Some time ago Epic Games (most famous for the development of the biggest and most popular video game engine that exists, ie. Unreal Engine) entered the market of PC digital distribution platforms, mainly to compete with Valve's Steam.
In principle this is a good thing. Competition is good for the consumers, monopolies are bad for the consumers. The more healthy competition there is, the better. This induces the competitors to engage in pro-consumer behavior (while an absolute monopoly status tends to induce corporations to engage in anti-consumer behavior).
Of course Steam is not the only digital distribution platform for PC, but it's by far the biggest and most ubiquitous and most expansive. Pretty much all the alternatives (such as the Microsoft Store, Uplay, Origin, and GOG) are extremely limited in what they offer, while Steam offers pretty much every single game that's made for PC (because it simply would make absolutely no sense for a PC game developer to not publish on Steam). This means that Steam has a de facto monopoly status on the PC side, because it offers pretty much everything that all the competitors do, plus much more, so there's little reason for anybody to use any other platform (except, perhaps, to use exclusive offers in those other platforms).
Epic Games has wanted to change that. They have wanted to enter the PC digital distribution scene, and do so big, really big. They want to become as big and ubiquitous as Steam, offering everything that Steam does, at a better price and with better deals.
Again, in principle this is a good thing because, once again, healthy competition is good for the end consumer.
The problem is that Epic Games is not engaging in healthy competition. They are instead engaging in a hostile takeover, more or less. They are doing so by aggressively working towards having as many exclusives as they possibly can. At any cost.
Exclusives are not healthy competition. Exclusives are an attempt at creating and enforcing a monopoly, because only one company offers that particular product (a game in this case).
Epic Games is very aggressive about getting as many exclusives as they possibly can, especially from indie developers, at any cost. That's right. At any cost. They are paying significant sums of money to many indie developers to get exclusive rights to their games on the Epic Games Store.
Why is this going to lower the quality of games, as I titled this blog post?
The recent Ooblets controversy is the perfect example of why.
Ooblets is an indie game being currently developed by a very small team, using mainly crowdfunding. Recently a controversy arose when not only did the team announce that they were going Epic exclusive (because of getting paid by Epic Games to do so), but did so in a really condescending and patronizing manner, essentially insulting their potential clientele, ie. gamers. Not only that, but subsequent conversations by the team members with the public on Discord were even more obnoxious, with the developer team members expressing outright disdain and insulting the people asking them about and protesting this exclusivity deal.
They made it amply clear that they have actually stopped caring about actually selling the game, believe it or not. They made it extremely clear that they don't care if they lose customers because of their horrendous attitudes, condescension and insults. They seem to be have this modern SJW mentality that they are glad if the "toxic gamers" go away and don't purchase their game. Their attitude seems to be the more and more common "if you don't like it, don't buy it. Good riddance!" Believe it or not, in one such example a father told them the story of his disabled child and how he was expecting the game to help him with his problems, and the response from the devs was dismissive and condescending, even though there was nothing objectionable about that message.
It appears that for some reason that Epic exclusivity deal turned those devs into complete and absolute assholes who have stopped giving a flying fuck if a single person buys their game.
People complained to Epic Games themselves about this attitude and behavior. Tim Sweeney, the founder and CEO of Epic Games, reviewed the condescending announcement that the Ooblets team had written, and responded to these reports. Do you know what he responded?
But why did the Ooblets team turn into such assholes? What many people are surmising is that this happened because the deal that Epic Games gave them was really lucrative. It's very possible that Epic gave them more money than they ever expected to get from actually selling the game. In other words, they probably already got all the money they wanted from the game, and have stopped giving a flying fuck anymore about actually selling it to customers.
If this is the case, one question raises: What motivation can the team have to develop the game any further, other than, perhaps, the absolute minimum required for it to be considered a "complete" finished product? Do you think that this kind of "we don't give a flying fuck anymore about selling the game" attitude is going to induce to keep making as a high quality product as possible?
This is not an isolated case of Epic Games pouring money at developers, especially indie developers, to get exclusivity rights. They are quite open about doing this en masse and plentiful. Epic Games is a massively rich corporation thanks to their Unreal Engine sales, and they are throwing as much money to developers as they want.
What do you think will happen to the quality of indie games if their developers lose all interest in actually making a sellable product? A product that will entice potential customers to buy it? If Epic Games is throwing boatloads of money at them no matter what kind of product they create, what possible motivation could they have to make it good?
I suspect that more and more developers will start making just the bare minimum effort to make a "complete" game and throw it into the Epic Games Store, and reap Epic's money. They don't need to care if their game sells or not. They already have the money.
