[Update 2/4/2019:] Deep Silver addressed the comments from the 4A Games developer, stating that the comments didn’t represent the entire team at 4A.

[Original article:] The Metro: Exodus debacle continues. In a recent forum post that comes from 4A Games developer “Scynet,” PC gamers would soon learn that if they continue to “boycott” the Metro series of games, there will be no future Metro games coming to PC.

In the not so distant past, a Denuvo debacle popped up, price hikes outside the U.S. stepped forward, news of a timed exclusivity deal with the Epic Game Store surfaced, and now folks are taking to the Steam store to warn gamers away from purchasing Metro: Exodus since the Epic Games Store doesn’t have a user review section/forum.

Yes, the game promised to Steam users to release this month will not be available on Steam (for PC owners) until February 14th, 2020. Folks on the Epic Games Store will gain access to it on February 15th, 2019, breaking the promise made in 2018:

Have you already discovered @EpicGames new store? You might even find one of our games there… 😉 https://t.co/yWFWCIKzeZ — THQ Nordic (@THQNordic) December 7, 2018

don't worry. we have over 40 partners in the digital hemisphere, and there is no exclusivity planned in any capacity at this stage. — THQ Nordic (@THQNordic) December 7, 2018

The decision to publish Metro Exodus as a timed Epic Store exclusive was made entirely on Koch Media’s side as Metro is their intellectual property. They are a sister company of THQ Nordic (Vienna), which is the reason why we can and will not comment on this matter. — THQ Nordic (@THQNordic) January 29, 2019

As a response to this timed exclusive deal that the devs and publisher of Metro: Exodus struck with the Epic Game Store, fans began to review bomb Metro: 2033 and Metro: Last Light.

Striking fear into one of the devs over at 4A Games, he, Scynet, took to gameru.net to explain the following:

“The reaction of a certain category of players (online pirates/torrents and all that) is hardly adequate. It seems that people did not want to play the game, and were waiting for an excuse to spew bitterness. It turns out that for years we (the developers) have been trying to do something special and painfully, with losses, but a certain number of players believe that our work is not worth even a couple of minutes to install the Epic Launcher. Naturally, it’s their life and their right, but then what do they care about this Metro game? Obviously, they are not interested in it. I can only say that they were not our fans, our work is not interesting to them, and therefore I am not interested in the opinion of such people. What is the point of listening to their opinion personally (and not only)? But, uh…! (laughs) let’s take a closer look at the situation. Someone says that by shitting on the Exodus and the previous games in the series, he will make the world a better place for the greedy developers. I can answer to that in extreme case, if all PC players boycott this Metro title, then the next entry, if it is to be released, will not be on PC. It will be for better or worse, decide for yourself. I personally feel sorry for the devoted fans, yes. But my assessment of the work done by me and my friends and colleagues will not change. I know for a fact that almost everybody who spills crap online is incapable of doing a piece of what we have done, and I hope we will do it again.”

In case you are wondering about the full write up, the post starts off with Scynet saying how he witnessed the start of the whole debacle and how he can see the Epic Launcher causing issues being a separate thing players have to download. The end of the letter sees him saying how he is going to replay the whole game on PC and add finishing touches to Metro: Exodus with his fellow devs. He also adds how nobody can shake him of his opinion and how he is satisfied with the work he and crew put into Metro: Exodus, ending with there will always be the “dissatisfied.”

Lastly, Deep Silver issued an update last week on the situation stating that Steam customers are able to access Metro: Exodus related stuff… but with some stipulations. Firstly, Steam customers can purchase the stand-alone DLC for Metro: Exodus on the platform, and no existing content or future DLC will be exclusive to the Epic Game Store. However, the game itself will only become available to Steam users on February 14th, 2020.