Metro Review-Bombed: Dev Threatens Next Game Won't Be on PC If Sales Are Low

kirbyrj said:
Steam = Developers 70/30 split
Epic = Developers 88/12 split

Which would you choose if you were 4A Games? I like Steam as well as the next person, but let's not pretend that Valve is doing game developers any favors. If I'm a game dev, I'm going to net that 88% when it's at its highest sales point the first month of launch and then broaden out later.
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Both -- and price it so you receive the same money either way.

People will either take the cheaper price on EPIC or pay more to have it on Steam.
 
/dev/null said:
Both -- and price it so you receive the same money either way.

People will either take the cheaper price on EPIC or pay more to have it on Steam.
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It's obvious that epic paid them to not release it on steam. They'd have made more money on steam in the long run. Not just because of larger sales, but due to the tiered share on steam. 70/30 only applies to the first ~ 160k sales. They undoubtedly would've sold at least 10x that on steam.
 
*Shrug* I have not bought a game straight up through Steam in years. (I would buy a key through Amazon or some other place.)
 
Maan, do people actually play shooters on consoles? Well, story based one's sure. Seems really petty to not release on PC just because people are frustrated with your business decisions.
ManofGod said:
*Shrug* I have not bought a game straight up through Steam in years. (I would buy a key through Amazon or some other place.)
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I've bought some which were heavily discounted, I practically never buy as soon as something is released and definitely no pre-purchases.
 
Exavior said:
Ah, the good old I am going to wait till this game is $5 mindset. And you wonder why developers say fuck you to PC gamers. You expect a company to be happy that they make $3 off of a sales of a game.
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How is it the gamer's fault games end being sold for 5 bucks? Publishers probably see they make a profit at that cost moreso than had they sold it at full price forever?
 
Funny how it Happens......

Whoever made the decision to go on Epic is a joke. Too bad it's not going to switch over because of handshakes under the table.
 
exlink said:
Did you even read the OP? It is LITERALLY what you posted.
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I'll put you on Ignore thanks for the feedback this is the 2nd time you harassed me.
Funny how it happens Dev Threatens the success of their own game. I had to read that twice because why would you even do that?
 
Comixbooks said:
I'll put you on Ignore thanks for the feedback this is the 2nd time you harassed me.
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Sounds good to me, quite ironic given your user title.

Not sure how this constitutes "harassment," just pointing out that you literally posted the news article that this entire thread is about.
 
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Gotta love the people on Steam..... ........
Metro last light.jpg
 
techie81 said:
Whatever happened to making a great game and having happy gamers? Threatening that they won't release their next game on the PC will not get them the reaction they were hoping for.
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I'd have to look myself and see. The title hasn't been released on PC yet, so I'm thinking it's entirely possible that all the dev was saying is that if a title does poorly on console release, the sales may not justify a PC release. This may have been less of a threat and more of a business prediction.

Personally, I think they should have more faith in PC gamers and start making the PC release the primary development target and let the consoles suck hind tit.
 
The thing is the dev has a lot more to lose than the community. We just won't have a game to play, if sales are way too low because of this kinda crap, he might not have an income anymore.

Did devs and publishers just get rid of all their PR departments lately or something?

You say you won't make a pc version as a threat, but when your publisher and financer tells you they want a pc version, still gonna protest or are you gonna just die off on that hill?
 
When did pc gamers turn into such whiny little bitches about fucking everything? This is embarrassing.
Demanding to give money to gaben is fucking gross.
 
tetris42 said:
Fine, I'll bite that the translation was poor and this was served up as clickbait. And I'll buy that this wasn't intended as an overt threat, even if it's almost a textbook definition of one from how you describe it. Trying to say this is ONLY "A matter of business" and "just being real" is framing this in a one dimensional way that can't imagine more than one course of action. You've already bought into the narrative and haven't even realized it.
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I disagree. "threat noun 1.a statement of an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or other hostile action on someone in retribution for something done or not done." -- To me, a threat implies that the action was both intentional and done with malice, this is more stating a consequence. There is (to me) a difference between "If you don't buy our game, we won't make more" and "if you don't buy our game, we won't have the funding to make more." I see this devs comments as the later.
tetris42 said:
Companies have options. They made a controversial decision to change their distributor at the last minute. Many people protested this (I think it's silly personally, but that's besides the point, the protesting is real enough) and are boycotting / review bombing the game as a result. This is the ONLY reason people are boycotting / protesting. So as a company, what are your options for the future? Here are some I can think of:

1. Do PR damage control and explain why you went to Epic, how it can create more money, and give bonuses to fans, offer refunds, etc. In other words, try to show some benefits for the customer in switching to Epic to recapture sales. Won't fix everything, but it can help.
2. Release the future game on Steam also and get your sales back.
3. Cancel all PC development because fans of a longtime series are upset over a controversial decision YOU made over your distributor that would easily be remedied if you don't repeat your controversial decision, or handle it more tactfully.

You're both talking as if #3 is the ONLY option. It's not.
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I agree with the point your making that abandoning PC is not the only option, but I think perhaps we're reading into the statement that was made differently. I feel like you're reading it as an official PR statement from the developer, I'm reading it as an off the record comment made by a single developer who views this situation no more favorably than the rest of us. Hell, THQ Nordic has already issued a statement that this decision had nothing to do with them and was made entirely by their publisher, Koch Media. In other words, the developer (who the person in question is employed by) actually has no options. They do what they are told by the corporate entity that owns the franchise and funds their game. I'm reading this guys forum post as the sad realization of the choice their publisher is most likely to make if this plays out, hence my comment of being real. I don't agree with, and I'm certainly not defending the notion that abandoning PC is the only option. The ONLY point I'm defending is that this forum post is being taken way out of context. I stand by it, it's not a threat, it's a developers concern about the future of a franchise they care about, but ultimately have no control over.
 
get fucked

plenty of games to play.

management saw a payday and the option to inconveniencing customers was of little concern. Money now seems to be better then good service and leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth.

Metro could have just released on Epic along with Steam with Epic being either cheaper or some kind of rebate to encourage the switch.

Canceling pre-orders when there are massive pushes from the community to not pre-order anything is shooting yourself in the foot.
 
If you are going to take cash to fuck over your customers, better make sure it's enough cash to live on.
 
stealthballer123 said:
When did pc gamers turn into such whiny little bitches about fucking everything? This is embarrassing.
Demanding to give money to gaben is fucking gross.
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They complain when publishers and developers go to a digital platform/store/launcher that has a monopoly on access and no real price competition. Maybe that will change in time as more 3rd digital stores are able to sell keys on Epic, otherwise you're not going to see price drops often. Devs/Pubs will like that but they'll sell less games. On top of that, you have exclusives that last a year, a service that offers less features than steam, developers claiming that this helps them and customers in the long term by them getting paid for exclusives and in the Metro Exodus case, they pull the game off Steam two weeks before launch.

I'm not a fan of exclusives in general but at least with Steam there are some benefits and price competition. Epic offers none of that at this time. Hell, it took them a few weeks to announce they'll have a refund policy like Steam. That itself is a benefit worth paying an extra $10 for at times.
 
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