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Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney supports the $900 million lawsuit against Valve, arguing Steam is "the only major store still holding onto payment ties and 30% junk fee"

⁨415⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/epic-games-ceo-tim-sweeney-111609426.html

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  • Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Tim… suing everyone else wont make epic store a great place to buy games

    Look to GOG for inspiration…

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    • Tuscy@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      He’s just salty because the only games people “purchase” are the weekly free ones.

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      • ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I don’t even bother with those anymore. I never play the free ones I have, because I’d have to use Epic’s software.

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      • fishos@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Not even. I’ve bought games on Steam that I forgot I had in Epic because Epic is just that trash. Fuck Epic for trying to start their store by bribing developers for exclusivity on their platform. Bitch ass tactics to begin with and then crying and whining when their mob mentality strong arming didn’t work. Best believe if their shit had worked and they became popular those greedy assholes would be asking a higher percentage once everyone was locked in.

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      • systemglitch@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I even stopped with those.

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    • Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      He’s still right in this instance.

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      • HailSeitan@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Exactly. The number of people on Lenny who simp for Valve’s monopoly just because Epic (along with every game developer, big or small) stands to benefit is kind of shocking.

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    • Mwa@thelemmy.club ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      true

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  • luthis@lemmy.nz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Has epic games developed anything like Proton? Valve isn’t just a store.

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    • IntrusiveThoughts@fedia.io ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      What do you mean? Isn't Kratos dancing orange justice innovative enough?

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    • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      They developed the Unreal engine. Not sure how “like Proton” you meant, but it’s used by lots of games and is quite a complex and well-regarded 3D engine.

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      • DireTech@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Epic makes tons of money off licensing Unreal to developers and have since before their store was a thing.

        Proton makes direct zero profit, though it does make Steam the best store for anyone on Linux.

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    • Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      That Whataboutism is Not really relevant to the lawsuit.

      Just because they made someone useful to expand their control over the games industry, that you happen to like, doesn’t mean them abusing their monopoly position isn’t still bad.

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      • Ganbat@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        >Open source, publicly available tool to aid in Linux adoption

        >“some[thing] to expand their control over the games industry”

        Found the Sweeney fanboy. Just because Timmy-boy can’t install kernel-level malware on Linux doesn’t mean Gabe Newell is going to use it to conquer the Earth, bud.

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      • lofuw@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        🤡

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    • gens@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Wine?

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      • danekrae@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I didn’t know epic games developed that.

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  • tharien@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Isn’t Tim the guy that advocates for pedophelia through AI generation?

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    • HailSeitan@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      And Hitler was a vegetarian, but that tells us literally nothing about whether we should abuse animals in factory farms

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      • underisk@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Sure, but I think wanting to fuck children does kind of paint a vivid picture about your general moral character in a way your dietary preferences might not.

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      • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Stop, stop, I already have so many reasons to hate him, I don’t need more.

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  • Auster@thebrainbin.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I was almost forgetting Tim's whole deal seems to be antagonizing more successful companies than his.

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    • woelkchen@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      But Epic is super successful. Its Unreal Engine has almost the entire gaming landscape in a stranglehold and is making big gains in film productions.

      Fortnite is one of the most successful games on Earth and EGS exclusive recently achieved one million concurrent players.

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      • Auster@thebrainbin.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I mean Epic the storefront, not the umbrella company, as the "company" in my original quote. If we are to be pedantic, there is also Epic the game publisher.

        Also Rocket League was bought by EGS and turned exclusive after it already had a following, so the numbers for it seem kinda artificial. Though that and Fortnite would also fall in the publisher branch from what I understand.

        The storefront itself is seldom news-worth, except for the freebies and that time they added a shopping cart with a few years of delay. And their freebies strategy seems to not be working out as EGS has yet to see a profit from some recent news.

        Then comes Tim, that if I had to guess, is trying to dig any resentments people have with Steam to try to bring its userbase to EGS.

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    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      He wants access to massive user bases for fortnite without having to pay anything to the platforms. That’s why he’s so intent on attacking Steam, Apple and Google. Steam would be a massive increase in revenue even with a 30% cut going to steam for epic, but mutual benefit isn’t in vogue at the moment.

