Cliff Bleszinski and PC gamers are in open war for a couple of years. So imagine our surprise when Cliffy B stepped on VGA’s yesterday and announced Fortnite, Epic’s new IP that is clearly inspired by our beloved Minecraft. And although both Cliff and Epic haven’t announced the game’s platforms, we strongly suggest Epic to avoid releasing it on the PC at all costs. Why? Keep reading to find out.
First of all, PC gamers are already enjoying Minecraft and other indie/casual titles. A game similar to Minecraft from Epic is the least PC gamers are currently looking forward to. Now we do know that Epic Games noticed the huge growth of the casual gaming market – you know, the ones playing Farmville and such – but name us one of them that would actually buy Epic’s title?
However, this is not the main reason why Epic Games should avoid the PC platform. What is that reason you ask? Well, it’s Cliffy B himself and the company’s stance during the past few years. PC gamers hate Cliff as he was trolling them and calling them names. How can anyone forget Cliff’s statement that most PC gamers are pirates? How can anyone forget when Cliff was calling PC gamers ‘grumpy’ due to the lack of a PC demo for Bulletstorm. How can anyone forget when Cliff was bitching himself for the scores of Gears of War PC version? And how can anyone forget that both GoW 2 and 3 have not been released to the PC due to piracy.
You know what, there is a saying: don’t bite the hand that feeds you. You can’t complain about piracy on the PC, avoid releasing some of your triple-A titles and then release a new IP to that platform. Especially when this new IP is so similar to one of the most successful PC games of 2011. But then again, that’s precisely why Epic might try to release it on the PC. They know that there is a market. However, most of the casual ‘FB’ or ‘FarmVille’ gamers are unaware of Epic’s history. In other words, they don’t give a crap about them as they are already enjoying their casual games and it will be different to get their attention. So, guess now who are left?
That’s right, the ones that made Minecraft such a huge success. Epic hasn’t realised though that most of Minecraft’s gamers are the same ones that were criticised by Cliff Bleszinski. Minecraft’s gamers are those that were looking forward to a proper Unreal Tournament 3 game – you know, the one that flopped due to consoles. Minecraft’s gamers are you, me, and pretty much everyone that still remember Cliff’s statements. And PC gamers don’t forget how you treat them our dear Epic.
After all, one of the reasons Minecraft was such a success was due to its indie nature. Notch was nobody and hadn’t treated PC gamers the way Epic did. Notch was a gamer, offered his unique game to everyone, was an indie developer and PC gamers love indie devs as they are full of original ideas, was friendly with them, relied on them, thanked them and became a part of their community. That’s how you win the PC crowd and both Cliff and Epic should take notes. Because right now, they are blacklisted from a lot of PC gamers.
So don’t bother with our beloved platform Epic. We haven’t forgotten your attitude and you can’t simply ask for our money when you were avoiding releasing your triple-A games all these years. If you want to redeem yourselves, try releasing GoW 2 or 3 or try developing the Samaritan game. That would be a good start in trusting you again. But then again, what would be the point as we are pirates and ‘grumpy’ gamers, right?
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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