Epic is one thing, but Stadia? Wouldn't that mean I have to stream the game??? Like no offline access?

Anything can be put into consideration. 

Does Epic Launcher an inferior platform? Yes but let me be the devil's advocate for a moment. The online player count for Amplitude games is quite low. Main issues: It's a 4x game (takes forever) and desync problems. So most of the people are in for SP anyways. 

That doesn't mean a platform is only good for multiplayer gaming. Online connectivity is a key aspect of building a community too. Not only mods but sharing guides, stories and all sorts of media helps to SP community connect with each other and continue playing. 

Making money is the sole purpose of for-profit corporations. So, If the money is right, I'll say launch the game in Epic for a year and spend Early Access time in there. Polish it and launch the gold version at Steam. Everyone is happy. 

does epic store even do early access?

i would imagine this is the decision of the publisher though. So would be in SEGA's hands rather than Amplitudes. I'm not 100%sure though

Of course, officially it won't be early access. I mean look at Hades after launching the game they are crawling back to Steam, still as an EA product.

Steam is no doubt has the biggest market there! Millions of people buying games or trading. A market with people who wants to spend money on different games rather than only cosmetic items(Fortnite). So If the Epic wants to adopt the role of a sugar daddy and pay for the "fine-dine" experience. I'll say let them. It will only last a year. 

When you burn all the bridges with small but loyal community, trusted partner and potential player base from Civ - I can't see how return from timed exclusive salvage that.

Epic launcher in its current form would also kill the modding community, since it offers no steam workshop equivalent. I know there have been talks about Epic including all those important features steam already has. But they have to deliver on that, currently its only talk, and the Epic launcher is clearly a worse choice from a consumer perspective.

Guys, for now this is all just speculation based on some unluckily worded interview. I'm pretty sure the guys at Amplitude know, they would make themselves pretty unpopular with the decision to make the game Epic exclusive.

Calm down and save your outrage for the moment, when something like this is actually announced.

They won't do Epic or Stadia since there is high potential that they need Early Access for this.

Sublustris wrote:
I've bought every single game and DLC Amplitude got to offer. When I got something for free, I've still bought a copy for a friend. The day they decide to pull off exclusivity bullshit, I'm out of this ship. And I know I'm not the only one. There are just some boundaries, that no developer or publisher can step over, if it expects to maintain any kind of respect from players.

Same here.  I've made plenty of youtube videos which turned people on to Amplitude games (including a quite successful ES2 tutorial), but I am not giving Epic money, no matter how good this is.

Personally I hope Humankind will be available on Steam/GOG day one.

Hey guys,

We are definitely planning to release the game on Steam.  We have not announced anything yet with regards to other platforms.

There was an article floating around at one point based on an out of context interview quote that may have caused some confusion (it has since been taken down :) ) 

Hope this helps,

Nat

That's nice to hear.

... who cares?
It's not like it lives and dies with the steam.

People want it on their platform of choice, and people are generally anti Epic because they poach games already previously announced for other platforms. Stadia is untrusted since it is an Alphabet product, who are known for selling customer information literally everywhere. Obviously everyone has their reasons for which they dislike and why, but Steam is the most user friendly platform with the most features, making it the platform of choice for a majority of people.

If they want to do Epic, I say go for it. Steam's dominance needs to be broken. Heck, maybe sell it everywhere *but* Steam. 

While Steam does need competitors, the way epic is doing it isn't the way to do it and retain value. Steam is still a very good platform whether it has a near monopoly or not.

CaptainCobbs wrote:

While Steam does need competitors, the way epic is doing it isn't the way to do it and retain value. Steam is still a very good platform whether it has a near monopoly or not.

The only way to get critical mass when you're facing a monopoly is to get exclusives, or at the very least get temporary exclusions from the dominant store. Epic's doing what they need to, and I support them (or anyone else) trying to break Steam's grip.