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Console War, p66

April 12, 2019 by Tim

Well I certainly did not expect to spend the week on this topic. Since Monday I have read a lot of opinions and viewpoints on the EGS, the effects of exclusives both economic and perceived, countless arguments over who’s right and who’s wrong, Steam vs Origin, vs Uplay vs BattleNET vs EGS, etc…

I resisted adding PCs to the console wars for a long time, specifically because they are not consoles. And in that time, I got a lot of comments along the lines of A) “Where’s the PC master race?!” (I’ve been vocal about my distaste for using nazi terminology to describe video game platform superiority, by the way) and B) “This is why I just play on PC” (A snobby response to whatever console drama I may have been depicting at the time).

I’d intended the appearance of the PCs to be a one-off gag, just to say “There. There they are. Now stop asking.” But the past couple of weeks, as I watched the fallout of Epic snatching up yet another (high profile) exclusive, I became fascinated with this idea that the “superior, aloof” PCs (they’re not, but people like to present them that way) were getting dragged down into the mud, into the exact same “my team, your team” arguments that console fanboys have been having for ages. So I had to run with it, and see what that might look like in this world.

Also, those designs featuring the Campaign characters that I showed off last week are now real things you can buy, both as shirts and prints! Follow this link to grab them from our store, the shirts are available for order until April 25th! Free US shipping on orders over $60!


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foducool
foducool
5 years ago

I’d laugh my ass off if a game produced by valve was an epic store exclusive for a while XD

y'know
y'know
5 years ago

it’s weird how everyone is shitting their pants over what is essentially a 2 minute commitment to install a free launcher that doesn’t get in the way of anything

paul
paul
5 years ago
Reply to  y'know

Not if you’re on linux though. And then there were all that talk about some… security issues found in EGS. With that said, I agree that the conflict escalated to a ridiculous point.

Anonymous coward
Anonymous coward
5 years ago
Reply to  paul

YES! For Linux gamers the EGS is a terrible news, the exclusives means the game is banned from being released on Linux. Very bad.

Liam Price
Liam Price
5 years ago

Oh, so the “we’re better than you” PC players are getting dragged down, and the “we’re the best because we control our computer” Linux users are, too? Crazy how the world changes.

Twilight Faze
Twilight Faze
5 years ago
Reply to  Liam Price

Proof positive how PCs have their own infighting. Windows boasts customization, Linux boasts full control, and Apple boasts superior technology. If the Console Wars are like wartime in foreign countries, the PC Wars (as I’ll dub them), are like the American Civil War.

Joshua
Joshua
5 years ago
Reply to  Liam Price

people should just be allowed to use the software they choose without needing outside forces to grant permission. as someone who backed phoenix point, runs Linux, and never got a refund despite requesting it – I can’t help but notice that Snapshot cut support for Linux very shortly before moving to EGS. almost like they cut support so to not waste time on a system unsupported by their platform instead of anything motivated by players. now I’ve paid for a game which I cannot play and my options are to either spend a large amount of time switching to a… Read more »

a_gamemaker
a_gamemaker
5 years ago

I don’t get why Epic is getting so much flak. They have to do something to make their platform viable and while the presumed deals offered might look like bribery, _they_ are not forcing anyone and ultimately it’s the game makers (or publishers) that chose the Epic platform because it makes sense for them.

Tue
Tue
5 years ago
Reply to  a_gamemaker

People are pissed that A. They need to install things in a different launcher and /or B. Won´t play the game at launch, so they need to wait past the period it is locked to epic (omg might actually not care at that time then). But yes, there is nothing different from it past phone contracts or movies streamed on certain services.

wkz
wkz
5 years ago
Reply to  Tue

“They need to install things in a different launcher” … For the grand sum of zero dollars and some harddisk space (and some hassle making a new account).

