Cognition Dissemination: Metro Exodus Blows Off Steam, Creates Epic Drama
Epic Games wasn’t kidding with their desire to compete with other PC gaming services, especially Steam, and the way they’re going about it is irking several players. It was fine for everyone (except Steam owner Valve, I guess) when their first plans included giving developers a larger cut of the profits on their games than other competing platforms. The audience started getting concerned when Epic was gobbling up timed exclusives for their store to keep them off competitors for a little while, a slew of which were announced at The Game Awards in December. Software had been shared between several platforms up until now, titles from big publishers like EA and Blizzard notwithstanding.
It’s only continued from there, despite how upsetting it’s been to several gaming types. This trend with securing timed exclusives is going well for Epic, so they’ve been making deals with even larger companies since then. Operencia: The Stolen Sun, the intriguing first-person dungeon crawler from Zen Studios announced at the Kinda Funny Showcase in December, is making its way to PC through the Epic Games Store and the Windows Game Store, along with Xbox One. The same thing happened with Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, which will release on the store along with Ubisoft’s. Notice that this revealed how the intention is less “exclusivity” and more “keeping the games off Steam.”
The new Metro Exodus deal is causing the biggest drama, which has dominated the headlines of several gaming sites since the announcement thanks to the constant updates. It’s a highly-anticipated first-person shooter from 4A Games that takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting, a successor to the previous Metro games that several gamers have had their eye on since its grand reveal during the Xbox Conference at E3 2017. The level of excitement for it is exactly what makes this the biggest deal yet for the Epic Store, so the reasons why it’s irking so many PC players are understandable. Since the announcement on Monday, it’s led to a mess of events that’s already made it one of the most drama-laden gaming events of 2019. Need I remind you that it is only January.
What makes this worse is how it’s been available for preorder on Steam for over a year, shortly after the game was announced. It’s nice that those who had preorders locked in on the service will still get it there, but anyone who was on the fence for a while might have missed out. A grace period lasting less than 48 hours was given for those who wanted to preorder it on the service before the option was disabled entirely.
Valve wasted no time blasting this move as “unfair to Steam customers,” as part of a message that’s been posted in full on the game’s page, in lieu of where the preorder options and pricing details were. The definitely-not-mad tone is noticeable, though it’s also concerned with rightfully absolving them of blame. One of the worst aspects of this is how it could rile up the crazier types that hang around the Steam forums, but I’m having trouble blaming Valve for being upset about losing out on what could be one of the biggest games this year. Those fans are taking their frustrations out by review-bombing the first two Metro games on Steam, which will definitely help.
In response to the uproar, publisher THQ Nordic commented on Twitter that they had nothing to do with this, and said the decision was made by Koch Media. The larger THQ Nordic AB owns the smaller THQ Nordic and Koch Media (and Deep Silver, who also publishes new installments in former THQ franchises), but allows for them to operate independently to make their own decisions. To not interfere too much, they won’t comment further on the matter. 4A Games also had nothing to do with this, though they’re undoubtedly thrilled that this batch of drama is unfolding during the final weeks of its marketing cycle.
Meanwhile, THQ Nordic AB CEO Lars Wingefors voiced support for the decision, and for the company’s operations to operate independently. This is impressively such a big deal that word of it made its way to the CEO, who felt he had to interject. This also means the larger THQ Nordic and the smaller publishing arm have different viewpoints, which makes the fact that they both share the same name very confusing. The CEO somehow just noticed this, and has vowed to change the name of the larger one sometime in the future.
Again, it’s good that everyone who preordered on Steam will still receive the game on the platform, and won’t be forced to shift over to Epic’s store. But everyone who didn’t and wanted to play it on Steam is out of luck until early 2020, and the amount of those who fit this criteria may not be as insignificant as you think. Anyone who was hoping to purchase the game during a Steam sale in the summer or fall is also out of luck until next year. There are also some who prefer Steam’s layout and features to Epic’s store, since the latter is still in its infancy.
The worst part of all this, of course, is how it could start a race for timed exclusives. It’s been mere weeks since I posted about the PC gaming storefront landscape becoming a special kind of hell, with a storefront owner securing exclusivity deals. But this is spiraling out of control even faster than I expected at the time. If other storefronts indeed start doing the same, or if even more publishers start establishing their own stores, then we will have truly arrived in the danger zone.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
