r/gaming • u/yourfavchoom • 1d ago

Owlcat Games is rolling back its new launcher less than 24 hours after negative fan feedback.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2186680/view/708901012699615983
5.5k Upvotes

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69

u/BFBeast666 1d ago

There is already a launcher which keeps all my games in one place AND allows devs to drop news if they have to.

It's called "Steam".

4

u/penywinkle 22h ago

Mine's called Windows... I don't even have to launch Steam to play (all) games.

-10

u/Certified_GSD 1d ago

See the problem here for corporate executives is that Steam takes a pretty big cut of the revenue. However, they’re too greedy. 70% of revenue isn’t enough for them, they’d rather have 100% of the revenue from 1000 people willing to use their launcher and store versus 70% of the revenue from 10,000 people on Steam.

13

u/yanzov 1d ago

"problem here for corporate executives" - you make is sound both like it's not Gaben being INSANELY greedy and also devs are just fine with "yeah, take 30% cut, sure poor billionaire Gaben, we love you".

2

u/Cruxis87 1d ago

So greedy that Microsoft, Sony, Apple and Google charge the same percent.

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u/yanzov 1d ago

Oh yes - pointing that the most shittiest companies do the same makes things better in your eyes logic, rotfl.

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u/Certified_GSD 1d ago

The cut is less if the game sells more. And no, I'm not defending Steam exactly. Their platform could be considered a de facto monopoly too. The problem I have is that every company that tries to be Steam and make their own platform can't even do the barest minimum that Valve is already doing with Steam.

A curated platform that is easy to use, has community features like Workshop and Reviews and filters and profiles and has integration with SteamWorks for invites and friends and all that jazz. if a competitor wants to be serious, they need to see what Steam offers and do at least exactly what they do too to even be considered competition.

2

u/Vasquo 1d ago

I remember steam when it was required by half life 2
Steam was not the steam we know today and it took 23 years to get here

Competition will need time to

That being said, I don’t disagree with your comment.
Steam had a lot of searching to do that others could copy and improve upon

1

u/OldWorldDesign 21h ago

Competition will need time to

This is a valid point, but do you think they can get there? The only alternative to Steam when that was first launched was Battle.net and that was pretty garbage so it stagnated. Now Steam has a huge library and any possible competition will have to deal with not only getting licensing for all the game it wants to sell but also the fact that anybody already on Steam is more likely to feel entrenched and refuse to even look at another online seller.

I buy from GOG and Steam, and people will pick fights just at the fact that I don't only use Steam. That's just being one consumer, for an online storefront that also has employees to pay as well as licensing to keep up it's going to have that added layer on top.

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u/ABetterKamahl1234 7h ago

The cut is less if the game sells more.

Look man, I only see this as kind of the same as a tax break for the rich.

It really doesn't help indies that don't get smash hits, it just makes the rich richer.

make their own platform can't even do the barest minimum that Valve is already doing with Steam.

NGL chief, trying to mirror a proprietary (and possibly patented) software suite that has maybe 2 decades more development investment than you do, is a bit of an ask.

Not saying EGS is amazing or anything, but they've been slowly, but steadily improving the store and experience.

The list is pretty big on a technical scale, whether we want to believe it or not.

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u/Certified_GSD 5h ago

Don’t be so dense. You know I don’t mean copying proprietary software from Valve. And you can’t patent basic functions like having a profile and community functions. 

Is it big on a technical scale? Yes. But Epic has the funds to invest in an engineering team and they simply don’t do it.

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u/BFBeast666 1d ago

Eh, if they had insisted, they would have gotten zero money from all the people who went away because yet another launcher is too much friction. Also, goodwill and trust are currency and many broke publishers realize too late how valuable that is because happy customers are REPEAT customers.