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Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

reuters.com

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Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#271

Post by surgical_fire »

keyringlight wrote: post #262
Ethee wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still funny to me that they would rather burn 9 figures in cash on these silly deals to try and 'trap' gamers on their platform instead of just... I don't know... making a better platform? The reason nobody competes with Steam is simply the sheer number of integration and platform features that make it easy to buy, play and share games with my friends. It's not that hard, stop trying to 'force' me to use your pl…

I can't help thinking the battle was lost before it even started, no matter how good the offering was because the PC and mobile platforms (where epic operate their store) have 99.9% already decided who owns them. The way I see it Epic wanted to copy what Counter-strike and HL2 was to Steam, but using Fortnite to push their store for a fresh generation of gamers. The problem is they couldn't replace or exist alongside…

They could totally carve their niche if they focused in making their store better.

Could it surpass Steam? Probably not. But you don't need to surpass Steam to have a viable, profitable store. GoG is the alternative that proves the rule - it is smaller, but they have their niche offering.

EGS is shit, and relied on exclusives (which everyone typically hates, especially on PC).

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#272

Post by lux-lux-lux »

hamdingers wrote: post #243
bergheim wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everybody says this. It's so weird. How on earth will epic win without exclusives? It's like launching some Facebook competitor "but you get two profile pictures". Noone would switch. All these geeks singing steam and lamenting competition. Competition bad for me mkay, steam good. /me shakes head

How do they win with exclusives? The strategy is nonsense. For Sony, I get it. I want to play Demon Souls, I buy a PS5, now I own a PS5 I'm gonna buy more games for it. But for EGS this doesn't make sense. It costs me nothing to install both stores on my PC. I buy Alan Wake 2 on EGS, great, that doesn't make me any more likely to buy the next game I want there. Nothing about the platform is sticky or requires a sunk…

This is definitely wrong, Steam’s stickiness is a massive selling point.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#273

Post by justinhj »

pbrum wrote: post #211

Not long ago I was looking at my favorite games of decades past. Unreal Tournament figured very prominently, made of course by Epic. So I wondered: why did they stop making Unreal games? I looked at their game chronology. On one hand, they made Gears of War, an Xbox exclusive that never interested me. And the other one? Oh, right: Fortnite. That's where Unreal Tournament went. They made tons of money for sure. But no…

I think the problem is also that there are many FPS multiplayer CTF games even if they are not all great, they all compete for attention in a crowded market. Destiny, Call of Duty and all their variants.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#274

Post by tcmart14 »

Ethee wrote: post #130
applfanboysbgon wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't losing money on Fortnite, they're losing money on vanity projects like the Epic Game Store where they spend tens of millions of dollars for exclusivity deals with developers, and give away free games to try to poach Steam users with an otherwise inferior product. Unfortunately it is their employees that are paying the price of leadership making it rain with their overflowing coffers they couldn't help but…

It's still funny to me that they would rather burn 9 figures in cash on these silly deals to try and 'trap' gamers on their platform instead of just... I don't know... making a better platform? The reason nobody competes with Steam is simply the sheer number of integration and platform features that make it easy to buy, play and share games with my friends. It's not that hard, stop trying to 'force' me to use your pl…

As much as I love steam, some of this isn't even a high bar. I've always had issues with stuff loading slow or odd behavior on the steam store tab in the application. My understanding is it's because the store tab in the steam application is essentially a web browser, and it sorta works like ass.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#275

Post by justinhj »

Epic was very lucky with Fortnite. Originally they showed the game at GDC as more of a mining, resource collection and building game. Frankly it looked boring.

Changing that to a shooter with the Battle Royale mechanic was a $10 billion win. They have managed it pretty well, but it seems they just over extended without innovating to attract and retain players.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#276

Post by a_victorp »

leetharris wrote: post #43
shimman wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it's enough, the problem is greed. They must perform ritual sacrifices to appease the market gods.

They aren't publicly traded.

Just a company with 40%+ of ownership from Tencent, Disney and Sony (all public traded companies). You could have googled this

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#278

Post by tcmart14 »

Hamuko wrote: post #254
Ethee wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still funny to me that they would rather burn 9 figures in cash on these silly deals to try and 'trap' gamers on their platform instead of just... I don't know... making a better platform? The reason nobody competes with Steam is simply the sheer number of integration and platform features that make it easy to buy, play and share games with my friends. It's not that hard, stop trying to 'force' me to use your pl…

Not only does Epic refuse to make their game store any better, Tim Sweeney will continue to whine about how Steam's 30% cut is way too much. Surely if it's too much, Epic Games should be able to provide the same service for their cut? But no, they continue selling a moped while saying how all of the motorcycle manufacturers are ripping you off.

And lets not forget Tim Sweeney's dishonest representation. Sure, Steam can take a 30% cut, but they also offer a lot of avenues to avoid that. With Steam, a publisher can get a ton of activation codes and sell those activation codes on their site and not get hit with the 30% cut. No fee on in-game transactions, and as you build a user base for your games, Steam also lowers the 30%.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#279

Post by tcmart14 »

lux-lux-lux wrote: post #269
PowerElectronix wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I certainly still hold a grudge against tim sweeney for saying piracy made them not release stuff on pc and after a while going back to releasing on pc while whining about valve fees and then launching epic games with similar fees and way worse service for the developers...

> similar fees No? Epic charges 12% (with the first $1m free) vs. Valve’s frankly extortionate (i.e. industry standard) 30%.

Steam will also provide publishers with free activation keys that they can sell direct to customer without the 30% charge.

Re: Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls

#280

Post by grandpoobah »

Not a single comment mentioning UEFN? Epic's failed attempt at copying Roblox?

Epic has been pissing money away paying "creators" to churn out slop "red versus blue" modes/maps for Epic's meta-verse.

A lot of these maps are effectively hello world applications. Like the lowest of low quality. You add in a few weapon spawns, a few prefab buildings, and you're done. Time to get yourself a few thousand a month.

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