Linux Gaming Renaissance on hold Epic Games is putting up a roadblock

[Josh Guy]

Recently, you did a video on gaming on Linux where gamers could use proton in steam play to play games recently made for other platforms on Linux.  Being a Linux user for 10 years I was pleased as punch for easier gaming solutions that are being represented on Linux. But now we may a roadblock. Just now a you tube video by Belluar News has reported that Epic games have decided to suspend Linux support with anti-cheat software or Linux support in general in the Epic Store. Tim Sweeny apparent shortsightedness may ruin PC gaming for years to come.

 

[vanished]

They seem determined to be the most hated company in PC gaming.  Odd business strategy but ok I guess.  If they keep this up they will learn that money can't fix everything.  Probably a ways off yet though, at this point they're still using their money to make things worse, rather than win back support.  You'd think they would realize that trying to take over by force will not be appreciated.

[KING OF THE DIRTY DANS]

Epic does not care at all about their customer

 

Valve is trying new things like Index, Proton, and Weird Hardware, since they want to innovate.

 

Epic cant even make a launcher better than U Play or Origin (that's saying something)

They have great devs at epic, look how Fortnite and UE4 came out, but Tim Sweeney wants more Yachts 

[Bouzoo]

Well, guess EA won't be voted the worst company this year. 

[jiyeon]

Ubuntu user since last Friday here...

 

I skimmed through the video on 1.25x so what I've heard might not be correct.

 

So from what I got from the video, Epic has bought Easy Anti-Cheat, and as a result, games that utilise Easy Anti-Cheat cannot be run on Linux?

 

I use Steam for gaming on Linux and utilise Proton to play things like Rocket League, Project Cars, and PC Building Simulator, so I might not be affected by this.

 

Regardless, I'm not surprised that Epic are still very much on their single-laned path to becoming the most-hated company on the planet, it's nothing new after recent events.

[KING OF THE DIRTY DANS]

2 minutes ago, seoz said:

Ubuntu user since last Friday here...

 

I skimmed through the video on 1.25x so what I've heard might not be correct.

 

So from what I got from the video, Epic has bought Easy Anti-Cheat, and as a result, games that utilise Easy Anti-Cheat cannot be run on Linux?

 

I use Steam for gaming on Linux and utilise Proton to play things like Rocket League, Project Cars, and PC Building Simulator, so I might not be affected by this.

 

Regardless, I'm not surprised that Epic are still very much on their single-laned path to becoming the most-hated company on the planet, it's nothing new after recent events.

Steam support for Rocket League might be going away, since Epic owns the studio behind it now

[jiyeon]

Just now, KING OF THE DIRTY DANS said:

Steam support for Rocket League might be going away, since Epic owns the studio behind it now

Oh yeah, I've accepted it already.

 

Psyonix claim "Users will still be able to play through Steam if they own Rocket League on Steam" but I know that's going to be a big lie because it makes no sense from a business standpoint to continue support for your product on the rival company's platform...

 

I'll enjoy Rocket League while I can. Glad I've only ever spent like £10 on the whole game.

[KING OF THE DIRTY DANS]

Just now, seoz said:

Oh yeah, I've accepted it already.

 

Psyonix claim "Users will still be able to play through Steam if they own Rocket League on Steam" but I know that's going to be a big lie because it makes no sense from a business standpoint to continue support for your product on the rival company's platform...

 

I'll enjoy Rocket League while I can. Glad I've only ever spent like £10 on the whole game.

Time to make a private server with the steam version lol.

Its going to be the next Vanilla WOW (not really, but still)

[Bcat00]

Come again on how this is a bad thing? They ditched Linux gaming to further prevent hacks and cheating in their game, I say "GOOD FUCKING JOB!!!"

[ARikozuM]

1 minute ago, Bcat00 said:

Come again on how this is a bad thing? They ditched Linux gaming to further prevent hacks and cheating in their game, I say "GOOD FUCKING JOB!!!"

Considering the context off Epic's stances on Steam... This just seems like devil's advocate for the sake of it. They want to go against Steam on anything. 

