News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Epic games, makers of Fortnite, raise $1.25B by beerlord on Friday October 26, 2018 @07:34PM (#18313450)
I really hope they can launch their own store, with decent standards to entry, and a 12% commission. Steam is a dumpster fire.
Re:Epic games, makers of Fortnite, raise $1.25B by devwastaken on Friday October 26, 2018 @10:02PM (#18313974)
Please no. We have Steam, Gog, Origin, Ubisoft, Twitch and Discord game stores now. Doing a game store is not a simple thing and stores being built by those who make the games is generally anti-consumer because there is no negotiation of sales.
Re:Epic games, makers of Fortnite, raise $1.25B by beerlord on Saturday October 27, 2018 @09:32AM (#18315617)
Epic make Fortnite and Unreal Engine. They already have their own launcher which is on tens of millions of PCs.
Re:Epic games, makers of Fortnite, raise $1.25B by devwastaken on Saturday October 27, 2018 @11:36AM (#18316181)
so does ubisoft and Blizzard. It's a gimmick that hinders useability in favor of complete control.
Re:Epic games, makers of Fortnite, raise $1.25B by craftyguy on Friday October 26, 2018 @08:45PM (#18313710)
Why is steam a dumpster fire?

There's also GOG, if you want drm-free downloads of games you purchase.

Re:Epic games, makers of Fortnite, raise $1.25B by beerlord on Saturday October 27, 2018 @09:31AM (#18315611)
Because its a monopoly platform (at least from the perspective of sub-AAA) charging monopoly rents of 30% commission on each game sold.

They have no standards/barriers to entry, so the store is being filled with crapware - developers releasing 20 games in a week, etc.

Plus, it has completely ineffective DRM, so the work of developers is not protected from piracy.

All of these things can be done better, and developers given a much better deal, which will result in better games being delivered to gamers.

People seem to care so much about Telltale shutting down and the poor treatment of game workers in the industry. Part of that is because the monopoly platforms holders Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Google, Apple, Valve have no competition in terms of the deals they offer developers. We need Epic to come in and break this pattern open with a much lower commission.

Re:Epic games, makers of Fortnite, raise $1.25B by screye on Saturday October 27, 2018 @07:57PM (#18318361)
Isn't 30% the standard on most app stores ?

Apple charges 30% and afaik, so does Android for popular apps.

Re:Epic games, makers of Fortnite, raise $1.25B by billfruit on Friday October 26, 2018 @11:53PM (#18314263)
Steam is a great thing for gamers from the Third world, with the country specific pricing.

Also they give no-questions-asked refunds on purchases.

Which other store can match these features?

Re:Epic games, makers of Fortnite, raise $1.25B by beerlord on Saturday October 27, 2018 @09:33AM (#18315620)
None, Steam has an unchallenged monopoly.
Re:Epic games, makers of Fortnite, raise $1.25B by beatgammit on Sunday October 28, 2018 @11:40AM (#18321108)
Steam is the only one pushing for Linux support in games AFAIK, and their SteamPlay feature is awesome. I use Linux, so I'll continue supporting them until someone else provides a better service.

I really don't have any problems with Steam as a platform. I certainly like not having to have multiple launchers for the games I play.