author: Zuzanna Domeradzka
Epic Games Store Adopts Shovelware Game Developer, That Got Kicked From Steam a Few Years Ago
A lot of new junk games have recently appeared in Epic Games Store. It turns out that the developer responsible for them is the same one whose 200 low-quality titles got kicked out from Steam a few years ago.
So-called shovelware games appearing in digital stores, characterized by their low quality and the fact that they are created largely from ready-made assets available on the Internet, have been quite a problem for a long time. The goal of the creators of such titles is first and foremost to make a quick and easy buck, however, by acting in this way and clogging up the stores they are often - and rightly so, of course - removed from them. It turns out, however, that there is a company that does not mind this and readily agrees to publish such games.
Junk productions in Epic Games Store
You may have heard about the fact that in 2017 Steam removed almost 200 games. These were, of course, low-quality, often similar titles that, as Valve stated, "affected the functionality of the store and made it difficult for players to find interesting games." Moreover, the studios responsible for these junk games very often gave them away in cheap sets, among other things, with the result that players could easily get them and gain levels on Steam by collecting and reselling collector cards.
Most of these removed games were the work of either Silicon Echo or Zonitron Productions. It later turned out that the same developer was responsible for all these titles. SidAlpha channel published an in-depth analysis of this situation - claiming that, in just two months on Steam the aforementioned studios released more than 80 games. On this page you can see how many similar games have come out of the wings of Zonitron Productions alone.
Some of these junk games have recently returned to digital distribution. However, not on Steam, but on Epic Games Store. They debuted in the store in June this year, as recently pointed out by Twitter user Mellow_Online1.
Games that came from Epic Games, which was removed from Steam a few years ago, cost a few dollars. They include such productions as Sleengster, The Last Photon, The First Spark or Tracks of Triumph. The studio responsible for these monsters changed its name from Silicon Echo/Zonitron Productions to Bearbones Crew.
Tim Sweeney's post
Many players have begun to wonder about what drove Epic Games in its decision to put junk games on the store. A lot of speculation appeared on the web, suggesting that the company simply wanted to be "better" than Steam and irritate Valve. Head of Epic Games Tim Sweeney spoke on the matter:
"Are these cool games? That's what our team pays attention to, not the amount of ready-made assets that were used to create them.
Our decision was not influenced by Valve's criticism of such developers. [...] Valve's "open" store bans many things that are welcomed by us, such as cryptocurrencies, AI, competitive payment methods, etc."
Epic Games apparently has no problem with putting low-quality productions in the store. Just look at newly released titles, for example - there have been quite a few cheap crap titles in EGS' offer recently, such as Aya & Naya, Police Car Simulator or Frontline Grunt. Littering the store with such games is unlikely to be something that satisfies the players and does not seem to be a good direction. Publishing shovelware games in EGS is relatively easy because of the affordable distribution game model used by the store.