this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2023
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I can't seem to find that one comment explaining the issue with them...

But for the sake of promoting conversation on Lemmy, what's the issue with Epic, and why should I go for Steam or GoG?

Note: Piracy is not an answer. I understand why, and do agree to a certain extent... But sometimes, the happiness gained by playing something from a legitimate source is far greater ๐Ÿฅน... coming from someone who could never ever afford to purchase games, nor could my parents... Hence I've always played bootleg, or pirated games.

TL;DR

What's wrong?

  • Their launcher has a terrible UI AND UX.
  • They make exclusive deals with studios to prevent other platforms from getting games. (Someone mentioned that Steam did the same thing in their infancy. Also, I have another question; why is it ok for Sony and Microsoft to make exclusive games for their consoles but not ok for these PC platforms to do so?)
  • They have been invested in by a Chinese company, Tencent. (Someone mentioned that it isn't that big of a deal, but idk.)
  • They are actively anti-linux for some reason.
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[โ€“] JoeKrogan@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago

Their exclusives , the anti linux stance and the store is crap too

[โ€“] daviddd@lemmy.zip 14 points 10 months ago

Tim Sweeney hates linux so that's why I prefer Steam over it. Even though Epic gives people free games, the games were always free anyway (unless you want multiplayer), I know you said piracy isn't an answer though.

[โ€“] Uninformed_Tyler@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Issues I can think of in the order they occur to me. These are off the top of my head refections not researched.

  1. Group think: If I shop where most other people shop I have outsourced research and decision making. Is there a good reason? maybe, maybe not but I'm going to follow the masses because I can't research everything.

  2. Stability: neither store offers physical assets so if the store shuts down my purchases could also vanish. Steam is a bigger player and appears to be more stable and GOG is DRM free.

3 The shopping experience: I personally find the layout of steam better for discovery and finding reviews. With the current epic coupon available I have looked on epic for games and if you're just browsing it is not a intuitive experience. GOG similarly has a variety of sorting tools available.

  1. private vs public ownership: Epic is a public for profit company. Over and over I have seen public companies screw there customers in the interest of profit. Valve (I believe, this is really off the top of my head) is privately held and as such can choose to prioritize whatever their leadership wants. They can't just be bought out and taken in a totally different direction.

This all could be insane ramblings but these are the things that motivate me to spend my money on Gog or steam in general.

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[โ€“] The_Cunt_of_Monte_Cristo@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)
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[โ€“] Aurix@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)
  1. Epic Games paid big money to make some games platform exclusive.

  2. Their launcher is, just like Origin and Ubisoft's one, features wise vastly inferior to Steam.

  3. Smaller indie level multiplayer games do not have crossplatform play with Steam, or other issues like DNF duel breaking player room ping indicators.

None of these explain the amount of frequency of anemosity towards Epic for their store. It seems some are in a parasocial relationship with their Steam launcher. A bit like console fanboy wars. And for some reason they prefer a monopoly without alternatives than one with alternatives. Perhaps some see the installation of another program as an intrusion to to their private comfort. Not rationally like Microsoft's ill willed ~~spying~~ telemetry, but emotionally led. I encountered a few people who just don't want to install new programs and perhaps see Epic a threat to their habits.

But I dislike them for dropping Unreal Tournament.

[โ€“] wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one 15 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I dont use them explicitly for reason 1.

Buying out a game after it was already set to sell on other platforms, and after people had already preordered it from those platforms, because your store lacked such basic functions as a check out cart so no one wanted to use it put them on the curb for me permenantly.

In a capitalist system, companies get worse in quality as they think they can get away with it to improve profit. Starting your store off at such a low point for your customers tells me that they are going to drop much lower once they think they have the stable playerbase to get away with it.

So I am completely disinterested in building a library of games on a platform I see as destined to become worse than the starting line of in the gutter.

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[โ€“] stevecrox@kbin.social 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Basically Epic like every other publisher has created their own launcher/store.

They aren't trying to compete on features and instead using profits from their franchise to buy market share (e.g. buying store exclusives).

The tone and strategy often comes off as aggressive and hostile.

For example Valve was concerned Microsoft were going to leverage their store to kill Steam. Valve has invested alot in adding windows operability to Linux and ensuring Linux is a good gaming platform. To them this is the hedge against agressive Microsoft business practices.

The Epic CEO thinks Windows is the only operating system and actively prevents Linux support and revoked Linux support from properties they bought.

As a linux user, Valve will keep getting my money and I literally can't give it to Epic because they don't want it.

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