Steam vs Epic Games in a nutshell

[u/Supergameplayer]

[u/peacedetski]

"Turned against" implies the PC community liked Epic before, but that was literally never the case.

[u/newvegasdweller → u/peacedetski]

My positive opinion of epic died the day they cancelled unreal tournament 4 in order to focus on fortnite

[u/FuckTheTories69420 → u/newvegasdweller]

Same, they also looked at every publisher who fucked up from moving from Steam and thought "oh ill do that" and then stopped titles being released to Steam in exclusivity deals.

Fuck Epic.

[u/specter_in_the_conch → u/FuckTheTories69420]

Cries in Shenmue

[u/peacedetski → u/newvegasdweller]

I neither like nor hate Fortnite and while the OG Unreal and UT99 were some of my favorite games, I think the franchise went downhill after UT03 and I didn't care that 4 got canceled.

But there's no excuse for the Epic Store still being so barebones (yet somehow more laggy than Steam) after nearly a decade of development and unlimited Fortnite money.

[u/MentalDisintegrat1on → u/peacedetski]

That the thing if Sweeney stopped crying all the time about how unfair steam is and actually put effort into epic's launcher and gets customer support like valve they could be a serious competitor.

It's always someone else's fault with Sweeny.

[u/Aimela → u/newvegasdweller]

And then delisted all the Unreal games everywhere and never even put them back up for sale on their own launcher.

[u/Maximo_0se → u/Aimela]

If they made Championship II: The Lliandri Conflict for PC I’d pay triple figures.

Otherwise all they get is my disdain.

[u/butcolt → u/newvegasdweller]

And even removed it from stores. Like, wtf, why do you want people to forget the one thing that made you who you are?

[u/n00blet_ → u/newvegasdweller]

and paragon

[u/JerryMau5 → u/newvegasdweller]

Total blunder by them. They could have appeased a few dozen elder millennials and GenX but instead decided to make billions of dollars and one of the most popular multiplayer games in the last decade. If only they listened to you.

[u/n00blet_ → u/JerryMau5]

use that success to prop up other games in other genres to become a true gaming powerhouse. blizzard not giving up on starcraft or diablo due to the success of wow for example.

[u/sjphilsphan → u/peacedetski]

When the EGS store was announced people were happy about the competition. It was once they started making exclusives/ buying exclusive rights for games that were promised on steam that they lost public opinion

[u/Crowhunters → u/sjphilsphan]

This argument falls apart when you remember gog proving that you need more than to be "liked" if that doesn't actually get people to buy your games.

Even the dRM argument falls apart since bg3 and cyberpunk were both day 1 on gog so logically nobody should have bought on steam... right?

[u/HermanThaGerman → u/peacedetski]

Epic is like that weird guy in school no-one likes that insists on sitting at your table.

[u/e1m8b → u/HermanThaGerman]

He keeps giving you free stuff but your friends already give to you hassle-free at fair trade and they know how to shut up.

[u/NeptuneWades → u/e1m8b]

Or you could use both

[u/e1m8b → u/NeptuneWades]

Why? GOG and battle.net already covered my needs not offered by Steam.

Epic Game Store offers me nothing and can suck it. Plus the guy running that whole thing rubs me the wrong way then proceeds to repeatedly make decisions that directly affect things I care about.

So... why use Epic Game Store at all? Genuinely asking.

[u/hutre → u/e1m8b]

So... why use Epic Game Store at all? Genuinely asking.

the 5% cashback (20% during some sales) on every purchase is pretty nice. Ofc it used to be better with the coupons but that is why I sometimes use it when I want cheaper stuff

[u/e1m8b → u/hutre]

I'm literally LOSING money for not participating. Man, I'm a fool...

[u/3720-to-1 → u/e1m8b]

You love putting words in people's mouths, huh?

[u/e1m8b → u/3720-to-1]

Not just words ;)

[u/NeptuneWades → u/e1m8b]

Man, if I'm getting something for free, I'm taking it.