Then again, I get what you’re getting at. I used to try to link ALL my games to Steam, whether or not they’re steam compatible or not. And because of that Origin caused all sorts of headaches for me back in the day. Oh boy, my vitriol towards the Origin store from way back then…

RoBOticRebel
RoBOticRebel
5 years ago
Reply to  wkz

The issue is that its not just “another launcher” its EGS 1: it sucks as a store, because it doesn’t have basic features. 2: It buys exclusivity to “compete” which actually means that whatever Valve does short doing the same and paying publishers for exclusivity doesn’t matter because the consumer doesn’t have a choice. Which means its not “competition” but rather anti-competition which then means its only there to establish a monopoly and in turn hurt the consumers and the developers alike. 3: Their account security sucks ( https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/fortnite-game-security-problems-check-point-a4040186.html ) 4: Even if their account security didn’t suck EG is… Read more »

Evilleet
Evilleet
5 years ago

Hahahaha, Tim. I don’t know where you get your idea’s from. But this comic made me laugh out loud, to bad though that my coworkers heard me. :/

Crestlinger
Crestlinger
5 years ago

The counter? Order 66. Where the symptoms of loot box purchases, skins, etc. start hemorrhaging bank accounts, actual addresses, and international privacy rights get thrown out the windows. Originating at the fact that Someone didn’t get their antivirus and spyware immunities checked, every single buyer who accessed that site will have to turn on them and put them down faster than a rabid dog on the grounds of if One of their games game did this, what about all the Other exclusives on there asking for the same personal information with the same lack of care about where it ends… Read more »

Mordred
Mordred
5 years ago

Half-Life 3 confirmed.

c4st3r
c4st3r
5 years ago
Reply to  Mordred

Half-Life 3 confirmed Epic Store Exclusive.

Him.
Him.
5 years ago
Reply to  c4st3r

Half-Life 3 confirmed Epic Store Exclusive with Deluxe edition and Microtransactions

wkz
wkz
5 years ago
Reply to  Him.

Half-Life 3 confirmed Epic Store Exclusive with Deluxe edition and Microtransactions, and the exclusive opening day DLC goes for the low low price of the soul of your firstborn.

Bwauder
Bwauder
5 years ago

Now the wall is down you can start on the Macs, the tablets and the lapdogs … um laptops.

Its just a different battleground, definitely not a single united group vs the individual consoles.

Eldest Gruff
Eldest Gruff
5 years ago
Reply to  Bwauder

You see, you’d think that would work and all, until the lapdogs and tablet cats and all the little phones running in their hamster wheels suddenly stop, shudder, and suddenly become sentient beings under the Stadia Hive Mind, and work together to take control.

Actually, that would TOTALLY work.

Andrew
Andrew
5 years ago
Reply to  Eldest Gruff

I could totally see Stadia/ geforce now/other streamers as eldritch horrors from beyond space time in this context 😉

Mildar
Mildar
5 years ago

Tim, all that years you were avoiding adding PCs are worth it this is great introduction and as PC mas.. PC noble.. PC elitist… PC posh(?) player I am realy enying this. Thanks!

Dirk
Dirk
5 years ago

So… Nothing about GOG?

DJ Harshman
DJ Harshman
5 years ago
Reply to  Dirk

Best not to signal boost racists…

Misel
Misel
5 years ago

I wonder how Good Old Games would fit in there. 🙂

Mister Contrarian
Mister Contrarian
5 years ago

Do you dislike breathing? Cause the nazis did that too. Hitler even liked dogs, the fiend!

Anonymous coward
Anonymous coward
5 years ago
Reply to  Tim

Well his screen name is Mister Contrarian, and contrarians are know for saying very, very dumb things.

LarryMcFly
LarryMcFly
5 years ago

I have to mention, seeing all these “normal” casings my CUBE casing feels heavily unrepresented.
Dare I say it even believes being discriminated?
X)

Dakala
Dakala
5 years ago
Reply to  LarryMcFly

I think those of us with non-standard hardware will just have to settle. After all, not all of us with wild case designs or unusual hardware setups can be easily represented.

As much as I’d love to see cube cases and old server chassis in there, the majority of systems aren’t such designs. And even fewer are the actual number of twin-CPU gaming systems.

