Kingdom Hearts on Steam breakdown

[Robofish]

Alright so a lot of you Kingdom Hearts fans have been asking this question "When is Kingdom Hearts coming to Steam?" and you will get all sorts of answers like "It will never come to steam" or "lol gay ass buy it on egs" so I thought I'd put my two cents into this discussion.

First off, no it's not permanently exclusive to the Epic Games Store, otherwise they would have said so. Most epic games exclusivity only lasts around a year.

I have been scouring through the internet and couldn't find much of anything related until I found a reddit post that talks about how the latest update of the Kingdom Hearts games seems to have traces of code relating to the Steam Deck (Reddit post: I noticed Steam Input Strings in KH3 i didnt notice it before was that recently added?). From what I have read from the comments this has been confirmed by the SteamDB team.

This to me makes me believe that Square Enix is working on a Steam release but are wanting to make it Steam Deck compatible first before making an announcement. As for why they're taking so long when other games such as Final Fantasy 7 and Twewy didn't take as long... well, it's a collection of games.

Kingdom Hearts 1.5 includes Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories and cutscenes of 358/2 days. Kingdom Hearts 2.5 includes Kingdom Hearts 2, Birth by Sleep and cutscenes from re:coded
Kingdom Hearts 2.8 includes Dream Drop Distance and Birth by Sleep 0.2
Then you have Kingdom Hearts 3

That's like 7 games to get working on the Steam Deck as opposed to one so it's obviously going to take a lot longer to make each game compatible with the Steam Deck.

[Raging Panda]

Автор сообщения: Chika Ogiue

Автор сообщения: Raging Panda

Yeah that sucks. $100 for a game is obscene.

It's why I went back to console gaming. Sure, it has language limitations (for example, Kingdom Hearts games are Japanese text and audio only in Japan. We don't get the choice of the English cast) but it's also potentially a lot cheaper. Prices on Steam never drop, but the price for the same game on console can drop by 60% or more in just a few weeks after release. Plus, the incentive for stores to compete by offering better discounts at release, too.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/xoiish/japans_steam_market_growth_rate_is_among_the/
So what do you make of articles like this?

[Chika Ogiue]

Автор сообщения: Raging Panda

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/xoiish/japans_steam_market_growth_rate_is_among_the/
So what do you make of articles like this?

It's past 2 am, so I'm not hunting things down, but it's a bit closer to reality. Japan has been recognised as being a top ten market for Steam since the first time Valve attended Bit Summit. That was back in the 2010s. Although, as I say, I'm not hunting down the exact year right now.

Note that Steam has had a recognised market share in Japan since around 2010/11. These are two important years of note.

2010 because that's when Japanese PC gamers successfully persuaded Square Enix to start selling games on Steam in Japan. Important also because prominent western gaming media was still claiming in 2017 that "Nobody knew what Steam was five years ago in Japan".

And 2011 because that's the first recorded usage of the word "omakuni" (regional restriction) which at the time had the specific meaning of a regional restriction on Steam. It is now used today for any regional restriction regardless of media/platform. Point being, Steam entered the Japanese lexicon at a time when outsiders (e.g., western media, localisers) were still persuading Japanese publishers that no one used Steam in Japan. And there's no denying that this damaged Steam's growth in Japan for several years.

Like I say thought, it's better now, but it'll never be perfect.

[Aya]

I'm still of the mindset that if a Japanese developer is convinced that they shouldn't bother with PC gaming, nothing would really be lost if Epic Games were to bribe them into making ports that otherwise wouldn't exist. I still think that is the reality of why a port of Final Fantasy XVI is even announced, given Square-Enix's history with Epic Games since Kingdom Hearts III.

Will it eventually release on Steam? Possibly. Is it worth the nonzero chance that you'll wait forever for that to happen? IMO, definitely not.

[Raging Panda]

Автор сообщения: Aya

I'm still of the mindset that if a Japanese developer is convinced that they shouldn't bother with PC gaming, nothing would really be lost if Epic Games were to bribe them into making ports that otherwise wouldn't exist. I still think that is the reality of why a port of Final Fantasy XVI is even announced, given Square-Enix's history with Epic Games since Kingdom Hearts III.