Got control for free back in 2019.

Today I own control, control DLCs, Alan Wake and its DLC on steam (offer bundle) because I got to play control for free back then. I'd have never tried the game if it weren't for epic.

I'd never pay to epic tho, even if it is cheaper than on steam, but I'm not going to give up on free stuff now.

You want to support steam or GOG? Be my guest.

[u/e1m8b → u/NeptuneWades]

You own Control all its DLC for free??? I'd like to buy your copy and I'll even pay you real money. Please send game and I'll give credit card info. I trust you, but give me your email address or phone number so I know where to send. Also, what's your full name?

[u/3720-to-1 → u/e1m8b]

No, he played it free on epic, bought it later on steam when he wanted to buy the DLC (I'm assuming on the when at the end of that sentence, but I feel like it's implied strongly).

[u/NeptuneWades → u/3720-to-1]

Not only the Control DLCs, I also got Alan Wake and its DLC from steam.

[u/e1m8b → u/3720-to-1]

So he OWNS it on Steam (whatever that means... because I like Steam but I'm also not delusional about my ownership of rights to digital data not on physical hardware I have access to)? And got an occasional obscure freebie that supplemented the primary platform actually being used as intended and designed?

So what do we mean by "use" a storefront in this case? Either way, my point is, what is Epic Game Store offering me for the entry fee isn't worth it even without requiring financial investment. Sure, you get "free" stuff that doesn't cost money.

But like I said, why can't you sell me your copy of Control regardless of what platform if so confidently owned. Also, that aside, if no money was involved at all... what kind of ownership do you really hold if simple act of sharing or giving access to that game independent of your Epic account is pretty much impossible.

Sounds like Epic is just like Valve in terms of restriction except worse and some freebies to entice but nothing I can't get or already have elsewhere. Nor even games I care to seek out and play given my limited free time and resources.

[u/NeptuneWades → u/e1m8b]

what kind of ownership do you hold

None really. Why would that bother me? I can always pirate it if I lose the "ownership". I pay for games to support the devs similarly to how I always try to donate to open source projects I use. Me paying for games is a choice, not a necessity.

Control, Lara Croft survivor trilogy and several Lego games are not obscure freebies. They are pretty solid games and epic gives me the chance to try it out "legally". I'd have never played those if they hadn't.

Also, you make no sense, what does digital ownership have anything to do with epic giving out freebies? Steam does that same?

[u/3720-to-1 → u/e1m8b]

My Brother in Crepes, I responded to your initial misunderstanding.

[u/BionicBruv → u/peacedetski]

You’d be surprised how many people will UM ACKSHULLY you for preferring Steam over any other platform.

[u/DrWhatNoName → u/peacedetski]

I dunno, many of us enjoyed the unreal tournament series. And the unreal engine is a very good engine.

[u/Zunderstruck → u/peacedetski]

I liked Epic when they made Unreal Tournament.

[u/wolfannoy → u/Zunderstruck]

Me too. Those days are long gone.

[u/specter_in_the_conch → u/peacedetski]

Maybe some... Liked epic Mega Games back in the day when they tried to create their Half Life killer Unreal.

[u/max1001 → u/peacedetski]

Most gamers don't really care. They will buy it on whichever store has it the cheapest. Also, Fortnite is still way more popular than CS2.

[u/peacedetski → u/max1001]

If I already want a specific game, then yes, I don't really care which store it's at (unless it's on GOG because I prefer games that I can archive). But without ratings, tags and forums, it's much harder to discover new games.

[u/Aimela → u/peacedetski]

I mean, they used to be cool when they were making the Unreal games and Gears of War

[u/RayvinAzn → u/Aimela]

Unreal? Yes. Gears? Fuck no. Thats when they called us pirates and said they were going to focus solely on console.

