Recently, Larian Studios Publishing Director Michael Douse spoke out again on social media. This time, the reason was a publication by the head of Epic Games.
Tim Sweeney spoke about competition:
Epic and Steam compete for every customer and every sale. Epic wins on some deals. Steam wins on most. But there's one constant in every deal: gamers and developers win by getting more choice and better deals.
Michael recalled that the PC version of Alan Wake 2 is exclusively available on the Epic Games Store — in his opinion, this decision could have led to significant financial losses for Remedy:
I understand that Epic fully funded Alan Wake 2, but all this talk about altruism and supporting developers doesn't sit well when Remedy was effectively on the verge of a financial crisis, failing to release [Alan Wake 2] on Steam and potentially losing hundreds of millions in potential revenue.
Then Michael continued — he expressed the opinion that Fortnite fans will not actively buy other premium games in the Epic Games Store and the company may want to consider reviving the Unreal Tournament franchise:
Not that they need the money, but if Epic took a percentage of sales, it could recoup development costs and even earn more. Competition is good and important, but it's hard to believe such speeches when there are specific examples of games that show worse results due to this strategy [EGS exclusivity]. Ultimately, the viability of the store depends on whether Epic can turn hundreds of millions of Fortnite players into buyers of large premium games — and I see no signs that the Fortnite brand is taking steps in that direction. Maybe if a really cool Unreal Tournament came out?
Michael recalled that some modern gamers are no longer willing to buy premium games — they are used to the fact that there are many free projects on the market:
Apple and Google have devalued games and applications so much over the decade that it is now almost impossible to sell premium games on these platforms without reducing their value on other systems. Giving everything away for free may increase statistics, but it does not make the business sustainable.