The Platform Wars (Steam, Epic, GoG, etc)

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 3:18 am

Victoria Raverna wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 10:09 pm We can get a $10 coupon for signing up to their e-mail newsletter between 15 Oct to 15 Nov. So I signed up today and got a $10 coupon that can be used for $15 purchase. Hitman 3 with current Halloween sale is below $15, but Hitman 3 Deluxe Edition is slightly above $15, so I got that. The price I paid to get Hitman 3 Deluxe after the discount is less than $8. So now back to stop buying anything from Epic until there is another good deal.

I have been close to the same exact purchase for the same exact reason.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 8:56 am

And where is this coupon?

/edit - nevermind. Link

And the coupon is $14.99 and up, so the base Hitman 3 qualifies at $14.99. I'm also tempted by Iron Harvest at the same price.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:21 am

IIRC, they generally have similar coupon deals with every major sale. They start you off with a free coupon, then if you use it you get another coupon with the purchase.

Victoria Raverna · Post by **Victoria Raverna** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:26 am

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 8:56 am And where is this coupon?

/edit - nevermind. Link

And the coupon is $14.99 and up, so the base Hitman 3 qualifies at $14.99. I'm also tempted by Iron Harvest at the same price.

Hitman 3 is cheaper in my local currency (converted to under US$ 14.99) so I have to get the deluxe version to use the coupon.

Victoria Raverna · Post by **Victoria Raverna** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:28 am

Max Peck wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:21 am IIRC, they generally have similar coupon deals with every major sale. They start you off with a free coupon, then if you use it you get another coupon with the purchase.

Yes, but not for the Halloween sales and some of the recent sales.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:33 am

Victoria Raverna wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:26 am
Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 8:56 am And where is this coupon?

/edit - nevermind. Link

And the coupon is $14.99 and up, so the base Hitman 3 qualifies at $14.99. I'm also tempted by Iron Harvest at the same price.
Hitman 3 is cheaper in my local currency (converted to under US$ 14.99) so I have to get the deluxe version to use the coupon.

Ah, I see - it also explains how you got the Deluxe for an extra eight bucks when I showed it as $30.

Checking my collection, I found that I still have (and haven't played) Hitman 1 and 2. Which is odd, given that I greatly enjoyed pre-reboot series. I decided to hold off on 3 and grab Iron Harvest (the WWI-ish Company of Heroes clone) instead. I've had that on my list for a while, and you can't beat five bucks.

Victoria Raverna · Post by **Victoria Raverna** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 10:10 am

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:33 am
Victoria Raverna wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 9:26 am
Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sat Oct 23, 2021 8:56 am And where is this coupon?

/edit - nevermind. Link

And the coupon is $14.99 and up, so the base Hitman 3 qualifies at $14.99. I'm also tempted by Iron Harvest at the same price.
Hitman 3 is cheaper in my local currency (converted to under US$ 14.99) so I have to get the deluxe version to use the coupon.
Ah, I see - it also explains how you got the Deluxe for an extra eight bucks when I showed it as $30.

Checking my collection, I found that I still have (and haven't played) Hitman 1 and 2. Which is odd, given that I greatly enjoyed pre-reboot series. I decided to hold off on 3 and grab Iron Harvest (the WWI-ish Company of Heroes clone) instead. I've had that on my list for a while, and you can't beat five bucks.

BTW, you can play Hitman 1 inside Hitman 2 and can play both previous Hitman games inside Hitman 3 if you own the previous games. This is why I love the new Hitman trilogy. You just need to install the newest one and you can play all the campaign/scenarios/locations from previous Hitman games with improvement from the newer game. There was one problem with Hitman 2 because of that, the install size is over 100 GB when you own Hitman 1, too. I also remember you need to install Hitman 1 and run it at least once before you can unlock Hitman 1 contents in Hitman 2. Which is a problem if you don't have Hitman 1 installed and never played it at all.

With Hitman 3, they managed to reduce that to about 70 GB with contents from all 3 games. They also have a new way to import previous games to Hitman 3 which means you don't need to install H1 and H2 to unlock the contents in H3. You can also continue your game in H3 using the one time transfer feature from IOI website.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Oct 23, 2021 10:15 am

Interesting! I'll keep that in mind the future, thanks.

