Today has been a very busy day for Epic Games at the GDC 2019 event. After snagging Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 and Metro Exodus — which they’ve noted as selling 2.5 times more than Metro: Last Light which was on Steam — they’ve announced quite a handful of titles that are coming to the Epic Games Store. Check out the video below:
Epic Games Store Upcoming Exclusives
Some of the biggest titles include Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds and Remedy’s Control. The Outer Worlds has been hyped up by many gamers as a successor to Fallout, and perhaps something that would keep us entertained after the disappointment stemming from Bethesda’s Fallout 76. We don’t have a definite release date yet. Last month, however, a slip-up on SteamDB noted an August 6, 2019 launch. But hey, that was then on Steam, this is now on Epic.
The Outer Worlds will also be available on the Microsoft Store when it’s released on Epic’s platform. For those who wish to stick to Steam, the game will be out in 2020.
Meanwhile, Control, from Remedy, lets you experience the story of Jesse Fayden who tackles shady organizations, as well as paranormal, supernatural, and otherworldly creatures. Fayden will also be able to use powers such as telekinesis and levitation. The developers wish to avoid the mistakes they’ve made with a previous game, Quantum Break, and Control might see those lessons come to fruition. You can also check out Steven Wong’s interview with Control’s creative director, Sam Lake, to learn more about the game.
Control from Remedy.
Apart from these two games, Epic also managed to snag rights to distribute the PC versions of Quantic Dream’s big three — Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human. This deal, no doubt, is quite a shock considering that Quantic Dream has been developing games solely for Sony’s consoles until now. This exclusivity deal with Epic Games will also last for one year for all three titles upon their release.
Quantic Dream’s co-CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere noted the following:
“We are so grateful for twelve fantastic years of collaboration with Sony Interactive Entertainment and all they have allowed us to create and produce. With this new partnership with Epic, we can now expand our products to a wider fan base and allow PC players to enjoy our titles.”
Detroit: Become Human from Quantic Dream.
More Games
Epic’s storefront is expanding further by adding the following titles:
- The Sinking City
- Close to the Sun
- Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
- Dauntless
- Journey to the Savage Planet
- Industries of Titan
- Phoenix Point
- Trover Saves the Universe
- Kine
- The Cycle
- Afterparty
- Dangerous Driving
- Spellbreak
Two new titles have also been made available recently:
- Roller Coaster Tycoon Adventures
- Satisfactory
Satisfactory from Coffee Stain Studios (makers of Goat Simulator).
Last but not least, Epic and Humble Bundle have also announced a partnership that will allow keys to be distributed via Humble’s store. Epic will also not be receiving a share of the revenue for keys purchased through Humble Bundle.
All in all, it caps on heck of a big day for Epic and Tim Sweeney. The company has come under fire recently for its business tactics, storefront features (or lack thereof), and questions about data privacy. Sweeney himself has been very active on social media via Reddit and Twitter, answering questions and qualms that some users might have.
In any case, these are all landmark deals and announcements for Epic as it continues to build its platform. Whether they’ll achieve unequivocal success over Valve, or if players will eventually warm up to them still remain to be seen. You can also check out the EGS features/fixes roadmap publicly via Trello.
The Epic Games store has a small feature set because we chose to launch it as soon as we had the core feature set up and running, rather than waiting. See https://t.co/wEKiYaGCvH for our future roadmap!
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) March 15, 2019
