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Published: April 4, 2019 | Source: Tim Sweeney - Twitter | Author: Mark Campbell

Steam Cancellations will be “up to developers and publishers” says Epic Games Head

Steam Cancellations will be

Steam Cancellations will be “up to developers and publishers,” says Epic Games Head

At GDC 2019, an Epic Games representative stated that “We don’t want to do that ever again” when questioned about the Epic Games Store Exclusivity of Metro Exodus, which was announced less than one month before the game was set to release on Steam. 

This statement has led to many publications saying that Epic Games has “backtracked” on this statement, or lied at GDC, though it must be remembered that Epic Games never said what they were doing to ensure that they never cause another Metro Exodus-like backlash. 

Below is a recent statement from Epic Games’ CEO, Tim Sweeney, who plans to sign more exclusivity deals with game developers and publishers. 

  

    We’ve had a lot of discussions about this since GDC. Epic is open to continuing to sign funding/exclusivity deals with willing developers and publishers regardless of their previous plans or announcements around Steam.

 
So what has changed? Has Epic backtracked on their statements at GDC? Let’s look at Anno 1800, the latest game to be removed from Steam and added to the Epic Games Store. In this case, Steam-pre-orders for the game will be honoured, and Steam-based pre-orders will remain open until the game’s launch on April 16th, giving PC gamers plenty of time to purchase the title on their preferred platform. 

So what has changed? In this case pre-orders for Steam-based copies of the game will remain open until launch, giving PC gamers the option to avoid both Uplay and the Epic Games Store if they wish. In another statement, Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney stated that removing games from pre-order on Steam and other platforms need to be a decision that each game’s developers and publishers make.
 

    This prompted further discussions at Epic, leading to the realization that these calls must be up to developers and publishers, and Epic wouldn’t tell them “no” on account of existing statements made about Steam.

Steam Cancellations will be  

Epic Games Store exclusivity deals are up to game developers and publishers, as it is ultimately up to them whether or not the perks of the Epic Games Store are worth the consequences of storefront exclusivity. 

Right now, Epic Games offers game developers/publishers a better deal, especially for those who use the company’s Unreal Engine 4. While to some the move from Steam’s default 30% revenue cut to Epic Games’ 12% cut doesn’t sound like much, that extra revenue results in a 25.7% boost in revenue for developers. That’s a big deal. For users of the Unreal Engine 4, the revenue split changes result in a 35.3% increase in profitability. 

While the Epic Games Store is behind Steam when it comes to features, it is hard to argue that Epic’s favourable revenue splits doesn’t represent a positive change for the PC gaming platform.  

You can join the discussion on the Epic Games Store and Steam Game cancellations on the OC3D Forums. 

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