What do the big 3 do if regulators in the US or EU force the closed storefronts open?

[Jizz_Beard_thePirate]

Chazore said:

Captain_Yuri said:

I am sure they will be able to find ways to either circumvent that or find ways to make money.

For example, lets say the bill goes through. Most likely, a store like EGS won't come pre-installed on Playstation and the user has to go out to their website and install it. Now I'd say that's already quite a lot of console users that won't go out and install other stores. But on top of that, I am sure to develop on a closed platform like Playstation, you would still need Sonys approval regardless of whether you publish on Playstation Store or some other store.

So Sony could add in a clause similar to what Valve does with Steam where if you want to publish a game on Playstation, you cannot have the MSRP be lower on any other store on Playstation. So if a game dev wants to put a game on Playstation Store for $20, they can't release the game on EGS for $15. And at that point, I think most people wouldn't even install another store.

So I wouldn't be too worried.

It also explains why EGS always had an obvious "last minute" sale discount on those timed exclusive games, a week or a month before they hit Steam, so as not to break that rule Valve set the devs releasing on Steam.

Sont could pull a Valve, but I'd still see stores like EGS doing that sneaky last minute discount, which is close to skirting that rule. Personally I think it needs to be changed slightly, so stores like EGS can't pull obvious moves out of their backsides at the last moment, so if they still want to get that cheeky discount before it would hit say, Sony store, EGS would then have to converse with those devs and have the sale 2-3 months before it hits the Sony store, instead of within weeks to the last month, because the latter just screams desperation to retain users from buying it on the Sony store, which I see as both a threat and pathetic at the same time. 

And it's not something I think Sony should suggest as a rule, no, I think this is something the govs should be setting up, so the side skirting can be either tracked further on (and then swiftly punished via a fine if they keep pulling the same stunts), or everyone else falls in line with that rule.

I know EG wants that pandora's box open, because they think it'll benefit them, but at the same time I don't think they should be allowed to do what they already do to Steam, to everyone else, which is why I think the govs should be the one to enforce that rule over them, instead of per-store basis (which I don't really see Valve bothering with, since Epic is side skirting them a lot these days, and I think that needs to be full on stopped).

I personally think Epic Games probably doesn't want to start an exclusivity war against platform holders even if their store is allowed. See Valve and Epic Games don't interact with each other very much. Valve rarely makes games and when they do, they use their own engine. And Epic doesn't use Steam anymore. So Epic angering Valve doesn't matter to them. But if Epic were to anger Sony or Microsoft with exclusivity nonsense, that is when shit hits the fan for them. It's one of the main reasons why Epic went against Apple and Google but not Microsoft and Sony in their lawsuit. Plus Sony owns epic games shares and Microsoft lends a lot of help to UE development.

Ironically in a situation where consoles are forced to allow third party stores, the biggest company to benefit from this move would be Valve and Steam. See one of the biggest issues with buying a game on a console, especially digitally, is the fact that at some point, you won't be able to play the game anymore*. For example, lets say I bought call of duty modern warfare back in 2007 on the ps3. If I try to play that on my ps4, it's not gonna work. If I try to play that on my ps5, it's not gonna work. But if I were to have bought it on my PC, it would still work. Now we all know why and it's because of the architecture but the point is that we don't really know to which point the platform holder is going to do their BC. Will PS6 have PS4 BC? Who Knows, will PS7? Etc. But will a PC 15 years from now be able to play Modern Warfare from 2007? With some mods, probably.

So if Valve were to release Steam onto Playstation and it costs the same on Steam as on Playstation store and it provides the same services (for free) but now allows you to play the version of the game on PC. Well maybe I would rather buy it on Steam.

Of course, if a bill like this were ever to release, the complications would be nuts. And the likely hood of Sony, MS, Nintendo allowing a store like Steam to work freely on their platforms would be insane. I am sure there would be restrictions up the wazoo on what third party stores can and can't do. But it would be interesting.