Several developers begin to reject being exclusive to the Epic Games Store for fear of the bad publicity that their game will receive
The money received and the best commissions in the Epic Store do not convince developers. Attacks in response to exclusives from Borderlands 3, Metro Exodus, Control, The Outer Worlds and more are putting developers back.
Buying exclusives for the Epic Games Store is giving too much to talk about due to public reactions. For practical purposes, it is installing a launcher more than millions of people have to play Fortnite, and the developers receive money that helps them to be more viable. But the human being is an animal of habit and games that end up with a certain exclusivity in the Epic Games Store end up being criticized.
Fear of criticism is causing developers not to accept deals with Epic Games
This exaggerated and very childish behavior for not wanting to open more than one launcher, extended to a certain paraboia that Epic Games sells data or spy for other governments, is giving developers suspicions. A small or medium-sized computer can benefit from an income of money in exchange for making the exclusive game of a digital store whose download has a zero cost. Phoenix Point received two million dollars and some larger games will receive more, not counting the exemption of payments for the use of the Unreal Engine.
But money couldn't repair the brand damage that various games will take. A Rise of Industry developer commented on his Discord channel that they received an offer from Epic Games and that possible criticism from users led him to reject the offer. Factorio developers also had this dilemma when Epic Games contacted them to make the game an exclusive to their store.
There is also the problem that the game will sell considerably less than on Steam by reaching fewer people when sold in a single store. Although this was already an initial problem when accepting exclusivity. Users are being vocal about their decision to boycott Epic but this behavior is only hurting developers who have better payment conditions than on Steam, better visibility and an exclusivity agreement that ensures money could help them make the games more profitable without damaging the players.
Source: Reddit