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    • HailSeitan@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Being obviously self-interested doesn’t make him wrong about app store monopolies, whether Apple, Google, or Valve.

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      • lofuw@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Image

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  • Soup@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    “They charge developers too much!”

    “Ok, Tim, so how exactly do you make money for your company, then? Because giving away all the free stuff seems like awfully bad business.”

    Never thought I’d be defending a company charging a lot of money but since Steam actually does provide an excellent, stable service with bonuses like Linux development and the Steam Deck I mean, I really ain’t that mad, especially they still offer really good sales.

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    • Feathercrown@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      “They charge developers too much!”

      So you should be able to undercut them, right? Right?

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      • MashedTech@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Apparently the epic games store isn’t feeling so good, Mr. Stark .

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      • Soup@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Exactly. Epic doesn’t even appear to really provide a particularly good service so you’d think a more bare-bones company could get away with charging less, and yet.

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      • masterspace@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Not when the Steam Terms of Service prevents them from charging less on other stores.

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    • architect@thelemmy.club ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I mean is obvious if they killed valve or even knocked it down a peg they would raise prices on devs so fast.

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    • masterspace@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      “They charge developers too much!”

      “Ok, Tim, so how exactly do you make money for your company, then? Because giving away all the free stuff seems like awfully bad business.

      I think you’re missing the point that Epic’s store is only not profitable at their margins because of scale. If they had even half of Steam’s user base they would be profitable. Their problem is that gamers insist on backing Valve’s monopoly because it’s what other gamers tell them to do online.

      And Epic provides Unreal Engine, the gaming engine that powers the majority of modern games, with free and extremely cheap tiers for indie devs, and they provide explicit Linux support for their engine and dev environment. They’ve also used a substantial amount of their Fortnite money to break up app store monopolies on Android and iOS.

      They are not the villain that the gaming community thinks they are.

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      • IzzyJ@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Have you considered maybe Valves monopoly is natural? That is convenient to have all the games in one place and their customers like what they’re selling?

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      • Soup@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        They may want to work on their marketting, then. I won’t lie when I say that I’m surprised to learn that Epic Games not only developes Unreal engine but that Tim Sweeney seems to have actually created it and not just be a CEO who buys stuff and puts his name on it.

        There do, however, seem to be a few points really not working in their favour. Sketchy policies around reviews and a lot of forcing exclusivity(Steam’s monopoly? Ok buddy) are big ones I found.

        Look, I’m sure there’s plenty of learning to be done as far as the Epic Games store is concerned but seriously, why is Steam so bad and why is Epic Games especially good? Sorry that I’m happy to use Steam and not switch to a new store with fewer features? Like, what’s the point being made here?

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      • Tattorack@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        If they had even half of Steam’s user base they would be profitable. Their problem is that gamers insist on backing Valve’s monopoly because it’s what other gamers tell them to do online.

        Well, see, here’s your first mistake; you think Valve has a monopoly. But they’re just one store out of many, including game console stores. The difference is they’re actually providing a good service.

        Yes, it’s shocking; people tend to gravitate towards the service that’s actually good!

        And Epic provides Unreal Engine, the gaming engine that powers the majority of modern games…

        And what a total shite of an engine that is. It’s actively destroying the gaming industry by emphasising all the worst development practices gamers have complained about for the past 8 years.

        … with free and extremely cheap tiers for indie devs…

        Just like with their service fee, they’re doing this to completely undercut competitors, to ensure the Gabe engine everyone used is Unreal.

        This isn’t a good thing.

        … they provide explicit Linux support…

        No they don’t. They barely support Linux with some elements. But Unreal Engine runs like absolute shit on Linux, if at all, and Tim Sweeny infamously hates Linux with a passion. He has some personal grudge against it.

        They’ve also used a substantial amount of their Fortnite money to break up app store monopolies…

        Because they want Fortnite to be the one game young people play. The One Live Service To Rule Them All. The only way they can do that, to reach the maximum amount of the youngest generations to squeeze them and their parents for all their money, is to be as widely available as possible.

