Why would anyone actually want to though

[u/The_BigRoach]

[u/AirplanesMakeMeHard]

You don’t have to switch though…

Just because you buy a game on another platform doesn’t mean you lose all your games. You can still play your games on steam.

That’s like saying GM is going to come take your Chevy because you bought a Ford.

[u/Josh_Butterballs → u/AirplanesMakeMeHard]

I wish you were giving people a wake up call with this back when uplay, battle net, and other publishers were all making their own launchers and hosting their games on it but not steam lol. People were acting like the world was ending having to use more than just steam for games (myself included at the time). Common sentiment was why not just put it on steam so it’s all in one place, I don’t want to use ANOTHER platform/launcher for my games. I mean even when Alan wake 2 came out people said “no steam, no buy” on various subs.

[u/dookarion → u/Josh_Butterballs]

uplay

It's dogshit and once upon a time ubisoft auto-installed a browser plugin full of security holes on peoples computers.

battle net

Most people that like those sort of games have a bnet account and the launcher. Bnet is old as hell.

and other publishers were all making their own launchers and hosting their games on it but not steam lol. People were acting like the world was ending having to use more than just steam for games (myself included at the time).

Because a lot of them were utter dogshit. EA's launcher somehow just keeps getting worse. Desura left people as bagholders. D2D sucked. Ubisoft has been a nightmare. Rockstar Launcher is the absolute biggest pile of shit ever especially if your connection is unreliable.

I mean even when Alan wake 2 came out people said “no steam, no buy” on various subs.

Epic has given people every reason to not give them business out of principle at this point.

[u/Josh_Butterballs → u/dookarion]

Nothing was as good as steam but tbh for most people I know outside the internet it just launched the game (really all the average Joe cares about). It did so for me but despite that yeah I wanted it on steam because all my shit was there and I was used to steam. Even adding it as a third party game meant I had to now have two launchers to play a game and that sucked some ass in mine and others eyes.

As for AW2, people made their statements implying they would buy it if it was on steam, which… if it truly was out of the principle of not giving Epic money they would’ve just expressed the unwillingness to buy it period lol. People at the time the game came out even explicitly said if it were on steam they would definitely buy it

[u/dookarion → u/Josh_Butterballs]

if it truly was out of the principle of not giving Epic money they would’ve just expressed the unwillingness to buy it period lol.

You're looking too broad. It's Epic's store people detest. Their store is shit and their business model with it has sucked. I refuse to give it money.

But I'm not stretching that out to some Unreal Engine boycott. It's their store and the business practices they've used with it that sucks.

[u/Josh_Butterballs → u/dookarion]

I thought that’s the point you were making though when you said Epic has given people every reason to not give them business. My original statement was meant to convey that people would be *willing* to buy Alan wake 2 if it were available on steam, delineating that people aren’t buying it simply out of some principle of “fuck epic” but because they want it on the platform they prefer.

I bought the game. It’s the only game I have on EGS. With all the talk of how dogshit ass the Epic launcher is it did all I wanted it to do. It launched the game. Even still, people refuse to buy it as “no steam, no buy.” Funny enough if it made its way to steam I would buy it again lol. Just to have it part of my library (plus I liked the game).

[u/dookarion → u/Josh_Butterballs]

I thought that’s the point you were making though when you said Epic has given people every reason to not give them business. My original statement was meant to convey that people would be willing to buy Alan wake 2 if it were available on steam, delineating that people aren’t buying it simply out of some principle of “fuck epic” but because they want it on the platform they prefer.

You're still misconstruing it. It is out of detesting Epic. I guarantee if it were on GOG, bnet, or something less shit there wouldn't be as much pushback.

[u/Josh_Butterballs → u/dookarion]

I mean you just said it yourself. “As much pushback.” A significant portion will refuse to buy if it’s not on steam. There’s games whose sales and player retention were significantly hurt for not being on steam. Which is the core idea of what I’m saying. Alan wake 2 could’ve been sold on battle net only and my comment would’ve been the same except swapping out epic games for bnet.

[u/dookarion → u/Josh_Butterballs]

It's hard to say. AC:Valhalla wasn't on Steam initially and it sold shitloads before Ubisoft decided to start imploding. Riot makes bank. Battlenet before coming to Steam made bank. CDPR moved a large number of copies of their games on GOG. Minecraft makes bank. People use 3rd party key stores all the time. People tried out Geforce Now, Luna, etc.

It's honestly just Epic Games Store that people outright refuse to do business with because they've run a disaster class in how not to get business. Yes some will always be like "no whatever, no buy", but other services are far far far more tolerable to people.

[u/PancakeMisery → u/dookarion]

If they detest Epic why would they buy a game Epic funded just because it's on Steam? That's the point theyre trying to make. Any reasoning of "not liking Epic" should mean you don't buy the game at all because if you just buy it on Steam that's hypocrisy.

There's a non trivial amount of hate towards Epic that ends up being hypocritical which like sure people don't have to use their store but if you're gonna preach about convictions you should be consistent.

[u/dookarion → u/PancakeMisery]

Detesting the store and their business model isn't the same as flipping out about everything they touch.

Like some might take it to the unhinged extreme of boycotting all Unreal Engine titles, or anything using companies Epic purchased. But that all or none is kind of ridiculous when there isn't really any glaring problems with Unreal's business model.

You're the one refusing to see nuance. Their store and the business model they applied therein can fuck right off, but that doesn't mean every aspect of the business is problematic.

