The Epic Games Store Self-Publishing Beta Opens Today!

Link

Took too long, but a good thing most certainly. It'll be interesting to see what comes out of this.

 

Will be interesting to see if they still give preference to Unreal Engine games, over Unity games.


Aside from the usual game info, they don't ask any other questions, aside from 'which engine'.

 

While I understand game developers being psyched for being able to get their games on the Epic store, I fear this will lead to the Steam problem of a rapid race toward the bottom in terms of quality, adding in the fact that Epic has a fraction of the tools necessary to sift through the garbage to find the gems.

 

Unlike Steam, EGS is still curated, and this beta, more heavily so.
We don't know after this beta if they'll open the floodgates, they will probably remain a curated store, which will set them apart from Steam.

 

This is what I'm curious about - whether this will open the door to new or not well known developers, or if it's just a more automated way of continuing their trend of picking developers who are either already proven (Supergiant games) or have already generated a buzz (Ooblets).

 

I reeeeeally hope so!

 

Hopefully it'll remain curated but who knows. Valve certainly has enough resources to through at Steam to curate submissions but they don't. Epic might do it initially but I feel if it gets to the level of volume like Steam does (I have no idea how many are submitted daily but I assume dozens if not hundreds) then they might feel they can't keep up and either a) submissions will be backlogged so much the system will eventually fail and shutdown b) they'll just rubber stamp things and pass them through and it'll turn into the Epic Shovelware Fest or c) they recognize it and through enough resources at it to keep it real.

 

It would be really easy for epic to basically outsource or at least minimize that curation work by just deciding to only work with well known publishers.

 

Sure but what's considered a "well known publisher"? If I'm an indie studio and haven't published a title yet, am I included? Doubtful that rates me as well known, so no store for me?

 

Exactly. But if your game was good enough to get picked up by a publisher like e.g. devolver, then that would be your way in. The EGS isn't a service for devs, it's a service for gamers, and what many gamers want outside of steam is tighter curation. That must by definition mean that most games aren't sold on that store.

I'm not saying only selling games from bigger publishes is better than the current model by the way, just saying it would be an option for epic if they want to remain curated but don't want to do all the legwork themselves.

If the EGS opens the floodgates like steam did, then in a year or so every benefit to being on that store is pretty much gone, because it'll be oversaturated with 10k+ games.

 

Valve would have to hire and train hundreds of additional employees if you wanted to properly curate the games that come onto their platform every year. It's not impossible but I don't know if it's reasonable either and it would likely still have the problem that some games have to hit the right staff members to be allowed through.

And if your game wasn't good enough to be picked up by a publisher then you likely wouldn't have passed a well designed curation system either.

Correct, but then if you are a new studio why wouldn't you choose a third party publisher for your first game?

 

I think the publisher vs. developer/indie studio is getting muddled in this thread. I don't believe you can only be recognized by a publisher to be considered for these systems. I'm a strong believer in self-publishing which is the route I'm down. I know some games get out there and "publishers" will pick up on them and make offers and maybe help navigate the storefronts, provide porting resources, and even a little exposure or street creds but frankly I'm not pursuing that approach and just having fun making games. I think good product stands out from junk regardless of what name or label is behind it.

Again this goes to self publishing vs. distributing. I don't consider the Epic Game Store a publisher. Epic has done this in the past with some titles but that's a different arrangement. This is exposure and distribution, not a sponsored partnership (or whatever you want to call it). If I'm a new studio then I'm fine with publishing my game through the channels I can get. My own website? Small exposure. itch.io or GameJolt, more exposure. Epic or Steam, huge exposure (assuming you're not totally lost in a sea of shovelware).

I think it just comes down to this. Epic is willing to spend more effort working with devs getting their titles to market, assuming you have something that you've put effort into. Steam will continue to, and probably always, just rubber stamp your title because all they see is 30%.

 

Publish on steam, you will be recognised
Oh wait, but what then about EG exclusive deal for their store?

 

You are misunderstanding my point. I'm not saying you have to go the route of a publisher. I'm saying if you wanted to go the route of a publisher and you were rejected by them for reasons having to do with the quality of the game then chances are you would be rejected by a properly curated store too.

Once upon a time getting onto Steam was an arduous process but that's because their curation was on the level of a publisher. Removing that is the reason why so many people can get on today but it's likewise the reason so many low effort games now exist on there.