Controversy aside, I wonder why Epic did not wait to launch their platform until they had fully added the features needed. Now it just likes like a pale imitation of Steam, with many other platforms dwarfing the Epic Store in terms of content, from Steam, GoG, Origin...

I think 99% of people whining about it only care because they have Steam and only want Steam.  So is a game being exclusive to another store a problem? No more than a game being exclusive to Steam is. So if that is really your complaint, then I hope you are being consistent about it.  

People are mad because their having to face a trifling inconvenience of opening another launcher is more important to them than Valve abusing its market position to gouge the devs out of millions of dollars is.

Not only that, but I feel like it's fairly well acknowledged on this site even by console fans that service-based platforms are the future. I mean, every time that kind of topic has popped up it seems like people generally have agreed that the future is digital platforms. Maybe none of the people in this thread believe that, but if the ones defending Epic Game Store do, then I have to question why the shortsightedness on this situation. It sets a pretty bad precedent for digital platforms honestly,  despite the fact that clients like Steam or stores like GOG have built up a good reputation for digital distribution over the years. 

And yeah ... Steam does need some improvement. Same with GOG Galaxy. 

Have devs learned nothing from the past year????? Literal suicide

Then you haven't read the thread or taken a close look at the issue at all.

So they released an official statement about it now in this tweet

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 (@MetroVideoGame) February 3, 2019

That was a nice message, it laid the situation bare and hopefully the devs do get less crap now.  

It confirms a few things: 

A ) It wasn't up to the developers

B ) The publishers see too much of an investment in PC gaming to actually stop supporting it 

Luckily, I never thought this statement from the developer was really a problem to begin with. The Epic Deal was, but we've known about that since the last thread. The OG statement was bad PR maybe, but I can understand where he's coming from. I also don't think many people actually thought they'd cut PC support, though maybe it was a bit insulting to long time fans, but it's not logical to think they would actually go through with it. 

As a lot kind of expected it was a hollow remark given how ridiculously dumb that would be to do in response to this situation, but this makes me feel bad for them and shows how shitty of a situation this is all around.

On one hand I can see why people don't want to support the decision with Epic games, perhaps they are hoping that by not supporting it other publishers will take notice that being moneyhatted by Epic games isn't the good choice to make, but then on the other that just punishes the developers hard work who had no control in the situation. But then also by choosing to still buy the game on PC to support the devs maybe it gives off a sign to other publishers that taking away games from Steam just because Epic payed is fine. It's tough.

Yeah, I figured it was probably a hollow "threat", if you can even call it that since it seemed more like he was just saying what he thought, since it would be an asinine decision to take away from what's happening lol, but it's good to see it's confirmed. It's just a shitty situation all around for the developers though which sucks, though that remark from him did not help, but alas. Now i'm extremely conflicted in the situation like I mentioned in my prior post though. 

I understand where you're coming from. Honestly, I care more about the implications of this kind of thing than just the game itself. It looks like a great game, but I think what it means for digital platforms currently is more important to me personally. But really all it comes down to is your personal decision. If you want the game, buy it. If you don't think it's worth it due to the implications, then don't buy it. It sucks that supporting the game is possibly supporting something that's bad for the industry, but I don't think people expect everyone to have the same fortitude or to perceive the severity of the issue on the same level.