        Valve got skin gambling. Epic got Fortnite. The latter involves children and is massively more profitable.

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  • WanderingThoughts@europe.pub ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    is that Valve’s policies and position as the leading distribution service in PC gaming means publishers are effectively blocked from selling games and add-ons at lower prices on competing stores

    I still don’t get this. As far as I can find, Steam doesn’t allow steam keys to be sold cheaper elsewhere, but they don’t bother with prices of games in other stores.

    And doesn’t Epic have a bunch of games exclusive to their store?

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    • orclev@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I still don’t get this. As far as I can find, Steam doesn’t allow steam keys to be sold cheaper elsewhere, but they don’t bother with prices of games in other stores.

      This is tricky. Officially Valve doesn’t have any rules about game prices on other stores. Unofficially evidence has been put forward by way of emails between developers and Valve that seem to show that Valve unofficially requires price parity with other stores and will punish games that offer lower prices elsewhere.

      The charitable interpretation is that their policies are worded confusingly and some of their agents are misinterpreting the rule requiring Steam key prices to be uniform as applying to non-Steam keys. The uncharitable interpretation is that Valve knows such a policy would get them in hot water with anti-monopoly laws and so they’re careful to make sure it stays an unofficial policy.

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    • klymilark@herbicide.fallcounty.omg.lol ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      That’s… Weird, given I usually get games on sale from Humble if I’m getting them on steam. Might just be full price?

      Steam, and Epic, both have exclusives. Steam is more incidental (some devs just don’t bother releasing elsewhere), while Epic had a deal going on for devs that released exclusively on Epic for the first 6 months of the game’s life. Don’t remember what the deal was, but it was a marketing thing to try and get people over to Epic. After the 6 months was up most devs also released to Steam.

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    • Auth@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Is that true? I’ve seen devs list their games off steam for steamprice -30%. Often you can go to a devs website and buy the game $10 cheaper. However I still buy it via steam because i feel like i’ll forget about the game if its just a key in my email.

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    • DragonOracleIX@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      If I’m remembering correctly, price parity only applies to keys sold off platform, rather than the game itself because they don’t profit from the keys being generated.

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  • Mrkawfee@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Steam is the last company that has held out against enshittification.

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    • Crozekiel@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It feels like all the other corpos are mad and want to sue Valve to force them into enshittification.

      I’m all for holding companies accountable - when legal pressure forced Valve into creating a return policy, I was happy for that. But this is a $900 Million nothing burger imo. Publishers are mad they can’t get the exposure and sales numbers on a cheaper platform. Cheaper platforms are mad that they still can’t get people to switch to them by significantly under-cutting Steam. That’s (publishers) customers mad they have to pay a ‘premium’ (basically the ‘market rate’ for the service before epic decided to start under-cutting btw) for a better service and the competition mad that a LOT of (publishers) customers are willing to pay that ‘premium’.

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    • architect@thelemmy.club ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      That’s why they are getting sued.

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    • vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Their store UI could be better, searching the database by conditions and clearly seeing why something isn’t available in your region\country\demographic would be good.

      But at the same time it’s good enough for me to even be thinking about such conveniences.

      Also I’ve remembered recently my dad saying some 6 years ago that nobody makes convenient UIs because it’s bad for commerce. A UI filled with suffering allows you to charge for directed solutions. And if a UI isn’t filled with suffering, there must be something else. Like Telegram and VK which are convenient to use (compared to WhatsApp and Facebook and …), but are Russian special services’ honeypots.

      Convenience is a weapon. And a very expensive one, if Steam store’s UI were more convenient, the load on servers would probably be 10x what it is, for a similar structure of purchases, except probably harder to direct.

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    • GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Lol

      Greenlight Early access Gambling economy Microtransactions Segmenting games to be sold as parts.

      Fuck off with that shit.

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      • Nikelui@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Meanwhile plqces like EA are a bastion of virtue?

