Reviews and wishlists are coming to the Epic Games Store

[Polycount]

In context: Although the Epic Games Store (EGS) has been a controversial fixture in the PC gaming world, it continues to truck along relatively uninhibited. However, Epic hasn't completely ignored its detractors -- one of the main complaints surrounding the EGS relates to its lack of features relative to other digital distribution platforms, such as Steam or GOG Galaxy.

That's a fair complaint, and it's one Epic has started to address as of late. Just last month, the company announced a storefront overhaul and improved search tools, both of which have rolled out today. Now, Epic has unveiled some of the other core features coming down the pipeline, including wishlist functionality, an updated library view, and -- perhaps most importantly -- review scores.

The wishlist feature is self-explanatory (though the early preview looks a little barebones), and the updated library view is nothing too special. It's just Epic's way of bringing the library's grid view in line with the updated storefront. See a glimpse of the new grid below.

So, the first two features are relatively basic, but the impending introduction of reviews to the EGS merits some additional explanation. Above all else, the lack of user reviews is arguably the biggest feature-related complaint Steam faithfuls have leveled at the EGS in its current form.

However, Epic's upcoming review integration will not necessarily silence those voices. Unlike Steam, which relies on both "Curators" and users to discuss and review games, the EGS' review system will rely solely on data provided by review aggregator OpenCritic.

This means that, when you visit a game's store page on the EGS, you'll see a list of review excerpts (with individual star, number, or word scores) from various games media outlets. You'll also see a percentage that shows what portion of overall critics recommend the game.

Epic did not elaborate much on its review system, but we are curious to find out whether or not the gaming giant will bring user reviews to its platform down the line. There's certainly nothing wrong with a critic's opinion (we review plenty of products ourselves), but a user's thoughts can sometimes be more reflective of a game's quality over time; particularly in today's age of constantly-changing "live service" titles.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/82587-reviews-wishlists-updated-library-view-coming-epic-games.html

 

[Uncle Al]

I just want to see them completely populate the site with games .... we can choose which ones we want!

 

[Shadowboxer]

I prefer epic game store to steam. It’s got better games. And steam has stagnated so much, I can’t remember the last time I bought anything on it, years ago at this point. I use third party solutions for all the features people rave about on steam so I don’t miss those.

I don’t understand why people are so ready to defend steam. They take 30% of all the money paid to them. So publishers/developers only get 70%. I think that’s a bit much, if an estate agent sells a house they get 3.5% at best.

The reviews will be funny. I’m sure it will be review bombed by people who seem to want to make a fight out of nothing. Maybe these people aren’t aware that you can have both steam and EGS installed are the same time?

 

[kira setsu]

Wow, those are gonna be some weak reviews, epic handpicks every game that comes to their store.

people may gripe and pick on steam but at least its fully featured with the many features it brings in from all those sales, and it has an ocean of games(although many may be....garbage) but they dont play favorites, any storefront can point at steam and pick when...

A. they handpick known good/great games, that they also pay for (I.e. epic)
B. sell only the games of their brands (I.e. uplay, origin)

where's your forums epic? steam has saved me countless times with forums that answer questions to oddball game glitches, say what you want about steam but its a cornerstone of pc gaming now and when fortnite burns itself out epic will be left floundering when its money gets thin.

 

[Puiu]

Seriously? Just OpenCritic reviews?

 

[Puiu]

I prefer epic game store to steam. It’s got better games. And steam has stagnated so much, I can’t remember the last time I bought anything on it, years ago at this point. I use third party solutions for all the features people rave about on steam so I don’t miss those.

I don’t understand why people are so ready to defend steam. They take 30% of all the money paid to them. So publishers/developers only get 70%. I think that’s a bit much, if an estate agent sells a house they get 3.5% at best.

The reviews will be funny. I’m sure it will be review bombed by people who seem to want to make a fight out of nothing. Maybe these people aren’t aware that you can have both steam and EGS installed are the same time?

