In a continuation of the online storefront war, Epic Games has secured the upcoming post-apocalyptic shooter Metro Exodus as the next big PC exclusive for the Epic Games Store. Thus, Metro Exodus is set to be first big triple A PC game to forego Steam and release solely on the Epic Games Store. This follows the announcement earlier this month that Ubisoft’s upcoming shared world shooter, The Division 2, will skip Steam in favor of the Epic Games Store upon release as well.
In a joint release from Epic Games and publisher Deep Silver, Deep Silver’s CEO Dr. Klemens Kundratitz credited “Epic’s generous revenue terms” of an 88/12 split for developers as a driving reason behind the partnership between the two companies. This also causes the game to be release at a $49.99 price point in North America on the Epic Games Store as opposed to the usual $59.99 price point for games. Dr. Kundratitz would state that due to this the publisher “will be able to invest more into the future of Metro and our ongoing partnership with series developer 4A Games.” Via a FAQ in the joint release, fans were assured that preorders for Metro Exodus already placed through Steam prior to the announcement will be honored.
Though preorders from Steam will still be honored, the game is no longer available to preorder via Steam which Valve did not take too kindly to. In a statement on the game’s Steam page, Valve finds that “the decision to remove the game is unfair to Steam customers, especially after a long pre-sale period.” Valve did assure that future updates and DLC for the game will be available through Steam. Metro Exodus is set to return to Steam next year after the exclusivity deal with Epic Games ends.
Since opening the Epic Games Store last December, Epic Games has gone about securing as many exclusive games as possible for their platform. With Epic Games getting major triple A games as exclusives, it will be interesting to see how Steam and Discord both respond in the ever evolving online storefront war. Metro Exodus is set to release on February 15, 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.