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      • TheSeveralJourneysOfReemus@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Nah they don’t like to hear that. I see many such cases of people complaining about mobile gaming but steam did this when most mobile hadn’t enough power to run big games.

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  • db2@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Reminder: Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has defended child pornography, saying that stopping it is “gatekeeping”.

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    • it_depends_man@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Please link to a source when you say things like that.

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      • Uebercomplicated@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        pcgamer.com/…/epic-games-ceo-tim-sweeney-argues-b…

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  • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’m really tired of seeing this idiot quoted.

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  • ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    DRM free, launcher free games or fuck off.

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    • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      This.

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  • Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    No instead epic charges 12%, and if you use unreal engine but don’t sell on egs they get a 5% royalty fee on all your sales. Sure those number are lower but egs isn’t out here “empowering” devs

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    • lofuw@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Epic would charge Steam’s fees if they had Steam’s marketshare.

      Everyone thinking they care about creators or customers is a fucking moron.

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      • turmacar@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Are they close to feature parity with Steam yet? Like after a quick search of it looks like they added cloud saves but that took years.

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      • ulterno@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Epic would charge Steam’s fees if they had Steam’s marketshare.

        while at the same time providing worse service.
        Ever noticed the difference between Epic checkout vs Steam checkout? And that is the part one would want to make the best, because that’s what gets the money in.

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    • woelkchen@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      if you use unreal engine but don’t sell on egs they get a 5% royalty fee on all your sales.

      Sounds like abusing market power.

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      • borari@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        100%. Valve needs to start suing Epic for their game engine monopoly. It’s not about Valve it’s about protecting gamers.

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  • Hazzard@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Well… duh. The guy runs a competing storefront who’s only claims to fame are:

    1. Spending a bunch of money for timed exclusivity and free giveaways, rather than building out core features.
    2. They give devs a better cut than Steam to win a moral victory.

    … that’s it, that’s all the reasons to use Epic, unless you want to play Fortnite or participate in an Early Access period where they chose Epic to reduce the overwhelming amount of feedback like Hades.

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  • cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Shoddy article buries the lede: Epic isn’t suing Valve. UK residents are. Epic is just rooting for them because Epic makes a product (Epic Game Store) that competes with a product by Valve (Steam). Epic is not behind the lawsuit. They are just cheering for their competitor to be taken down a peg.

    Literally nothing whatsoever stops Epic from releasing their Epic Game Store app on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android as these are open platforms that allow anybody to release an app (or app store) and offer it to their customers. However, Epic Game Store only actually exists on Windows, and it’s on iOS in the EU. Everywhere else, they’re keeping it from consumers out of pure spite in order to leverage the courts in their favour.

    All of this started because Epic chose to defy Apple and the rules they agreed to in order to get Fortnite onto the iPhone’s App Store, in that they could not use an alternative payment provider to sell “V-bucks,” the in-game currency Fortnite uses. V-bucks cost Epic nothing to make as a virtual currency. Fortnite itself has expenses, but Fortnite is also a tech demo for the Unreal Engine. It exists, on a business level, to sell the capabilities of Epic’s in-house physics engine, the Unreal Engine. A bit hypocritically, Epic takes a cut of games sold that use the Unreal Engine. It is not free. Fortnite players use the V-bucks to buy skins and other cosmetic experiences in the game. And Epic, tired of giving Apple a 30% cut of something that costs them nothing to produce, thereby giving each company 100% profit, added an option to pay Epic directly, either less money to get the same amount of V-bucks, or the same amount of money to get more V-bucks (I don’t recall and it’s not what matters). Apple suspended the Fortnite game until Epic fixed it. Epic refused to, so the app was de-listed, and the developer account was banned.

    Epic then pulled out of the Mac ecosystem as well, which had absolutely nothing to do with any of this. Macs do have an App Store that looks like the one on iPhone, but just like the Windows Store in Windows, it’s not required to install apps on a Mac. Most Mac users get their apps from the web, same as Windows users do. Like the Windows Store, the Mac App Store is just a convenience (both of them handle updates very well, for example). Not offering Fortnite and/or the Epic Game Store on the Mac has always been a choice Epic made, not any limitation imposed by Apple.

