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I did not realize they were trying to compete in the first place.

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[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 123 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Being consistently cheaper would actually be attractive to many people. The thing is, none of these competitors can even muster that. Steam consistently has better sales, more often. And it's pretty funny seeing Amazon of all things not able to match or beat that. They are known for undercutting the competition, even at their own expense, just to get customers; It's literally how they got to be as big as they are.

[-] count_dongulus@lemmy.world 96 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Epic kinda tried that by giving away tons of free games in the Epic Games Store. It didn't work.

If I want Steam games cheaper, I go buy a Steam key for that game from a separate retailer and activate it on Steam. Save like 50-70% irrespective of Steam sales. It's remarkable that Steam allows us to even do that in the first place.

[-] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 109 points 2 days ago

Epic also generated a lot of bad blood by scooping up Kickstarter projects and ordering the devs to cancel the Steam releases, releases that had already been paid for by backers. A bunch of potential customers refused to buy from Epic on principle after that.

[-] 9point6@lemmy.world 71 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The timed exclusivity deals are what did it for me

Bringing that bullshit to the PC gaming market guaranteed I'll never spend a penny on their storefront.

If the carrot they're leading with is limiting choice, I'm not going to hang around waiting to find out what the stick might be if they get successful

[-] mp3@lemmy.ca 29 points 2 days ago

Epic is doing me a favor, I get to keep my money while I play my backlog, then I buy the game on Steam / GOG for cheaper later on.

[-] pivot_root@lemmy.world 47 points 2 days ago

I'm one of them. For all their trash talk about Steam being a monopoly, Epic Games sure pulled some hypocritical, anticompetitive shit in their attempt to replace one monopoly with an objectively worse, consumer-hostile one.

[-] dragonfucker@lemmy.nz 13 points 2 days ago

Epic Games is creating a monopoly in PC gaming - they keep making bad decisions and leaving Steam as the only good option

[-] Baggie@lemmy.zip 23 points 2 days ago

Yeah that one rubbed me particularly wrong. Valve can be a bit hit and miss sometimes, but they've not actively monopolized games from other devs.

[-] LNRDrone@sopuli.xyz 11 points 2 days ago

Yup, that and pushing "exclusive" bs in general made sure I will never use Epic.

[-] SatanClaus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 2 days ago

I'm still gaining more and more games in my epic library I'll never use but love wasting Tim Sweeneys money. Lmao

[-] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

That reminds me, let me see what’s free today.

Edit: nothing good

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

That reminds me, let me see what’s free today.

Edit: nothing good

I just don't know how to claim those via web only. I think you have to install the store on Android.

[-] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Yeah I only used the web only. I’ll double check to make sure I didn’t miss this game.

I pirate so a free game isn’t worth it for me if it means I have to get their store app or whatever.

[-] DannyBoy@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

I've counted 38 games in Epic Games. I've played a couple. I've spend $0.

[-] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 2 points 2 days ago

I wouldn't be surprised if they require a game to be downloaded and played to count. I know on PS , if you have already downloaded, after purchase, a refund is less likely, so downloading likely triggers the sale to be complete, with payment to the seller. It could be similar for free games.

[-] Scrollone@feddit.it 1 points 2 days ago

Me too. I'm not even a gamer, the only game I've played is Civilization. And maybe one day I'll sell my account for sweet sweet money.

[-] athairmor@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

Yep. I have a bunch of Epic’s free games. Never bought a single game from them and probably never will.

The experience on Steam is just better. And Epics lawsuits look less like they’re fighting for the little guy and more that they are envious of the market that other companies have.

[-] baines@lemmy.cafe 1 points 1 day ago

of course they are, Epic is a shit company

[-] xavier666@lemm.ee 6 points 2 days ago

I am an extremely cheap and patient gamer. This is how I look at both the stores.

If I want free games, I'll go to Epic.

If I want good deals, I'll go to Steam.

Why would I go to Epic for good deals when it'll either have a good deal on Steam OR be free on Epic after a few months or a year?

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Maybe if they had done that with brand new games and not just a few good but old games and tons of games nobody has even heard of before. It's not really even in the same league as just genuinely being cheaper than the competition. It's a gimmick. Steam also sometimes gives games away for free, while still having tons of deep discounts all year long.

I'm the same. I'll look on Steam first just because I would prefer to keep all my shit in one place, but if it's not the cheapest price I'll get it somewhere else. Although 90% of the time, the cheapest price is just a steam key being sold by a 3rd party (I like Eneba, personally).

The one time Epic was cheaper, was when they gave out Civ6 for free. I bought the two major DLC expansions through Epic instead of buying everything on Steam just because I didn't have to buy the base game and the DLCs were $10 cheaper anyway.

[-] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

And their $5 off coupons during numerous sales

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 1 day ago

It would be so easy for another store front to just take a 20% cut instead of 30% and pass the savings on to the end consumer. That would be a pretty strong start. But nope. They just want to charge the same base price.

this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2025
821 points (100.0% liked)

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