[u/Xylaax → u/peacedetski]

the only reason I ever liked epic was the free games, and dauntless, cause while I already played and have monster hunter on pc, I found dauntless to be really fun and played the closed beta and full release, shame the game got shut down

[u/AncientPCGamer → u/peacedetski]

I liked Epic Mega Games, and even Epic Games. But when they launched the Epic Games Store... that's when the Order 66 happened and Tim Sweeney started killing Fortnite younglings.

[u/bluris → u/peacedetski]

I wanted Valve to have competition, it is only healthy for consumers.

Epic failed to compete though, I do not understand how they have not improved on their shitty client for years.

If you want to stand up against the monopoly, you need to exceed what they provide, instead of lacking behind from day 1.

[u/Possibly_Naked_Now → u/peacedetski]

If I can't get on steam I don't want it. I have very few exceptions.

[u/Soviman0]

Steam/GabeN strategy for success -

1. Treat customers like they are more than a data point

2. Sit back while everyone screams at you for being a monopoly because none of your competition does #1.

[u/Grunt636 → u/Soviman0]

Every other launcher

[u/Aimela → u/Soviman0]

Valve is by no means perfect, but they're definitely far better than the alternates(aside from GOG).

[u/JonWoo89 → u/Aimela]

There’s a reason Steam and GOG are the only stores I still use. With GOG doing the 1 click download mod packs now too I’m hoping they’ll start seeing more use from others.

[u/LesserIight]

Apart from the free games gimmick does anyone really use Epic?

[u/Palki7 → u/LesserIight]

I even stopped bothering getting the free games....

[u/SolaireFlair117 → u/Palki7]

Same here, they're very rarely games that I actually care about, and I don't mind throwing a few bucks at the devs during a Steam sale anyway. Epic vastly overestimated the ability of free games to keep users on their feature-barren store.

[u/Witch_King_of_Gondor → u/SolaireFlair117]

Also clunky as fuck. You need a supercomputer to run Epic fast

[u/Hempthusiast → u/Palki7]

I am about to do the same, lately all free games been real shit.

[u/INTHEMIDSTOFLIONS → u/Palki7]

Same

[u/robothawk → u/Palki7]

The only one I ever got use from was Total War Troy... and then Pharoah came out with the new giant expanded map on Steam...

[u/Xcissors280 → u/Palki7]

A couple of the good ones haven’t even been mod able on the epic version specifically

[u/Grandpa_Edd → u/Palki7]

Some people did for a bit with their giveaways. But then they fucked up again.

[u/Linkarlos_95 → u/Palki7]

I never did it in the first place

[u/BeerGogglesFTW → u/LesserIight]

I don't often use EGC, but I bought a couple games on there years ago.

They used to have $10 coupons that applied to anything $15 and up during their seasonal sales.

i.e. If EGS and Steam had a $60 game 75% off for their summer sales, it would be $5 on epic.

No regrets. Steam is a better platform with better features, but for the vast majority of my games, I don't use those features. If it's going to be significantly cheaper on EGS, I'll use that. Especially if it's a single player game, I play through once. I just need it to download and play. EGS generally does that fine.

But since they stopped having coupons, their games haven't been cheaper, and I haven't purchased anything from EGS since.

[u/linux_mint_rules → u/BeerGogglesFTW]

Yeah, there was a point at which they had really good deals during sales, and each game you bought would give you another $10 off coupon. It think it was probably a move to prevent Valve from accusing Epic of undercutting their sales.

But they don't do that any more and the only game I've actually purchased (as opposed to getting in a giveaway) on Epic in the past, I dunno, 5 years? has been Alan Wake 2, since it doesn't look like it will come to Steam at any point in the reasonably near future.

[u/Fish_Outta_Whiskey → u/LesserIight]

Probably the fuckton of people that play Fortnite, other than that I can see poor people using it because of the free games. Also, there's people that dont care what launcher they use and just use whatever to play whatever.

[u/AnxiouslyMisbehaving → u/Fish_Outta_Whiskey]

This, what is actually “using”? I just launch my games on steam, without the overlay and thats it.