    Epic is not just Fortnite, though. They made the Gears of War games for Xbox back in the day. Fortnite itself is actually a mashup of several games. The original Fortnite was a paid survival crafting game. I’m not sure it exists anymore, or if the freemium multiplayer Fortnite swallowed it up entirely. Like in Fortnite’s main mode, you could build, but you could build freely (safely) during the day, and mobs would attack at night. Fortnite also contains elements of Unreal Tournament, Epic’s prior multiplayer online shooter that last received a release in 2004; Rockband, the music game developed by Harmonix (which also created Guitar Hero), which is now called Fortnite Festival), and other acquisitions. Epic also made Unreal, a single-player game that Unreal Tournament was based on. They likely released a few other games I can’t recall. But since Unreal and Unreal Tournament, they’ve also licensed the Unreal Engine to other developers, and it’s been used in numerous games, including the original Deus Ex.

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    • ryper@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      However, Epic Game Store only actually exists on Windows, and it’s on iOS in the EU.

      Your information seems to be outdated. On the EGS download page I get an “Install on Windows” link with text below it “Also available on Mac OS, Android, iPhone (EU only) and iPad (EU only).”

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      • cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        That is indeed a recent development. I might have known it if I didn’t say people who prey on children should face stricter jail sentences and get banned from a site that supports people who prey on children, and thus lost access to the MacGaming subreddit, where I’m sure they posted about EGS coming back to Mac.

        Logging in, it’s interesting to see that so many games I own are supported on Mac. I started playing Dredge on Xbox Game Pass but never bought it. That might be fun on the computer. And it might run on mine. (Nobody buys a Mac for gaming. I’m a gamer who prefers a Mac computer to one that runs Windows… so I have an Xbox. Long story as to why I don’t have a PlayStation.)

        However, Fortnite is not (yet?) available for Mac. Maybe if they brought EGS to Mac, they’ll bring Fortnite back. I’m not a big Fortnite player… another long story that is beside the point.

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      • neclimdul@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Yeah, I think that was not the case during their recent lawsuit with Apple. So relatively recently that changed and was limited for a “good” reason.

        No Linux support though so whatever. Useless to me.

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    • AlmightyDoorman@kbin.earth ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      While i agree with the sentiment v-bucks are not 100% profit. People buy v-bucks for skins, these skins have to be produced by people who typically don't do that for free. And for ongoing sells of v-bucks fortnite has to get regular updates, one of the selling points of fortnite are the regular seasons and events, these are not free to produce. Obviously they do all of this to increase profit but 100% profit ratio is a strange take.

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      • HailSeitan@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        The commentor was saying that skins cost Apple nothing to produce, not Epic, which is why the Apple App Store profit margin is estimated to be around 78%. I think you misread the comment.

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      • cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Okay, that’s fair.

        Of course, the entirety of Fortnite is to sell the Unreal Engine, and the entirety is free to play. I can see the skins without paying, I just can’t use them without paying. As someone who’s never bought V-bucks for themselves (I have bought Fortnite gift cards for a nephew who plays, for birthdays/Christmases), it’s completely unnecessary if you just wanna shoot stuff in the game for 15-20 minutes or however long the match lasts.

        I almost bought the whole lot of K-Pop Demon Hunters stuff, but I really just wanted to be able to play as Rumi (the one with the purple hair). My Animal Crossing villager can cosplay her for free though, and I’d rather play Animal Crossing than Fortnite 99% of the time. They scratch different itches, though.

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  • xtools@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Tim Sweeney can gargle my ballsack

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    • masterspace@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Well Gabe is too busy having every gamer gargle his billionaire monopoly loving chode.

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  • OscarRobin@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Out of all the digital stores Steam arguably offers by far the most actual functionality and features for its cut. It’s still too high, but it’s possibly the least egregious example vs Apple, Google etc

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    • Jarix@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      It’s only too high if they demand exclusivity.

      And they don’t.

      They are providing PLENTY of value to anyone who is listing their games there.

