They snap, go bankrupt, get dissolved, dysfunct, disappear!

But do you really want to support a platform that is clearly anti-consumer and "competes" by forcefully taking away consumer choice? Not to forget being owned in part by a company with close ties to the Chinese government.
Don't know about you but all that is definitely something to consider before even signing up with the Epic store and installing their "trojan horse" of a client/launcher.

- I don't consider it any worse than Steam. Which I don't try to support either.
- "close ties to the Chinese government", "trojan horse" ... Let's try to have a rational non-political conversation here.

I don't like Steam and most of their business practices as much as the other guy, but like I said before, compared to the Epic store they're the lesser evil here.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/developing-epic-games-launcher-appears-to-collect-your-steam-friends-play-history-epic-responds-see-op.105385/

Just so that you don't have to sift through pages and pages or look it up on the Epic store website itself:

"(2) Information Collected Automatically When You Use Our Websites, Games, and Applications

We collect some information automatically when you visit our websites or use our games, game engines, and applications. If a combination of information that we collect does identify you as an individual, we will treat the combined information as personal information. We typically aggregate the data that we collect automatically and use it in statistical form to determine trends among groups of users, rather than using it to identify individuals.
We collect information automatically through technologies such as web browsers, cookies, log files, web beacons, and our back-end servers collect usage data transmitted from our games and other software. We use the information for purposes such as modifying or improving features, managing advertising, addressing technical issues, preventing fraud or misuse of our services, and conducting data analytics. The type of information that we automatically collect may vary, but generally includes:

- Technical information about your computer, device, hardware, or software you use to access the Internet or our services, such as IP address or other transactional or identifier information for your device (such as device make and model, information about device operating systems and browsers, or other device or system related specifications);
- Usage information and statistics about your interaction with our websites, games, game engines, and applications, which may include the URLs of our websites that you have visited, URLs of referring and exiting pages, page views, time spent on a page, number of clicks, platform type, the application you used or the game you played, how long you used or played it and when, and other usage statistics;
- Crash reports, which may be automatically generated when a game or application crashes and includes information about your system and the crash;
- Information that facilitates a safer and more personalized experience, such as your display name or other user identification provided in connection with your application use or game play, saved preferences, game progress, and device identifiers or usage information for authentication and fraud prevention purposes;
- The location of your device, such as may be derived from your device’s IP address.

Please note that if certain features on our website are provided by third parties, those third parties may also use automated means of data collection and may record information about your use of our website or others’ websites over time. These features are subject to those third parties’ privacy notices and policies."

All the hate (while justified) against Epic Games Store makes me wonder if we PC gamers prefer having less choices in our Game Clients then more.

Because I think Digital Distribution is not the kind of environment where the "More options = More competition" philosophy actually works in?

Digital Distribution is a completely alien animal in to the competitive market I think? Or at least in the case of digitally providing video games.

Well, more competition is better in most cases. However if that competition happens to be the Mafia, the market gets worse for everybody except the Mafia. Sure you might get certain products cheaper, but they'll break your legs if you don't buy their product. Don't need their product? Then you don't need to walk.

Yes, competition is good - but there needs to be some minimum ethical standard lest the entire industry be dragged down as a whole with consumers being expendable after being drained dry and left to rot in a ditch.

If you buy this AT ALL even after the exclusivity period, you show that you support anticonsumer behavior by making it ok for them to monopolize a game for a year.

I got mine too. At least that confirmation was sent. I was worried that there would be no confirmation or notification and that the period for the refund would have a tinge of mysteriousness over whether the form survived its travels through the perils of the Internet to Snapshot Games. Now we must wait for the actual refund...

It...really doesn't do that at all. It shows that you denied them money they could have had a year earlier otherwise, and companies would much rather have money now than later.

Well, duh! In fact, I would say that many people prefer to have less choices - because each time you choose sometihg it's such a stress to decide what to choose. The only reason why people demand more choice is when existing choice doesn't satisfy them. In other words - no one wants to have more choices, everyone wants a single choice that fits own desires.

as i said, "more" competition just for the sake of having more doesnt always mean it is either a good or a healthy competition

i prefer having fewer DECENT/GOOD choices rather than have more BAD choices

For years i had scrutinized, dissected, analized and watched (from my modest ways and means) the architecture, behavior and telemetry of various games digital distribution clients from the perspective of my own self (a concerned user that has legitimate reasons to desire to keep most of the control and ownership over his own computer, operating system and user data)
i had seen clients displaying what were "flaws" or "bad ideas" afaic and never correcting them regardless of any major feedback about that (let alone talking about minor feedback of fewer users), i had seen some "becoming better" or at least "less awful", and i had see atrocious pieces of garbage. From steam client, to Uplay (yuuuuurk) or Origins (not fan but they did came a long way) and such...
Even GOG's Galaxy has, for me, questionable or problematic behavior or design features (or lack of it); at least enough of "cons" to outweight any possible "pro" for me at least...

i don't see how getting yet another featureless, buggy and bad architectured, missbehaving (regarding OS), and suspiciously scanning and telemetry sending NEW choice can ever be considered as a good thing, consumer-wise...
it's not just about stress and such, but, yes, you are right here:

as an individual, i dont want to be forced to juggle with many different choices that will each bear inconvenients and disadvantage for me, but yet being forced to use several choices at once just to be able to purchase and play the range of products that interest me that would be scattered through store/publisher exclusives

as a customer, though, i'm happy if there are enough different choices that help each and everyone within the customer base as a whole to find one solution (or two, stretching a little) that suits each one's need. This is what "good and healthy" competition and multiplication of available offer means to me.

One store may be of no use for me but fits someone else's needs perfectly fine, i dont need or want everyone to just be restricted to my own standards (but the opposite is true as well: i dont want my own choices and needs to be restricted by everyone else's needs/lack of need/inertia/lazyness/whatever)

Someone Needs to take a Class action lawsuit out on EPIC, for the Bullshit they're pulling.

You have GOT to be KIDDING ME! https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/11/14-year-old-video-game-cheater-sued-mom-defends-him/

Seems reasonable to me