people defending steam lmao

You are talking, like gog release of Phoenix Point wasn't also cancelled.

Cancelled or Delayed? AFAIK the current situation is that he has an 1y exclusive deal after which he is allowed to sell it on GoG and Steam. That still requires GoG and Steam taking it though.

Which I hope they do (or GoG at least). Not doing so would just look like hurt ego and push some of those that waited to go to Epic.

There's always a small chance that they could, or might "forget" or have moved on by the time the deadline shows.

Yes, my mistake - it's one year delay, not total cancellation. But my point still stands - Steam wasn't the only party affected. GOG suffers because of Epic shananigans too.

Where are these youtubers come from ? Is there a special breeding facility ?

also to whoever was claiming backers/pissed off customers were not entitled anything from snapshot, that they had no legal liability or responsability towards customers and such...

i may add one piece of info that got underlooked:

after the crowdfunding/crowdinvesting campaign on Fig was over and was locked down/secured (along with the money they got from backers and investors) there had been another problematic event, afaic, from Snapshot, prior to them going to seek out distribution deal with Epic Games:

snapshot set up an online store of their own on their website, where they SOLD the game (as preorder) in three different tiers... That's right: they pre-sold steam and gog copies of the game through their own website.

now please, enlighten the stupid peasant i am, and tell me that when a store get paid by a customer for a product, said store has no damn legal liability or obligation toward the paying customer, and that any feature or product's characteristic advertized in order to get the purchase made by the customer worths nothing and is totally (and above all, perfectly legally) ok ?

i'm very interested in seeing any other store or product pulling same string and get away easily with it without some serious consumer-law backlash...

This is really their biggest problem, as far as I can see it. Any crowdfunding thing said can be chalked on promises and the backers are doing it on goodwill alone. But if they have sold it specifically after the fact with specific platforms in mind, that as a whole might be a genuine problem for them.

Then again, I have no idea how many copies they have actually sold like this and it might just as well be so few, that reimbursing the customer is hardly more than a nuisance.

i think their communication about the "if we were to refund 100% of the preorders, we would still be in the black" were related with that... (as they clearly displayed no damn given to the backers and they dont feel any obligation - neither legal nor moral - toward the crowdfunding users... but the glorious discord message specifically mentionned "preorders")

so basically they knew they would screw people up but they knew their deal with epic was over-covering that screw up, so, you know, it was a "difficult decision" to make for them (hell yeah: i can get advantage, without bothering of any consequence or liability... what could stop me from doing something in such circumstances ?)

my main problem aint only with Snapshot and Epic individually or together, but to the damage they are doing to the industry... because they are doing damage to customers, but also to other fellow devs (because THEY will have to del with the consequence of increased defiance and unwillingness from potential customers or backers for their own games, and incidentally, they wont be able to come to epic begging for money because, as they won't have same 0%-interest-loan weight to back their claim in any deal discussion with epic, they sure wont be entitled to any deal at all... they wont be able to go to epic saying "ok because of your generous deal with others, you made it overdifficult for us to appeal to investors/customers so YOU'll give us a good deal to compensate that"; can hear epic laughing hard at their face in that situation)

so, this whole story damaged:
- customers
- crowdfunding
- other devs studios
- a whole niche gaming genre
- and posibly yet other bad consequences we cannot yet figure out clearly

so, yeah, snapshot, as a business, you obviously were right to secure the wages of your employees for one full year worth of work (and making post launch content, that would be sold too, or maybe cutting base-game content off its release to sell the separate bits later on as dlc); but i hope the Epic deal and the game's sales will bring you some warchest big enough to fund your next project, because i have the feeling that preordering and backers customers may not be as gullible and willing to help you next time. So what's good elongating your studio's lifespan for one more year if after that, survival and making any second project will because way harder and risky ? you really think papa Epic will completely fund your next game ? they are not buying your studio (like microsoft does), they just secured some distribution rights...

inB4 devs that will use "marketing argument" of "we won't make exclusivity deal, we promise" in their own projects (though they can completly say it without upholding such term afterwards... beauty in irony)

Im a huge Xcom fan, both the originals and the new remakes. Im not sure how I didnt know about this, but I would have immediately backed it. I will not buy it after this, probably even after it comes to GoG. I would only back a game that is being developed for and released on GoG, so changing after taking your money is a huge betrayal.

Not to mention the issues of false advertising when you paid for something as it was advertised and then it is changed without your consent. And OK, they are giving refunds, but what about them taking an interest free loan from the time you backed until you got your refund?

They should not be able to change once they start taking money. Its like preordering a game for Playstation and them coming out as an Xbox exclusive right before release. Not to mention Epic is just another DRM parasite, which is evident by this being the second game they entered a deal that screws over paying customers. It shows Epic is desperate to get people on their platform by any means necessary.

No thanks, Epic, I would never consider installing your malware after this no matter what exclusives you buy. After backing Battletech and them forcing you to log into PDX to acces your backer rewards and some other stuff, I was weary about backing anything else. This just affirms my skepticism and I will likely never back another game. This does harm the industry for the simple fact that if they not accountable to backers at all, much less people will be willing to back a project.

The screwed up thing is that Snapshot (the devs) approached Epic; along with the urging of the Fig Investors.

That's interesting. I did not know about the pre-order purchases through their own website.

What we will all find out over the next year is:
How many people do apply for a refund.
How sales for the game go on Epic.
How big is the faction of pc gamers who actually care enough about client/platform to change their spending behavior.

And that last one is the one I wonder most about. There's no question that a very vocal group of gamers is stirring the pot against Epic and against Phoenix Point. But how many people will avoid buying the game as a result? Even how many people spewing outrage on the forums will refrain from purchasing for a year?

During the Metro Exodus flair-up, I followed a thread by an outraged poster who later on conceded that he was going to buy the game on his console instead. As if that was some kind of worthwhile protest. As angry as he was, he was not going to wait a whole year to play the game.

I don't really care about having multiple clients. And so, I don't really consider the change in platform a big betrayal by Pheonix Point devs. I understand the GOG people balking, because now they won't get a DRM-free copy, and that matters a lot to them. And I hope they get full refunds and a GOG availability down the road. But people who are just angry about it being on Epic instead of Steam... Well, I suspect that those people will just crumble in the next few months and buy all their favorite games on Epic. They may grumble, but they will get used to having the Epic client. And that will be that. A moment's outrage will fade.

oO

So basically everything one backed on fig is fucked?

edit:
Time for a classic: http://oi68.tinypic.com/2wefbxu.jpg ;)

And that's exactly why these business practices will continue.

But this has been said a great many times already, and you know this song and dance as well as I do.