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

Megalith

Megalith

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News of Metro Exodus’s Epic Games Store exclusivity hasn’t gone well: the third installment of the post-apocalyptic shooter franchise based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novels is being review-bombed by countless disgruntled gamers on Steam; even Valve has called the decision “unfair” in a statement posted to the store page. One 4A Games developer has decided to comment on the situation, warning the boycott could result in the next Metro not being released on the PC.

Of course, this is the opinion of only one developer and not of the entire studio or the publisher, however it shows how nervous some of 4A Games’ developers actually are. And, to be honest, we all know that the publisher actually makes the final decision. If the publisher wants to release a game on the PC, the developers will either have to develop it or let another team handle that version. Scynet also stated that 4A Games is currently putting the final touches to the PC version of Metro Exodus, which is currently scheduled for a February 15th release!
 
I had no feelings about it either way... but when I read that a developer said "next game won't be on PC if sales are low" is just daring the internet to fuck over your game by not buying it.

Hearing shit like that makes me want to not buy it just to teach that asshat a lesson, there are shit tons of great games out there...
 
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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It's the complaints over where the game is being sold, not the game itself. If the game is good all of the people complaining will just be empty noise and everyone will buy it from Epic anyways. I'm not sure why anyone is caring what store this game is on. Who gives a shit if it's steam or epic. At the end of the day it's digital non-sense that you don't actually own, and that's what people should be complaining about. Not what stupid digital store you have to buy it from.
 
Mchart said:
It's the complaints over where the game is being sold, not the game itself. If the game is good all of the people complaining will just be empty noise and everyone will buy it from Epic anyways. I'm not sure why anyone is caring what store this game is on. Who gives a shit if it's steam or epic. At the end of the day it's digital non-sense that you don't actually own, and that's what people should be complaining about. Not what stupid digital store you have to buy it from.
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Yeah, that's what I was getting at, on both sides of the argument.
 
Mchart said:
I'm not sure why anyone is caring what store this game is on. Who gives a shit if it's steam or epic.
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Because the publisher took a bribe to stop selling the game on Steam, but waited until the last minute to announce it so they could milk Steam's free advertising on frontpage and popups to 125+ million users. No kidding people are pissed off.

They should have left it for sale on both stores, and had the $50 price on Epic like it is now - THAT would've been increasing competition and benefitting consumers.
 
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Mchart said:
If the game is good all of the people complaining will just be empty noise and everyone will buy it from Epic anyways.
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This isn't really true. For me this move has put it on the wait till I see it at a super discount and can install it on steam (so late 2020?). And that is even if the game becomes game of the year etc. I have to have over 40 games that I have bought and not played much (or at all yet). I don't know how many folks like me are out there, but meh it was their choice. (Note, I don't condone review bombing. I do say that any 5 star game instantly becomes a 4 star game due to install platform lacking the support a 5 star game should have.)
 
ikevi said:
This isn't really true. For me this move has put it on the wait till I see it at a super discount and can install it on steam (so late 2020?). And that is even if the game becomes game of the year etc. I have to have over 40 games that I have bought and not played much (or at all yet). I don't know how many folks like me are out there, but meh it was their choice. (Note, I don't condone review bombing. I do say that any 5 star game instantly becomes a 4 star game due to install platform lacking the support a 5 star game should have.)
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So why would being on Epic make your stance any different? You would have waited anyways.
 
odditory said:
It's the bait-and-switch way it jumped to Epic last minute that pissed everybody off.

The publisher has been hyping the game on Steam for a year and a half including frontpage appearances, then just before launch accept a bribe from Epic to remove it from being sold on Steam.
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So what? People who bought it on Steam apparently are being allowed to still play it on steam at release, and other folks will be given Epic keys if purchased else where. Further, it's still a pre-order. If you want you can just cancel it.

I just don't see what the big deal is. Further, it's $10 cheaper on the Epic store and they don't charge tax.
 
I'm more curious to what precedent this sets..
If it becomes common practice to jump ship whenever a digital store offers a better TOS then how will support be handled? These are digital products. When it was just STEAM you could reliably assume as long as valve made money your product would work. In a world where products are only released if the terms are favourable, it also stands to reason platforms might start ceasing support for a developer that jumps ship... which gives some interesting possible problems for things you've paid for.
 
Mchart said:
So what? People who bought it on Steam apparently are being allowed to still play it on steam at release, and other folks will be given Epic keys if purchased else where. Further, it's still a pre-order. If you want you can just cancel it.

