After seeing some reactions to Ubisoft's announcement of exclusivity for EPIC's store in regards to The Division 2, I'm quite curious as to people's general thoughts about the new store front. Pros and cons of EPIC, pros and cons of Steam, etc.
Please keep the conversation constructive and address ideas, and the platforms, not people (unless it's Gaben or something, and even then keep it constructive please).
Does Epic offer the same community/socializing as Steam? Chatting, co-op, streaming etc? I'm only familiar with Steam and the horror that is EA's Origin.
@ortallus said in EPIC vs Steam:
Pros and cons of EPIC
Pros and cons of Steam
Someone needs to come up with a system where no matter your game store, you can just find your game and launch it without launching the launcher which has always been kind of dumb. I put up with it in Steam because it was better than what came before.
“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
@thenomain said in EPIC vs Steam:
Someone needs to come up with a system where no matter your game store, you can just find your game and launch it without launching the launcher which has always been kind of dumb.
This is really where Steam wins as opposed to some of the others. Yes, Steam does launch when you launch the game, but so many other launchers do this sort of 'no no no, you need to go back to the launcher first!' Well then why do you even give me an icon for the game you donut?
I really enjoy The Division, but having to go through the Launcher and then into...
I haven't played Subnautica yet despite getting it through EPIC because I don't like the EPIC launcher so far. Steam knows how to stay out of your way. Battle.net at least provides you a list of games right there on the left-hand side regardless of what's going on elsewhere so you just have two clicks.
From what little I've used EPIC, it's a very busy launcher (and that might be because Fortnite is a busy game full of bright colors and lots of stuff everywhere; it's the culture of the game). I should probably give it some more time before I give a real opinion on it.
@kay As of yet, no, but frankly I find that to be a good thing, but I tend to use Discord over Steam's socialization aspects. I find Steam's lack of moderation or curation to lead not only to an utterly toxic environment but their review system is corrupted big time. *Edit: Added: I agree about the Origin store though, I'm definitely not a fan.
@Thenomain The launcher is part of the DRM though, so what you're really asking for is a DRM that doesn't require the launcher to function I guess? Or DRM free (in which case you have GoG, but you see how that has functioned thus far).
@Auspice Just tested with Subnautica: Closed the EPIC launcher, then double clicked the Subnautica icon on my desktop. EPIC store launched itself into my background and Subnautica launched into active window. I never actually looked at the EPIC launcher while this happened. It launched from the desktop icon just fine.
@ortallus said in EPIC vs Steam:
The launcher is part of the DRM though, so what you're really asking for is a DRM that doesn't require the launcher to function I guess?
Or have it happen behind the scenes.
Or have it authorize without having to open the entire goddamn launcher.
Because so far only Steam has managed to make a launcher that is not ass.
Correction: Itch.io too.
@thenomain Exactly how is Steam's launcher different from EPIC in this, though, I'm confused. They appear to work identically. You click the icon, the game launches, the browser launches in the background.
Epic's support is absolutely lousy.
@templari I've never had to deal with EPIC's support, but I can definitely say the same thing about Steam's. In fact, it's rare in this day and age to find any tech company with 'decent' support, to the point where I'd say decent support is more noteworthy than bad support.
@Thenomain You could try https://www.launchbox-app.com/
It doesn't completely erase the problem you want erased but it does allow you to lauch a game directly.
@ortallus In comparison by my experience. Steam was far more responsive than Epic. I like epic games, but this platform doesn't impress me in general.
It’s a matter of preference. Steam boots quickly and tho the update cycle is annoying I know there is very nearly nothing I want to play that’s not there, that’s not well presented, and that’s not easy to browse related things. Steam wants me to play games.
Epic wants me to play their games. Now that they have a few more options that aren’t theirs it will become increasingly more varied over time, browsing and, yes, the community are not solid, the software is still more about me buying more than playing my games, and last I launched it it was dog slow.
And they have yet to earn my trust, which is something you need for a DRM system.
@templari Well, in fairness the launcher is in its infancy, and they've already made strides of improvement. I think it was a rather spontaneous launch, but they're doing some big things already. I'm interested to see where it goes.
