As we have reported over the last several days, 4A Games survival shooter Metro Exodus has a one year exclusivity deal to be sold on the Epic Games Store. This late-in-the-day news upset Steam owners Valve, calling the practice “unfair to customers” who had been expecting the sequel to appear on Steam, after a lengthy pre-order period on the platform.
Speaking on Twitter, THQ Nordic has noted that the decision to make Metro Exodus an Epic Games Store exclusive ultimately came from Koch Media, the owners of the Metro IP. Although THQ Nordic own both Koch Media and their in-house publisher Deep Silver, no further information was forthcoming from the parent company, as they “will not comment on this matter”.
THQ Nordic did, however, note that they are not ruling out any possibility of further releases seeing similar exclusivity. But said that, in the here and now, they prefer to “allow players to choose the platform of their liking” making their products accessible to as many outlets as possible.
Regardless of all the business-speak of the last few days, there’s also the possibility that this is essentially several companies upset/pleased that they aren’t/are going to make dollar from Metro Exodus. In my humble opinion, I don’t think making things easier, fairer, or providing variety for the consumer is even remotely part of the itinerary here, no matter who’s doing the talking.
Metro Exodus launches February 15 on PS4, PC and Xbox One. All previous Steam pre-orders will be honoured on that platform.
Source: Destructoid THQ Nordic says Metro Exodus store exclusivity was a Koch Media call