Will it eventually release on Steam? Possibly. Is it worth the nonzero chance that you'll wait forever for that to happen? IMO, definitely not.

I don't think KH3 wouldn't exist without Epic.
And personally, Epic bribing, while nice to get things on PC that wouldn't, is bad for PC. It's the same forces that you complain about in the PC industry in Japan. Buying exclusivity isn't competitive. It's very firmly anti-competitive.
Mind you, SE seems to also be moving away from that, but it's still possible with big games like FF7Rebirth, and XVI.
Either way, I will not buy from Epic. I want my stuff on steam, and I want to minimize non-steam shortcuts. Epic works directly against this. I don't think valve is perfect, but their launcher is worth using, while epic is very much a nuisance that one accepts because they have to. Notice how many fan boys exist for Valve, while how there's really no one outright championing Epic, just saying "eh, it's not so bad." While I don't believe in fanboyism, I think that the existence for one but not the other shows how bad EGS is as a launcher.

[Aya]

I actually dunno how much of the fanboyism towards Steam/hate to Epic is a vocal minority tbh. As someone who wants to enjoy medieval PVP games, I can't help but get the impression that if we're to assume direct competition between products, people would rather play a good game on Epic (Chivalry 2) than play an insufferable one on Steam (Bannerlord multiplayer), since the latter game struggled to get a decent playerbase, while I had relatively short queue times in Chiv2.

[Raging Panda]

Автор сообщения: Aya

I actually dunno how much of the fanboyism towards Steam/hate to Epic is a vocal minority tbh. As someone who wants to enjoy medieval PVP games, I can't help but get the impression that if we're to assume direct competition between products, people would rather play a good game on Epic (Chivalry 2) than play an insufferable one on Steam (Bannerlord multiplayer), since the latter game struggled to get a decent playerbase, while I had relatively short queue times in Chiv2.

Well yeah, but why force one to be available on steam and one to be available on Epic? Why can't they just exist on both platforms for whoever wants to buy whichever on whatever platform. You want to buy on Epic, cool. I won't stop you. I won't complain. I don't hate people who like Epic. I hate epic itself for forcing me to wait for my favorite games, or pirate them until they get a steam release. I'd rather OWN my games, but own them on ONE platform where I already have 2,000+ games. This is a problem Epic has manufactured on PC. It was a benefit to play on PC where no one was fragmented like on console. Now I'm forced to deal with console nonsense on PC because one company chose to compete by buyout, rather than just use their capital to make a decent launcher worth using.

[Brutalness]

First off, no it's not permanently exclusive to the Epic Games Store, otherwise they would have said so. Most epic games exclusivity only lasts around a year

This didn't age well

[lsdninja]

Автор сообщения: Raging Panda

I'd rather OWN my games

About that... XD

[Aya]

Автор сообщения: Brutalness

First off, no it's not permanently exclusive to the Epic Games Store, otherwise they would have said so. Most epic games exclusivity only lasts around a year

This didn't age well

If it wasn't permanently exclusive, you'd be playing KH3 on Steam right now.

[Raging Panda]

Автор сообщения: lsdninja

Автор сообщения: Raging Panda

I'd rather OWN my games

About that... XD

I mean yeah, but I refer to own on steam over pirate. And realistically, it also beats Xbox Game pass, which is cool, but you also loose games after a while, so I can't just sit on a game for a while and play it when I feel like it, which I do a lot. I'd have to play it before it leaves, leaving me less time to do other things i like. Gaming becomes a chore. It's the same reason I dropped Netflix for Plex. I'm tired of loosing access to ♥♥♥♥. Sure, it's not ownership like a disc, but steam has a track record I trust enough to continue to invest money in. The company seems to be around to stay, and they don't do messed up ♥♥♥♥ like remove most games (with some exceptions, but not enough to worry me a ton).
Epic meanwhile, while I don't expect them to fold or even shutter EGS any time soon, has been floundering. It's a ♥♥♥♥ platform that literally only sells games, where Valve has pushed to make steam more of a community, allowing me to do things like add all my emulated games and share screenshots for them via non steam shortcut. Valve's Steam feels more like a community. Epic is like Origin. Yeah, it has a friends list, but really it's just there to launch games that you're forced to buy there.

