Am I playing with only players on that specific platform?
In: Other
Normally the store you buy it through has no effect on the people you play with. Steam/Epic/uPlay/Whatever all connect to the same game servers (different than the servers you download the game from) to pair players together. This usually *isn’t* true when it comes to consoles vs PC, there are some exceptions I believe.
That said the main differences between PC online game stores is the deals they may offer, the social features of the store itself, the DRM implemented in that store, etc.
I can’t speak for all games but I know of at least one game available on both plateforme which is playable by players who bought it through both stores.
The important thing to remember is that Epic and Steam aren’t just stores, they’re also DRM. Years ago DRM maybe consisted of a CD key printed on a slip of paper in your box, or a one time registration online, or any number of other things.
Then Steam launched as DRM, requiring players to create a unique account and then register their games to that account. It quickly grew to a convenience as a storefront as digital sales took off in the market.
Epic’s store came along long after Steam transitioned in people’s minds to a store rather than DRM (though it functions as both).
This is important to remember because DRM is linked to playability of games. If a publisher requires a form of DRM in order to play a game, and 5-10 years later that DRM becomes defunct you may lose the ability to play that game entirely. This is less of an issue with actively supported games but many games see success and then are forgotten.
Steam and Epic are both places to buy games, but they are also places where your ability to play that game is linked directly to that company running the store. Policies on banning you (and thus making all games you paid for unavailable) can be different. ability to refund a game can be different. Likelihood of that platform being around 10 years from now is different.
Buying on epic means you’re selling your soul to a puppet of the Chinese government that has been previously caught putting backdoors in security software.
Buying from steam means you’re selling your soul to a cold and heartless monopoly that will one day strangle all that is good in gaming and make it unsustainable, and taking your games with it when it inevitably crashes and burns.
Just pick your poison
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