Metro games get review bombed following Epic Store exclusivity announcement

[midian182]

A hot potato: How do you feel about the news that Metro Exodus will be an Epic Games Store exclusive for the first year after release? Pleased? Indifferent? It seems some people are pretty angry about it. So angry, in fact, that they’ve taken to review bombing the previous two Metro games on Steam.

Earlier this week, Metro publisher Deep Silver revealed that the upcoming Metro Exodus would be sold exclusively on its new store until February 15, 2020.

Because Epic’s cut of a game's revenue is more favorable to developers—it takes 12 percent, compared to Steam’s 25 – 30 percent—Exodus is cheaper on its Store ($50).

Exodus had been available for pre-order on Steam, and while Epic plans to honor all these purchases, many people are unhappy about being forced onto a different launcher, especially one that lacks so many of Steam’s most popular features.

To show their displeasure, people are leaving negative reviews on the Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light Steam pages. Most of these admit they’re not related to the games themselves, but are protests against Exodus’ Epic Games Store exclusivity.

Metro 2033 Redux has received 3,972 negative reviews since launching almost five years ago (25,865 positive), but almost 1,350 of those came in the last four days. Last Light Redux, meanwhile, has 2980 negative reviews, just over 1,300 of which were posted this week.

“Let me just rate this game negatively while Deep Silver sucks Epic’s [censored by Steam] in the next room,” wrote one reviewer.

Review bombing for reasons not related to a game’s content isn’t a new phenomenon. It happened with Shadow of the Tomb Raider after it went on sale soon after release, and to Firewatch after developer Sean Vanaman tweeted that he was filing a DMCA takedown against PewDiePie.

If you intend on buying Metro Exodus, check out the game’s PC requirements right here.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/78514-metro-games-get-review-bombed-following-epic-store.html

 

[Thorney]

A lot of Steam users are entitled d*cks. What does it really matter? COD moved to Blizzard without much complaints and so far apart from not having my friends list there, the move has been a brilliant thing, for performance, fewer cheaters etc.

Metro going to Epic shouldn't matter either.

 

[ForgottenLegion]

As long as Epic give Valve some competition in the PC Store space I couldn't care less.

Valve has become quite complacent in their position as leader.

 

[poohbear]

If steam is truly charging 25-30 percent cut from the developers and the competition is offering 12 percent, I can't blame them at all. Maybe Steam should realize its not 2006 anymore and there's plenty of capable competition now. 25-30 percent is mental for AAA games.

 

[Hexic]

A lot of Steam users are entitled d*cks. What does it really matter? COD moved to Blizzard without much complaints and so far apart from not having my friends list there, the move has been a brilliant thing, for performance, fewer cheaters etc.

Metro going to Epic shouldn't matter either.

I agree, with the caveat that the Epic Gaming Platform is actually a platform with great functionality. I honestly don't know one way or the other if the Epic systems are decent, as I've seldom played on them.

Blizzard's Bnet is solid as hell, with excellent anti-cheat systems and updates - so the COD move over made sense to me.

 

[Capaill]

So, is Steam going the way of Patreon? Just because they are the biggest player in the industry, they think they can take advantage of everyone. Competition is good. Bring it on, Epic.

 

[Capaill]

If steam is truly charging 25-30 percent cut from the developers and the competition is offering 12 percent, I can't blame them at all. Maybe Steam should realize its not 2006 anymore and there's plenty of capable competition now. 25-30 percent is mental for AAA games.

Apple and Google both charge 30% for paid apps. Life is good for monopolies.

 

[Dosahka]

If steam is truly charging 25-30 percent cut from the developers and the competition is offering 12 percent, I can't blame them at all. Maybe Steam should realize its not 2006 anymore and there's plenty of capable competition now. 25-30 percent is mental for AAA games.

Apple and Google both charge 30% for paid apps. Life is good for monopolies.

But Steam no longer alone in this market, like EA created Origin (much more to compete and annoy ppl than be a useful) Blizzard and GOG aaand many others...Valve should offer more for that 30% cut off or set up limits for higher the selling the higher the percentage goes (increased traffic on Steam servers, more users, database maintenance...etc) this would make sense, but 30% alone bc it is the biggest, but no so the brightest button in the box anymore.