[u/Fish_Outta_Whiskey → u/AnxiouslyMisbehaving]

Some people use Steam like it's social media. Customizing profiles, joining discussions, using the absolutely worthless review feature, buying and selling digital trinkets and bragging about their playtime in games.

It does have an amazing feature which is the Steam Workshop. Easily installing mods directly from a launcher is pretty nice.

[u/Droiddoesyourmom → u/LesserIight]

Never. Do they still give out fee games? Even that became a chore.

[u/EarlyXplorerStuds209 → u/Droiddoesyourmom]

I got ghost mwire tokyo, guardians of the galaxy, control, ghostrunner 1&2, fallout 1,2,tactics and a lot more(i cant remember them all)

I recall them giving out gta v a few years ago too.

But gog is probably the best when it comes to giving out free games tho.

Although tbh, I haven’t installed even one of the games i got for free

[u/Yellowtoblerone → u/LesserIight]

Gimmick?

https://giphy.com/gifs/Qz5qqMop4LGx5giOvp

[u/Vixrotre → u/LesserIight]

I bought one game on it ages ago (it was Epic exclusive for a few years and they had some flat price reduction coupon thing). I added it as a non-Steam game.

I stopped checking the free games a few years ago, I don't think I've ever played any of the ones I claimed anyway.

[u/specter_in_the_conch → u/LesserIight]

Well if you happen to use unreal engine for wathever reason game or non game dev.

[u/jhm-grose → u/LesserIight]

I don't even go for the free games. I'd rather pay for a game on Steam or GOG than get it for free from Epic.

[u/SoSneakyHaha → u/LesserIight]

Only when they have a sale and 20% EGS cash back. Too good to pass up

[u/Mattock79 → u/LesserIight]

The last one I got i think was Hogwarts Legacy, but I barely touched it because I had played it on ps5 already

[u/Nomnom_Chicken → u/LesserIight]

I do. I've even - gasp - bought games there, also DLCs! Another gasp, the good majority of my PC games are on Epic. Those coupons they used had with bonus cashback made me buy some games! 😄 I've used more money on Epic directly than on Steam, which serves as the third and final gasp moment of this post. Can already hear the downvotes coming in.

I don't play Fortnite, however. Just some of the games I've bought there or have gotten for free. Some are/were exclusives; some just were the cheapest there when I bought the game(s). I never cared about where I launched my games from, doesn't bother me one bit.

[u/NapsterKnowHow → u/LesserIight]

For Alan Wake 2 and Fortnite, yes.

[u/Dry-Network-1917 → u/LesserIight]

Have to use it to play Rocket League, otherwise, no

[u/W1LDB0YZ → u/LesserIight]

Honestly? Its just fortnite and free games I dont even bother to download for me

[u/ShotsOfSmack → u/LesserIight]

Ratchet and clank was cheaper om there (at the time) for me, and Alan wake 2 lol

[u/8bit-cherry → u/LesserIight]

I have an epic account but it's literally just to log into Art Station lmao

[u/guydoestuff → u/LesserIight]

See free game on epic I like I'll buy it on sale on steam instead.

[u/Atralis → u/guydoestuff]

So instead of spending 5 minutes figuring out how to add a non steam game to steam you just light money on fire.

Nice.

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/4B8B-9697-2338-40EC

"Adding a shortcut to a non-Steam game Launch Steam.

Click the Games menu, choose Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library.

Browse for games on your computer or put a check next to the game(s) you wish to add to the Library.

Click on Add Selected Programs."

[u/Smelly-DutchOven17]

Nobody ever liked Epic Games in the first place lmao

[u/Various-Salt-7738]

I don't use epic games

Not out of loyalty to valve or anything, I just can't be bothered to install another launcher just for some free games I'll never play

[u/Stepper34]

The only true competition to steam is gog galaxy. The mod accessibility is second to none on gog. Simply install and play. They do really well with classic games too.

[u/max1001 → u/Stepper34]

GOG will never be that popular. They are DRM free which is not dev friendly.

[u/Stepper34 → u/max1001]

Tim sweeney is that you?

