Why no steam release?

@o0-dagnome-0o said in Why no steam release?:

@sir-rhavi I would argue with this as many games are becoming cross platform via "Play anywhere" which is just an evolved games for windows.

I honestly don't see your argument. There is nothing that stops steam from having cross-play, there IS cross-play already on steam. Do you think there is some secret Xbox hardware in your pc that allows it? No. Xbox, Playstation and PC are all running on the same hardware. The only thing stopping cross-play in every platform is that Microsoft doesn't want it to happen.

@o0-dagnome-0o Its actually very possible to achieve that on steam. And why on earth would any game sell on steam if they can sell it themselves and keep the profits? Because steam is a 125 MILLION active player pool. Make 20% less selling it on steam sure, but you also sell 1000% more.
Microsoft just wants the xbox app to be a thing, which is sad, because there are great games that go literally unnoticed on the PC because it is only on the Microsoft store.

Excuse me for the slight necro and maybe there are points that have already been addressed but I could not sit here and watch this thread without adding my two cents.
First I'll note that I love the game, it's awesome. It just has some questionable decisions and a few improvements to make.

• Windows 7 is not a 'Death OS', many people prefer using W7. And for good reasons. If 'in a business it's about dollars' then naturally you'd want to appeal to the biggest portion of the audience, that's basic economics. Appeal to W7, W8, W10. Linux and Mac might also give a small increase, and it's not hard when your game is built in UE4.
• You say yourself that Microsoft Store's systems are 'lacking'. Steam is very easy to implement into your game and very easy for players to use. Everyone has it, everyone understands it. Inviting someone after they for some mysterious reason dropped out of the game is currently impossible. When I use my official Microsoft XBOX One controller, in Sea of Thieves (an official Microsoft Store game) to press the official Microsoft 'menu' button. Nothing happens. That's odd.
• You lose 20-30% of the earnings. I cannot argue with this. BUT, if you sell your game on Steam you are guaranteed to get way more sales, and the game will be alive for longer. I have no statistics to back this up with but I can say this with 100% certainty.
• 'Steam is growing too big and we need a concurrent'. Couldn't agree more Vandaelium. Windows Store is not going to be that concurrent though. Microsoft makes highly questionable decisions nowadays and Windows Store is not an exception.

If you're not willing to accept that Steam is the better decision right now because way more people would buy it, then you can't come with the argument that 'in a business it's about dollars'. You're not even trying.

@galaxyzd said in Why no steam release?:

Excuse me for the slight necro and maybe there are points that have already been addressed but I could not sit here and watch this thread without adding my two cents.
First I'll note that I love the game, it's awesome. It just has some questionable decisions and a few improvements to make.

• Windows 7 is not a 'Death OS', many people prefer using W7. And for good reasons. If 'in a business it's about dollars' then naturally you'd want to appeal to the biggest portion of the audience, that's basic economics. Appeal to W7, W8, W10. Linux and Mac might also give a small increase, and it's not hard when your game is built in UE4.
• You say yourself that Microsoft Store's systems are 'lacking'. Steam is very easy to implement into your game and very easy for players to use. Everyone has it, everyone understands it. Inviting someone after they for some mysterious reason dropped out of the game is currently impossible. When I use my official Microsoft XBOX One controller, in Sea of Thieves (an official Microsoft Store game) to press the official Microsoft 'menu' button. Nothing happens. That's odd.
• You lose 20-30% of the earnings. I cannot argue with this. BUT, if you sell your game on Steam you are guaranteed to get way more sales, and the game will be alive for longer. I have no statistics to back this up with but I can say this with 100% certainty.
• 'Steam is growing too big and we need a concurrent'. Couldn't agree more Vandaelium. Windows Store is not going to be that concurrent though. Microsoft makes highly questionable decisions nowadays and Windows Store is not an exception.

If you're not willing to accept that Steam is the better decision right now because way more people would buy it, then you can't come with the argument that 'in a business it's about dollars'. You're not even trying.

The discussion is settled.

@tobyonekenobe If you're familiar with gamedev, it's should't. There is no need to have a second build simply because the game architecture is universal - it already supports all OS, it just doesn't sell anywhere except MS Store! There is no cache integrity check, no Local Administration options in MS store, it is lacking in everything compared to Steam, which was developed for usually very demanding PC users specifically. Which is why MS forced Rare to release only there.

@hamz-q said in Why no steam release?:

There's no use in letting it be sold via Steam, since it's run by Valve and they take 20-30% of all earnings - Besides, Microsoft has their own system where it's completely free, so they'd gain nothing from selling via Steam.

Except for more customers...

@cmanney The majority of their income is console based..

Regardless Microsoft could buy steam multiple times over every year through their aquisitions budget..

@keasy3 its crazy their acquisition budget, they could buy sony 7 times over per year :p

I don’t see why you would even need it on steam since it doesn’t really matter. MS Shop makes it available to crossplay which makes playing with friends easier if they don’t have computers. Besides, the MS Shop is a default app which already exists in your windows so why would you need it on steam? Just create an account and you’re good to go.

Geez, people...

And stop with the ”it’s unfair to play against pc as a console player”. As long as you aren’t LITERALLY looking for a fight 24/7 you’ll be alright. It’s not a competetive game.

@cmanney said in Why no steam release?:

@hamz-q they would gain a large audience of players. How can you expect a game to do well on microsoft store when the whole app is complete garbage. Put it on steam so people can actually download, install and launch the game without issues? I think that would be a win for them.

I'm sorry but "how can you expect a game to do well" argument is invalidated by the fact that it's a Rare release. Rare is one of the most talked about companies right now, and EVERYONE who is a gamer has heard about this game. If people want it, they know where it is available.

@hamz-q Well that's where your wrong kiddo, I think you'll find that some people out there, including me, will not buy this game as it is not on steam, I will tell you why but mostly it has to do with human attatchment and bias, if this game is not on steam then I will not have the emotional satifaction that I want out of the game, this is mainly that I won't be able to gain achievements, I won't be able to use the steam overlay to invite friends or use the overlay when I'm waiting for a game etc and I won't be able to use the SoT discussion tab in steam, it may be true that I also have WoW and League, but they are a seperate argument (it mainly involves the way they set up their social aspects), with windows store we have less gaming freedom than you may realise, compared to steam, the windows store does not allow for users to turn off V-sync, take advantage of SLI and has a considerable lack of ability to use macros and many more, the point im trying to make is that the majority of dedicated pc gamers will stay clear of the windows store, meaning that SOT will miss out on a huge revenue, why else do you think michrosoft store isn't that popular. (Also steam sales)