Question Metro Exodus developer flips out, threatens PC gamers - Tweaktown

[JPB]

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/64703/metro-exodus-developer-flips-threatens-pc-gamers/index.html

The entire Metro Exodus moving from Steam to the Epic Store scandal is enough for me to not support 4A Games, so I've been staying out of the stories and letting the games news writers Jak and Derek handle it all. But then this news broke out on the weekend and I'm the only one writing news right now, so here we go.

4A Games is having a full on dummy spit moving Metro Exodus hastily from the Steam store to the new Epic Store where it will make more money per sale, which is great for them, but a super dick move towards Valve that has been marketing Metro Exodus for what feels like years now. Anyway, now the Metro developer is throwing shade at the PC gaming market threatening that if Metro Exodus bombs on the PC we most likely won't see future Metro titles on the PC as the developer would seemingly go console exclusive.

How did this happen? One of the 4A Games developers posted on Russian board 'GAMEINATOR' where he touched on the review bombing of Metro Exodus on Steam make the developer hurt that it was trying to make a great game. Yeah, alright. The developer pushed a narrative that if Metro Exodus bombs in sales on the PC because of these review bombings on Steam, future Metro games (if there are any) will most likely not arrive on the PC.

The developer said:

I watched the bubbling. Impressions are twofold. On the one hand, the withdrawal from Steam is ambiguous, so no one has done so sharply (as far as I can tell). This is new, which could cause rejection. Yes, and such a move pulls the need to install the Epic launcher, which could cause some inconvenience to the players, and therefore cause discontent.

On the other hand, the reaction of a certain category of players is hardly adequate. It seems that people did not want to play, just waited for a reason to pour out their bile. That is, it turns out that we (the developers) for years have been hard and painful, with losses, trying to do something special, but a certain category of players believes that our work is not worth even a couple of minutes to install the launcher. Naturally, it is their life and their right, but then what do they care about Metro? Obviously, it is not interesting to them. I can only say that they were not our players either, they are not interested in our work, which means that, for example, the opinion of such people is not interesting for me either.

What is the point for me personally (and not only) to listen to their opinion? But! Consider the situation deeper. Someone says that if they crap Exodus and the previous games in the series, it will make the world better, they will put greedy developers in their place. To this, I can answer that in a pinch, if all the PC players announce a boycott of Metro Exodus, then the next Metro, if it does, is definitely not going to be on the PC. Better or worse, decide for yourself. I personally feel sorry for the loyal fans, yes. But my assessment of the work done personally by me and my friends and colleagues will not change this. I firmly know that almost everyone who pours this dirt on the net is also incapable of a bit of what we have done and hopefully do more. And that means they have no idea what they are talking about.

And further. Despite the fact that during the development I went through each level of each game, hell knows how many times, it is interesting for me to play Metro. I went through the previous parts completely and more than once, and now I am going to go through the whole PC version, to which we make the final touches. For me, this is already a tradition, I always replay the game completely before release. It allows you to evaluate the work done.

What is it for me? I remember the words of the Prof, which I have heard more than once, both from myself and on the Internet - the game must be made for myself, so that you like it first. And only now do I begin to understand this fully - no clever man can shake me about the value of the work that we have done. And there will always be disgruntled.

Metro Exodus launches on February 15 on Xbox One and PC and the only reason I'll be buying it is for benchmarking from a technological perspective, I almost don't want to test it all out of spite - and I think that is going to grow on me over the next two weeks. 4A Games really needs to come out and address this in a very calm manner, or the entire PC gaming community will bury them.

Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/64703/metro-exodus-developer-flips-threatens-pc-gamers/index.html

Sounds to me like extortion....Either kiss their rear and buy Metro through Epic "which im not against"....or no more PC Metro games ?

 

[whm1974]

Agreed, if they want my hard cash then they will need to put the on the platform I'm already using. I have zero issues with using Steam. I already have the first two METRO games for Linux from Steam.

 

[Regs]

They are maintaining the store infrastructure. Same reason Target or Walmart or Amazon gets a cut of sales. It is a reasonable expectation. 30% is excessive to me though, I am sure a lot of devs will be tempted to launch on Epic store since they have a lower cut. Same thing happened on Android with Fortnight, Epic didn't want to pay 30% to google so they went around them.

And priceless marketing and tracking data.