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Mon Nov 01, 2021 2:48 pm

Max Peck wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 9:12 am The fact that Epic spends piles of their Fortnite lucre to buy timed exclusives seems to be at the heart of the hate.

Fortnite China is shutting its servers on Nov. 15 - although since they couldn't have microtransactions there anyway, it's debatable how much they are really losing out.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Aug 12, 2022 11:06 am

Aside from all of the silly conspiracy theory and 'punish them for competing' stuff, I do want to point out actual problem I've had lately with Epic: Incompatibilities with specific games released on more common platforms. I've encountered several games lately that I've got on Epic (usually due to giveaways) that were more popular on Steam. Invariably, the entire selection of extra content (whether mods or just maps) is released on the Steam Workshop, and Steam has blocked the ability to download mods for games that you don't own on Steam. That means that if you're playing a game with community maps, you won't have access to any of them. Or if there is a mod that's considered essential - no luck. And third-party utilities (like mod installers) often won't work.

I've also found that it sometimes makes multiplayer more complicated if you have people on both Epic and Steam, adding a second range of ports you need to figure out and forward.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Fri Aug 12, 2022 1:47 pm

i have one game that was a giveaway on Epic that i actually liked, but has several major bugs that were fixed on the Steam version and never on the Epic version. ( i did write the dev with the info and it was acknowledged, but nothing was done about it)

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Sep 27, 2022 10:22 pm

Just saw this on Blues:

Valve announces changes to its seasonal sales schedule. Going forward the Lunar New Year Sale will be known as the Spring Sale, making for a major sale for every season. Word is: "You can think of the Spring Sale like the other seasonal sales (Autumn, Summer, Winter); support levels from Steam should be similar to those sales." The post also includes an exact schedule for the next three seasonal sales:

The addition of a Spring Sale was a popular request from our developer and publisher community. It will allow us to create more space between our four major seasonal sales and provide more opportunities throughout the year for developers to expand and execute their discounting calendar.

Upcoming Seasonal Sale Dates
Autumn Sale: Nov 22nd to Nov 29th
Winter Sale: Dec 22nd to Jan 5th
Spring Sale: March 16th to 23rd

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Wed Sep 28, 2022 5:26 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue Sep 27, 2022 10:22 pm
The addition of a Spring Sale was a popular request from our developer and publisher community. It will allow us to create more space between our four major seasonal sales and provide more opportunities throughout the year for developers to expand and execute their discounting calendar.

but the autumn sale and winter sale are less than a month apart...

(they should put them all on the solstices and equinoxes at this point, with the autumn sale moving to late September, not Black Friday)

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:29 pm

Looking forward to seeing how a new EA app cocks-up playing games on Steam:

For over 10 years we’ve welcomed millions of players into our Origin platform, we’ve listened to your feedback and acknowledge the limitations of this platform in a quickly evolving entertainment landscape. So we set out to build EA’s next-generation PC game platform - a faster, more reliable, and more streamlined gaming experience - the best possible place for you to experience EA’s incredible games, services and content.

Today, we’re thrilled to announce that the EA app has officially left its open beta phase and will soon replace Origin as our primary PC platform. The EA app is our fastest and lightest PC client to date. With the new streamlined design you will easily find the games and content you’re looking for and discover your new favorite games. With automatic game downloads and background updates you can ensure that your games are ready to play when you are.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 1:49 pm

I know that playing an EA game on Epic is a royal pain in the ass, as you install it on Epic, and it installs via Origin, then when you want to uninstall it, you have to uninstall it via Origin, not Epic (so it just functions as a store for Origin), but at the same time, the game requires both Origin and Epic to be open at all times to play, and launching through either will also launch the other.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 8:59 pm

I cringe just hearing the words app and PC used together.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 9:21 pm

Baroquen wrote: ↑Fri Oct 07, 2022 8:59 pm I cringe just hearing the words app and PC used together.

Always have.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 9:55 pm

Baroquen wrote: ↑Fri Oct 07, 2022 8:59 pm I cringe just hearing the words app and PC used together.

