Review-bombing convinces Earth Defense Force 6 developer to remove Epic Games account requirement on Steam

Via a Steam news post, D3Publisher and Sandlot have announced that the Epic Games account requirement for Earth Defense Force 6’s multiplayer mode will be removed in the future. The real mystery is why it was there in the first place.

EDF 6 just released yesterday, and it’s a pretty good time. After playing further into it from my Review in Progress, I’m tempted to say it’s the best one yet by a considerable margin, even if it is a little too similar to previous games in the series. However, you wouldn’t think that if you looked at the user reviews on the Steam store page. It’s sitting at 43% “Mixed” rating, and almost all the complaints are focused on the Epic requirement.

This isn’t simply because of the requirement of an Epic Games account for multiplayer, but the fact that players weren’t warned about it. Even for me, the first indication I had was when a window momentarily opened, telling me it was installing something Epic-related. Epic is something like an STD; it makes you think twice about getting in bed with a person.

I’ve lived through EA’s Origin and Ubisoft’s… thing. I even have an Epic Account because I needed it to play Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed for the first year of its existence before it moved to Steam. That doesn’t mean I want to see it ever again, and I don’t blame anyone who feels slighted by the sudden requirement. Other developers have tried to put this kind of thing past gamers, and it’s gone terribly for them, too. When will publishers learn?

Initially, D3 put out a statement that basically said, “It’s fine. It only asks you once.” They said it was to “Enhance cross play and online functionality.” That’s valid, but even Ghostbusters just asked if you wanted cross play enabled rather than force you into another account.

In today’s post, they’re a little more accommodating. “The EDF6 development team for Steam is reviewing and planning changes to the specification that requires sign in to Epic Games account, which has received the most feedback,” the post reads. However, they can’t give a timeline on when this will be accomplished. “At this time, we are unable to provide specifics on how much time this will take, but we will continue to work on it as we address the feedback we have received.”

If there’s one good thing about user reviews, it’s that they provide a good platform to push back against this sort of behavior.

Earth Defense Force 6 is available now for PS4, PS5, and PC.

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