Pikachu Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 https://www.engadget.com/2019/05/13/crowdfunded-outer-wilds-becomes-epic-store-exclusive/ Quote It's not surprising to see Epic snapping up exclusives for its Games Store, but now it's making moves on crowdfunded titles. Mobius Digital has revealed that its space exploration title Outer Wilds (not to be confused with The Outer Worlds) will be a timed exclusive for the Epic Games Store, with other platforms "coming later." While that wouldn't be so much of a shock with a conventional release, many people pledged money to the Outer Wilds campaign in 2015 on the assumption they'd get it through Steam on launch day -- they now don't know how much longer they'll have to wait to play on their preferred platform. Not surprisingly, some backers are upset. The timed exclusive has been likened to a "bait and switch" or even false advertising -- players expected a Steam release and now won't get it until months later at best. Some have said they'll seek refunds, while others are more concerned about the implications of releasing the game through a store that currently lacks features Steam users take for granted. Linux support is in doubt when that's not even an option through Epic's portal, for example. Not everyone is opposed to the move. Some note that this might have been necessary to get the game across the finish line, while others noted that Epic's more developer-friendly royalty cut could be appealing to a small outfit. However, there's no question that this is a big gamble. Mobius is wagering that the exclusive won't alienate too many backers on the road to launch, and that its larger share of each sale will be worth going to a younger, smaller store that doesn't always have a great reputation among gamers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 Yet another "bait and switch" for a crowdfunded game that will make backers are lot more cautious in the future and probably force demands for "platform release guarantees". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 I'm glad they did this because I hadn't heard of this game before this deal. Now I know not to bother... or get it on Xbox! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finaljedi Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 Games like this are the ones that I happen to see on reddit or something and then pick up on an impulse. This epic exclusivity might actually be saving me hundreds a year if they keep it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 The “fuck you, I got mine” mentality is really fucking over crowd funded games. I would love to see an added contactual line that prevents such changes after funding is completed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spawn_of_Apathy Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 Did they say their game would be on PC or did they specifically say it would release on Steam? That distinction is really what makes it a “bait and switch”. If it was only said to get a PC/Xbox/PS4 release, then it still is, and people assuming it would get a day one Steam release had no guarantee of that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimpleG Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 18 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said: Did they say their game would be on PC or did they specifically say it would release on Steam? That distinction is really what makes it a “bait and switch”. If it was only said to get a PC/Xbox/PS4 release, then it still is, and people assuming it would get a day one Steam release had no guarantee of that "Currently, we’re planning to release Outer Wilds on PC, Mac, and Linux through Steam next year. But our dream is to bring it to new platforms in as many languages as possible, and we need everyone’s help to make that happen!" https://www.fig.co/campaigns/outer-wilds/about They also had a steam page https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xbob42 Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 5 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said: Did they say their game would be on PC Nobody just says their "game is coming to PC" with platform announcements. Because there's a distinction between stores and a DRM-free release. This one was absolutely coming to Steam, same with Phoenix Point or whatever. Their contract with Epic is important not to break, their contract with the people who literally made their game possible? Well that one's not a real contract so they can suck some dick I guess. This is gonna cause some lasting damage with crowdfunding, as if it needed an even worse reputation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted May 14, 2019 Share Posted May 14, 2019 This has now happened to two games that were crowdfunded through FIG rather than Kickstarter which leads me to believe that it is the equity investor component of FIG that makes it a more viable candidate for this tactic from Epic whereas Kickstarter is "pure" crowdfunding with no equity investment component. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted May 14, 2019 Share Posted May 14, 2019 13 minutes ago, SFLUFAN said: This has now happened to two games that were crowdfunded through FIG rather than Kickstarter which leads me to believe that it is the equity investor component of FIG that makes it a more viable candidate for this tactic from Epic whereas Kickstarter is "pure" crowdfunding with no equity investment component. I think the way they "curate" the Epic store is by seeing what's popular on a crowdfunding site and poaching it for themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XxEvil AshxX Posted May 14, 2019 Share Posted May 14, 2019 I won this game on xbox like, a year and a half ago. The pre-order is still sitting there. I thought it got canceled or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodimus Posted May 15, 2019 Share Posted May 15, 2019 On 5/13/2019 at 9:02 AM, SFLUFAN said: Yet another "bait and switch" for a crowdfunded game that will make backers are lot more cautious in the future and probably force demands for "platform release guarantees". You are so right. Going forward Kickstarters will have to set the table in where on the PC they are releasing up front. Switching things like this can really piss off the expected audience. I hope that ones that backed it requested a Steam key get that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firewithin Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 well at least this is coming to game pass next week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 I started playing this on Game Pass yesterday. Played for about an hour. I guess it’s like No Man’s Sky if it had an interesting story and characters? I took off and landed on another planet then got out without a spaceship and suffocated to death then I stopped playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPDunks4 Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 Xbox gave this out for Free to anyone that watched E3 last year on Mixer. Not sure I'll ever try it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexterryu Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 5 hours ago, JPDunks4 said: Xbox gave this out for Free to anyone that watched E3 last year on Mixer. Not sure I'll ever try it though. It's really good if you like exploration & puzzle type games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 So this game is kinda buggy and I'm not sure I really like the time loop reset. I launched one of my probes and I took pictures and the game crashed. Also, another time I was on a planet and objects just float through each other, like this one island with a mountain floated over into this inside area (this is on the water planet) and it just clipped through the environment, I couldn't get out and eventually I got crushed to death because the game is dumb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firewithin Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 played an hour over the weekend and have no idea what i did in that hour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinIon Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 I hadn't seen anything about this one. For $15 I think I'll check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 Played it using