Jerykk wrote on Feb 16, 2020, 06:28:

jacobvandy wrote on Feb 15, 2020, 22:40:

Eirikrautha wrote on Feb 15, 2020, 21:35:

afka Rossini wrote on Feb 15, 2020, 18:18:

Eirikrautha wrote on Feb 15, 2020, 15:40:
Well, at least they weren't stupid enough to launch on Steam at full price (there's a 40% "discount" on this year-old game... how generous...). Though I notice that the full price is listed at $39.99 and I don't remember if that was the full price on release. Either way, I'm not paying anywhere near that much for Epic's sloppy seconds.

I find that exclusivity deals have just saved me money, because I really have no burning desire to play some of these games after waiting (and enough lets-plays and other material has come out to show me that I probably would have wasted my money if I had bought immediately... looking at you Phoenix Point & Julian Gollop). I'd have bought Mechwarrior 5 launch day full price if it had come out on Steam. Now, I'm honestly not sure if I'll even bother when it gets rereleased, there's just too much wrong with it based on the lets-plays I've watched. Oh well, hopefully that "exclusivity money" was enough to make up for my lost sale...

Since it's the first AAA title I'm aware of to have Epic exclusivity expire and I had any interest in, I picked it up on Steam today for $24 US. That's less than half the original price. If enough Steam buyers show up this week, maybe developers will re-think Epic exclusivity.

Nope. The exact opposite will be true. If people still buy even after the year, all that tells publishers is that they can take Epic's money first, then take our money later. The only way they'll rethink exclusivity is if the games that have it don't meet sales expectations, both during and after. Otherwise, you'll just teach them they can slap you around and you'll still come back for more...

No, if they're smart, it all depends on how the math works out. They definitely would have made calculations beforehand to estimate the sales breakdown with and without exclusivity in order to make their decision, and soon they'll be able to tell how accurate those were. Just as there was the possibility for EGS totals to disappoint, there is the possibility that Steam sales are exceedingly strong, and both would be reasons to not do the same thing next time.

It's hard to say without any actual sales data. Epic's bribe money more than covers any potential losses within the first year of sales and is guaranteed revenue before the game even launches. Developers/publishers don't really care how their games sell on EGS because they already got paid by Epic. For long-term revenue, they rely on Steam, hence the timed nature of all these exclusivity deals.