Metro Exodus Releases On Steam Soon, As Epic Exclusivity Ends

After one year of Epic Games Store exclusivity, Metro Exodus will finally release for Steam on February 15. The Steam version had previously only been available to those who pre-ordered the game prior to the Epic Games Store exclusivity agreement.

The wider Steam release announcement was made through the game's official Twitter page and it's scheduled to launch at midnight ET. This will be the first time new purchases of the game have been available on Steam since launch, though updates and expansions were still available to those who had bought the game on Steam before it moved to Epic Games Store. The second expansion Sam's Story launches on February 11.

When the initial Epic Games Store exclusivity was announced, publisher Deep Silver received backlash from players who only wanted to purchase the game on Steam.

But following release, Deep Silver’s parent company Koch Media was still pleased with its decision, with CEO Klemens Kundar saying the company was happy with Exodus’ commercial performance. Speaking to GI.biz, Epic Games Store’s head of store Steve Allison said the game manage to sell more than 2.5 times as many copies than predecessor Metro: Last Light had on steam.

Epic Games Store has scored several exclusives over the last year, with a number of them planned for Steam launch after a certain time period. Among these are Borderlands 3, Outer Wilds, Control, and The Outer Worlds.

Unlike Steam, which takes a 30 percent cut on game revenue, Epic Games Store takes only 12 percent. Game prices have also occasionally been reduced on Epic Games Store compared to other platforms, as the increased revenue sharing allows for publishers to still receive a comparable profit.

GameSpot found Metro Exodus to be a rewarding journey with excellent world building, calling it "a journey more about teh enduring relationships and ties that bind an earnest crew of survivors" than a traditional apocalyptic adventure.