The Unreal series may have been shelved years ago, but Epic is letting its first two installments live on through the Internet Archive.

The Unreal series may have been shelved years ago, but Epic is letting its first two installments live on through the Internet Archive.

  • Glide@lemmy.caEnglish
    163·
    5 days ago

    While I don’t approve of Epic’s stabs at exclusivity, Steam needs a competitor to keep it in check, and one that is making some efforts to support the preservation of art is a welcome choice.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.ukEnglish
        36·
        5 days ago

        As much as I like them I don’t think you can call them a competitor.

        I’ve seen games that are available on both platforms that sell hundreds of times more copies on Steam simply because of steam’s reputation.

        A competitor actually has to be able to compete.

          • Glide@lemmy.caEnglish
            12·
            5 days ago

            My experience with GOG is that it is a fringe option, at least in the combined North American (USA+Canada) culture. Plus, the unfortunate reality is that in many cases GOG’s principles preclude it from being a genuine competitor to Steam. Insisting on being DRM free means half of released games never go to the platform, so it will always be the secondary “better if” option.

            I worry about Steam’s functional monopoly on PC game access. It hasn’t been an issue so far, because it has remembered that it is, first and foremost, a service, providing consumer protection through a generous refund policy and supporting devs with easy access to simple matchmaking and anti-cheat systems. But without a healthy competitor, it would be easy for Steam to start milking it’s users and developers alike.