[Sauron]

All together, sing with me -

the problem is DRM

that's where the issues stem

though Epic is being crass

don't give Valve a free pass

 

Wine and proton are a workaround for a problem created by DRM and proprietary software, which Valve actively promotes. Yes, be angry - but don't let your anger stop at Epic, follow the thought to its logical conclusion. This has always been a problem and it will always be so long as DRM exists.

28 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

You'd think they would realize that trying to take over by force will not be appreciated.

It's no more by force than any other business strategy. Behold, the "free and open market" working exactly as intended.

[vanished]

1 minute ago, Sauron said:

It's no more by force than any other business strategy. Behold, the "free and open market" working exactly as intended.

True, they're just doing what they can.  However, I don't think, or at least I hope, it won't work.  When you're in a very customer-focused business such as this, good will means a lot.  You're not going to sell games to someone who hates you.  The way I see it, a company has two very clear paths they can take to success - or at least, short term success: the carrot, and the stick, (or some combination thereof).  Offer services that people love and customers will flock to you.  That's capitalism, but I wouldn't call it an aggressive takeover.  That's what I'd call the carrot.  Buyout and shutdown the competition, remove choice or direct people into inferior options and people will not flock to you.  You might get some money in the short term from those who are desperate and don't care about the bigger picture, but in the long term people will run from you.  That's what I call the stick.  Their policies of stealing games off other, more preferable platforms by buying them out, making them exclusives, etc., or releasing a literal virus of a game client that rifles through your whole computer for things it has no business looking into, is very much the stick method.  This is something I would call an aggressive takeover.

[GOTSpectrum]

42 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

They seem determined to be the most hated company in PC gaming.  Odd business strategy but ok I guess.  If they keep this up they will learn that money can't fix everything.  Probably a ways off yet though, at this point they're still using their money to make things worse, rather than win back support.  You'd think they would realize that trying to take over by force will not be appreciated.

And this is exactly why I won't install EGS. 

 

VOTE WITH YOUR WALLETS PEOPLE!

[Sauron]

6 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

True, they're just doing what they can.  However, I don't think, or at least I hope, it won't work.  When you're in a very customer-focused business such as this, good will means a lot.

I hope you're right but history has often shown otherwise. Also, the backlash we're seeing comes from a specific audience; there is such a thing as a silent majority.

6 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Offer services that people love and customers will flock to you. That's capitalism, but I wouldn't call it an aggressive takeover. That's what I'd call the carrot.

The counter thesis to that is GoG. Indisputably a better sales platform than Steam or Epic and yet not even close to being as successful.

10 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Buyout and shutdown the competition, remove choice or direct people into inferior options and people will not flock to you have no choice.

I'm afraid this is a more realistic outlook. Just look at how many things "gamers" have given up on in a matter of a few months to a couple of years at most, despite the initial flood of outrage - preorders, microtransactions in full price games, loot boxes... they care but they don't care enough to collectively give up their hobby. Plus, every year a new generation of people is introduced to videogames and they simply have nothing to compare the current state of affairs to - for them, loot boxes are normal and just the way games are. Make no mistake, Valve is only (sort of) fighting Epic because they'll get the short end of the stick if they don't.

15 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

This is something I would call an aggressive takeover.

Competition IS an act of aggression. Non-aggressive mutual improvement is called cooperation.

[Atmos]

52 minutes ago, KING OF THE DIRTY DANS said:

Steam support for Rocket League might be going away, since Epic owns the studio behind it now

It was confirmed it was being pulled from steam and made an epic exclusive, so yes the workshop for the game and community hub are going away. Pretty sure if you have the game on steam you will still be able to play, but support for it is indeed going away as its being made an epic store exclusive moving forward.

[Blademaster91]

41 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Wine and proton are a workaround for a problem created by DRM and proprietary software, which Valve actively promotes. Yes, be angry - but don't let your anger stop at Epic, follow the thought to its logical conclusion. This has always been a problem and it will always be so long as DRM exists.