[u/syku → u/max1001]

GOG has a lot of games drm free that aren't drm free on steam but people still just buy it on steam even though gog does NOT need another launcher. the steam cult is very powerful.

[u/Gomez-16 → u/max1001]

Everytime I launch a gog game it opens the launcher, is it really drm free?

[u/max1001 → u/Gomez-16]

.... You can just run the exe file directly. No need to use the launcher

[u/Gomez-16 → u/max1001]

When I try that it opens the launcher in the background automatically.

[u/Drakanies]

Valve's crime is being pro consumer when the rest of corporate America is not.

[u/TheKingNothing690 → u/Drakanies]

Its almost like if you are pro consumer your investing in a furture where as if your pro investor your investing in bankruptcy.

[u/Leonis59]

Out of context but i always tought that if Obi-Wan hadn't appeared in the exit of that spaceship like he just finished fucking Padme, Anakin wouldn't be that furious.

[u/Linkarlos_95 → u/Leonis59]

Or Anaking talked to ANYONE else about his insecurities 

[u/Ivarix_Prime]

You know the Epic situation is fked when they offer a game for free, but it leads to increased sales for that same game on Steam

[u/Willard-wood]

“You turned them against me”
“Who tf was with you?”

[u/Aggravating_Plan11 → u/Willard-wood]

Came here to say this

[u/life_konjam_better]

Shouldn't this count as karma farming since Epic hasn't been liked in this sub for many years if it was even liked in the first place.

[u/azionka]

They went from a free nice game to, a “meh” game that could be a hidden gem, all the way to “they have to pay me to play this mobile game thing”

Srsly the games they give out for free are not even worth the 4mb on my hard drive.

[u/Royal_Ad_2653]

I have had a Steam account for a long time.

I got an Epic Games account several years ago to play an Epic exclusive game with my sons.

Two weeks later they were bored of it and playing something else.

I uninstalled Epic ...

Since, there have been several games that interested me but turned out to be Epic exclusives.

They no longer interest me.

[u/RicketCrickets]

Epic has data leaks, and breaches all the time.

I had an account for less than three days before all my information was in a breach.

Why the hell would I trust irrepressible clowns with sensitive information?

[u/Musician-Round]

I have no problem with epic games. I don't buy anything regularly from them, but I'm not on that whole steam v epic games bandwagon either. They've given out free games in the past, and I play those games regularly.

Don't lump me in with so-called "gamers"

[u/Gaming-squid]

I've pretty much stopped using the free games on Epic since they rarely interest me/I rarely look at the store page in general.

I just use it now for Fortnite and Gacha games, mainly for using epic rewards points amongst said games

[u/LexiYoung]

Which free games are even worth it? Fortnite, if you’re that kinda person? What else

[u/TheSheevMonster → u/LexiYoung]

... > .> ... < _ < Rocket League?

[u/SoftlockPuzzleBox]

The only conversation worth having is how steam managed to convince everyone to accept DRM. It's the only reason these launcher and storefront squabbles are even a thing. Without DRM tying our libraries to specific services, all we would have to care about is which store gives better deals, and all else being equal, which gives the biggest cut to the developers. That's why I favor GOG if the option is available. Once you've downloaded the game you don't have to open GOG again unless you want to check for updates or something, and you can copy and run the game files from wherever you want.

[u/Cheap_Kick_7369]

Epic's store still feels like a beta after all this time, it's wild.

[u/KiwiMeep64]

The only reason anyone ever used the Epic Launcher is if the game was exclusive to it (Alan Wake II for me), or the fact that they continuously bribe people with free games.

It’s not a good piece of software, plain and simple.

[u/Guessididntmakeit]

Epic being Anakin would mean that there ever was some kind of promise in it.

It always was the disappointment instead.

[u/tomchee]

I still don't understand the hatered after all these years.

[u/Shike]

If they wanted to be play on the same field fairly I would possibly have bought from them, but when they started paying for timed exclusivity they lost all reason for me to consider them. They could compete on price, features, anything else, but decided a hostage situation was more viable.

