In an attempt to compete with Steam's Summer Sale, the Epic Games Store has thrown their hat in the ring and is challenging Steam's Summer Sale with their own Epic Mega Sale!
The Epic Mega Sale includes $10 off any game $14.99 or or higher at checkout. Upon checkout, the game will appear at full price but the $10 will be immediately returned to your account upon the completion of the purchase. That sounds like a genuinely great deal and makes Epic look like serious competitor to Steam's PC dominance. Fortunately for Valve and Steam, it's the Epic Games Store and they have no idea what they're doing.
Apparently, Epic didn't clear the sale with developers and began selling their games at a discounted price without their permission and, as a result, developers began pulling their games from the storefront. When confronted on the subject, chief of sales Seregey Galyonkin denied the accusation claiming that developers and publishers were informed about the sale, but backtracked moments later, stating, "after a little investigation, it turned out I was wrong."
One such developer was Paradox Interactive, who pulled their game, Vampire: Bloodlines- The Masquerade II from pre-order on the EGS when they realized their game was being sold at a discount.
“If a developer or publisher chooses not to participate in our sale, we will honor that decision,” Epic Games said in a statement to Kotaku, “Paradox Interactive has chosen to not participate in the Epic mega sale and the game has been temporarily removed from sale if you purchased Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines II during the period when the discount did apply at the time of check out, Epic will honor that price.”
On the same day, Klei Entertainment also pulled their crowdfunded game, Oxygen Not Included, from the store.
Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford took to Twitter promoting the sale and hyping up that customers could pre-order Borderlands 3 for $10 off, only for 2k Games to pull Boderlands 3 from the sale three hours later.
Randy Pitchford has since deleted the tweet.
Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford took to Twitter promoting the sale and hyping up that customers could pre-order Borderlands 3 for $10 off, only for 2k Games to pull Boderlands 3 from the sale three hours later.
Randy Pitchford has since deleted the tweet.
Unable to remove their games from the sale, developers and publishers were forced to remove their games from the store entirely and buyers are now met with a page saying "No results found."
An Epic Games representative explained on the Russian site DTF that game developers are still getting a return for the full value of the game. The $10 off is “Courtesy of Epic,” meaning that Epic is losing money during the sale.
However, Unlike Borderlands 3, Vampire Bloodlines and Oxygen Not Included aren't Epic exclusives and the Epic Mega Sale discount may force developers to set even lower prices on discounts or DLC. Furthermore, Paradox already adjusts the prices of their games to be affordable in regional markets, meaning that some regions would be getting the game at a 70% discount before it's even released.
As if developers pulling their games out of their store wasn't enough, another issue facing the Mega Sale is Epic Games own harsh anti-fraud rules. The Epic Games Store doesn't have a shopping cart, so you have to buy games one at a time. When you try to make multiple purchase too quickly, the anti-fraud measurements detects it and shuts down your account. So now, you are being punished for being too good of a customer.
Senior PR rep Nick Chester explain that this was due to Epics "aggressive fraud rules" designed to "protect" customers, not to prevent them from being customers.
"This was a result of our aggressive fraud rules," Nick said in a statement to Gamer Revolution, "If players run into this issue, they should contact player support so we can investigate."
Epic Games got into this mess by trying to compete with Steam's summer sale, where customers can buy bundles of games for ridiculously low prices. However, it's starting to feel like some weird Alex Jones-level conspiracy where Epic is controlled opposition to Steam so Steam can look like an even more intimidating competitor to other online PC game stores.
Steam has been awfully quiet about the Epic Games Store's rise to fame. Probably because the notoriety Epic is receiving doesn't put the online store in a good light. But if Valve doesn't start taking the competition seriously and call out Epic for every mistake they make, the Epic Game Store could evolve into a serious contender in years to come. After all, Steam didn't become the dominant storefront for PC gaming overnight, and they've certainly had their own fair share of mess ups over the years.
If they're not careful, Valve could lose their thrown to the Epic Game Store.
Senior PR rep Nick Chester explain that this was due to Epics "aggressive fraud rules" designed to "protect" customers, not to prevent them from being customers.
"This was a result of our aggressive fraud rules," Nick said in a statement to Gamer Revolution, "If players run into this issue, they should contact player support so we can investigate."
Epic Games got into this mess by trying to compete with Steam's summer sale, where customers can buy bundles of games for ridiculously low prices. However, it's starting to feel like some weird Alex Jones-level conspiracy where Epic is controlled opposition to Steam so Steam can look like an even more intimidating competitor to other online PC game stores.
Steam has been awfully quiet about the Epic Games Store's rise to fame. Probably because the notoriety Epic is receiving doesn't put the online store in a good light. But if Valve doesn't start taking the competition seriously and call out Epic for every mistake they make, the Epic Game Store could evolve into a serious contender in years to come. After all, Steam didn't become the dominant storefront for PC gaming overnight, and they've certainly had their own fair share of mess ups over the years.
If they're not careful, Valve could lose their thrown to the Epic Game Store.
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