      Would I like to see them do now for small and independent outfits I would love that, but 30% isn’t that much comparatively to the old days of buying physically distributed things in a brick and mortar store.

      I remember buying final fantasy 2 (4) on snes and it cost 95$ US this was 1988 or 1989

      Which was about 129 CAD (the exchange rate is between usd then and now is about the same conveniently for this tidbit)

      Today after years of inflation it would cost about 250-260 USD or 340-355 CAD

      I don’t fucking miss those days at all. And while there are multiple factors here in play, this is entirely fair to charge silksong 6 dollars ish per sale on a 20 dollar sale whilst the failing AAA games 30 dollars on a 90 dollar sale. There is a cost involved and it is because of steam, specifically steam, that made digital distribution what it is today. And by that I mean they have set the standard for what is a healthy location to sell your digital goods.

      And to give an example of what garbage (yes you Tim Sweeney you giant whiny fecal faced fuck) digital distribution for games would look like if steam didnt actually do a great job, look at books.

      Buying books on through amazon you pay more for them then you used to for a physical copy of the book itself.

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  • Quazatron@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Yep, time to wipe my Epic account.

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  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The only reason I had an epic account was for their free giveaway. And now that I’ve switched to bazzite, amc considering their poor Linux support, I’m inclined to just cut bait on them.

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  • IronpigsWizard@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Has he (Tim Sweeney) shown up in the Epstein files yet or are we still waiting?

    ibtimes.com/epic-games-ceo-tim-sweeney-faces-back…

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  • goatinspace@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Is that the Epic that agreed to six-year $800 million partnership with Google recently?

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  • stupor_fly@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    they charge what they do because it works for everyone steam has more users and does more for them so it costs more to maintain everything which is fine for devs because people actually buy things on steam

    the only time anyone ever talks about epic is to shit on them ,talk about the current free game there giving away and … well thats it at least in my experience

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  • Fokeu@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Suck me off, epic

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  • W3dd1e@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’m not saying the 30% fee is fair, but every single company charges 30% except Epic and the Microsoft PC store which north charge 12%.

    www.1d3.com/blog/platform-fees

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  • ivanafterall@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    More like Tim Weenie.

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  • AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    although I like a lot of what Valve does (I have a lot of Steam games, valve games, have a steam deck oled, use steamvr, etc) they are a fairly flawed company. sweeney is so great at shooting himself in the foot though that any opinion he has people will by default believe the opposite of (and probably should)

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  • DizzyMoth@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The only interesting argument I heard about this demand was that when you buy game you are tie to respective store, and you cannot buy content like dlc outside that store. I wpukd be amazing for the customers if thus wasn’t the case

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  • dukemirage@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    How easy it is to rage bait Gaben stans.

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  • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    What everyone else is saying, but god to I hate the fortnite art style.

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  • Grimy@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    The lawsuit - filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London - alleges Valve “forces” game publishers to sign up to conditions which prevents them from selling their titles earlier or for less on rival platforms.

    It claims that as Valve requires users to buy all additional content through Steam, if they’ve bought the initial game through the platform it is essentially “locking in” users to continue making purchases there.

    This, Ms Shotbolt argues, has enabled Steam to charge an “excessive commission of up to 30%”, making UK consumers pay too much for purchasing PC games and add-on content.

    The case is what is known as a collective action claim, which means that one person goes to court on behalf of a much larger group of people.

    In this instance, it has been brought on behalf of up to 14 million people in the United Kingdom who bought games or additional content through Steam or other platforms since 2018.

    The claim is backed by legal firm Milberg London LLP, which brings group action cases against large companies.

    A separate consumer action case, filed in August 2024, has been brought against Valve in the US.

    From another article because this one has half the info and reads like it was commissioned by steam. The effects of a company go further than your enjoyment of their product. I’m seeing a lot of people lick the boot just because it tastes good.

    www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2g1md0l23o

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  • UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    (And also pretty much the only store that matters for non-exklusive titles Tim)

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  • GladiusB@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Says the guy that won’t support Linux. Fuck the completely off.

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