In principle this is a good thing. Competition is good for the consumers, monopolies are bad for the consumers. The more healthy competition there is, the better. This induces the competitors to engage in pro-consumer behavior (while an absolute monopoly status tends to induce corporations to engage in anti-consumer behavior).
Of course Steam is not the only digital distribution platform for PC, but it's by far the biggest and most ubiquitous and most expansive. Pretty much all the alternatives (such as the Microsoft Store, Uplay, Origin, and GOG) are extremely limited in what they offer, while Steam offers pretty much every single game that's made for PC (because it simply would make absolutely no sense for a PC game developer to not publish on Steam). This means that Steam has a de facto monopoly status on the PC side, because it offers pretty much everything that all the competitors do, plus much more, so there's little reason for anybody to use any other platform (except, perhaps, to use exclusive offers in those other platforms).
Epic Games has wanted to change that. They have wanted to enter the PC digital distribution scene, and do so big, really big. They want to become as big and ubiquitous as Steam, offering everything that Steam does, at a better price and with better deals.
Again, in principle this is a good thing because, once again, healthy competition is good for the end consumer.
The problem is that Epic Games is not engaging in healthy competition. They are instead engaging in a hostile takeover, more or less. They are doing so by aggressively working towards having as many exclusives as they possibly can. At any cost.
Exclusives are not healthy competition. Exclusives are an attempt at creating and enforcing a monopoly, because only one company offers that particular product (a game in this case).
Epic Games is very aggressive about getting as many exclusives as they possibly can, especially from indie developers, at any cost. That's right. At any cost. They are paying significant sums of money to many indie developers to get exclusive rights to their games on the Epic Games Store.
Why is this going to lower the quality of games, as I titled this blog post?
The recent Ooblets controversy is the perfect example of why.
Ooblets is an indie game being currently developed by a very small team, using mainly crowdfunding. Recently a controversy arose when not only did the team announce that they were going Epic exclusive (because of getting paid by Epic Games to do so), but did so in a really condescending and patronizing manner, essentially insulting their potential clientele, ie. gamers. Not only that, but subsequent conversations by the team members with the public on Discord were even more obnoxious, with the developer team members expressing outright disdain and insulting the people asking them about and protesting this exclusivity deal.
They made it amply clear that they have actually stopped caring about actually selling the game, believe it or not. They made it extremely clear that they don't care if they lose customers because of their horrendous attitudes, condescension and insults. They seem to be have this modern SJW mentality that they are glad if the "toxic gamers" go away and don't purchase their game. Their attitude seems to be the more and more common "if you don't like it, don't buy it. Good riddance!" Believe it or not, in one such example a father told them the story of his disabled child and how he was expecting the game to help him with his problems, and the response from the devs was dismissive and condescending, even though there was nothing objectionable about that message.
It appears that for some reason that Epic exclusivity deal turned those devs into complete and absolute assholes who have stopped giving a flying fuck if a single person buys their game.
People complained to Epic Games themselves about this attitude and behavior. Tim Sweeney, the founder and CEO of Epic Games, reviewed the condescending announcement that the Ooblets team had written, and responded to these reports. Do you know what he responded?
"In response to the community feedback, I have reviewed the tone of the Ooblets exclusivity announcement and wish to make the following official statement: IT WAS AWESOME!"That's right. Epic Games officially approves of the condescending tone. They are completely unashamed of it. Which makes also Epic Games assholes.
But why did the Ooblets team turn into such assholes? What many people are surmising is that this happened because the deal that Epic Games gave them was really lucrative. It's very possible that Epic gave them more money than they ever expected to get from actually selling the game. In other words, they probably already got all the money they wanted from the game, and have stopped giving a flying fuck anymore about actually selling it to customers.
If this is the case, one question raises: What motivation can the team have to develop the game any further, other than, perhaps, the absolute minimum required for it to be considered a "complete" finished product? Do you think that this kind of "we don't give a flying fuck anymore about selling the game" attitude is going to induce to keep making as a high quality product as possible?
This is not an isolated case of Epic Games pouring money at developers, especially indie developers, to get exclusivity rights. They are quite open about doing this en masse and plentiful. Epic Games is a massively rich corporation thanks to their Unreal Engine sales, and they are throwing as much money to developers as they want.
What do you think will happen to the quality of indie games if their developers lose all interest in actually making a sellable product? A product that will entice potential customers to buy it? If Epic Games is throwing boatloads of money at them no matter what kind of product they create, what possible motivation could they have to make it good?
I suspect that more and more developers will start making just the bare minimum effort to make a "complete" game and throw it into the Epic Games Store, and reap Epic's money. They don't need to care if their game sells or not. They already have the money.
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