It's simple: the 30% is BS. Big titles get better rates and indies devs can sell Steam keys on their own website or other markets.

Nobody is defending Steam, they have gotten a ton of flack from the PC gaming community over the years. What is really happening is an adverse allergic reaction to the cancer that Epic is trying to spread in the PC market.

If you like anti-consumer practices then that's your problem, most people won't accept such things just so that the devs (written as devs and read as publishers) get a bit more $$$. If Epic was really trying to be the "good guy" they would have done what GoG did with CD Projekt Red. Goodwill can take people very far and Epic decided that they don't need any from consumers.

 

[Nobina]

I prefer epic game store to steam. It’s got better games. And steam has stagnated so much, I can’t remember the last time I bought anything on it, years ago at this point. I use third party solutions for all the features people rave about on steam so I don’t miss those.

I don’t understand why people are so ready to defend steam. They take 30% of all the money paid to them. So publishers/developers only get 70%. I think that’s a bit much, if an estate agent sells a house they get 3.5% at best.

The reviews will be funny. I’m sure it will be review bombed by people who seem to want to make a fight out of nothing. Maybe these people aren’t aware that you can have both steam and EGS installed are the same time?

How in the **** does Epic Games Store have better games than Steam? That's just not true. Epic literally just started implementing basic features like reviews and wishlist how many months after release and Steam is stagnating? Considering EGS is still pretty new they are pretty slow on improving. I hope you got paid shilling for them at least.

 

[Daithi]

Having only critic reviews is a problem. Companies like EA take advantage by pushing updates with aggressive monetization only AFTER the reviews come in so it doesn't hurt their metacritic score. I'm not surprised Epic is encouraging this.

 

[DZillaXx]

I prefer epic game store to steam. It’s got better games. And steam has stagnated so much, I can’t remember the last time I bought anything on it, years ago at this point. I use third party solutions for all the features people rave about on steam so I don’t miss those.

I don’t understand why people are so ready to defend steam. They take 30% of all the money paid to them. So publishers/developers only get 70%. I think that’s a bit much, if an estate agent sells a house they get 3.5% at best.

The reviews will be funny. I’m sure it will be review bombed by people who seem to want to make a fight out of nothing. Maybe these people aren’t aware that you can have both steam and EGS installed are the same time?

You must not play any game that uses mods?.... Steam makes it very easy to add mods with their workshop. Steam is packed with features that actually work.

Epic store is a plain launcher, with no features. It has been on the market for years and yet has just as much functionality as the battle net launcher, if that. Not a system I would want my games on. I like the free games I've been getting, and was forced to get borderlands on that system. But I try to pass on epic store as much as I can. Because it is 2019 and having a half a$$ed storefront just don't cut it. IDK how anyone could defend a launcher that doesn't even have basic features long after it has been out on the market.

Don't think for one moment that developers are getting more from the publishers when choosing epic store. Epic pays big money to get exclusive rights, that money goes to the publisher. Any ideas that the publisher may of had with using steam's workshop to give their games added benefits of easy to use mods goes out the door with the epic store. I would bet that the choice to use the epic store actually hurts games sales, so less $$ actually goes to the Devs. But the big payment from Epic to get the exclusive rights that went to the publisher more than makes up for the loss in sales.

Epic exclusivity hurts Devs. Sadly they have no control over the fact.

Supporting Epic is nothing more than Supporting Publishers greed.

 

[lipe123]

I prefer epic game store to steam. It’s got better games. And steam has stagnated so much, I can’t remember the last time I bought anything on it, years ago at this point. I use third party solutions for all the features people rave about on steam so I don’t miss those.

I don’t understand why people are so ready to defend steam. They take 30% of all the money paid to them. So publishers/developers only get 70%. I think that’s a bit much, if an estate agent sells a house they get 3.5% at best.