[lsdninja]

Автор сообщения: Raging Panda

I mean yeah, but I refer to own on steam over pirate. And realistically, it also beats Xbox Game pass, which is cool, but you also loose games after a while, so I can't just sit on a game for a while and play it when I feel like it, which I do a lot. I'd have to play it before it leaves, leaving me less time to do other things i like. Gaming becomes a chore. It's the same reason I dropped Netflix for Plex. I'm tired of loosing access to ♥♥♥♥. Sure, it's not ownership like a disc, but steam has a track record I trust enough to continue to invest money in. The company seems to be around to stay, and they don't do messed up ♥♥♥♥ like remove most games (with some exceptions, but not enough to worry me a ton).
Epic meanwhile, while I don't expect them to fold or even shutter EGS any time soon, has been floundering. It's a ♥♥♥♥ platform that literally only sells games, where Valve has pushed to make steam more of a community, allowing me to do things like add all my emulated games and share screenshots for them via non steam shortcut. Valve's Steam feels more like a community. Epic is like Origin. Yeah, it has a friends list, but really it's just there to launch games that you're forced to buy there.

Just agree to keep your OS up to date and you're fine :P

[Raging Panda]

Автор сообщения: lsdninja

Автор сообщения: Raging Panda

I mean yeah, but I refer to own on steam over pirate. And realistically, it also beats Xbox Game pass, which is cool, but you also loose games after a while, so I can't just sit on a game for a while and play it when I feel like it, which I do a lot. I'd have to play it before it leaves, leaving me less time to do other things i like. Gaming becomes a chore. It's the same reason I dropped Netflix for Plex. I'm tired of loosing access to ♥♥♥♥. Sure, it's not ownership like a disc, but steam has a track record I trust enough to continue to invest money in. The company seems to be around to stay, and they don't do messed up ♥♥♥♥ like remove most games (with some exceptions, but not enough to worry me a ton).
Epic meanwhile, while I don't expect them to fold or even shutter EGS any time soon, has been floundering. It's a ♥♥♥♥ platform that literally only sells games, where Valve has pushed to make steam more of a community, allowing me to do things like add all my emulated games and share screenshots for them via non steam shortcut. Valve's Steam feels more like a community. Epic is like Origin. Yeah, it has a friends list, but really it's just there to launch games that you're forced to buy there.

Just agree to keep your OS up to date and you're fine :P

I mean, do you have a choice lmao.
And if you mean xbox game pass, I didn't know that... that's even worse....

[Aya]

If it's of any relevance, Ooblets spent 4 years in EGS exclusivity.

If it takes that long if not longer for KH3 to eventually reach the Steam Store, then I do not regret getting it on Epic, cuz it's still a necessary, and ultimately lesser evil compared to Japanese developers being allowed to use whatever asinine excuse they can find to only make games for consoles.

I think I should re-iterate that the only amount of ♥♥♥♥♥ that most Japanese developers give about PC gaming is "Steam's too big to ignore", but they'll still welcome an excuse to not make PC games.

[Raging Panda]

Автор сообщения: Aya

If it's of any relevance, Ooblets spent 4 years in EGS exclusivity.

If it takes that long if not longer for KH3 to eventually reach the Steam Store, then I do not regret getting it on Epic, cuz it's still a necessary, and ultimately lesser evil compared to Japanese developers being allowed to use whatever asinine excuse they can find to only make games for consoles.

I think I should re-iterate that the only amount of ♥♥♥♥♥ that most Japanese developers give about PC gaming is "Steam's too big to ignore", but they'll still welcome an excuse to not make PC games.

