this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2023
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What's up with Epic Games? (lemmy.world)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
340 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I can't seem to find that one comment explaining the issue with them...

But for the sake of promoting conversation on Lemmy, what's the issue with Epic, and why should I go for Steam or GoG?

Note: Piracy is not an answer. I understand why, and do agree to a certain extent... But sometimes, the happiness gained by playing something from a legitimate source is far greater ๐Ÿฅน... coming from someone who could never ever afford to purchase games, nor could my parents... Hence I've always played bootleg, or pirated games.

TL;DR

What's wrong?

  • Their launcher has a terrible UI AND UX.
  • They make exclusive deals with studios to prevent other platforms from getting games. (Someone mentioned that Steam did the same thing in their infancy. Also, I have another question; why is it ok for Sony and Microsoft to make exclusive games for their consoles but not ok for these PC platforms to do so?)
  • They have been invested in by a Chinese company, Tencent. (Someone mentioned that it isn't that big of a deal, but idk.)
  • They are actively anti-linux for some reason.
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[โ€“] [email protected] 82 points 11 months ago (3 children)

somehow they managed to invent like 90% of all โ€œevilโ€ MTX and DRM in the process

Having worked with DRM systems since long before Valve existed, I'm reasonably certain this is just plain false.

[โ€“] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, and I don't remember Half-life being the game that introduced the world to horse armor.

[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

The user is being hyperbolic, but is referring to their substantial role in popularising loot boxes, as well as the marketplace that has spawned a real gambling industry around it. Kids gamble on 3rd party sites for marketplace prizes and Valve does very little to interfere.

[โ€“] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Not to mention that Steamworks DRM is practically non-existent anyways (and that it also wasn't necessary to use, it's rare, but some games just don't protect their game with any DRM).

[โ€“] [email protected] -2 points 11 months ago

Blending the storefront with a DRM solution? No, that was them.

That's their entire call to fame. They first turned their auto-patcher into a DRM service, then they enforced authorization of physical copies through it and eventually it became the storefront bundled with the other two pieces. If somebody did it before them I hadn't heard of it, but I'll happily take proof that I was wrong.

None of the pieces were new, SecuROM and others had been around for years, a few publishers had download and patch managers and I don't remember who did physical auth first, but somebody must have. But bundling the three? That was Steam.