The reviews will be funny. I’m sure it will be review bombed by people who seem to want to make a fight out of nothing. Maybe these people aren’t aware that you can have both steam and EGS installed are the same time?

Are you serious? Why don't you look up what it costs to host 100's of terabytes of data in multiple local data centers with gigabit + internet speeds?
Epic has "better games" ? dude thats stupid, epic is paying publishers to not use steam. In an ideal world both platforms would have the same games and the buyer can make their choice. If Epic is so great on commissions and whatnot then I'm sure they can offer the same titles cheaper than steam does and let the users decide.
Instead of doing that though they force exclusivity deals, soo something fishy is obviously going on.

Steam gets updates multiple times PER MONTH, not even per year.

Steam has 1000's of free games that doesn't cost you a cent to download and doesn't make them any money.

Steam is a company like any other, they need to make money to be able to function. Competition is good but then it needs to be healthy competition not backdoor exclusivity deals aka bribes.

 

[Capaill]

At the rate that Epic are rolling out new features to EGS, they must have 3 part-time teenagers running it. We're talking about a company that has made billions in the last 2 years and it takes them a year to get the basics out?

I don't know anything about OpenCritic but I hope it's not like Rotten Tomatos critics scores (ie. biased and paid for). A review system that doesn't allow the gamers to post reviews is near worthless.

And a wishlist? Like seriously, put a tick box on each game's page to add the game to a database entry for your user. Then create a page to view the games on your wishlist. And send emails to the user for any promotions related to that game. It should be done and tested in a week by a small team. And Epic should have many small teams churning out new features. Epic could destroy Steam by offering more features to the gamers and less fees for the developers/publishers, yet they seem content to take the money and offer so little in return.

 

[Ravalo]

I prefer epic game store to steam. It’s got better games. And steam has stagnated so much, I can’t remember the last time I bought anything on it, years ago at this point. I use third party solutions for all the features people rave about on steam so I don’t miss those.

I don’t understand why people are so ready to defend steam. They take 30% of all the money paid to them. So publishers/developers only get 70%. I think that’s a bit much, if an estate agent sells a house they get 3.5% at best.

The reviews will be funny. I’m sure it will be review bombed by people who seem to want to make a fight out of nothing. Maybe these people aren’t aware that you can have both steam and EGS installed are the same time?

Some people can’t have both stores because some people have a >500 gb hard drive/ssd on their pcs, and the pc runs like sh*t once you fill 95% of that

I personally just have EGS because I got metro 2033 and super meat boy for free, for everything else (SCP:SL, TF2 and csgo, trading, 90% discounts on games like COD:BO2, etc.) I use steam

 

[Vrmithrax]

I prefer epic game store to steam. It’s got better games. And steam has stagnated so much, I can’t remember the last time I bought anything on it, years ago at this point. I use third party solutions for all the features people rave about on steam so I don’t miss those.

If you are talking about recent releases, that's actually fairly accurate - but only because Epic has convinced developers to exclusive releases and/or timed exclusives on a game's launch. Very anti-consumer practice (removes our choice of platform), and is done solely to bolster Epic's user base. A game released simultaneously on Epic and Steam will sell at the same price, and will undoubtedly sell much larger volumes on the Steam platform. The only way Epic can grow is by making it impossible to get a new hot title anywhere else, so people either have to come crawling to their store, or pass on the game until it's available elsewhere (if it ever is).

 

[Capaill]

Some people can’t have both stores because some people have a >500 gb hard drive/ssd on their pcs, and the pc runs like sh*t once you fill 95% of that

I personally just have EGS because I got metro 2033 and super meat boy for free, for everything else (SCP:SL, TF2 and csgo, trading, 90% discounts on games like COD:BO2, etc.) I use steam

Did you get Metro for free? I had to spend hours convincing Epic that the person in Thailand using my account wasn't me. And then they charged me 60 euro ($67) for the game as it was only the US that got the reduced price. Overall, not a good user experience. And the game wasn't even that great. So far, that's the only game I've bought from them.
I'm content to wait for any games I want to arrive on Steam. By then most of the bugs will be fixed and I can read some proper reviews and maybe even get it in a sale.