As a BIG TIME pc gamer (yes I do own consoles, mostly for collecting, but I want all games on pc) idk if I can agree with this. Epic is just that bad, and them making money like this sets a precident that devs can just exclusive a game and the money will go where they go. I don't want exclusivity on PC. It's what I'm fighting AGAINST with wanting games on pc. People aren't moving for games anymore. It's time to spread games onto all platforms imo.
Fortunately, the exactly opposite seems to be the case. Epic has recently laid off 800 employees based off losses taken, and while this is sad for those affected, it shines a light on the fact that the Eric's carter Blanche exclusivity buy outs are costing them more than they are making, and it's NOT. Viable competitive strategy. While they recently offered a big incentive for permanent exclusivity, it seems no one has bitten.
I've never heard of the game you mentioned, but seeing pro skater come to steam gives me hope we will see a steam release.
That's the thing. These are not ports. The thing keeping them in one store is 100% artificial. There is no effort to do both and let the better one win. But Epic, rather than spend their money on developing a good launcher, thinks they can just buy out competition. If they actually put money spent put into exclusivity deals into actually making a good launcher like steam, they'd have a much closer race and probably wouldn't be seen as the bad guys. If you act like the Villain, you get treated like it.
For me, I have the games on my computer. No money left my pocket for epic's pocket. As far as I'm concerned, epic bought my copy ahead of time. When it comes to steam, they will gladly receive my money for the whole series, even at the original $220 ridiculous pricing. Kinda dumb, but I'm willing to stick it to Epic's exclusivity deal THAT MUCH. Most likely, it won't be over half that.

[Devsman]

Автор сообщения: Raging Panda

Автор сообщения: Aya

If it's of any relevance, Ooblets spent 4 years in EGS exclusivity.

If it takes that long if not longer for KH3 to eventually reach the Steam Store, then I do not regret getting it on Epic, cuz it's still a necessary, and ultimately lesser evil compared to Japanese developers being allowed to use whatever asinine excuse they can find to only make games for consoles.

I think I should re-iterate that the only amount of ♥♥♥♥♥ that most Japanese developers give about PC gaming is "Steam's too big to ignore", but they'll still welcome an excuse to not make PC games.

As a BIG TIME pc gamer (yes I do own consoles, mostly for collecting, but I want all games on pc) idk if I can agree with this. Epic is just that bad, and them making money like this sets a precident that devs can just exclusive a game and the money will go where they go. I don't want exclusivity on PC. It's what I'm fighting AGAINST with wanting games on pc. People aren't moving for games anymore. It's time to spread games onto all platforms imo.
Fortunately, the exactly opposite seems to be the case. Epic has recently laid off 800 employees based off losses taken, and while this is sad for those affected, it shines a light on the fact that the Eric's carter Blanche exclusivity buy outs are costing them more than they are making, and it's NOT. Viable competitive strategy. While they recently offered a big incentive for permanent exclusivity, it seems no one has bitten.
I've never heard of the game you mentioned, but seeing pro skater come to steam gives me hope we will see a steam release.
That's the thing. These are not ports. The thing keeping them in one store is 100% artificial. There is no effort to do both and let the better one win. But Epic, rather than spend their money on developing a good launcher, thinks they can just buy out competition. If they actually put money spent put into exclusivity deals into actually making a good launcher like steam, they'd have a much closer race and probably wouldn't be seen as the bad guys. If you act like the Villain, you get treated like it.
For me, I have the games on my computer. No money left my pocket for epic's pocket. As far as I'm concerned, epic bought my copy ahead of time. When it comes to steam, they will gladly receive my money for the whole series, even at the original $220 ridiculous pricing. Kinda dumb, but I'm willing to stick it to Epic's exclusivity deal THAT MUCH. Most likely, it won't be over half that.

Sets a precedent, are you kidding me

Kingdom Hearts has been pulling this crap for 20 years. Square as a whole has been doing it since they jumped ship from the N64. And video games in general have been doing it AT LEAST since Sonic 1.