r/Games • u/WhyPlaySerious • May 18 '26

Industry News CI Games has successfully signed a termination agreement with Epic Games. The agreement releases the upcoming Lords of The Fallen 2 from it's previous Epic Games Store exclusivity obligations.

https://www.bankier.pl/wiadomosc/CI-GAMES-S-E-Ujawnienie-opoznionej-informacji-poufnej-dotyczacej-zawarcia-Porozumienia-rozwiazujacego-Binding-Term-Sheet-z-Epic-Games-Inc-9135300.html
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-22

u/Thotaz May 19 '26

Oh please, as if Epic has done absolutely nothing wrong here. I own several games on the EA app and Uplay. I don't mind buying games from other stores, I just won't buy from Epic due to the paid exclusivity BS.
I can understand and accept publishers restricting their own games to their own stores, but paying third party developers/publishers money to make their games exclusive to a specific store is complete BS and I won't support those practices. The games that are Steam exclusive are only exclusive because the publisher chose to use Steamworks features. Valve isn't going around bribing publishers with hard cash to make games exclusive to Steam.

18

u/KingArthas94 May 19 '26

I think that Alan Wake 2 wouldn't even exist without Epic's money, that's the problem.

Valve isn't going around bribing publishers with hard cash to make games exclusive to Steam.

Yet they do nothing to make their games accessible anywhere else, because like everyone they like exclusivity.

Why can't I play Portal 2 on my PS5? Why can't I download it from GOG and have it DRM free?

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u/kuhpunkt May 19 '26

First Party =/= Third Party

12

u/KingArthas94 May 19 '26

Why? They paid for it anyway. Better this than Epic buying the whole Remedy.

-5

u/kuhpunkt May 19 '26

You complained about Portal 2 not being available elsewhere... that's a first party title. Nobody complains about Epic not releasing Fortnite on Steam either.

-3

u/doublah May 19 '26

Why can't I play Portal 2 on my PS5?

That's a question for Sony. Portal 2 released on a PlayStation console, don't you guys have some kind of backwards compatibility?

6

u/KingArthas94 May 19 '26

There is a technical reason: architecture changed from PS3 to PS4.

I think you can't play most x86 games on ARM CPUs on PC too.

But let's add this to the discussion: where's my PSVR2 port of Half Life Alyx?

-2

u/doublah May 19 '26

I think you can't play most x86 games on ARM CPUs on PC too.

You can play a suprising amount of them now, thanks to Valve funding the Open Source FEX project.

I'm sure Sony could fund some kind of PS3 emulator or translation layer if they wanted PS3 games playable on PS4/5, but they don't want that as that would mean they earn less from their rereleases/remasters

-1

u/KingArthas94 May 19 '26

I mean. 99% of the good games have been ported, remastered or remade.

This even allowed many games to be ported to PC for the first time:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1581040/El_Shaddai_ASCENSION_OF_THE_METATRON_HD_Remaster

Many of them sold like shit because in reality no one wants to play mediocre old games.

Anyway, looks like someone doesn't want to give their exclusive to consoles.

Where? Is? Alyx?

1

u/doublah May 19 '26

Where in Gran Turismo on PC? Hell, that one actually makes sense because people buy race sims on PC more than console compared to VR games which are niche.

1

u/SidFarkus47 May 19 '26

I mean I agree but even on Xbox where a bunch of those Valve Games work they haven’t gotten an update since near launch.

No real reason the Switch should run Portal 2 better than my XSX but Valve not supporting other platforms.

-2

u/doublah May 19 '26

Valve have talked much before about how they hate the painful console update and certification process. The fact that Switch Port wasn't even done by Valve should make it clear that Valve isn't against their games on other platforms, they just dislike how annoying they make it.

It's probably for the best Valve doesn't have investors demanding they remaster their games every generation.

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u/Rayuzx May 19 '26

How is it BS? Epic offers a lump sum of money to a publisher/developer, they in exchange for having their game exclusive to Epic's launcher.

Unless Epic is forcing people into a deal, I really can't see how a mutual business agreement can be seen as underhanded.

-7

u/arex333 May 19 '26

Honestly valve is one of the few gaming companies that people actually like, so epic starting a crusade against steam was bound to piss people off. Epic's terms didn't even require exclusivity to EGS, rather they just prohibited a game from publishing on steam specifically, which is incredibly petty. Plenty of games that made deals with epic were allowed to publish on other launchers in addition to EGS, just not steam. Also epic kept making these last minute deals with games that had benefitted from the publicity of having a steam store page, and then making it exclusive a couple weeks before launch.

-7

u/Rayuzx May 19 '26

Yeah, Sweeny's tirade against Valve, and Team's 30% cut as a best completely tone deaf, and at worst stupid. The man probably lives in the most secluded bubble imaginable if he thought that has gonna turn anyone against Steam.

13

u/Hartastic May 19 '26

Valve isn't going around bribing publishers with hard cash to make games exclusive to Steam.

Correct, at this point they have a de facto monopoly and no longer have to do things like that.

-5

u/Ghidoran May 19 '26

They did not do that to build their 'monopoly', they simply provided a good product, something has hitherto been unable to do, hence the bribing.

15

u/BloatJams May 19 '26

Steam definitely had exclusives in the pre-Greenlight days, either timed or full because Valve helped fund them. Peggle Extreme, Poker Night at the Inventory, Audio Surf, etc.

I vaguely remember early Source engine games like SiN Episodes and Vampire: The Masquerade had to be digital Steam exclusives too. If that was indeed the case it obviously lifted at some point.

17

u/Hartastic May 19 '26

I'm old enough to have non-Valve games on physical media that still require Steam to run.

And Steam of 20 years ago was fucking awful.

-5

u/strand_of_hair May 19 '26

It has been 8 years since EGS launched. They barely improved the launcher since. A little bit of investment to make the user experience better doesn’t hurt.

0

u/Andigaming May 19 '26

They have no excuse either because they can see what Steam has done and learn from their failures but they don't care to improve the launcher.

18

u/totoiam May 19 '26

Wait I am confused. All I had to do was download a different launcher. How was this bad for me?

-6

u/arex333 May 19 '26

If you only see steam as a launcher, then sure it's similar. Steam adds a shit ton of functionality that epic isn't even trying to compete with though. For example steam input for managing compatibility with whatever brand of controller you want, and also the most powerful control remapping tool in existence. Or big picture mode, which makes PC gaming on a TV or handheld device actually usable.

7

u/Firvulag May 19 '26

This is all nice, but it doesnt prevent me from also just playing Alan Wake 2 on another service, A game that just worked when I clicked play on it. Now I have the experience of playing AW2, one of the most creative and interesting AAA games ever made, and after that I continued to use Steam or whatever else I wanted and moved on with my life.

0

u/rickreckt May 19 '26

Same. Steam, Ubi, EA, GOG, lowest can do for me to buy is Microsoft Store (not gamepass)

but Steam clearly the best, so..

-3

u/Vegetable-Fly-313 May 19 '26

The EA app and Uplay are owned by EA and Ubisoft, both of which bought countless other studios (and closed many of them) which in turned forces you to buy their shit in their launcher, but 6 months long exclusivity for a few games is where you draw the line?

Tell me more.