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Gearbox Randy Pitchford: Epic did not press it's advantage.

Guilty_AI

Member
I imagine a competent lawyer with a large enough warchest could make a similar case against Valve/Steam. The existence of other launchers and storefronts doesn’t mitigate potential antitrust behavior. How many people “choose” Steam because there’s simply no other choice?
For there to be a case, it'd be necessary to have any evidence or sign that Valve is actively taking steps to stop other stores from thriving in the market.
 
I don't know if he was just being controversial, but I'm genuinely baffled by the kind of stuff people in high positions say. They're supposed to be smarter than the rest of us, yet the gross incompetence they often display is nothing short of mind-boggling. For instance, saying Steam is a dying platform, fucking what? Or Don Mattrick telling people to go buy the Xbox 360 if they don't have an internet connection. The whole decision of attempting to make the Xbox One a media center and online only device was aggressively stupid.

Powerful and ostensibly intelligent people had to vet those decisions, but even Gaffers saw from 10 miles away that they were foolish. How are dudes paid in the millions incapable of seeing what's right there?
F’n crazy, right?
 
For there to be a case, it'd be necessary to have any evidence or sign that Valve is actively taking steps to stop other stores from thriving in the market.

I mean, I'm sure some lawyer would argue that Steam improving it's features and user experience are acts of them stopping other stores from thriving and what not. it's an ass argument, but they will probably say that still. :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 

Guilty_AI

Member
I mean, I'm sure some lawyer would argue that Steam improving it's features and user experience are acts of them stopping other stores from thriving and what not. it's an ass argument, but they will probably say that still. :messenger_grinning_sweat:
Its also worth mentioning valve isn't nearly as a big as other game companies out there. Epic games for example is worth 3-4 times more than Valve.
 

Solarstrike

Gold Member
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RubberedDucky

Neo Member
I think this is more a publisher decision. Take-Two tried out EGS exclusivity with Borderlands 3 and Outer Worlds. Both games sales suffered as a result and they nipped that in the bud.

Edit: Tiny Tina's Wonderland too.
As someone familiar with the publishing business, I suspect it really just comes down to the simple matter of Epic not throwing around nearly as much cash these days as they used to for EGS exclusives when they were still establishing the store as more than a place to play Fortnite. It's a pretty simple formula when you factor in the royalty terms and impact to the market size by moving to a smaller storefront. 2K probably just has enough data on past launches to know how much money Epic needs to provide to make it worth it, and with the whole industry no longer in a crazy investment phase it probably makes way more sense to just maximize sales upfront.
 
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