![]() In most countries, laws give fundamental rights over stuff we buy. Platforms already have refund procedures which are usually better than consumer rights anyway, and that’s because the game industry is very public-facing. Most refund policies are already more generous than the law But generally speaking, consumers have benefited from the Epic Game Store’s arrival. It’s definitely inconvenient that PC gaming has been further splintered by yet another platform that you have to install, and publishers never should've made exclusivity deals when their games had already been promised publicly for Steam. The exclusives on Epic's store are still accessible to anyone who owns a PC, and they don't last forever. Gabe Newell told Edge magazine: "In the long term, everybody benefits from the discipline and the thoughtfulness it means you have to have about your business by having people come in and challenge you." Rather than fret about exclusivity, Newell is more concerned about the walled garden of Apple's App Store. When developers get more money or better tools, they make better games.Īnd Valve apparently welcomes the competition. And while Valve still hasn’t budged on its split, it’s having to justify it like never before, actively adding features to Steam at a brisk pace. The knock-on effect for gamers is that developers enjoy higher profits that they can reinvest in development. (Image credit: 4A Games)Įpic is more generous than Steam with its revenue split, with developers getting 88/12, compared to Steam’s base split of 70/30. They want to create products you’re going to enjoy and to keep you satisfied, but I think it's very important for consumers to be loud and complain when they’re not satisfied, because companies will respond to reputational risk."ĭespite the Epic store having many positives, games being abruptly pulled from Steam before launch was wrong. "You need to recognise that these companies are mostly about making money. Rheingold is a fighter for rights beyond what we buy: He's testified to both houses of Congress on various finance and mortgage lending issues, and previously worked in housing and welfare advocacy. "If you expect a company will have your best interests at heart, I think that would be a bad expectation," says Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates. When should we be loud, and how should we complain? When is a business practice truly ‘anti-consumer?' Understanding the concept of consumer rights is both more important than ever and also more complicated, and it’s easy to feel powerless and frustrated, especially when the conversation rarely extends beyond 'voting with your wallet.' Game companies frame buying their products like joining a community-a family-adding strong emotions to the process of buying a game. If they change how a game plays in ways we don’t like, we can’t go back to the old version. If they choose to stop supporting a game, we might not be able to play it any more. On the other hand, our pastime is in the hands of large companies more than ever before. There are some upsides: The idea of games-as-a-service has led to vast, rich online games that are constantly updated and improved upon.
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