 

Hello fellow pea, we must be from the same pod.

 

And in several months time when it releases, there will be a 'guide' posted on how to add an shortcut within Steam, and everyone will suddenly remember that you can buy a game from anywhere and still play it on a PC even if Steam has not blessed it with trading cards or fancy hats.

It seems game developers' universal displeasure with Steam's de-facto monopoly ("nobody wants to release there, but everyone has to") is starting to boil over. While Epic are throwing cash around to make the Epic store attractive to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, I could see Amazon or Google (or someone else with sufficient clout and existing install base to absorb initial setup costs) eating their lunch even without incentives. While the lower fees elsewhere are attractive, it's the curation and moderation (or rather, the utter and total lack thereof leading to an incredible low SNR) that is the major pain point with Steam, and they've painted themselves into a corner there.

 

That is true, although I'll still be waiting for Steam sales - not because it releases on Epic but because i'm tight.

As for being on the Windows Store, does anybody actually use that?