Earlier this week, the fight between Steam and the Epic Games Store escalated in a big way, as it was announced that Metro Exodus (which at the time was on the Steam store) would be pulled from Steam and become an Epic Games Store timed exclusive. Valve thought it was unfair to gamers as pre-orders were open for a while on Steam. The key word here is timed exclusive, as the Metro Exodus Steam version will happen eventually.
Related: The Fight Between Steam and Epic Heats Up as Metro Exodus Gets Pulled From Steam
Metro Exodus is set to release on 15 February and PC gamers who did pre-order the game via Steam will still get their order fulfilled. Now, Valve has announced when the Metro Exodus Steam version will release and it is a very long wait. In fact, it is nearly a year after the game’s initial release. The Metro Exodus Steam version will release on 14 February 2020, 364 days after the game’s actual release date.
So what exactly happened? Well, THQ Nordic has explained the situation somewhat, or at least diverted blame to Koch Media. THQ Nordic purchased Koch Media, including its publishing label Deep Silver, which owns the IPs for Metro, Dead Island and more. THQ Nordic made a statement on Twitter regarding the situation and further mentioned the possibility of timed exclusives in the future.
The decision to publish Metro Exodus as a timed Epic Store exclusive was made entirely on Koch Media’s side as Metro is their intellectual property. They are a sister company of THQ Nordic (Vienna), which is the reason why we can and will not comment on this matter.
We do not want to categorically exclude the possibility of timed exclusives for any of our games in the future, but speaking in the here and now, we definitely want to have the players choose the platform of their liking and make our portfolio available to as many outlets as possible.
Therefore, it is not impossible that we will see new games from those Deep Silver IPs, from Saints Row to Dead Island and more becoming Epic Games Store exclusives in the future.
One year after release is a big deal and let’s face it, if you really want to play Metro Exodus on PC then you will probably just go and buy it on the Epic Games Store instead of waiting an entire year. When it does eventually release on Steam, let’s hope the price is at least very low, for those who want to pick up a bargain.
Related: Metro Exodus System Requirements Including 4K 60FPS Specs Revealed
What is your opinion on the whole Metro Exodus debacle and do you think this is a good or bad thing for PC gaming going forward? Let us know in the comment section below.