 

[Ravalo]

Did you get Metro for free? I had to spend hours convincing Epic that the person in Thailand using my account wasn't me. And then they charged me 60 euro ($67) for the game as it was only the US that got the reduced price. Overall, not a good user experience. And the game wasn't even that great. So far, that's the only game I've bought from them.
I'm content to wait for any games I want to arrive on Steam. By then most of the bugs will be fixed and I can read some proper reviews and maybe even get it in a sale.

It was free, but for limited time (like 1 week), for some reason the game runs at like 25 fps on my rx 560 at 1080p highest settings

Idk if customer support in steam is better (it probably is) but damn that sucks

I’d say steam is my go-to choice for buying games since you dont need a credit card to buy games (you have the option to use prepaid cards and even pay the games at your nearest oxxo) and you can trade your extremely rare skins for cash easily

 

[ziffel66]

Amazing how many people fell for that obvious troll post.

 

[Ravalo]

Steam users (prob including me): *laughs in review bombing*

 

[lipe123]

Did you get Metro for free? I had to spend hours convincing Epic that the person in Thailand using my account wasn't me. And then they charged me 60 euro ($67) for the game as it was only the US that got the reduced price. Overall, not a good user experience. And the game wasn't even that great. So far, that's the only game I've bought from them.
I'm content to wait for any games I want to arrive on Steam. By then most of the bugs will be fixed and I can read some proper reviews and maybe even get it in a sale.

This is also a great point, when I finally caved and got BL3, I tried to set up a epic account. surprise an account was already created with my email without my consent.
So right away I had to do a "recover password" change the regional settings to a language I can read. Change my nickname etc etc.
Allowing account creation without a verification email in 2019? ******ing PATHETIC!

 

[pcnthuziast]

If Steam didn't exist, I would still think Epic is trash. That being said, I have bought 2 games on Epic and am ashamed of myself.

 

[Vrmithrax]

This is also a great point, when I finally caved and got BL3, I tried to set up a epic account. surprise an account was already created with my email without my consent.
So right away I had to do a "recover password" change the regional settings to a language I can read. Change my nickname etc etc.
Allowing account creation without a verification email in 2019? ******ing PATHETIC!

And that was my first glaring reason why I would never buy anything from an Epic store with such incredibly lax security protocols. I jumped on to check out this new service when it first was announced, and had to fight (just as you did) to get my own identity out from under some player from Thailand who had claimed it using my email address.

Epic was obviously more interested in filling out their rosters with Fortnite players than actually, I don't know, VERIFYING accounts associated with email addresses. Pathetic works to describe it, but I view it as borderline negligent as well, particularly in this age of constant cyber attacks and online identity hijacking. That cavalier attitude towards user accounts was my first impression, the anti-competitive exclusivity deals was the nail in the coffin for me as far as ever using their store. Which is too bad, I really REALLY like the looks of Satisfactory.

 

[jpuroila]

If you are talking about recent releases, that's actually fairly accurate - but only because Epic has convinced developers to exclusive releases and/or timed exclusives on a game's launch. Very anti-consumer practice (removes our choice of platform), and is done solely to bolster Epic's user base. A game released simultaneously on Epic and Steam will sell at the same price, and will undoubtedly sell much larger volumes on the Steam platform. The only way Epic can grow is by making it impossible to get a new hot title anywhere else, so people either have to come crawling to their store, or pass on the game until it's available elsewhere (if it ever is).

To be entire fair, exclusives ARE basically the only way Epic Store could ever grow. Even if their platform was nearly perfect, the majority of people would still ignore it in favour of Steam.

 

[Morris Minor]

"reviews"