Ever since publisher Deep Silver announced that Metro Exodus would skip Steam for the Epic store until 2020, there’s been a whole lot of discourse (to put it mildly) regarding the decision.
PC gamers have taken to Steam to review bomb the previously released Metro games, and some have vowed to boycott Metro Exodus entirely. Some have called the sudden switch to the Epic store “anti-consumer,” while others are simply annoyed that a new storefront was being pushed on them just a few weeks before Metro Exodus‘ release. The backlash has been significant, so much so to inspire an unnamed 4A Games developer to speak out unofficially on the gameru’s forum.
Under the username “scynet,” the developer expressed concerns regarding the boycott, stating that if players avoid the PC release of Metro Exodus, that future entries in the series are at risk of skipping the platform. Yesterday, Deep Silver acknowledged this unofficial post (which only added further fuel to this fire), stating that they have “every intention of continuing this franchise,” including on PC. As 4A Games is taking a lot of heat for this decision, which they didn’t make according to the official statement, Deep Silver has asked fans to relay their feedback to the publisher only.
The recent decision to move Metro Exodus from Steam to the Epic Game Store was made by Koch Media / Deep (cont) https://t.co/E6xcZNkHJV
— Metro Exodus (@MetroVideoGame) February 3, 2019
This is a tough situation, as it was made to benefit from the Epic store’s higher percentage of dev-share. The better Metro Exodus sells, the more likely the series continues. But with this type of response, the game’s profits could be negatively impacted instead. We’ll have to wait and see how this unfolds.