I was up for a Steam competitor. I signed up for the Epic store a few years back. Tried to get the first free game. It wasn't available in my region despite being plastered all over the store in my region. The exact same thing happened the next month. Both of those games were available on Steam in my region at some pretty low prices by then.

Then, Epic started paying for exclusivity, making games not available in my region at all. I had at least deleted their stupid app by then anyway. Fuck Epic entirely.

[–] fox_the_apprentice@lemmynsfw.com 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I was up for a Steam competitor.

GOG Galaxy has been good even before Epic Store existed.

[–] csolisr@communities.azkware.net 4 points 1 year ago

My only complaint about GOG is that developers treat it as an afterthought. Plenty of games that stop receiving updates, or are pulled out of the store entirely, while the Steam version remains maintained. Also, the required lack of DRM makes multiplayer online games relatively scarce.

[–] Underwaterbob@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

GOG is great. I have an account and have bought a few games there when I think of it. I just wish they had Souls games.

[–] greenmarty@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Used to have similar problem with Steam back in the day.

Edit: I like how some people disagree that i experienced something by downvote. It's not like i can change it or something 😅 👌

[–] Underwaterbob@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't doubt it, but I've been a pretty regular user since 2009, and I've never had a game advertised to me on the front page that wasn't available in my region. In fact, there are games I want that I know aren't available on Steam here, and the only way to get to the Steam page for them is by using a proxy or VPN. I definitely can't buy them with my account. It seems pretty amateurish of Epic to advertise unavailable games and to even let me click "buy" before telling me I can't buy it. Maybe they've fixed that by now, but whatever. The paid exclusivity bullcrap showed me where their priorities lie.

[–] rengoku2@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are mistakes being done unintentionally when you develop complex software.

Take my example, Humble showed me Bandai Namco game that I could not even get in a bundle. So out of 10 games, I received 9, while other regions receive 10.

That is even worse than Epic's (probably honest) mistake.

[–] Underwaterbob@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago

Humble isn't trying to compete with Steam or Epic, and they don't engage in the anti-consumer practice of paying off developers for exclusive access to games.

I'm aware of the complexities of software development. If Epic seriously wanted to compete with Steam, they really should have tried harder to provide a better service instead of trying to buy loyalty through free games and exclusivity contracts.

[–] greenmarty@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not amaterish anymore than GOG or Steam giving out free games back in the day. Even before it used to be magazines with free games on CDs. I still have these games in my libraries. It's widely used strategy by bigger business to start new departments or even child companies. It's why they say money makes money.

[–] Underwaterbob@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's amateurish that their store advertised games to me that were unavailable to me. I'm no code whiz, but it can't be that hard to chuck in an if (region == false) then !advertise; Valve and GOG don't seem to have any problems with that.

I have no issue with them giving away free games. Too bad that and the paid exclusives don't earn them a loyal customer base. Maybe if they'd put more effort into their store. Like maybe not advertising region locked games to regions where they're not available.

[–] greenmarty@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

That part i agree. It's not that unrealistic with their budget .