Epic's latest PC exclusive is Metro Exodus
UPDATE: Deep Silver owner THQ Nordic distances itself from announcement.
UPDATE 29/1/19: THQ Nordic, which owns Metro Exodus publisher Deep Silver, has shared its own statement regarding yesterday's controversial announcement that 4A Games' forthcoming first-person shooter is now a one-year timed exclusive on the Epic Store.
In a post to Twitter, THQ Nordic, which acquired Deep Silver and distributor Koch Media last year, sought to distance itself from the news, telling fans that the exclusivity deal was "made entirely on Koch Media's side as Metro is their intellectual property. They are a sister company of THQ Nordic (Vienna), which is the reason why we can and will not comment on this matter."
The publisher did offer assurances, however, that while it was unprepared "to categorically exclude the possibility of timed exclusives for any of our games in the future... speaking in the here and now, we definitely want to have the players choose the platform of their liking and make our portfolio available to as many outlets as possible."
In other related news, Deep Silver has clarified via the Metro Exodus Twitter page that PC retail copies of the game will now activate on the Epic Store. Early word on its social media channels yesterday erroneously suggested that retail copies would, despite the exclusivity announcement, still be redeemable on Steam.
UPDATE 29/1/19: Epic's move to snatch up Metro Exodus is "unfair to Steam customers", Valve has said, in response to last night's news of the game switching PC stores for its upcoming release.
In an update posted to Metro Exodus' Steam page, Valve cited the game having long been available to pre-order via its own shopfront (even if all existing Steam pre-orders will still be honoured).
It's the first time Valve has spoken out about a game being pinched from Steam at the last moment - even though Epic previously swooped in to sign up The Division 2 and The Walking Dead's final season. Will it be the last?
Here's Valve's statement in full:
"Notice: Sales of Metro Exodus have been discontinued on Steam due to a publisher decision to make the game exclusive to another PC store.
"The developer and publisher have assured us that all prior sales of the game on Steam will be fulfilled on Steam, and Steam owners will be able to access the game and any future updates or DLC through Steam.
"We think the decision to remove the game is unfair to Steam customers, especially after a long pre-sale period. We apologise to Steam customers that were expecting it to be available for sale through the February 15th release date, but we were only recently informed of the decision and given limited time to let everyone know."
ORIGINAL STORY 28/1/19: Epic's war on Steam continues: its latest high-profile PC exclusive is Metro Exodus.
The deal to release Metro Exodus on 15th February 2019 solely through the Epic Games store follows a similar deal for Ubisoft's The Division 2.
There's a Steam page for Metro Exodus, but we expect it to be pulled shortly, as The Division 2's Steam page was. All existing Steam pre-orders for Metro Exodus will be honoured.
Epic recently launched the Epic Games store offering a bigger cut of sales to developers than Valve currently offers through Steam. It's also made a game free to download every fortnight since.
In December, Epic signed a deal with Skybound to bring Telltale's The Walking Dead: The Final Season on PC to the Epic Games store, but the deal with Ubisoft for The Division 2 was a significant step-up, and this latest deal for the promising Metro Exodus bolsters Epic's effort.
Epic offers developers / publishers 88 per cent of revenue, which is significantly higher than the 70 per cent Steam offers. Epic said in order to pass the savings on to gamers, Metro Exodus will now sell for $49.99 in North America when purchased from the Epic Games store and €59.99 in most European countries. On Steam, Metro Exodus was priced £49.99. Now, on the Epic Games store, it's priced £41.99. (UPDATE CORRECTION: This UK pricing is incorrect. Metro Exodus costs £49.99 on the Epic Games store. The price saving does not extend to the UK. Sorry for the confusion.)
"We are delighted to partner with Epic to bring the digital PC version of Metro Exodus to market," said Dr. Klemens Kundratitz, CEO at Metro publisher Deep Silver.
"Epic's generous revenue terms are a game changer that will allow publishers to invest more into content creation, or pass on savings to the players. By teaming up with Epic we will be able to invest more into the future of Metro and our ongoing partnership with series developer 4A Games, to the benefit of our Metro fans."
Meanwhile, Deep Silver said it will release Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux on the Epic Games store later this year.