 

[Igo69]

These guys are sneaky they advertise their product on steam then pulled it from them and now want to sell it from their store. Aren't they suppose to pay to Steam for that?

Anyways, they will lose some revenue from this move. Look at Witcher 3 it was released everywhere even on GOG.com where you don't need additional software to install it and look they made a huge sum and that is not even the reason behind it it was because the game was awesome.

 

[sze5003]

I liked the first metro, don't think I played much of last light. This one looks decent but pretty taxing on the system. Not sure I want to get it unless I get it for the 4k on TV and Xbox one since they are forcing you to use their epic store front.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I am disappointed because I got a 50.00 Steam gift card for Christmas that I was planning to use to buy this game. Otherwise, I couldnt care less. I consider Steam basically a necessary evil, so I dont really care whether they get the game. I do hate to have to install another platform though, and I hope they have an offline mode. Seems the dev is, to use the old saying, "cutting off his nose to spite his face", because my feeling is that the money they save by not paying Steam for distribution will be offset by lost sales.

 

[ZGR]

Hopefully this game will pop up on Steam in a year or so. I only got Epic Launcher for Subnautica when it was free. Yeah, yeah, wishful thinking...

 

[ImpulsE69]

I think they said it was only exclusive for a year.

 

[zink77]

The reason devs have these attitudes is because gamers bent over 20 years ago and allowed game companies to steal games. First it was the rebranding of PC rpg's as mmo's to scam the dumb half of the PC gaming public. Then steam came out in 2004.

The reality is the internet undermined peoples ability to own software because the public is way too stupid to hold their money back when corporations intentions are clear to anyone with an above average IQ.

 

[aigomorla]

I really hope this game flomps and flomps hard.
Im sorry for you fans of Metro... but the DEV's have really shown me personally they dont give a doohicky about there audience and only care for sales and profits.

There is nothing wrong to care about sales and profits, but your fanbase should not be extorted like that.
I hope the other partners of the franchise realize the suicidal move this dev did, and tell him to go kick the can in the corner and live with it or leave the company.

 

[mooncancook]

They should just do what CD Projekt did with Witcher. Sell it on their own gog store and Steam, let the use decide where they want ro buy them from. I bought W3 from gog because I wanted to support the developer.

 

[aigomorla]

Actually i am reading from threads that it was not the dev's decision but 4A's.
However that i am not mad at the dev about.
What i am mad at the dev about is the fact they threatened us by saying if sales are not good, then dont expect another PC version.

That is what ticks me off.
There is nothing the child company do against the parent company.
EA and Activation has showed us this very well first hand that what they say is the highway, or the team can just GTFO and quit.

But what the DEV's messed up on was the front end in how they handle the audience.
I would of pushed it on the choice and decision laid down by 4A, apologize adamantly, not mention anything about looming sales will kill all future PC ports.

We live in a world now where media and slips can lead to career breaking / job termination outcomes.
The DEV's have just made that move, and allowed it to get pointed onto themselves and not the parent company.

I would be like all the others and just say Activision / EA is at fault, we are sorry we were told rush it or run for it. Please send your complaints are the parent company, as we are slaves for them.... the end..

 

[sze5003]

I wonder how the sales did because I read an article today saying the sales of division 2 surged even though they did not release on steam.

 

[Stg-Flame]

The physical copies of Metro Exodus come with a sticker covering the Steam logo in place of Epic's logo. Since the boxes were already made with Steam's logo printed on, this was a last-minute decision and it kinda makes me wonder what they aren't telling us. From a managerial standpoint, I've seen this (not video game development) happen on both sides. The managers are told one thing from higher ups and they say another to everyone else to placate them.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I don't get the controversy. They want to sell it on Epic store because they will make more money. Meh, never understand the adoration people have for steam, it is just another piece of software that I only run when I need to play a game I got from that store, just like origin, uplay, etc.

Let them sell it on every store that will have them: Epic, Steam, and GoG at least.

Then it was GOG

Just no. I don't need a different front end (which is bloatware advertising and tracking basically) for every freaking game.

Don't knock GoG! You don't have to use frontend software to run their games. If I could buy everything I wanted from GoG, I would.

I also don't see why Valve should have a cut of in game sales, that's a major reason for the companies leaving as well.

Valve needs to lower their cut. 30% was okay years ago. Today it's too high.

scam the dumb half of the PC gaming public.

