Here's my problem with comparing it to the console wars.  Nobody is locking anybody out of buying and playing a game.  You don't need to buy a new system to play the games that are now exclusive to one storefront. If you have a PC, and you have the specs for the game in question, you can play it.  End of story.

The difference here is that some people have decided that they would rather not play a game than to *gasp* install a new launcher and deal with a storefront that has a few less features.  And that's fine, but that's on the consumer, nobody else.  It's about as silly as refusing to play a game because it's digital only or something. But these are the hills some gamers choose to die on.

Just competition, people becoming fans of specific stores is only natural when you get more than one real choice.

I agree with most of the rest, but not the first one. See what clogged mess Steam has become because it's not curated? See how orderly GOG is for instance by comparison? Curating the literal shit out of the store matters a lot more than you might think.

As for community guides, they can be very helpful if you're having problems, both technical ones or when you're stuck in the game somewhere. I agree that they can be found elsewhere in most cases, but not always (especially more obscure titles may be very hard to find outside such guides) Btw, unlike what that sheet says, GOG has such guides, they're just part of the forums of said games on GOG.

For me it has never been about competition on PC.

By nature I am lazy. I am tired of signing up to ever bloody little thing.

Steam was there first, I got an account. Sure the others are new and could be good. But the fact that here I go again need to signup to another thing when they can just as easily release the game on steam is a pain.

the curators are debatable. but for community guides, there are other outlets that can provide the same thing. fan wikis, reddit threads, even youtube all have that area covered. its a bit simple minded to say that community guides are one of Steam's flagship features

tagging this for when I get to watch the videos so I can make a reply including some of their stuff.

as it stands I agree with the fact that there is internal competition on the PC for a while though with Origin and Steam going back a few years.... competition isn't new for people here on the PC.

I would never have called it a flagship feature, but it's a "nice to have". Especially, like I said, for more obscure titles which don't have extensive wikis and the like. Try getting information about the new heroes, units and mechanics for Eador: Imperium for instance. Great game, but minimal information to find online outside community guides.

Epic games will be slowly improving they are obviously developing their client as we speak.

There will be screen shots forums etc a year or two down the line epic game store will be huge

Installing another launcher on your PC is not the same as buying a new console just for an exclusive.

isnt epic only taking a 12% cut of sales (i think 8% if the game uses unreal engine) compared to steams 30%? (25 or 20% depending on how successful the game is). how could this not be good for developers?