@Thenomain I suppose I see where you're coming from, and I was a bit reluctant at first on the idea of the EPIC launcher, but the more I see about their plans and their already improvements, the happier I get. Frankly, I've been sick of Steam for quite some time, and have had nothing but problems with them in regards to customer service issues when they've come up, and I get really tired of seeing things like this on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/663830/George_VS_Bonny_PP_Wars/
I no longer see any hidden object games and almost no furry games. I still see the Sakura series because it’s amusing, and the Nekopara series because I cannot believe how many people are okay with pedophilia if it’s “not really humans”.
Steam could be much easier to filter, but it’s pretty smart. If you’re seeing scat games, then there are tag overlaps with the games you are playing. You should be able to have Steam stop making most suggestions altogether.
Mind you, I wasn’t trying to justify to anyone why one was better than another, but why I prefer Steam over Epic which was, I thought, the conceit of your asking.
@thenomain No, you're fine. I didn't necessarily try to set out convincing people either, I was just really curious why people are so resistant to EPIC in general, because I've had no problems using it. The worst thing I can say about it currently is that it lacks titles, but since it's hand curated, that's to be expected.
For me it's really simple.
I've already spent a lot of money to buy games on Steam, where I have a semi-decent catalog built up over time. I also 'trust' it just because I've used it long enough I have reasons to think there won't be any surprises in the future.
Given that I don't want to have multiple launchers if I can help it, any other service wants to compete needs to be clearly superior. They need to offer me more than that. If I buy into them for a single game then the day I stop playing that game I'll stop using its launcher.
@ortallus said in EPIC vs Steam:
and I get really tired of seeing things like this on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/663830/George_VS_Bonny_PP_Wars/
While Steam curation is balls, especially now after they have opened the floodgates and said they will allow anything as long as it's not an obvious troll game, that's not a great example of what's bad about allowing everything on the storefront; it's a game, there are actual mechanics, and it doesn't look like a complete asset flip, and it looks like some thought was put into the game. Sure it has poop in it, but pooping is something you have to unlock in Okami, and that's an absolute gorgeous game all around.
@insomnia We'll have to agree to disagree. I think that, like so much else, is utter garbage that I just don't want to have to see on my game store app. I'm not saying other people don't have a right to like it. I'm also not saying Steam is going away any time soon, nor should it.
I just don't understand where this "I don't want to have multiple launchers" thing is coming from. I mean, I've got Steam, Blizzard, EPIC and Origin already, for various reasons, and had Bethesda up until the dumpster fire that was Bethesda's handling of Fallout 76 (for the record, I enjoyed the game immensely, but the issues that came up made me walk away from the title and the company entirely, for good). Also, I guess I have Discord's store, too, now that I've used it much yet.
I really wonder how many people really ONLY play games on Steam, and how many are saying that they don't want multiple launchers just because that's the 'in' thing to be doing. I also wonder if Steam didn't start some of those reddit posts about "Multiple launchers bad, Steam good," as some manner of market manipulation.
Also, Steam has given us plenty of reasons not to trust them over the years. Saying "Well, at least I know what to expect!" is like a burn victim setting themselves on fire.
Plus, a lot of the "features" the people talk about on Steam are, frankly, garbage. Their streaming service? Sucks. It's barely used. Their VOIP? Sucks. Most people use Discord these days. Their reviews and ratings system? Corrupted and broken. Plus, remember when Steam tried to make paid mods a thing? Uh huh. And there have been articles written about how bad Steam's customer service was BEFORE they laid off a number of them. They've got an F rating from the BBB and scores of complaints filed with the FTC.
https://www.bbb.org/us/wa/bellevue/profile/online-gaming/valve-corporation-1296-27030704
Oh yeah, it's garbage, but as an example of garbage there are so many more "games" on the store that aren't actually games. Missing .exe files. bitcoin mining viruses, asset flips, and people just taking game maker demos, and renaming them.
But it is a game with mechanics that are semi unique so not really. Someone thought about the game, and made it, and then paid the $100 they needed to get on Steam. No Man's Sky was garbage when it came up. Why is it more of a "real" game that gets to be on the Steam store, but that pooping one isn't?
@insomnia I see your point. Which is why curation needs to be a thing. Which, on Steam, it's not.
