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What's up with Epic Games? (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by ElPussyKangaroo@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world

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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 🥹... 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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[-] pivot_root@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago

Even worse is that they do this while trying to paint themselves as the underdog against the Steam monopoly. It's not only hypocritical, but also deceitful. A new monopoly is not a solution to an existing monopoly, but a solution to investments paying off.

[-] Killer@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Don't forget them being hypocritical again for suing google/apple for being monopolistic because they don't want to have to go through them for payment.

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works -3 points 11 months ago

You guys don't understand what a monopoly is...

[-] pivot_root@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I do know what it is, and I don't actually think Steam is one. They have a considerable market share, but they are by no means the only way to get games on PC, nor do they exercise their dominance in a way that stifles competition.

I'm pretty sure Tim Sweeny knows this as well, but he still calls it a "monopoly" whenever he has the chance.

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works -2 points 11 months ago

They were sued in the EU for violating anti trust laws, lost and decided not to cooperate.

They're currently getting sued for forcing devs to not sell their games at a lower price on other platforms.

Their marketshare is more than enough to consider them a monopoly, you don't need 100% of the market to be one, you just need to be so implanted that you become the default solution. Google doesn't have 100% of the market, it still is considered a monopoly for search engines