Updated February 6, 2020: The game is launching on Steam starting February 15, 2020.
Epic Games has been on a roll lately, and many could argue that the company is by far the most popular developer in the world right now with the unprecedented success of Fortnite. Not only that, but it also launched the Epic Games Store which has not only attracted a slew of incredible indie games, but also support from major developers. Recently, we reported that Ubisoft would only release its "AAA" games on the Epic Games Store from now on, forgoing Steam, but now there is another title which will only be available on the Epic Games' platform.
Today, publisher Deep Silver announced that Metro Exodus will only launch through the Epic Games Store on PC with a $10 price drop. What's really shocking is that preorders have been available on Steam for a while now. Epic Games and Deep Silver put out the following joint statement.
Epic Games and Deep Silver today announced a partnership that will see the digitally-distributed PC version of the highly anticipated Metro Exodus... 'Metro Exodus is amazing and is deservedly one of the most anticipated PC titles of 2019,' said Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic. 'We are partnering with Deep Silver to launch Metro Exodus, underpinned by Epic's marketing support and commitment to offering an 88 percent revenue split, enabling game creators to further reinvest in building great games and improving the economics of game stores for everybody.' Any customer with an outstanding pre-order for Metro Exodus on PC through any digital retailer will receive their game as expected... In addition, Deep Silver will release Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux to the Epic Games store later this year.
It seems that the 88 percent revenue split is the reason why Deep Silver decided to abruptly abandon Steam. Deep Silver's head Dr. Klemens Kundratitz said that it was Epic's generous revenue terms that swayed his company's decision. However, it seems like Valve wasn't happy with this decision and posted a somewhat snappy response on the game's page.
Later today, sales of Metro Exodus will be 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 apologize to Steam customers that were expecting it to be available for sale through the February 15 release date, but we were only recently informed of the decision and given limited time to let everyone know.
The Division 2 will also only be available on PC through the Epic Games Store or directly from Ubisoft. That's not all though. Ubisoft will release even more PC games on the platform in 2019. Epic Games is even going as far as to incorporate Uplay into its online services. It's unclear if other major publishers will follow Deep Silver and Ubisoft's lead, but this is definitely a promising start to say the least. If I were Valve, I would definitely be concerned because this seems to be a trend at this point. Metro Exodus will probably return to Steam in 2020, but the deal between Deep Silver and Epic Games may be extended.
Metro Exodus is a post-apocalyptic first-person shooter which has garnered a lot of interest in recent months. The game is a sequel to Metro: Last Light which was ported to Xbox One a few years ago. Years after nuclear war devastated Earth, a few survivors still cling to existence beneath the ruins of Moscow. They have struggled against the lethal elements and fought mutated beasts. Now, in Metro Exodus, they must flee the underground tunnels in search of a new life in the East.
If you love post-apocalyptic experiences like Rage 2, then be sure to give this game a go in February. The title features Xbox One X enhancements and runs at native 4K resolution on Microsoft's new console. From what we've seen at events like E3 2018, the title looks stunning on the system.
