Since its announcement, The Outer Worlds has been mostly greeted with open arms by the gaming community. With the original Fallout developers at the helm, the goodwill it's earned by ditching microtransactions, and the fact that it's a single-player RPG, The Outer Worlds has been widely praised. In particular, the game has been championed by those burned by Fallout 76. However, The Outer Worlds is now finding itself the source of criticism, largely thanks to the decision to release the game on the Epic Games Store and not release on Steam for at least a year after launch.

A thread on Obsidian's official forums is filled with people complaining about the decision make The Outer Worlds an Epic Games Store-exclusive. Multiple posts are of people vowing not to buy the game at all through the Epic Games Store, with plans to buy it through Steam once the Epic Games Store exclusivity window closes. Some users say that this could end up being a good thing for Steam users, as the version of The Outer Worlds they get a year after launch will likely have bug fixes, DLC expansions, and just generally be an improvement over the game at launch.

Others are less optimistic about the situation, and seem to be genuinely upset at Obsidian over The Outer Worlds being an Epic Games Store-exclusive. Obsidian has addressed the exclusivity concerns by pointing out that The Outer Worlds will technically be available through the Windows Store as well and therefore isn't a true Epic Games Store-exclusive. Of course, when most people refer to the game being an Epic Games Store-exclusive, they mean to say that the game isn't releasing on Steam, the digital storefront of choice for the vast majority of PC gamers.

Arguments about whether or not The Outer Worlds should be classified as an Epic Games Store-exclusive aside, it's clear through social media reactions and Obsidian's own forum that the decision to skip Steam is not sitting well with many. However, though it appears to be an unpopular decision, it's worth pointing out that Metro Exodus releasing as an Epic Games-store exclusive apparently didn't have a negative impact on its sales. It will be interesting to see if the same is true for The Outer Worlds.

The Outer Worlds is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: Obsidian Forums