LaylaLegion
LaylaLegion
5 years ago

Is this about to go full Far Cry 5 up in PC Town?

kten50 prime
kten50 prime
5 years ago

I’ve said this elsewhere but I feel it bears repeating here. I just wish that PC gamers would give Epic Store a chance. Yes, I realize that opinion is unpopular. I say that as someone who has accounts with Steam, GOG, Origin, Uplay, and Bethesda. I also realize there are a lot of legitimately hurt feelings over Epic’s purchasing of exclusives and strong arming of gamers. Still, I stand by my contention that I wish PC gamers would Epic Store a chance. First, Steam has become a flaming dumpster fire. I can remember back about six years ago when Steam… Read more »

Anonymous coward
Anonymous coward
5 years ago
Reply to  kten50 prime

I cannot give EGS a chance, it doesn’t run on my operating system…

The Legacy
The Legacy
5 years ago
Reply to  kten50 prime

One, when I heard about the Epic store, and the problems they are having, I have zero interest in going through again what I did with Steam. I remember when Steam first came out, getting it way back when Half-Life 2 came out, as part of The Orange Box, or sometime around then. Things were very unreliable back then, and very clunky. Today, Steam is probably one of the most stable programs I have ever used, and is incredibly user-friendly for a vast majority of things. I will give Epic a chance… once they clean up their act. But what… Read more »

James Rye
James Rye
5 years ago

Nice! Finally we are getting a PC arc in the Console vs Console war! All it needs is a finisher with some Xbox or PS4 consoles thinking at the end “thank god I am not a PC” or something like that. XD

TaiKedz
TaiKedz
5 years ago

When Valve briefly flitrted with the idea of Steamboxes, we saw a brief entrance of “the Steam,” billed as a small cult in the backwaters… funny how they’ve grown into a full-on church community… maybe they also have denominations for Humble, Gog, Itch and Lutris, representing the fronts and purchase avenues? :-p Opening up the landscape to the PCs brings another war to the fore….. Windows vs Mac (and Linux). Not quite a war as a one-sided smackdown with Windows at the top for a long time, but Steam actually helped change that quite a bit… and probably already pits… Read more »

Eldest Gruff
Eldest Gruff
5 years ago
Reply to  TaiKedz

Resistance is futile.

You will be assimilated.

Luks
Luks
5 years ago

Dude,the Console Wars always was my favorite series of yours, and I really love how you’ve integrated PCs into it. You could say with the events, this stuff writes itself, but you really portray in a fun and clever way !

Kenju
Kenju
5 years ago

I have to say, I like the fact that you are approaching the PC situation as being more akin to ‘religion’ than territory as is the case with consoles, because in a sense that really could be seen as the case here. With consoles, at least back in the day, you had very different and very unique experiences based on the console. You had some crossover content sure, there were sports games and shooter games on the Playstation side, and there were RPG’s on the Xbox side, but for the most part each console had it’s own unique library and… Read more »

Abaddon
Abaddon
5 years ago

Do you guys not have phones?

CrippledAssault
CrippledAssault
5 years ago

What’s fecking dumb about this is…there isn’t a “You can’t use Epic Games and Steam” system in place…it all works…there is nothing more than tribalistic mentality over a FREE program. Dropping a few hundred dollars for another console for a few exclusives, i can understand some fan-ship since it entails a sizeable expense..but this? This is just….dumb…

Him.
Him.
5 years ago

So are many religious conflicts. Persecution over issues that frankly do not matter in the long run.

Joel
Joel
5 years ago

You and a lot of people are making really bad comparion with the console wars. Console wars are really dumb “My piece of equipment is better than yours” argument. What’s going on with the Epic store is a revolt over anti-consumer practices which the PC playing crowd has always been very vocal about. “But it’s just another launcher! Takes a few minutes to install!” is a really terrible argument some people make because it doesn’;t refute any of the points people make. The fact that games that have been promised for Steam have all of a sudden become EGS exclusives… Read more »

LaylaLegion
LaylaLegion
5 years ago
Reply to  Joel

So bad business practices aren’t okay unless they’re against the industry itself? Because that’s why Steam has been losing exclusives to begin with. They’ve been overcharging hosting fees for game studios and publishers aren’t working with them for it.