I just don't see what the big deal is. Further, it's $10 cheaper on the Epic store and they don't charge tax.
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Tencent.
Epic accounts data breach.
Refusal to comply with GDPR.

That's the big deal.
 
Quick, review bomb Metro on console and see if they threaten not to release on console as well. Such bullshit, like your opinion actually matters to them. Honestly I'd rather they don't release it on PC just cause that's more incentive for a PS4 emulator to be made, cause god knows PC gaming needs it with all the best games being made on PS4 lately. You know, because they said this that means they thought about it too. Don't go around telling people that you're thinking of not releasing it on PC, cause I guarantee you that you'll be paying for that forever.
 
ikevi said:
Nope, if it was on Steam I would have bought it the first time it dropped to the ~40 buck range. So they basically are loosing 20-30 bucks off of me.
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This statement isn't congruent with your prior one where you wanted to wait for the game reviews. If you don't want to buy it because it's not on Steam then don't buy it, but it's odd you justify your decision wrapped in with how the game performs,then say 'oh if it was on Steam it would have been an insta-buy'. It doesn't even make sense.

I think it's silly to not buy a game based on the digital platform, but if that's your position then that's fine.
 
Good, I guess. I am not going to buy it on Epic. Some others may not as well. If that leads to poor sales, feel free to move to consoles, or mobile, where, guess what, I and some others will still not be buying it.

You took a heap of cash, or something, and went exclusive with Epic. Your would be customers that do not want anything to do with the Epic store/service are unhappy. Some may be review bombing your product, and you are now angry that they will not play along. So you threaten them? Great move. /s

That said, I do not agree with review bombing. A review is for someone that has played the game, to give an honest accounting of the experience. Not a place to complain that it was not on your delivery service of choice. Save that for the forums and social media.


This just became a $5 game I might pick up on Steam a few years from now, maybe.
 
Mchart said:
So what? People who bought it on Steam apparently are being allowed to still play it on steam at release, and other folks will be given Epic keys if purchased else where. Further, it's still a pre-order. If you want you can just cancel it.

I just don't see what the big deal is. Further, it's $10 cheaper on the Epic store and they don't charge tax.
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I personally don't care where I get my games from. Doesn't matter if I use GoG, Steam, or Epic because I buy the game and play it and I'm done. As long as I don't pay a monthly fee for your online store I'm OK with this. The worse that I gotta do is install another Origin, Uplay, Steam, GoG, like store on my PC. Who cares.
 
Mchart said:
This statement isn't congruent with your prior one where you wanted to wait for the game reviews. If you don't want to buy it because it's not on Steam then don't buy it, but it's odd you justify your decision wrapped in with how the game performs,then say 'oh if it was on Steam it would have been an insta-buy'. It doesn't even make sense.

I think it's silly to not buy a game based on the digital platform, but if that's your position then that's fine.
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He literally said the first time the game went on sale ~ $40 on steam. That's not insta-buy....
 
Mchart said:
This statement isn't congruent with your prior one where you wanted to wait for the game reviews. If you don't want to buy it because it's not on Steam then don't buy it, but it's odd you justify your decision wrapped in with how the game performs,then say 'oh if it was on Steam it would have been an insta-buy'. It doesn't even make sense.

I think it's silly to not buy a game based on the digital platform, but if that's your position then that's fine.
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Please re-read what I said... I never ever said I wanted to wait for game reviews. My position is that it would have been a game I bought at first discount. But by pulling this crud it has become a game I have no real interest in. It is the action of pulling it from steam and making it an epic exclusive that caused that to happen.

Your statement that if the game is good is what I was replying to. IE I don't really care if it would have been a 3 or 5 star game, I would have bought it first discount on steam... Since it would have been easy and meh I would have gotten some enjoyment out of it. But now EVEN if it is the best game of this year I just wont bother till it is at a super discount and on steam. (IE I am giving you a case of a person that game quality =/= pulling this BS/Epic will win.)

K, I am done. Have a good day.
 
No one actually cares that it is also on Epic, the people that prefer Steam just want it back on there as well. Some of us just don't want to deal with a multitude of clients. I just refuse to.
 
What a dickhead, and a stupid threat - I don't believe for one second that they would ever consider giving up future PC revenue over something like this. People can protest all they want, and review bombing is one of the only ways they'll actually get heard - and hey look, they responded so its WORKING.
 