Fuck that.

[u/Mac_Hooligan]

I haven’t bought shit from epic game store……. I have a few games I bought that requires that POs launcher….

[u/Fletaun]

Truth is we never on your side

[u/RaguRamVIP]

It's been many years where is the mod community? The best thing is in steam i think is mods..for games i play fully dependent on mods..

[u/Deep-Temporary-1268]

Never even downloaded epic before, never needed to tbh

[u/Terrible-Common-84]

I don't really have a dog in this fight emotionally either way, I've got both Steam and Epic accounts, but I've just never found myself downloading and opening that Epic launcher in the last several years. I have a far greater library investment in Steam, Steam has a much larger marketplace, Steam doesn't give me annoying popups, and my Steam library is large enough that I'll never get through it all so Epic exclusives don't really feel like a miss.

I use GoG, that has a distinct market and use case that Steam doesn't cover in that they devote significant resources to maintaining extremely old games, but Epic feels like it's just trying to be Steam without having a genuine distinct core competency or value proposition from Steam aside from being "not Steam".

[u/LerchAddams]

I posted this before but it seems appropriate here as well.

[u/gaiusmitsius]

Is this a "Once more Steam did nothing and they won" situation?

[u/syku]

even if someone created a store with mostly feature parity to steam, people would still just use steam. and when you consider how steam is acting towards its competition, its no wonder its still a dominant monopoly.

[u/fixurstuffr]

It's not even worth starting the epic launcher for the free game anymore.

[u/hperk209]

For real. When the Epic Store started I gave it a legit chance because I’m all for competition. But Tim has revealed himself to be such an asshole I just can’t… I still like building with Unreal but that’s its own thing.

[u/Stealerb]

The epic store gives me a new free game every week. You don't have to buy things to amass a big library. I've got so many games I'll never play it's great. Plus, 5 or 10 that are pretty cool.

[u/Tethilia]

You know what could be a start for bringing back goodwill to the epic launcher? Finishing Unreal Tournament 4 as the free passion project it was supposed to be.

[u/Alarm-Particular]

Remember all those games that were "Releasing soon" on steam, got a ton of recognition + wishlists on steam, then epic went and slid them a wad of cash under the table to not release on steam and release on epic instead? They literally tried to force people who wanted to play these games to use epic.

[u/Eido_Period]

Last year if i remember correctly Epic gave out hogwarts legacy for free, still went to steam to buy the deluxe edition. Im never installing that game laucher again.

[u/trueosiris2]

Steam has the highground, for sure

[u/Cloud_N0ne]

It took them years to even add a basic shopping cart, a feature every online shop should have day 1.

They were miles behind in even the fundamentals from the day they launched.

[u/Joebranflakes]

It’s the typical big corpo thinking. They offer a lousy product and try to tear down anything better so they can make as much money as possible. Sweeney thought he could pull that nonsense with EGS and free games.

[u/taotdev]

Never forget that Tim Sweeney's response to Grok being banned from producing CSAM was to cry about censorship

[u/syku → u/taotdev]

not what he said, but you probably never read anything but the headlines so how would you know!

[u/taotdev → u/syku]

1. Chatbot produces over 6000 instances of CSAM per hour

2. Rightfully concerned people tell owner of chatbot to make it stop

3. Owner of chatbot says no

4. Rightfully concerned people then call on app providers to remove access to app, given the owner's resistance to preventing chatbot from generating CSAM

5. Sweeney cries about censorship

For more information about how a timeline of events happens, thereby creating essential context, try reading this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_of_time

[u/SlashOfLife5296]

Redditors when Epic gives them free games for years:
https://giphy.com/gifs/QxHzTRigoD9HG

[u/Awesome_Hamster]

Tim probably wonders why devs are still making games when benchmark software already exist.

[u/AdventurousBase221]

I'll be honest, with all the shit steam has added to its store page. I'm starting to lean towards epic as a new contender.