 

[kira setsu]

For me one of steams biggest draws is the discussion forums, it's nice having access to a database of varied user experiences with a game, sure most of em work flawlessly but sometimes you need to figure out some obscure issue that someone else solved long ago.

steam goes way beyond just a storefront for me at this point, so for epic to be a blip on my radar they need to be fully featured

 

[Phyrino]

I really hope that the game fails miserable.
Buying exclusives is terrible for costumers.
They have done this to several games now and I'll hope people wait the 12 months the deal lasts and then buy the game, wherever they want.
In what way can Steam compete with this? there is only one way, and that is buying exclusive titles themselves. Great development for us gamers right?
FYI, I have nothing against that the developers gets a larger percentage on Epic. But stop this monopoly bs before it gets out of hand

 

[MonsterZero]

Everyone saying Steam needs to learn a lesson must not actually play AAA titles. Epic is just trying to segment the PC storefront even further than it already has been.

You have Steam, Bethesda, Epic, Blizzard, Origins just to name a few and of all of these Steam is the most robust. You get Forums, reviews, summer/winter sales, recommended titles, alpha and early access games. Not to mention they manage the loader and DLC and support for the title, no other storefront has this level of support or interaction.

When you have segmented storefronts you get exclusive titles, which sucks, they might even charge a premium to access the beta like Origin has done with Anthem.

Personally I don't want another launcher to load up games.

 

[m4a4]

A lot of Steam users are entitled d*cks. What does it really matter? COD moved to Blizzard without much complaints and so far apart from not having my friends list there, the move has been a brilliant thing, for performance, fewer cheaters etc.

Metro going to Epic shouldn't matter either.

Agree with the first sentence, but they also do have a point that people are missing.
The game was already being sold (pre-order) on Steam for a long time. And then without more than a days warning the listing was removed a few weeks before it was to launch? That is also a d*ck move.

I do like the idea of competing with Steam's 30% take, but the move was more anti-consumer than it should've been. And us gamers are tired dealing with stupid exclusive deals and half a dozen launchers to juggle around.

At least with Steam I can add shortcuts to non-steam games lol

 

[Uncle Al]

Wouldn't it be fun if NOBODY bought a single game this year? Just to send a signal to the producers that we aren't happy with them? I can only imagine the expression on the COO and CEO's faces ....... LOL

 

[Hellbishop]

Everyone saying Steam needs to learn a lesson must not actually play AAA titles. Epic is just trying to segment the PC storefront even further than it already has been.

You have Steam, Bethesda, Epic, Blizzard, Origins just to name a few and of all of these Steam is the most robust. You get Forums, reviews, summer/winter sales, recommended titles, alpha and early access games. Not to mention they manage the loader and DLC and support for the title, no other storefront has this level of support or interaction.

When you have segmented storefronts you get exclusive titles, which sucks, they might even charge a premium to access the beta like Origin has done with Anthem.

Personally I don't want another launcher to load up games.

Same here. For me Steam is the safest and most feature rich environment to enjoy my hobby in. I have never had any issues in my fourteen years of buying games, getting refunds and making great friends from around the world some of who I met in other forums over a decade ago. I also love doing reviews though I usually keep it positive with only about four negative reviews out of the current 94 I have done.

Exclusives are not the way to go for Steam to fight this as Phyrino had suggested. That will just cause more issues not to mention seeming hypocritical. I think Steam has to write up some new rules into their agreements that when they allow a company to advertise on their store front they have to sell it there or be held financially viable for jumping ship.

I also find it interesting how all these so called pro consumer Youtubers have stayed mostly silent on the issue and instead are just going on the usual broken record loop about the same worn out topics. I have only come across like four Youtubers who are not well known talking about the subject.

 

[Puiu]

They kinda deserve to be review bombed after selling pre-orders on steam then forcing people to switch at the last minute

They already give a good incentive to buy it from Epic's store by being cheaper and this also means that the devs won't gain much from the lower fees. Signing an exclusivity deal is the perfect way to piss off PC gamers that like freedom of choice. They are effectively destroying their sales numbers and reputation just to get a quick infusion of cash.

The PC is not a console.

