PCs and Steam: Thread 01

[speedlolita]

I don’t really mind multiple launchers, they’re unobtrusive enough.

Have the Epic one, Blizzard one and Steam installed currently. None launch on boot and I only open them to play specific titles, doesn’t bother me at all.

[Digfox]

I don’t really mind multiple launchers, they’re unobtrusive enough.

Have the Epic one, Blizzard one and Steam installed currently. None launch on boot and I only open them to play specific titles, doesn’t bother me at all.

Ditto.

I've got a few of them; Guild Wars 2, ESO (non-Steam version) Rockstar Social Club, Twitch amongst the better known ones. I only ever launch Steam automatically though.

I remember years ago buying Far Cry 3 on PC via Steam and then having UPlay forced upon me (about the time they were patching it into all Ubisoft games). Really did my nut in and I thought at the time Valve should have taken a more defensive stance because it was very annoying to see this half-baked implementation become another barrier to play my games. And meant I had to wait for two launchers to load before I could play Far Cry. Ever since I've generally hated the way UPlay games launch if they are installed from Steam and prefer just to load UPlay for Ubisoft games.

I'd love for their to be one service we can all choose to have our games on, but it's just not going to happen.

[Neon Ignition]

UPlay seems solid enough but like Origin it's basically used to rinse PC users by holding a higher rrp on new releases. In the end it just drives me more to the likes of CDKeys

[Digfox]

Video just posted on ResetEra, from the an employee of Coffee Stain (Satisfactory) [NSFW - couple of swear words - tut].

Doesn't really answer why it's removed from Steam. Mentions it's nothing to do with revenue split, which may allude to exclusivity being purchased by Epic. Will be interesting to see if some of this starts to come out in the next few days.

[Digfox]

UPlay seems solid enough but like Origin it's basically used to rinse PC users by holding a higher rrp on new releases. In the end it just drives me more to the likes of CDKeys

Aren't new releases were the same price on Steam and UPlay?

Origin is different in that it has exclusive EA games. I am surprised Ubisoft hasn't gone for full UPlay exclusivity yet, although I know it has played around with launching games on UPlay first.

The other thing you have definitely been able to do with UPlay, is buy from Steam and then once installed (via Steam) which then adds the game to UPlay so that you don't have to install the Steam version again. I've done this before, and the last time was The Crew - Calling All Units.

[fuse]

Source?

People are saying Epic have bought exclusivity but I can't see this confirmed. Different Storefronts will have T&C's that might prevent pricing differences etc. but it's quite believable some developers are buying into Epic's new service just on the percentages only.

Should have been clearer, but I wasn't suggesting that anyone has done this - rather just commenting on the practice (and the speculation, natch).

[Digfox]

Should have been clearer, but I wasn't suggesting that anyone has done this - rather just commenting on the practice (and the speculation, natch).

No worries. It is quite possible and indeed we've seen it many times before (i.e. Oculus Rift game exclusivity etc.). Just a lot of people stating it so 'matter of fact'. That said the previous video I posted has just made me think, actually maybe it is what has happened here.

[Neon Ignition]

Uplay etc and Steam seem to match rrp's like for like but shopping around you can normally find discounted pricing offers that are better for the Steam version, presumably due to the availability or keys or something.

UPlay, I think, did attempt exclusivity before. I recall them initially launching AAA titles on Uplay and releasing the Steam version months later for a short while but they abandoned it as it looked like doing that approach completely sank the games sales figures on the platform.

This should be a fairly quick test in a way, if the games fail to sell people will be quick to stick to Steam and publishers will stop blocking their releases from launching first again on the platform soon after.

[Cepp]

I bought Witcher III through GoG and managing updates with that was a royal pain in the ass, having to individually download setup parts, extract them, run them in order - the bad old days of gaming.

GOG Galaxy does this.

Can't see myself going for this new Epic launcher at least just yet. I hate the launcher's from EA, Ubisoft and Bethesda and actively avoid them. I suppose it'll depend how well Epic's effort stands up along with whether or not they have better pricing on titles I want.

[Digfox]

They are offering free games every two weeks to help get people to sign up as well. Subnautica and Super Meat Boy up first. I already have an account from Fortnite (save the world) so will be grabbing those as Subnautica does interest me.

I'm cheap I know!...

Uplay etc and Steam seem to match rrp's like for like but shopping around you can normally find discounted pricing offers that are better for the Steam version, presumably due to the availability or keys or something.

UPlay, I think, did attempt exclusivity before. I recall them initially launching AAA titles on Uplay and releasing the Steam version months later for a short while but they abandoned it as it looked like doing that approach completely sank the games sales figures on the platform.

This should be a fairly quick test in a way, if the games fail to sell people will be quick to stick to Steam and publishers will stop blocking their releases from launching first again on the platform soon after.

I did wonder if this is linked to Ubisoft preparing to dump Steam, when I read it: Those Ubisoft Club points you've been gathering for the last ten years will soon expire - Eurogamer

But Ubisoft basically has all the tools to go independant and with games like The Division, Assassin's Creed etc. It has some of the biggest brands in the business. Certainly with The Division 2 they could drop Steam and I suspect would be a good time to do so and wouldn't really hurt numbers that much. The 100% revenue certainly will offset any loss on business, although I think the 'less buyers if you're not on Steam' is a slight red herring or untruth at this point. Being off Steam might make things harder but too many games have been successful away from Steam.

My guess is that they see greater ratio of MTX revenue being on Steam - which their have been increasingly moving towards and don't feel the time is right atm to cut that off. And hence why they have played with UPlay exclusivity but not fully dumped Steam. They may be under less Shareholder pressure as well.

[Digfox]

ResetEra - Super Meat Boy Forever PC version will be on the Epic Games Store (Update: Not On Steam for 1 Year)

So probably as close as official confirmation we have at this point that all the Epic Store Wave 1 games are paid exclusives on that storefront for 12-months.

[eastyy]

Just wondered i screen shot this https://imgur.com/a/H380iFf on the Epic games store for downloading Subnatutica is that normal ?

[Digfox]

[MENTION=3349]eastyy[/MENTION] Yes, I had to accept the same EULA. Like all these things, overly restrictive on the consumer and probably not enforceable in law.

[MartyG]

Looks like the new RTX 2060 graphics card might be pretty decent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mxjV3cuB-c

[Digfox]

Just watched the Eurogamer analysis and it does look a better balance getting closer to the 2070 than perhaps it should. I think they are suggesting £350 to £390 for non-reference boards at OCUK. So the NVidia RTX tax isn't as bad here (https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/th...read.18842503/).

Also bodes well for laptops too, because the 1060 chip is probably one of the more popular configurations and this new 2060 is fine for 1080/1440p gaming (although laptop prices seem to have shot up across the board atm).