UPDATE: Valve weigh in on Metro Exodus becoming an Epic Games Store exclusive

UPDATE 3:28pm EST: Valve have weighed in on the situation, updating Metro Exodus’ Steam page with the following message:

Notice: Later today, sales of Metro Exodus will be discontinued on Steam due to a publisher decision to make the game exclusive to another PC store.

The developer and publisher have assured us that all prior sales of the game on Steam will be fulfilled on Steam, and Steam owners will be able to access the game and any future updates or DLC through Steam.

We think the decision to remove the game is unfair to Steam customers, especially after a long pre-sale period. We apologize to Steam customers that were expecting it to be available for sale through the February 15th release date, but we were only recently informed of the decision and given limited time to let everyone know.

The message confirms that Steam pre-orders will indeed be honored and also implies that Valve were only given short notice of the changes to Metro Exodus.

Source: Steam.

Original story below:

Epic Games and Deep Silver today announced in a blog post that they’ve formed a partnership, meaning the digital version of Metro Exodus on PC will now be an Epic Games Store exclusive.

The game, a survival horror shooter set in post-apocalyptic Russia, is still set for release on February 15th 2019, but all pre-orders for the digital game from this point onward must be made through the Epic Games Store. All physical pre-orders are unaffected.

The official Metro Exodus Twitter account posted a tweet to reassure fans that Steam pre-orders will still be honored. The blog post adds that all pre-orders that have been placed with any digital retailer up until this point will still be honored.

As part of this partnership, the digital PC version of Metro Exodus will now be available to purchase solely through https://t.co/VDwgE3CTUy. All existing Steam pre-orders WILL be honoured.

— Metro (@MetroVideoGame) January 28, 2019

Both the Standard and Gold editions of Metro Exodus are available for pre-order from the Epic Games Store, priced at $49.99 and $74.99 respectively. All pre-orders will include the Metro Exodus Original Soundtrack and ‘The World of Metro’ Digital Art Book.

Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter, developed by 4A Games and published by Deep Silver. The game is set in the year 2036, two years after the events of Metro: Last Light, and puts the player in the role of the protagonist Artyom. Artyom must navigate the harsh wilderness while also fighting for his life against grossly mutated creatures and hostile humans alike.

Metro Exodus will be released on February 15th on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Source: Metro The Game’s blog and Twitter.