I did too until a software engineer politely explained that app=application and that it just means software designed to perform a specific function.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Fri Oct 07, 2022 11:59 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Fri Oct 07, 2022 9:55 pm
Baroquen wrote: ↑Fri Oct 07, 2022 8:59 pm I cringe just hearing the words app and PC used together.
I did too until a software engineer politely explained that app=application and that it just means software designed to perform a specific function.

Oh you and your fancy logic.

Though I doubt EA marketing is using the terminology in the more literal sense, instead following Microsoft's attempts to make your PC more like a phone.

Or maybe I'm making things up. Or I'm experiencing some early senility or something. I might need to go shake my fist at some clouds & yell at some kids to get off my lawn.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Sat Oct 08, 2022 2:55 am

I've always referred to computer programs as either program/application. The 'App' term at one time referred to mobile apps, and that was the distinction. But the line became blurred when an 'App' was also being offered as alternate versions on Windows, and some of them have been very different compared to their main desktop versions, sometimes being less functional.

JCC · Post by **JCC** » Sat Oct 08, 2022 10:27 am

Yes, there is a (perhaps) unintended connotation associated to the word "app" these days that I generally infer to mean an application designed for a touch screen/mobile device.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Sat Oct 08, 2022 2:40 pm

Yeah, and whether it's intentional or not, not only is there a connotation, but a language associated with it that makes it quite clear. When I hear someone is developing an app, it's almost always a mobile app, rather than a desktop application. You often see this on Shark Tank/Dragon's Den as part of pitches as the language makes it quite clear what they're pitching.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Oct 08, 2022 3:23 pm

I don't think I ever heard term prior to 2009's "There's an app for that" marketing campaign. And yeah, it referred only to mobile apps.

But hasn't for a while now. Many, many companies refer to their 'desktop app.' It got under my skin for a while, but language changes, and the simple fact is that in 2022, 'app' is synonymous with 'program.' Those of us who are older retain our associations with the terms, but those associations aren't consistent with how the word is actually used by society.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Sat Oct 08, 2022 7:20 pm

A google search for "app" would seem to imply that it's not so simple a fact. But you're right in that it's just a semantics kind of thing, and I'm definitely stuck in my old views and associations.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sat Oct 08, 2022 9:56 pm

They call the fricking selections on my TV apps. It makes some sense if they are also available on phone, but I still don't like it.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:11 pm

You can now install GOG Galaxy via the Epic Games Store. What a time to be alive, when storefronts supply you with competing storefronts.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 1:12 pm

Oh look, Ubisoft is returning to Steam:

Earlier this month, a Steam version of Assassin's Creed Valhalla was spotted in Ubisoft Connect's database, prompting speculation the smash hit Viking adventure would finally arrive on Valve's PC storefront. To date, PC players have only been able to access Valhalla via Ubisoft's own launcher or the Epic Games Store.

A Steam version of Ubisoft sports title Roller Champions was also spotted - and today was also made briefly available to view on SteamDb, all but confirming the game will launch there. Roller Champions feels like it has struggled to find much of an audience to date; a Steam launch would certainly help it along.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:45 pm

I hadn't even realized they had left.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:24 pm

That likely means that they will sell it on Steam, but you will still need to launch the Ubisoft Connect app to run it. That probably also means that you will have to run both clients at the same time to play.

At least that is how other companies' integrations have worked, and Ubi is the last company I'd expect to put customers before potential profit.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 6:50 pm

I ran into a weird glitch on the Epic Games Store today. I wanted to buy Ubisoft's Watch Dogs: Legion while it's on sale at 75% off, and stack Epic's 25% off coupon on top of that, but discovered that, for some reason, EGS believes that I already own the season pass. It will let me purchase the lower-tier versions of the game that don't include the season pass but not the versions that include it, nor the pass itself. I considered opening a ticket with EGS to see if they could sort it out, but then I remembered that the season pass is pretty meh and settled for the deluxe version. Come at me, FOMO!

The only explanation I can think of is that since I played the game at launch on Ubisoft+, somehow that set a flag on my account that is being passed on to EGS and misinterpreted as me owning the pass but not the game. Prior to purchasing it today, the game was showing up in my Ubisoft Connect libary, flagged as an Ubisoft+ game that I couldn't access, and after the purchase it is showing up as an owned game.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Wed Dec 28, 2022 6:55 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:24 pm That likely means that they will sell it on Steam, but you will still need to launch the Ubisoft Connect app to run it. That probably also means that you will have to run both clients at the same time to play.