Skorpeyon
Skorpeyon
5 years ago

The only reason I dislike the exclusivity deal is that I’m not a fan of spreading my collection of a given series over multiple storefronts. It’s not a huge deal, no, but it’s also not a huge deal for me, a person who plays mostly single-player to just wait until it releases on Steam anyway and snag the game then. Or even to just wait for a sale, inevitably netting me the game and DLC for half price or something along those lines. I don’t do a lot of video gaming anymore, period, but Borderlands has been around so long… Read more »

Pulse
Pulse
5 years ago

guy at the end is kinda right. before it was always fair play between the stores, now its warfare

EpicSteamGuy
EpicSteamGuy
5 years ago

The gamers of today have forgotten the horrible days of what was early steam and games that required that green abomination be used.

I understand people want many of the features Steam has, But valve have had more than a decade of time to make these.

dan
dan
5 years ago

There will never be the commitment to PC game clients, the way there are for consoles. Consoles, you have to drop $200-$400+ on gaming-only hardware, plus most of them have you drop $10-$20 a month just to use online features. If you drop that kind of cash, you’re going to be committed, especially if you can’t afford a different console. The more you invest in something, the more psychologically committed you become. With PC game clients, on the other hand, where you buy a game has more to do with what discounts you’re getting, and how much you want to… Read more »

Tim
Tim
5 years ago

I don’t understand what El Goonish Shive has to do with any of this?

Robert Loughrey
Robert Loughrey
5 years ago

The reply button doesn’t seem to be working. I tried refreshing my cache, but no luck.

Ven
Ven
5 years ago

Well, the big thing I was worried about, Epic stealing user data, was actually proven false and there’s really nothing to worry about.

So… um…yeah. I was wrong. Sorry bout that.

KlausAidon
KlausAidon
5 years ago

And this is coming at a time where the consoles are slowly starting to get along more, and allow more cross play. Even Sony is relenting a bit on that, while Microsoft and Nintendo are practically friends now. I kinda feel that’s worth a comic IMO. The Consoles finally signing a peace treaty, just as the PCs start a civil war. War. War never changes.

Him.
Him.
5 years ago
Reply to  KlausAidon

That would be a Nintendo-Microsoft Ceasefire, whereas a proper Peace Treaty would probably be interpreted as tantamount to a company being bought.

StringPetounPing
StringPetounPing
5 years ago
Reply to  Him.

Still, this ceasefire has major implication in the frame of this comic. The Xbox has to tolerate the presence of the switch has they both shoot at the PS4. I bet both side will not like it that much.

Detton
Detton
5 years ago

Everybody wanted Steam to have competition; it was bad for them and for the users, who got virtually no support because there was never any reason to give it. This is how Steam’s competition HAS to be. There’s no other way another company could rival them. I like GOG, but it’s clear they aren’t a competitor, they’re an alternative. (And they focused so long on older games that people do not think of them – incorrectly – as a place to purchase new releases.) It has to be a company shoveling buckets of money into the developers. This isn’t to… Read more »

kazooki
kazooki
5 years ago

This is all being blown way out of proportion, there is a vast difference between a $500+ console and a 2 minute installation of a different game store.

There is no war going on here, it’s just a relatively slow news cycle.

Dakala
Dakala
5 years ago
Reply to  kazooki

I’d say it’s more of a cold war. There’s pushback because EGS had some scummy things going on (whether they were true or not, I can’t honestly say, I didn’t do much research on that), there’s people who won’t use it based on principle, as games that advertised they’d be on Steam suddenly pulled up stakes and jumped to EGS with a year’s exclusivity, there’s the fact that the launcher is missing a lot of the features we’ve come to expect from things like Steam, and then the fact that Steam is making great strides to try getting gaming on… Read more »

JozMk.II
JozMk.II
5 years ago

*clap* Bravo, Tim, bravo. This is one of the funniest comics I’ve seen from you in a while. The parallels between human nature(They aren’t like us! GASP!! GET EM OUT OUT OUT!!) and the whole Epic store fiasco are simply brilliant.

