Metro Exodus Removed Off Steam, Decision Unfair, Says Valve

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By Zak Storey
published

Has Fortnite sounded the death knell for Valve? Yesterday publisher Deep Silver made the decision to pull Metro Exodus from Steam, giving exclusivity in its entirety to the Epic Games Store instead. The AAA title has been available on the Epic Store for some time, and came packing an additional 16% saving to entice customers over to the new platform. However it was still available for purchase on Steam, albeit for roughly $10/£10 more, at least until yesterday.

Valve came out earlier today, with a statement (that you can find on the Metro Exodus store page), stating that the decision to pull the game from Steam was “unfair to Steam customers”. The game will of course still be accessible to those that pre-ordered it on Valve’s platform come the 15th of February, however it won’t return for sale on Steam until February 2020, a year later.

Despite the decision, THQ Nordic, parent company to Koch Media, which owns both Deep Silver and the Metro Exodus IP, has stated that this has nothing to do with them, and that Koch Media is in fact a “sister company”, and therefore they “can and will not comment on this matter”. You can read the full statement reported by Tweaktown here.

So why the decision? Well it all comes down to revenue cuts. In short (and no doubt in part to the gargantuan success of Fortnite), the Epic Store only takes a 12% revenue cut from any and all purchases, versus Valve’s 30% (or 25% if the game makes over $10/£7.64 million in revenue). On top of that Epic will also cover the cost of utilizing the Unreal Engine 4 as well, making the platform far more attractive to indie developers and clearly AAA publishers alike. Is this the beginning of the end for Valve? Or the start of a much needed battle royale in the industry? Only time, will tell.

Zak Storey
Zak Storey

As Associate Editor of Tom's Hardware's prestigous British division, Zak specializes in system building, case reviews and peripherals, and has a particular penchant for liquid-cooling. He's also a lover of all things Viking/Scandinavian (thus the poor attempt at a beard).

24 Comments Comment from the forums
  • shrapnel_indie
    THQ Nordic has a right to do what they want with the Metro IP. But, Valve may need to look at their pricing model if they don't want this to be a trend.

    Woe to all of us though IF Valve does go under, taking steam with it, as that would mean any game in your library NOT installed may become unavailable without plunking down your cash again if still available for sale somewhere.

    EDIT: I guess I have to emphasise something in my original post...
    Reply
  • XaveT
    "Woe to all of us though if Valve does go under, taking steam with it, as that would mean any game in your library NOT installed may become unavailable without plunking down your cash again if still available for sale somewhere."

    This is exactly why huge game platforms like this are a bad idea. I've been on Steam for 14 years at this point, and very, very rarely buy anything on there, just in case. Besides the upcoming platform wars, I just hate the idea that if Valve decides to nuke my account (or any reason), I have lost hundreds/thousands of dollars. It's the "putting all your eggs in one basket" metaphor taken to PC gaming.
    Reply
  • jaexyr
    Now I'm kinda siding with Valve
    Reply
  • Snipergod87
    Well i know I wont get stuff if its not on the steam store so one less game for me to buy.
    Reply
  • Mr5oh
    21725563 said:
    "Woe to all of us though if Valve does go under, taking steam with it, as that would mean any game in your library NOT installed may become unavailable

    Ummm, since many games don't work without Steam being online, expect to basically be "pirating" or cracking the game you legally bought anyways... This is why physical media was so nice. Just the other day I was telling my son there were Simpsons video games (we were watching the show) and I was able to pull out my copy of Simpsons Hit and Run for the PC install it, and we played it without issue. Same can't be said on this digital stuff when servers start to go offline a decade from now when people start to feel nostalgic.



    Reply
  • drivinfast247
    Yeah its BS! I was looking forward to this game. I'll still be playing it but it won't be on Steam or Epic Games.
    Reply
  • derekullo
    21725612 said:
    21725563 said:
    "Woe to all of us though if Valve does go under, taking steam with it, as that would mean any game in your library NOT installed may become unavailable

    Ummm, since many games don't work without Steam being online, expect to basically be "pirating" or cracking the game you legally bought anyways... This is why physical media was so nice. Just the other day I was telling my son there were Simpsons video games (we were watching the show) and I was able to pull out my copy of Simpsons Hit and Run for the PC install it, and we played it without issue. Same can't be said on this digital stuff when servers start to go offline a decade from now when people start to feel nostalgic.



    Steam has been around since 2003.

    Why would the next decade be different from the last decade?

    It isn't like they have an outdated renting model like blockbuster.

    Even your precious Simpsons Hit and Run CD will eventually deteriorate and become unreadable.
    Reply
  • rantoc
    No it wasn't unfair, while i like Steam - Epic takes less of a cut and some of that in turn was put towards the customers in this case
    Reply
  • lazymangaka
    Competition is typically a good thing. I've used Steam for years and have hundreds of games through them, but it always could be better.

    HOWEVER, competition in tech all too often leads to the demise of one of the competitors. While I don't think that Epic is going to put Valve out of business, the possibility is certainly there, and it would mean millions of customers losing access to what may be the bulk of their PC game library. There's a real, if unlikely, danger in that for us consumers. With so many places to buy games these days on the PC, we should be accounting for future accessibility when making our decisions. Companies like GoG becoming increasingly attractive for support of DRM-less downloads, enabling user backups.

    And, as an aside, I don't need another damned game launcher. FFS. Steam. Blizzard. GoG. Epic. Twitch. Origin. Whatever the Ubisoft one is that I forget my password to every time. When is enough enough?
    Reply
  • d--anderson
    Valve aren't going anywhere anytime soon, they still basically have a monopoly on gaming platforms. Let's not forget that competition is good - I would gladly welcome a change where I won't have to pay $120AUD($86USD) for a newly released triple A game. As much as I dislike the inconvenience of using multiple platforms, being priced out of the market is a greater problem.
    Reply