Not really, people want to whine about DRM but its necessary these days with things like shady sites selling stolen keys. If Epic actually wants to compete they should make their own workaround to have compatibility with Linux.

41 minutes ago, Sauron said:

It's no more by force than any other business strategy. Behold, the "free and open market" working exactly as intended.

Epic making games exclusive to only their platform is a monopolistic tactic, it isn't free or open market.

[vanished]

29 minutes ago, Sauron said:

I hope you're right but history has often shown otherwise. Also, the backlash we're seeing comes from a specific audience; there is such a thing as a silent majority.

The counter thesis to that is GoG. Indisputably a better sales platform than Steam or Epic and yet not even close to being as successful.

I'm afraid this is a more realistic outlook. Just look at how many things "gamers" have given up on in a matter of a few months to a couple of years at most, despite the initial flood of outrage - preorders, microtransactions in full price games, loot boxes... they care but they don't care enough to collectively give up their hobby. Plus, every year a new generation of people is introduced to videogames and they simply have nothing to compare the current state of affairs to - for them, loot boxes are normal and just the way games are. Make no mistake, Valve is only (sort of) fighting Epic because they'll get the short end of the stick if they don't.

That's true and that's what I'm worried about.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see how things go.

Quote

Competition IS an act of aggression. Non-aggressive mutual improvement is called cooperation.

There's a big difference between being "aggressive" toward other companies, and being aggressive toward your potential consumer base though.  Like I said, you can get business either by winning people over, or forcing them to use you by ruining the other options.

[D13H4RD]

And Epic Games just recently announced that they’re “on good terms” with Microsoft.

 

Hmmmmmm.....

[BuckGup]

1 hour ago, Bcat00 said:

Come again on how this is a bad thing? They ditched Linux gaming to further prevent hacks and cheating in their game, I say "GOOD FUCKING JOB!!!"

You're a big dumby head if you think that's how things work lol

[bcredeur97]

yep never bought a game from never will unless forced to...

you see.. it's that "Unless forced to" part they are banking on right now. They have the young generation hooked on fortnite and are hoping they can make them follow the path towards them as they grow older. 

 

They are honestly in a really good position business-wise. Just wish they had a bit more heart...

[Hellion]

Another day, another thread about "epic games bad, steam good". Meanwhile steam has hundreds of games with DRM that still can't be run on Linux even with compatibility layers.

 

All aboard the free pass steam bandwagon. Location: ignorance station.

 

 

Yawn......

[Hellion]

3 hours ago, Bcat00 said:

Come again on how this is a bad thing? They ditched Linux gaming to further prevent hacks and cheating in their game, I say "GOOD FUCKING JOB!!!"

Yeah because Linux users are all hackers and should be shunned from society. No one ever used game "hacks" on a windows machine before.

[PlayStation 2]

Can't even escape political-type bullshit in the PC gaming community. What the hell happened to genuine competition?

[SnowyMus]

I agree that Valve sucks in a lot of the same ways Epic Games sucks and they even suck in other ways. Obviously you shouldn't forget that. Steam supports DRM and their customer support is notorious for giving auto-generated responses after waiting weeks for a response. However, Valve's support towards Linux can't be ignored. Things like Proton and SteamOS are probably a money pit to them, yet they do it anyway, and I think that's amazing.

 

As for Epic Games, publishers that have signed whatever deal to Epic Games are restricting players of their games to platforms that are worse than Steam for X amount of time even though Epic Games doesn't own said games.

 

It kind of sucks that for some of the games that do this, if you want things like cloud saves (something EGL still doesn't have), then your only other option to play that game (besides waiting until you can get it somewhere else) is to be forced to play at a cinematic frame rate while also paying $1.67-$5 per month to the money gremlin in the box in order to have the right to play online. But hey, it's competition, right?

[ARikozuM]

56 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Can't even escape political-type bullshit in the PC gaming community. What the hell happened to genuine competition?

Competition is only a reality for companies below 1B/yr in revenue. After that, it's a race to see who can bottom out first.