 

[Vollezar]

I was looking forward to playing this game. Oh well. I just don't get why Deep Silver decided to make it an exclusive on Epic. Wouldn't selling it on as many platforms as possible bring in more sales?
All I ever hear about this Epic store (or whatever it's called) is that publishers pay less to sell their games on the app. I haven't heard a single thing about what it does for the consumer. In what way is it better than Steam or even Uplay or Origin?

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

What a bunch of whiny babies. Relax, it's just a game. You'll live.

 

[Polycount]

There are so many angles to this situation, it's impossible for me to fully agree with any single point of view.

Here are a few of my thoughts...

- Metro's publisher (Deep Silver) should not have pulled the game from Steam a month before launch; effectively screwing over anyone who waits until day one (or two, or three) to purchase their games.

- More competition is good for the PC gaming industry, but...

- ...Epic's store simply doesn't even come close to Steam in terms of features. Right now, all it has is a few exclusive games (not a fan of the overall concept, but I get it). It doesn't have communities, user profiles, or even a wishlist. Furthermore, it looks like ALL games have to be always-online - there's no offline mode at present (but perhaps some games can be run without Epic's store being open?).

- Tying into the last point: Users will always go with the best (for their needs) platform. Nobody is going to give Epic charity, even if they love the idea of Steam's monopoly being challenged.

- 12% revenue split for Epic is awesome for developers, and Steam HAS to match it, or at least come a heck of a lot closer than they are now at 20-30(!!!) percent.

 

[Evernessince]

They would not have an issue had they given advanced notice. Also, exclusives are bad.

 

[BSim500]

"Who do these goddamn upstarts think they are? Going back on their previous word and FORCING me to use their sh*tty DRM'd launcher to play that 'must have' EXCLUSIVE. I DON'T WANT TO USE YOUR DAMN CLIENT TO PLAY THIS GAME - DO YOU HEAR ME? All I want is the CHOICE to buy it where I want instead of being forced into one single store I don't want to use! In fact, I've already left a very rude negative review of your previous game and I'm gonna cancel my Half Life 2 pre-order right now and pirate it instead!". Kinda funny how things go full circle.

 

[indiferenc]

What a bunch of whiny babies. Relax, it's just a game. You'll live.

yea lets not stick to any principles and just let corporations do what they want without a peep. great advice. this is a lot of peoples' passion, considering the gaming industry blew every other entertainment industry out of the water as far as revenue last year. so if you dont care, fine. get off the comments because no one cares about your useless opinion.

A lot of Steam users are entitled d*cks. What does it really matter? COD moved to Blizzard without much complaints and so far apart from not having my friends list there, the move has been a brilliant thing, for performance, fewer cheaters etc.

Metro going to Epic shouldn't matter either.

COD is published by activision, who owns blizzard. different situation

If steam is truly charging 25-30 percent cut from the developers and the competition is offering 12 percent, I can't blame them at all. Maybe Steam should realize its not 2006 anymore and there's plenty of capable competition now. 25-30 percent is mental for AAA games.

the thing is though, epic had to pay deep silver a bunch of money to get the exclusivity rights. so, thats not really a dev going to the epic game store because its a better launcher, its because they got money. the epic launcher is garbage, and has 1/5 of the features that steam does. so no, its not really competition. and unless EVERY publisher drops the price of their game if they go with Epic, there is no value to customer.

 

[G0DofPaiN]

What's better, 50000 copies sold with 12% cut or 1 million with 30%?Only the devs know.

 

[dogofwars]

They will go after the gravy which is the first few weeks that is where the money is and then release it to other platform which will make less of a difference it they are charge 30%.

 

[pcnthuziast]

I got it on Steam as planned, but pre-ordered when I saw the announcement which incidentally I saw on the last day it was available on Steam. Not sure what to think of all this tbh, but I'm glad to have it in my Steam library with 2033 and LL. Competition is good and 4A is a fantastic developer who I hope to see continue to succeed. If this ends up hurting them, it was their decision and they probably considered the risks and subsequent worst case scenarios, before finalizing the deal with epic. If the risk is worth it to them, more power to them.

 

[Wertle]

Maybe I'm naive, but I don't see why it has to be exclusive to a platform.
If the dev wants $40 per copy then sell it for $45 on EPIC and $60 on steam and let the users decide if they're willing to pay steam the extra $15.