World War Z is a game that zombie-shooting fans are looking forward to since the agility of the zombies and their massive hordes greatly resembles those from the movie with the same name. Recently, the game’s developers at Saber Interactive discussed their decision behind putting the title solely on the Epic Games store and not the Steam Store. Launching new titles on the Epic Store instead of Steam is a trend that several developers in the industry have begun to follow for a variety of reasons, including games such as Hades, Super Meat Boy Forever, Satisfactory, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, Ashen, and surprisingly The Division 2. Another title that we recently discussed that has gone this direction is Metro Exodus.
Saber Interactive’s decision, along with these other developers’, has not been well received so far in the community. However, in a statement from World War Z’s CEO, Matthew Karch, clears up the reasoning for this decision. In response to many tweets voicing concern, he stated a couple of days ago that they “chose the Epic Games store because [they] believe it’s the best deal for players and developers.” He continued to explain by saying, “building games is costly, and so to receive 88% instead of 70% means we can invest more into making World War Z.”
Potential players and others in the industry may believe this statement to be empty, except for the fact that Karch proves his point by announcing that these savings will be passed along to the players. By being on the Epic Games store, World War Z has been able to lower its price to $34.99 USD down from $39.99 USD. Those who pre-ordered the game at the original price will be given a full $5.00 refund. This is a huge move for Saber Interactive that will hopefully be followed by other developers that takes into consideration the gaming community along with the cost of developing a quality game. Karch ends the informative statement by referring back to their full opinion piece on the move to the Epic Games store from back in January.
World War Z is still planning on releasing April 16 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Epic Store. Also check out our last article about the Player versus Player versus Zombie mode coming to the game.