Video Games

Yea that's the sad part. Originally I was all onboard for the idea of some serious competition to Steam. It's really sad that Epic's actions have soured me to their store. The other issue being that it's still basically as bare bones as it was at release. Lacking features I'd consider somewhat integral to the shopping experience (like a cart). Their launcher is also clearly no optimised because when it's running I've noticed my PC fans go a little faster (and googling seemed to confirm it does indeed cause the processor to work s little harder than it should).

But the biggest issue though, and this is where they lost me, is they started taking choice away from me.

Epic are definitely not pro-customer. They certainly present themselves as such but their actions say otherwise. The most obvious example would be how they defended loot boxes in their games right up until it looked like governments might start banning them and then suddenly Epic "realised" how bad they were. Their actions with store exclusivity also show this. Steam also has frequent deals and a constant flow of free games (you just have to look for them unfortunately).

Neither company is pro-customer at this point. I don't particularly like either of them- though at least Valve occasionally make a game I want to play unlike Epic who haven't made I game I want to play in a very long time.



That's great for you developers. It really is. As I said to Forte I was all for the Epic store when it first got announced.

It's their actions toward me as a customer that have out me off of using their store.

Steam also has significantly more functionality as a platform also.

To suggest gamers are "upset" to move off of Steam isn't entieely wrong but also ignores the truth that it's Epic's fault. The issue is that Epic aren't offering a viable alternative and they're alienating customers with these exclusivity deals- which probably explains why they've toned it down quite a bit.

So whilst I believe you that theymight well be pro-developer, I consider that to be your side of things. Meanwhile on my side of things as a customer, Epic are not being all that epic.

Yea GoG has some good policies on DRM, is about trying to maintain old games and actually has a decent storeront. I particularly like that GoG allows me to amalgmate all of my game libraries into one place. Sure it has to launch the launchers/stores that they're on but at least I have the benefit of accessing them from one screen instead of trying to remember where they are. It's a decent product.

The fact that there is no chat is some Nintendo level stupidity.

Can I easily join a friend in a game like I can on Steam? Can I view my library in a console-like experience so I can use my Xbox One controller with it? Can I add shortcuts to non-epic store games? Can I chat to my friends whilst in game (oh wait no I can't even chat to them out of game).

To start with I was accommodating to the lack of features by comparison to Steam because they were a new store... But we're what, two years on now, and they're still a pretty barebones service. They even had Steam to steal ideas from!



I'll buy from whoever I feel is offering me the best deal- be it money, convenience or features. I'm sorry if that hurts you developers some of the time, but it's not my fault Epic offer a subpar service.

How, I can't even get an ingame overlay?



I googled it before asking, it doesn't. Which for me is a major disadvantage VS Steam as I have a PC I do cough gaming on.



On Steam I can add shortcuts for games I did not buy on Steam. It will even, in most cases, give it the Steam in-game overlay so I can chat to friends whilst playing.

How do I look what my friends are doing? How do I bring up an interface to use these features you're talking about. On steam I press Shift + Tab and I get the Steam overlay so I can see my friends, talk to them, join their games, etc. How do I do this with a game bought on Epic Game Store?



Or I stick with Steam because it does what I need. As I said, Epic aren't offering anything as a customer.

I do have sympathy for why indie devs and smaller studios would opt to choose Epic over Steam, but as I said it's doing customers no favours and that's why it's not got the following you want it to have.

Just realised you said this. Lol that was an unfortunate typo on my part!



Don't try to guilt trip me, I work with school teachers, I've developed an immunity to that tactic.

Developers are free to release their games wherever they want and I am free to buy my games wherever I want- even if that means I have to wait six months just because Epic bought exclusivity and the publisher of the 2nd game didn't release it on Epic for whatever reason.

But not just a lack of controller support, though it is a big reason yes. I didn't set that computer up with the plan of having to go grab a mouse, I set it up specifically to give me a console like experience with the benefits that come with being on PC.

The real reason though is Steam does pretty much everything better than Epic store for me as a customer. Simple as that.



Yea Dooku just showed me. Barebones is putting it rather politely. It looks like all the ugly messengers from the 90s and early 2000s. I get that they are releasing things at a VERY slow pace but they could have at least put some effort into the visuals of it lol.

I also still can't find a way to talk to my friends when I am playing a game. On Steam I just open the ingame overlay, double click my friend in the list and I can start messaging them. We can be playing different games or whatever and it just works.

Thus far I can't see a way of doing this with games on Epic Store and that is actually a pretty big reason not to use them. I like be able to message friends whilst playing a game and send them screenshots of stuff that's going on in the game, especially when something bugs out.



Ultimately I get what you're saying. The better profit share for developers is a good thing. I don't dispute that.

The problem is Epic isn't offering anything decent for customers except a way to buy games. Times have moved on since then, we expect more from our digital storefronts. Even EA's Origin and Ubisoft's store have better social features than Epic's.

We're also well past the point of it being "Oh they're new give them a bit of time to get it right". They've had this store out for I think two years now and, whilst it has gotten better, it's still not where it needs to be. The pace they're going is far too slow for me to consider swapping over to them as my primary source of buying games. Though the fact that they launched it without basic store features like a cart, whishlist, etc just shows how little they really care about the customer's experience. Nevermind all the other stuff it was missing.

You want me to swap. Pester Epic to improve their service.