At least that is how other companies' integrations have worked, and Ubi is the last company I'd expect to put customers before potential profit.

That may be more of a Steam thing than an Ubisoft thing. The Ubisoft games I've purchased on Epic Games Store do not require me to have the Epic launcher running in order to install or launch the game. Everything after the purchase only requires the Ubisoft Connect launcher. The older Ubisoft games that I've bought on Steam that also require Ubisoft Connect need to have both launchers running, even if I try to launch the game from Connect, IIRC.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Thu Jan 12, 2023 5:05 pm

Press F to pay respects to GOG Connect.

GOG has quietly killed off its Steam-import service

If you've been champing at the bit for the return of GOG Connect, the service that allowed you to import selected games from your Steam library over to your GOG collection, then I've got some bad news. GOG has finally and quietly retired the service, with the URL now redirecting users to the store's front page.

Eagle-eyed Reddit users began to notice the redirect around a week ago, even though the page was still accessible as recently as January 1, but the lack of an official announcement meant it was hard to be sure if the service was gone for good. However, a GOG spokesperson tells PCG that they "can confirm that GOG Connect is no longer supported and is removed from [GOG's] page".

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Wed Jan 25, 2023 9:37 pm

An interesting look into Valve as a workplace.

Victoria Raverna · Post by **Victoria Raverna** » Wed Jan 25, 2023 11:44 pm

Max Peck wrote: ↑Wed Dec 28, 2022 6:55 pm
Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:24 pm That likely means that they will sell it on Steam, but you will still need to launch the Ubisoft Connect app to run it. That probably also means that you will have to run both clients at the same time to play.

At least that is how other companies' integrations have worked, and Ubi is the last company I'd expect to put customers before potential profit.
That may be more of a Steam thing than an Ubisoft thing. The Ubisoft games I've purchased on Epic Games Store do not require me to have the Epic launcher running in order to install or launch the game. Everything after the purchase only requires the Ubisoft Connect launcher. The older Ubisoft games that I've bought on Steam that also require Ubisoft Connect need to have both launchers running, even if I try to launch the game from Connect, IIRC.

I guess when you buy Epic version, it is just Ubisoft Connect version. So Epic is kinda like a cd key seller that auto redeem to Ubisoft Connect.

When you buy Steam version, you get Steam version that install using Steam. It is the same with some EA games on Steam like The Sim 4 which install and update using Steam instead of using EA App or Origin if you buy them from Steam.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Jan 26, 2023 1:10 am

Valve has employees? They dont make anything anymore...well not games. I figured that had like maybe 10 people to keep their Steam client up to date.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Tue Feb 14, 2023 12:34 pm

EA finally lost patience with me and forced me to migrate from Origin to their new app today. The transition was quick and painless. Although I did have to manually specify a game library folder, the new app was able to import all the installed games despite being spread across multiple folders. It didn't require me to reauthenticate after the migration, so I was good to go as soon as it uninstalled Origin and installed the new app.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Tue Feb 14, 2023 2:44 pm

I think I was annoyed it uninstalled Origin without authorization. Beyond that, good riddance. It was a horrible launcher.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:07 pm

They probably should have done this years ago, but for the first time Steam is officially publishing their 2023 sale schedule:

Mystery Fest: February 20 - 27
Spring Sale: March 16 - 23
Puzzle Fest: April 24 - May 1
Sports Fest: May 15 - 22
Next Fest: June 19 - 26
Summer Sale: June 29 - July 13
Stealth Fest: July 24 - 31
Visual Novel Fest: August 7 - 14
Strategy Fest: August 28 - September 4
SHMUP Fest: September 25 - October 2
Next Fest: October 9 - 16
Return of Steam Scream Fest (Halloween): October 26 - November 2
Autumn Sale: November 21 - 28
Winter Sale: December 21 - January 4, 2024

That said, the best prices still seem to be on 3rd party sites...

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:47 pm

Allow me to again pimp Is There Any Deal? Aside from the improved wishlist functionality and notifications, it will tell you the MSRP, the current prices at every reliable vendor, price history, plus point out any coupons that may apply.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Feb 23, 2023 2:51 pm

Hard to argue with that.