> I buy games from Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store and GOG precisely because those stores have no bloated features unrelated to DRM crammed down your throat.
Absolutely unhinged opinion.
> I buy games from Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store and GOG precisely because those stores have no bloated features unrelated to DRM crammed down your throat.
Absolutely unhinged opinion.
Yeah, I have a bunch of free games on the Epic store, because they were giving them out. I still buy them on Steam because the Epic launcher is just so awful.
But why? What specifically is awful about it compared to Steam?
Steam has Comprehensive library management with categories, tags, and collections, Built-in screenshot/video capture and sharing, Steam Workshop for mods and user-generated content, Robust review system, Steam Cloud saves with reliable sync, Family sharing and parental controls, Active discussion forums for each game, Stable, well-tested interface refined over 20+ years, Offline mode that actually works reliably, Big Picture mode for TV/controller use3
Epic: Basic library management, No user reviews system, Missing social features like forums, No mod support integration, Inconsistent cloud save functionality, Aggressive exclusive deals that remove games from other platforms, Perceived as "buying" market share rather than earning it, Heavy reliance on free games to attract users, Slower, less responsive launcher, More frequent bugs and crashes, Limited offline functionality Fewer accessibility options, No linux support and aggressive stance against free software in general.
The only store that really stands out in that list is GOG so I don't really see it appropriately bundled with the others in the article. It's the one store with no DRM, you own the game. And you'll own it when the current owner/CEO dies and is replaced by a rent seeking MBA who charges you $10/mo to maintain access to the library of games you already "own" (for those who don't already do that).
For the rest of the stores some are better than others but at the end of the day they're "better features" rather than fundamentally better, like GOG is. Because ultimately what I'm doing is buying a game, not a forum or a review (as useful as those are), and definitely not renting a game.
This. Everybody must remember that Steam doesn't sell games. It sells a license to run games on Steam.
You "have" games on Steam as much as you "have" the apartment you're currently renting.
Epic game store is like 99% crypto trash. Microsoft store is pretty terrible and I cant imagine microsoft cares about this "problem" more then Valve does.
GOG is pretty great.
Also absolutely not true. GOG games ship by default with their Galaxy Runtime SDK built against for savegame sync unless you download one of their legacy installers; any game bought on Microsoft Store adds several containerization features that usually end up requiring a fully separate build.
Some of those examples are almost parodistic, specifically compared to the Epic Games Store equivalent offered. It feels there's something missing from the full story presented here.
OTOH steam launcher has a lot of features not related to playing games: friends, items, achievements, forums, workshops, screenshot sharing... Useful for some but not for all. Is that not the definition of bloat?
And the library management is pretty basic. And the whole thing is slowwww. Especially, if you don't know what to play and need to look at multiple store pages to figure out what those games are about. I switched to Playnite
Could you explain why? I haven't used any of them so to me it just sounds like you're stating your own very strong opinion.
The article mentions things like input APIs, so I kind of understand where the author is coming from. As someone who doesn't play a lot of games, it sounds like a very valid opinion to me.
I figured that I was reading yet another gamer plea to just use GOG due to lack of DRM and instead we got… this. The MS store even has a weird save game format so you can’t transfer game saves between stores.
Totally lost any credibility to the rest of the article
Some communities would brutally murder him for this opinion.