Like a billowing cloud ready to cast a shadow over anything it passes the Epic Games Store will do the same to existing and upcoming games, even if publishers and developers have (previous) plans or announcements based around Steam. In other words, Epic will continue to fund exclusive deals with willing companies and titles regardless of what promises were made to Steam customers.
According to a report that gamesindustry.biz published, it is said that Epic Games Store will continue to act bullish on its infamous timed exclusive deals. However, the company (Epic) will target publishers and devs willing to cooperate even if it breaks an established Steam release.
The report highlights a specific tweet exchange, by a user and Sweeney, that reads:
We've had a lot of discussions about this since GDC. Epic is open to continuing to sign funding / exclusivity deals with willing developers and publishers regardless of their previous plans or announcements around Steam.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 1, 2019
At GDC, Steve Allison said “We don’t want to do that ever again” when asked about the Metro Exodus controversy, see: https://t.co/AaDorBTzWZ
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 1, 2019
Sweeney continued:
This prompted further discussions at Epic, leading to the realization that these calls must be up to developers and publishers, and Epic wouldn’t tell them “no” on account of existing statements made about Steam.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 1, 2019
In other words, even if a company (publisher or developer) made statements in the past regarding Steam and wanting to be on said platform, Epic will not decline that company an offer based on past promises. However, according to Sweeney, they will draw a line in terms of release date timing, to avoid another situation like the one that happened with Metro: Exodus.
In addition to the Metro: Exodus case, Epic will no longer poach a game that is two weeks away from its Steam launch day with pre-orders active but will instead secure an exclusive deal before or after a Steam announcement.
So what does all of this mean? Well, it means no matter what is promised to you by a publisher or developer, in the end, the game you may be interested in could become an Epic Games Store timed exclusive. The thing is, they labeled the Metro: Exodus debacle as a “bad move” , and they also feel that exclusives lasting forever isn’t a good thing either. Well, that’s what they’re saying… for now:
We’ve never signed a permanent distribution exclusivity, and as far as I can tell from talking to the store team folks who are in the office, we’ve never proposed a permanent store distribution agreement.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 5, 2019