The game hasn't been released as of yet and it is already being review bombed? I really wish Steam and other distribution platforms wouldn't allow reviews to be posted prior to a game release. People should only post experience wirh the game and not due to a company's decision to move release to another distribution platform.
 
Ok cool guy. Now I won't be buying your game and I'm not buying it on purpose. Seriously what is up with all these game companies threatening and making fun of their customers? It's not like their is some shortage of video games to buy.
 
Hopefully the backlash at least scares the next company out of making a deal with the devil when Epic comes waving their fortnite cash. It may not help this game, but the whole industry is watching this debacle, and epic is ultimately testing how much underhanded shit they can get away with.

Problem is, shady console tactics don't really work on PC. For better or worse, it's a different culture. Epic is committing slow suicide by being so polarizing. If they want to engender goodwill and convert people to their side, they should stop burning bridges, stop trying to "buy friends" or beat Steam overnight, and instead invest into actually improving their shitty store and launcher.
 
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This is rich. Rage was produced the way it was, because fucking Willets thought COD was great, because it made money. Now we have a similar game to COD, the new Metro and its threatening its users over console sales. I gloat. ;)
 
I guess its official then. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

I have a backlog of good games to play.... I'm not going to miss one if I decide the developers are douche bags. I was already out when they abandoned steam anyway. You want to sell your game cheaper on another platform go for it, you want to try and force me to use said platform. F U Most people would have gladly paid an extra 10 15 bucks to get it via steam. I guess Epic knows that. Last thing consumers want are store wars... console exclusives are bad enough.
 
You won't release the game on other PC platforms (including Steam) until February 14, 2020? You're pretty much making this whole thing a self fulfilling prophecy. Thinking short term by going Epic exclusive was a horrific long term business move.

Out of principle I'm not going to purchase this game, ever.
 
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AVT said:
Will be buying this in February 2020 when it is released on Steam. Not in a hurry to play the game.
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I wonder if they will have the gall to charge $60 on Steam a year after release...I guess we'll see.
 
homernoy said:
You won't release the game on other platforms (including Steam) until February 14, 2020, a year after release? You're pretty much making this whole thing a self fulfilling prophecy. Thinking short term by going Epic exclusive was a horrific long term business move.
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Since Exodus had already been advertised on Steam for so long, they should have just made the next game Epic exclusive instead if they really wanted to go that route. Then at least it would have been known upfront and people wouldn't feel it was such a last minute bait and switch.
 
tetris42 said:
It's always a smart business move to make threats towards your own consumer base.
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Snowdensjacket said:
Ok cool guy. Now I won't be buying your game and I'm not buying it on purpose. Seriously what is up with all these game companies threatening and making fun of their customers? It's not like their is some shortage of video games to buy.
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Ya'll should probably go a little deeper down the rabbit hole. Sensational news title is sensational. The linked news story follows through to a random forum post (in Russian), where in the developer more or less explains that if people boycott the game and sales are poor, they won't be able to justify future releases on PC. It's not a threat, it's not a public statement of "buy our game or else...", it's an explanation the economics of what happens when something fails to perform as expected. He's just being real...
 
Personally I think the dev reaction is warranted. Just because a game doesn't come out in a store you want, doesn't give you the right to screw with the evaluations. That's been happening WAY too often, with review bombs having become a common tool. If PC gamers act like babies, they should get treated like babies. Releasing their next game on console would be an effective, if harsh lesson for people to act like adults. It's the equivalent of the effective, harsh tactic of review bombing a game.
 
euskalzabe said:
Releasing their next game on console would be an effective, if harsh lesson for people to act like adults. It's the equivalent of the effective, harsh tactic of review bombing a game.
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Except they're a business out to make money, and "teaching a lesson" doesn't increase their bottom line.

They could have left the game on both stores. Instead they got greedy and took a bribe to limit customer choice, and that has consequences.

Plenty of times I sold something and the customer/client was an opinionated moron, but I had to bite my tongue because the sale was all that mattered.
 
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MavericK said:
At this point I am starting to think the developers don't give a fuck about the PC community, despite the last two games being on PC.
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This is basically a way of stating that they want to drop PC development altogether, and it's giving them an excuse. To do well is clearly undefined, so it sounds predetermined. To be fair though, PC AAA games tend to sell significantly fewer copies than their console counterparts, and still cost a decent amount of money to focus on that port. Not worth the money vs effort.

Still, there are more tactful ways of telling the PC community that you're no longer going to develop for them.
 
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