The reality is the internet undermined peoples ability to own software because the public is way too stupid to hold their money back when corporations intentions are clear to anyone with an above average IQ.

Again with the insults. You aren't very nice to gamers in general.

They should just do what CD Projekt did with Witcher. Sell it on their own gog store and Steam, let the use decide where they want ro buy them from. I bought W3 from gog because I wanted to support the developer.

Yes! Heck why limit it to just Steam and GoG? Why not publish on Epic's store too? Let the consumer decide where and when to buy the product.

 

[Igo69]

I wonder how the sales did because I read an article today saying the sales of division 2 surged even though they did not release on steam.

They would've made even more sales if they released it on Steam.

 

[cytg111]

Its moronic yes, with all these delivery platforms, also, nothing to do with metro or 4A?
That dev is not making a threat is he stating a fact, a fact that was a fact when it was on steam and a fact when it was not a steam.
If it does not make money on the pc .... they will not make it for the pc.
Logic?

 

[aigomorla]

Epic needed the exclusive.
Its obvious they must of paid a ton in front end + probably receiving very little commission to get that exclusive.

4A in short must of been given a very delicious offer to piss off steam like that.
Im sure Steam will probably end up neutering 4A in every game from now on they wish to sell on steam.

So if Epic doesn't get big, which i highly doubt they will, the only real exclusive they have is forte night. They arent Origin/EA, or Bnet/Blizzard. People already are getting tired of forte night and the whole king of the hill scenario games like PUBG.

4A will probably end up being in trouble, as i am sure even Origin will now think twice before doing business with them. Not to mention steam will probably end up pushing a whole ton of legal law suits on them for breach of sales contract.

 

[Artorias]

I really hope this game flomps and flomps hard.
Im sorry for you fans of Metro... but the DEV's have really shown me personally they dont give a doohicky about there audience and only care for sales and profits.

There is nothing wrong to care about sales and profits, but your fanbase should not be extorted like that.
I hope the other partners of the franchise realize the suicidal move this dev did, and tell him to go kick the can in the corner and live with it or leave the company.

I like 4A as a game developer and see the Metro series as an alternate to the STALKER franchise.

I dont think we should vilify them yet without knowing if this was a publisher decision or not. Deepsilver to me seems like more of the culprit, I guess for whatever reason they didnt think Metro would sell well(read:not reach their over inflated target) so wanted cash up front.

 

[rstrohkirch]

I keep seeing people in this thread say developers. I searched online just now and the only articles I see about this is the one developer. The same one quoted in the OP of this thread. This one person's opinion should not be taken as a representation of the group which everyone seems to be doing here. Do you're opinions exactly match that of your co-workers? Yet it seems it's OK for that idea to be had of this game studio right now. Can you guys point to threads were his co-workers and management are posting the same things? If you can then fine but if you can't then ignore it.

Personally, overall I feel people are being a bit snowflaky about this individuals response.

 

[pineapple ice cream]

Well, that's just a funny situation, but Exodus has been hacked already. Interesting, what people who hate Epics will do - are they gonna wait a year to get the game on Steam or will simply download a hacked version?
I'm gonna wait I think.

 

[sze5003]

Well, that's just a funny situation, but Exodus has been hacked already. Interesting, what people who hate Epics will do - are they gonna wait a year to get the game on Steam or will simply download a hacked version?
I'm gonna wait I think.

According to Reddit a lot of people will pirate it then buy it on steam a year later.

 

[pineapple ice cream]

According to Reddit a lot of people will pirate it then buy it on steam a year later.

I think I would do the same if I were a real fan of the series. But I'm not a fan, there's no need to hurry for me.

 

[sze5003]

I would like to play 2033 and last light but I want the redux versions. I have the originals yet I don't want to pay $30 for the same games again. I'll probably wait for another steam sale.

 

[Mopetar]

The better solution would have been to just pass the savings on to the customer. That means the game is effectively cheaper on Epic's platform. Steam users can still purchase the game, but the convenience will cost them.

 

[DrMrLordX]

The better solution would have been to just pass the savings on to the customer. That means the game is effectively cheaper on Epic's platform. Steam users can still purchase the game, but the convenience will cost them.

I agree with that sentiment. Sadly, Epic seems determined to push publishers for exclusivity.