Epic Games Store is in the news again, but certainly not for any good reasons. This time the store came under fire for a glitch that allowed users to acquire Detroit: Become Human for free. However, after the bug was discovered by Epic Games, they removed the game from the library of users who downloaded it for $0.
The drama was chronicled in a post over on Kotaku In Action, where the main issue came about because Epic Games’ director of publishing strategy, Sergey Galyonkin, had mentioned during a podcast that if the Epic Games Store glitched and gamers managed to get a game in their library, they would be able to keep it and Epic wouldn’t retroactively remove it from their library. You can view the podcast below, which was posted up back on December 9th, 2018.
This became the crux of the discussion on Twitter where Russian users challenged Galyonkin on this policy after Epic announced that the free download button that appeared on the Epic Games Store was just a bug and that the real version of the game was coming soon.
Hey there,
We’d like to clarify that while Detroit: Become Human temporarily appeared as free in the Epic Games store, this was a bug and has since been corrected.
Don’t worry though, Detroit is still coming soon! We’re just as excited as you are to play this on PC.
— Epic Games (@EpicGames) March 31, 2019
You see, since Galyonkin had said that Epic would let gamers keep games if there was a bug and they managed to add the game to their library, various gamers popped into his thread to ask him why Epic decided to remove the game from their libraries.
Galyonkin responded to some users via Twitter by linking to the Epic Games statement about the free game download being a bug, which only managed to anger gamers.
— Sergey Galyonkin (@galyonkin) March 31, 2019
I saw that and you clearly did not read my comment. I’m aware it was price bug and this is the point I was stressing out. “Our store is all about customer and dev share!” but clearly only Steam has the guts to favour customers in the event of price bug.
— Kein Zantezuken (@keinzantezuken) March 31, 2019
Not everyone was taking Galyonkin’s prevarications so passively, though. A Twitter user going by Eugene linked to the YouTube video asking about why Epic Games was removing Detroit: Become Human from users’ libraries when they originally said they wouldn’t in case a bug like that popped up. Galyonkin responded by saying that it was about buying a game, not getting the game for free.
Речь шла о покупке игры
— Sergey Galyonkin (@galyonkin) March 31, 2019
Eugene responded with an image of the cart where they “purchased” Detroit: Become Human for $0, courtesy of the bug, indicating that while no currency exchanged hands they did go through the process in which the Epic Games Store acknowledged that a purchase was made through the checkout.
However, Galyonkin countered by adding that “free is not a purchase”. Thus, shooting down the idea that Epic Games would honor the original statements he made in the podcast about allowing gamers to keep games acquired via a purchasing bug.
Бесплатно – это не покупка.
— Sergey Galyonkin (@galyonkin) March 31, 2019
Если куплена дешевле из-за бага.
— Sergey Galyonkin (@galyonkin) March 31, 2019
Another Twitter user, Kirill Yarovoy, hopped into the thread to challenge Galyonkin’s deflection by outright claiming that actively removing the game from the library of gamers was illegal, and that Galyonkin was not honoring the terms that he put forward in the podcast.
Yarovoy, followed up the tweet by noting that Galyonkin had blocked him after that exchange and that people could sue Epic for removing the game from their library.
LOL, Галенкин забанил меня за то что я как юрист призвал подавать иски и пояснил что #EPIC store #EGS нарушил законы, отбирая законно купленный товар и вымогая за него деньги! И после этого страница истории покупок в EPIC перестала работать! Совпадение? Мошенники чистят улики? pic.twitter.com/xTsfWcJUQa
— Kirill Yarovoy (@v00d00m4n) March 31, 2019
Others came to Galyonkin’s defense after he began blocking users for taking him to task for going back on his word. One of Galyonkin’s defenders pointed to the Epic Games Store’s terms of service, which outlines that users don’t actually own the software and that they are simply purchasing a right to a license that Epic can revoke at any time. The specific section from the EULA reads…
“[…] Epic may modify, suspend, discontinue, substitute, replace, or limit your access to any aspect of the Software or Services at any time. You acknowledge that your use of the Software or Services does not confer on you any interest, monetary or otherwise, in any aspect or feature of the Software or Services, including but not limited to any in-game rewards, achievements, character levels. You also acknowledge that any character data, game progress, game customization or other data related to your use of the Software or Services may cease to be available to you at any time without notice from Epic, including without limitation after a patch, update, or upgrade is applied by Epic. Epic does not have any maintenance or support obligations with respect to the Software or Services. “
Obviously things get murky when talking about international digital distribution and the regional laws associated with the software licensing. Some place like Australia might be able to overturn Epic’s decision with the help of the ACCC, but the question becomes if Russia’s consumer advocacy groups are as diligent when it comes to fighting for the rights of consumers?
Regardless of whether or not any legal ramifications come of this, it’s quite clear that consumers really don’t come first when Epic decides to enforce its policies. In fact, so far it looks like based on the way the roadmap and store is structured, consumers are always last in consideration in terms of serviceability.
(Thanks for the news tip Ebicentre)