“third coming of the Holy Freeman” HAHAHAHAHA

Him.
Him.
5 years ago

I can’t help but notice something: The PC are not fighting each other over “MAC” “WINDOWS” sort of issues but rather about the gaming method. That was quite well thought out and I applaud you for keeping it on brand.
I imagine the Browser Games are off in the underground complexes having a good time.

My tribe best tribe
My tribe best tribe
5 years ago

“my team, your team”
Sorry, to tell you this, Tim, but tribalism is just something we have in out DNA. It will always exist and people will always flock to my tribe vs. other tribe petty squabbles.
The primitive part of our brain just works that way, sadly.

11thExile
11thExile
5 years ago

Does anybody remember GOG…? I feel like that should be supported as a competitor to steam rather than the epic store. GOG is brilliant but I feel underrepresented in this mess of online PC shops.

Pluveus
Pluveus
5 years ago
Reply to  11thExile

Gog is actually doing pretty will and has picked up some high profile classics recently, including the first two Warcraft games and Diablo.

inverted4life
inverted4life
5 years ago

How fitting that the Steam “consoles” are as racist as the real life Steam fanboys are irrational.

TimeViewer
TimeViewer
5 years ago

On “PC Master Race”, I read the comment about “nazi” terminology, it wasn’t the nazis who came up with this term they simply stole it as they did so much else. Even the swastika was imagery STOLEN from India where it is a symbol of luck. The beginning of the understanding of genetics was totally perverted by one group of idiots and yet everyone to this day still acts like they came up with it. They didn’t. They only twisted it to mean what they wanted to.

Jared
Jared
5 years ago

While I know why the console wars comics were made and to a degree I understand why this bit on PCs is being done, in the end it is not the same as your console wars. Yes, there are games being made exclusive through one launcher or another, but unlike console exclusives, PC gamers can still get the game on every PC.

Bob the Adventurer
Bob the Adventurer
5 years ago

im a little surprised you didnt make the old console a commodor 64

Dakala
Dakala
5 years ago
Reply to  Tim

“Back in my day, we just ran the games off of the media they came on, no installs, no fancy launchers, just you and your disks and your tapes.”

StringPetounPing
StringPetounPing
5 years ago
Reply to  Tim

True but I think that the latest of the desktop style case would have fitted to the elder. I remember have seen some back in 2003. It was rare but still a thing. Still the tower case was the main one even that far.

Zarius Fontaine
Zarius Fontaine
5 years ago

All hail the almighty GOG

Twilight Faze
Twilight Faze
5 years ago

Personally, I’m surprised the concept of “PC Wars” was never established. The Steam vs. UPlay/Origin angle makes sense, but when you consider the infighting of Windows, Apple, and Linux builds, you’ll find they are no better than console wars fanboys go to own on. PC users like to think they’re above the console infighting, but the reality is they’re in a separate war for the same reason. I said this in an earlier comment, but if the console wars are wartime in foreign countries, one could see the “PC Wars” as a civil war kind of thing.

Deekeetr
Deekeetr
5 years ago

PC master race is nazi terminology?
What?

Tomn
Tomn
5 years ago

I appreciate the fact that this discussion is set in ‘50s suburbia: complacently smug about their own comfort, community and virtue which acts as a cover for serious underlying latent issues. Very appropriate.

Iklary
Iklary
5 years ago

Next panel – they all wear white caps… mua-ha-ha-ha-ha.

The Legacy
The Legacy
2 years ago

I really like your interpretation of the various PC’s – all the customized cases for the young PC’s, and I remember vividly those old Towers the old guy is modelled as (a late 90’s-early 2000’s case)

Monty
Monty
1 year ago

Hey don’t forget about GOG.com and their galaxy app/store. There are dozens of us that use it, dozens!