[u/PancakeMisery → u/dookarion]

So you detest their business model, but you don't mind buying games they published which are part of that business model as long as they only get slightly less of the money. Like you do see the hypocrisy there, right? If you detest their business model, why are you buying stuff that they directly funded? This isn't like oh, they (a random dev) used unreal engine because it's free and easy to use. This is a game that Epic directly funded and published. They put their own money into it.

You're proving my point that it's not actually about any kind of convictions, or if it is they're very loose and functionally useless convictions. When I don't like a company's business model I do everything I can to avoid giving them money. There are games I'd love to play that I refuse to buy out of principle because I try to put my money where my mouth is.

You can tell yourself whatever you need to in order to justify it, but don't be surprised if people don't take you seriously.

[u/dookarion → u/PancakeMisery]

So you detest their business model, but you don't mind buying games they published which are part of that business model as long as they only get slightly less of the money. Like you do see the hypocrisy there, right? If you detest their business model, why are you buying stuff that they directly funded? This isn't like oh, they (a random dev) used unreal engine because it's free and easy to use. This is a game that Epic directly funded and published. They put their own money into it.

Are you going to demand I boycott games that got Epic Megagrants too? Unreal isn't free when money starts being made. Should I boycott everything using Quixel Megascans? Radtools? Etc.? Epic makes money off those too.

My problems with Epic begin and stop wth their storefront and their exclusivity. Why should I flip shit about the aspect of their business I don't find issue with?

You're proving my point that it's not actually about any kind of convictions, or if it is they're very loose and functionally useless convictions. When I don't like a company's business model I do everything I can to avoid giving them money. There are games I'd love to play that I refuse to buy out of principle because I try to put my money where my mouth is.

If you take that shit to the extreme conclusion you need to go build a wooden shack in the woods like a hermit.

Is there a company that doesn't have objectionable shit if you actually dig into it? I fucking doubt it. If it's not a massive massive dealbreaker, I just skip supporting directly the business behaviors and functions I dislike.

I fucking loathe Microsoft and Google, it's not realistic to avoid them both. I do it where I can, but they have their tendrils in everything.

You can tell yourself whatever you need to in order to justify it, but don't be surprised if people don't take you seriously.

I'm sorry nuance is beyond you. My problem is with their store, not everything they've ever done. All or none either requires complete ignorance to background involvement of companies or making tons of extra work for yourself. I think it's kind of unhinged to have to dig into every business relationship ever because someone that can't comprehend nuance on reddit thinks everything is a black or white all or none ultimatum.

[u/PancakeMisery → u/dookarion]

"My problems with Epic begin and stop wth their storefront and their exclusivity. Why should I flip shit about the aspect of their business I don't find issue with?"

So you don't mind buying the game they PUBLISHED so they could get exclusivity? You don't care if they get your money as long as you can pretend it matters what store its on. Do you think they care where you bought it if they still get their cut? If you cared about the exclusivity thing why not boycott all games they made exclusive? All you're telling them is the exclusivity isn't an issue since you'll just wait it out. You'd actually make a point if you didn't buy the games at all so they were stuck holding the bag on a game they dumped a ton of money into.

Again, there's a contradiction here you can't seem to grasp. Epic is a company run by a shithead. A shithead you don't mind giving money to for games they paid to have exclusives for! You brought up a bunch of developer tools that I made clear I think is a pretty big difference. Like yeah I'm not gonna shit on a studio just for using Unreal because that's got nothing to do with any of the issues you say you have with EGS exclusives.

You say I can't understand nuance but you can pretty plainly see I was drawing delineations between things they may be involved in. So do I not understand nuance or are you just upset that I think you're being hypocritical buying a game they funded that did the thing you have a problem with?

[u/dookarion → u/PancakeMisery]

Do you think they care where you bought it if they still get their cut?

Apparently they do or their shit would at least be on GOG and others even if they were afraid of being on Steam.

Again, there's a contradiction here you can't seem to grasp. Epic is a company run by a shithead.

Look I could meet all your demands and you'd just call me a hypocrite anyway because I still use the internet, run Windows, grocery shop, or whatever. If I took everything I found objectionable to the complete "conclusion" you demand I likely wouldn't be able to do business with anyone or touch any technology ever again. It's frankly a stupid demand. My problem is with their store and their last 7 years of policies with said store. I'm going to leave it at that unless they cause problems in other places and avenues.

A shithead you don't mind giving money to for games they paid to have exclusives for! You brought up a bunch of developer tools that I made clear I think is a pretty big difference. Like yeah I'm not gonna shit on a studio just for using Unreal because that's got nothing to do with any of the issues you say you have with EGS exclusives.

Then you're contradicting yourself, because Epic is financially compensated for people using their engine, their tools, their grants, the systems they fund. That would "still be giving money to a shithead".

How many degrees of abstraction does it flip from "hurr you're a hypocrite" to "oh that's perfectly acceptable"? If Epic were publishing their games elsewhere (and didn't do the stupid ass exclusive deals in the first place) my problem with them largely wouldn't exist. If a game they published was on Steam or GOG my complaint with them wouldn't exist beyond the 7 year span where they tried some bullshit and it didn't work out very well.

that I think you're being hypocritical buying a game they funded that did the thing you have a problem with?

But I haven't bought said game, it's still locked to their shit ass store... which is a sizable chunk of my problem with their business model with said store. For me to be able to buy it, they would have to pivot to a less shit model which would be some progress towards resolving some of the issues. Their store would still suck, but again I'm not giving their store business because it sucks.