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At the moment, the only storefront planned for Europa Universalis V at launch is Steam. It is less about being DRM free or not, it is about being available where most of PDS player base is and where to focus our internal resources on for launch.

That does not prevent a release in other places in the future, or even console ports, but there are no plans for it as of now.
 
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Thanks for the info. Could you tell whether Johan's "Steam" here meant SteamOS or the point of sale? If it meant the point of sale, are ports for other OSs (Linux or Mac) possible in the future, if even console ports are?

I realize this may reflect poorly on the chances of getting an answer to the above, but have to try. You wouldn't have any info on EUV hardware requirents, DLC model, or the fate of EU4?
At the moment we are aiming only at having steam as a storefront and Windows as OS. Other OSs, Storefronts (GoG, EGS, Microsoft Store, etc) and console ports are options that we will definitely explore after release, but as Johan said, our resources are locked at the moment to guarantee a good release on Steam.
 
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Thanks for the reply!

Do you have an idea when there will be info on those other options, or decisions should be made based on lack of info? Eg if nothing has been said about those options six months after release it would mean they're not coming.

Would of course be nice to have some info before release.

Any possibility of a demo or free weekend or something at or near the launch? So that one can check how it works with Proton (or Mac equivalent) on own hardware. Steam's 2h return window is small for a gsg, it's not inconceivable that it's over before the game is unpaused for the first time. And definitely not possible to experience late game performance (or lack of it) within the 2h. Actually that may be problematic to do within a weekend...

Official and final info for release will be available when we start having prepurchases for the game, as we will update the Steam store page to show final specs, OS, languages, etc.

We evaluate the possibility of having a demo, but decided against it after some discussions about how a GSG is developed and what a good timing would be. So no plans for it at the moment.
 
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Not sure if you're answering what I asked. I asked about your comment "options that we will definitely explore after release", seeking to find how long after release such info would be available. Am I now to interpret that whether those will happen at some point will be communicated at release, not later?

Yeah you are right, sorry about that. I don't think we will make a call super close to release. When the game is out, we will actually see what the game is and is not (the players decide, not us), adjust development plans and etc. I think after a few months we might be able to look and say "Ok, now we have the bandwidth to support one more OS/storefront" and make plans, and we probably will share that close to its respective release.

Again, thanks a lot for the info. Does that also apply for free weekends? Vic3 and CK3 have had those.

Free weekends are usually done once per year. So probably not during release year for EU5, maybe starting the year after? Hard to make such projections now before it is out. But eventually we will have them.
 
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The reason for Steam is very simple. Its a lot of nice technology for achievements, modding workshop, a really really good multiplayer system, and most importantly, by far most importantly, a good distribution system for updates.
 
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@pdx-sanke

It would really mean a lot for many of us if we could get a GOG or any Non DRM or Third Party Launcher release! I'm willing to wait and buy the game and all its subsequent DLCs from a Non DRM storefront rather than invest everything on the Steam version.

I understand that is important to you, but as a company/studio, we have to prioritize. For launch, there is no way we will have additional platforms, as Tinto wants to focus on having a solid release on Steam and it is where the huge majority of our players are and all the features are well know and available to be integrated with the game.

To go on GOG, or any other platform, we need to be in a position where we see the potential to have more players experiencing our games, while not adding an increased burden in our operation. Mind you, we do not release and forget a new game. We plan to support it for 5, 10 years, with free patches and DLCs. And every single platform we add, it is another thing to make sure we integrate it correctly with their features, check for bugs, do all the release steps every single time.

We do have other GSGs on GOG, but without sharing specific numbers, I can say that the number of players using it on a monthly basis is very very small compared to Steam. I understand that the studio wants to focus on getting the game out there, make sure it is doing great, before evaluating adding more layers in the operation. And from a business point of view, this is not a priority either.

All that I said here is the same rationale we use for other things like languages, MAC/Linux conversations, console, etc. Every single decision needs to account for years of support, additional point of failures and additional steps on every single thing we do, and then we compare to what is the expected return of that investment (both in numbers, but also in opportunity costs).

So yeah, I would never say "we are never releasing on other platforms", but I don't want to do any promises at this point. Let's get this game out, make sure it is great and then we see what the future has for us.
 
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