Game Pass and glad I did because I don’t want to play anymore. Maybe the lack of voice acting but the world really seems dead to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinIon Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 I spent a while playing over the weekend and I've quite enjoyed it. It's actually a bit harder than I expected, which for the most part has been welcome, though other times it's proven frustrating. There have been a number of times where, if I missed one jump, it was faster to just reset the time loop than it would be to make my way back and try again. Especially because, for the more difficult areas to reach, there might be a lot to discover, so you want as much time there as possible. Also annoying, there's no way to reset the loop without quitting to the main menu, so I just end up killing myself. For some reason I expected puzzles, but it's pretty much just a mystery and exploration game. Which is fine, but I was expecting some simple Witness style puzzles, which I think the game would have benefited from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexterryu Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 If you like exploration, mystery, and some problem/puzzle solving this game is really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 On 5/14/2019 at 6:31 AM, SFLUFAN said: This has now happened to two games that were crowdfunded through FIG rather than Kickstarter which leads me to believe that it is the equity investor component of FIG that makes it a more viable candidate for this tactic from Epic whereas Kickstarter is "pure" crowdfunding with no equity investment component. Shenmue III doe, as per your post in that thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moa Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 6 hours ago, TwinIon said: I spent a while playing over the weekend and I've quite enjoyed it. It's actually a bit harder than I expected, which for the most part has been welcome, though other times it's proven frustrating. There have been a number of times where, if I missed one jump, it was faster to just reset the time loop than it would be to make my way back and try again. Especially because, for the more difficult areas to reach, there might be a lot to discover, so you want as much time there as possible. Also annoying, there's no way to reset the loop without quitting to the main menu, so I just end up killing myself. For some reason I expected puzzles, but it's pretty much just a mystery and exploration game. Which is fine, but I was expecting some simple Witness style puzzles, which I think the game would have benefited from. I definitely went through a few frustrating sections where I either was missing the solution and kept trying something impossible or otherwise goofed and found myself in a sticky situation. I like that the game isn't too hand-holdy and gives you lots of rope to hang yourself with since the emergent oh fuuuuuck moments are spectacular. This game inverts the fear of deep water, and I now dread being plucked from the safety of my planet and thrown into space to struggle, die, and drift ever further from home. For those who haven't played this game, I would strongly recommend it and I hope Epic is paying the Devs a fuck ton of money because if this wasn't an EGS exclusive it would be making much larger waves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 42 minutes ago, Moa said: For those who haven't played this game, I would strongly recommend it and I hope Epic is paying the Devs a fuck ton of money because if this wasn't an EGS exclusive it would be making much larger waves. I dunno, it's on game pass and not clicking with a great many who have tried it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xbob42 Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 I get that the time loop aspect is supposed to make you explore efficiently or whatever, but it seems just... really annoying? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 Also a lot of people were hyping up the translation thing up as something special but you just literally hit the right bumper and it shows you the text. It's a useless mechanic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexterryu Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 11 hours ago, Xbob42 said: I get that the time loop aspect is supposed to make you explore efficiently or whatever, but it seems just... really annoying? Efficiency really isn't part of it... it's that there are events that happen in the loop that have nothing to do with you and therefore occur at exactly the same time every loop. So it's not having a 22 minute time limit but more about picking up clues(which are kept in a loop-resistant log) that lead you where & when to be at a particular place. When you figure them out, it's very rewarding. You can get to the farthest planet within about a minute. So there is plenty of time to get anywhere if you know where & when to be there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moa Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 Quote If you put me in a room with ten executives and asked me to pitch Outer Wilds, here is what I would say: “It’s got the exploration of a Metroid game and the structure of Majora’s Mask crossed with the interstellar wonder of No Man’s Sky and the narrative framework of Return of the Obra Dinn.” Then, undoubtedly, one of them would say, “What’s Return of the Ober Dunn?” Fucking executives, am I right? Outer Wilds is One of the Best Games I've Ever Played - Jason Schreier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 2 minutes ago, Moa said: Outer Wilds is One of the Best Games I've Ever Played - Jason Schreier At this point, Outer Wilds is definitely a strong GotY contender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 I got bored before reaching my ship Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xbob42 Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 49 minutes ago, ManUtdRedDevils said: I got bored before reaching my ship It... it takes like 5 minutes to reach your ship... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mach250 Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 This is one of those games that you watch on youtube when you get bored...doesn't seem fun to play Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moa Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 54 minutes ago, mach250 said: This is one of those games that you watch on youtube when you get bored...doesn't seem fun to play To each their own, but I think what differentiates this game from a lot of survival/exploration games is that it is actually engaging to play because of the very precise control you have over your ship/suit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShreddieMercury Posted June 24, 2019 Share Posted June 24, 2019 I was going to create a separate thread to express how good I think Outer Wilds is, but I suppose I'll just put my thoughts here. I agree with Jason Shreier, and I really don't think that this sort of praise is exaggerated or plagued by recency bias. Outer Wilds is perhaps the most captivating video game I've ever played, and I would place it high on the list of best pieces of art I've ever experienced. It's a shame that the conversation is dominated by the fact that this is an EGS exclusive, because this game deserves as wide of an audience as possible. I'm guessing that it's not clicking with people because it is completely self-guided, and it can be frustrating and overwhelming at the start. But it takes barely any time at all to understand how special it is - pick a planet to explore, and you will soon find something (a physical phenomenon, a piece of story, or a captivating clue) that snaps perfectly into this clockwork universe. It's reminiscent of Breath of the Wild in the sense that no matter where you go, you will stumble upon something fascinating along the way. I don't want to spoil anything here, but I've had more moments of awe, terror, and emotional resonance in Outer Wilds than I ever have playing a video game. I doubt that there will be a better game than Outer Wilds this year, and we'd be lucky to get another game of this caliber any time soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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