Outer Wilds is a space exploration game that is going to arrive on the Epic Games Store first, as announced by the devs.
It’s not The Outer Worlds, but it is also a game in which you get to explore space a bit and even get killed by space monsters. Another similarity between these two titles is that both are going to be Epic Game Store exclusives for a period of time. That’s what the devs announced on Fig in an update. We got the same reasons as always:
Throughout the development of the game, we’ve welcomed helpful partnerships with Annapurna Interactive, XBox, and Epic to support us and keep our small studio running long enough to ship the game at the level of quality that it is today. Each of these partnerships has enabled us to make the game better and more accessible for everyone who will play it.
How are the backers responding to this? As you can imagine, not in a good way, not at all. People bear strong hatred towards Epic and their exclusivity deals. Mostly because these deals force players to buy games on an inferior store that could have some connection to spyware, as Epic is Tencent’s partner for many years. Due to these fears and other things, 90% of gamers don’t like anything that has connections to the Epic Game Store.
Most of the backers say they feel betrayed by this decision, others said that they are even requesting a refund and will stop supporting this development team altogether. Tanner S., one of the backers, said:
I want you all to know that my experience backing your game is the reason I have never, and will never, back another one. Estimated deliver: Q2 2016 became Q2 2020 for your backers. Good work. You should be proud.
People have a right to be angry, as these sorts of things occur and backers have no say in it. The only thing they can do is ask for a refund, but it’s soul-crushing to see a game you backed for so long become exclusive on a digital distribution platform that you can never support.
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinions in the comments section down below!
