Epic Game Store's Quality Standard: A Shift from Valve's Enigmatic Approach

The recent launch of the Epic Games Store has sparked a lot of interest in the gaming community, with many wondering how this new platform will shape the future of PC gaming. One aspect that sets it apart from its competitors is its approach to game quality and content. While Valve's Steam store relies on user reviews to gauge a game's quality, Epic has taken a different route by introducing a carefully-crafted press release style quality standard.

This difference can be illustrated by imagining an adult game released on the Epic Store alongside Fortnite. It's unlikely that Epic would allow such a game to coexist with its family-friendly hit, which is why they've implemented a more mainstream approach. This move suggests that Epic won't distribute explicit content alongside games like Fortnite, leaving it up to 'humans' to make judgment calls.

However, the term 'quality standard' implies that Epic will play every game that comes its way before approving it, which would be an enormous task. The company's CEO, Tim Sweeney, has stated that they won't have a console-style certification process for releasing games, but rather rely on human evaluation. This approach raises questions about the feasibility of such a system and whether it can truly ensure the quality of every game.

The Epic Games Store is already featuring a free Game of Thrones title, which demonstrates its willingness to offer more diverse content. Additionally, ratings and polls are now live on the store, allowing users to influence the types of games that are featured. This approach aims to build a tagging system that gets very granular about a game's content, eventually generating custom tag-based categories driven by players.

While this solution may not be perfect, it's an interesting attempt to address the issue of review bombing. Review bombing occurs when a group of users floods a game with negative reviews based on flimsy reasons, which can harm its reputation and popularity. By introducing a quality standard and using poll answers to generate tags for store pages, Epic aims to create a more balanced and user-friendly experience.

Ultimately, whether this approach is effective remains to be seen. The intent behind it is admirable, but it will take time to gauge its impact on the gaming community. For now, players can only wait and see how Epic's quality standard shapes the future of PC gaming.

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