Steam has commented on Metro Exodus leaving its distribution platform, and they don't seem too pleased.

Deep Silver and Epic Games announced this morning that the upcoming release of 4A Games’ Metro Exodus will soon be made available exclusively through the Epic Games Store on PC, which is a decision that many publishers seem to be considering more and more as of late. However, in the process, this move also burns that of other digital distribution platforms with the most notable being that of Valve’s Steam — and Steam doesn’t seem too pleased about this.

Following the Metro Exodus announcement earlier, Steam updated the store page for the game and included a statement about the future of the title on its storefront. While the statement assured those who have already purchased the game via Steam will still receive the product, the message also commented on the move as a whole.

Steam’s message seemed to be one of frustration, though it conveyed that this was because the move was one that is “unfair to Steam customers” due to how long it has been available on the platform already. Furthermore, the statement also apologized for the short notice because the decision was given to them very recently from Deep Silver.

The full message regarding the move to Epic’s platform on the Metro Exodus Steam page read as follows:

“We think the decision to remove the game is unfair to Steam customers, especially after a long pre-sale period. We apologize to Steam customers that were expecting it to be available for sale through the February 15th release date, but we were only recently informed of the decision and given limited time to let everyone know.”

Despite having a near-monopoly on the distribution market only a few months back, it seems like Steam and Valve are starting to experience growing annoyance about the exclusivity nature that Epic has scored as of late. While games like The Division 2 and Metro Exodus are only a small drop in the bucket compared to the litany of releases that arrive annually, these moves to Epic’s platform seem to signal a larger shift that could be occurring in the industry.

This message released via Steam is also an interesting one because it’s the first time that a comment about the Epic Games Store has really been touched on from Valve. This distribution war between the two storefronts seems to be one of the biggest threads as we continue on through 2019, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens from here.

Metro Exodus, on the other hand, releases next month on February 15 for PC, Xbox One, and PS4.

Posted: Jan 28, 2019 7:03 pm
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/steam-comment-metro-exodus-epic-games-store-unfair/