10 Most Controversial Video Game Moments Of 2019

2. Everything With The Epic Games Store

Few companies got raked through the muck quite so much as Epic this year, and depending on where you come down on the whole debate, it's for good reason.

Throwing their weight in all directions - and by "weight", I mean "All the money earned through Fortnite" - we had a company aggressively pursuing exclusives, buying out studios and cementing deals for things that were in development. Some were active Kickstarter projects with backer goals and milestones in place, only for everything to be upended.

The glaring issue - and heart of the controversy - is the accountability of developers taking the deals in front of them, but many times it's out their hands, falling to publisher whims instead.

Remedy's Control ended up an Epic exclusive as publisher 505 Games signed it over, Shenmue III's passionate origins as a Kickstarter were lost to a buyout, and Psyonix's Rocket League also made the jump, annoying fans as a lack of features on the store means they can no longer be supported in-game.

Props to Epic for challenging the monopoly Steam has on the marketplace, but when the alternative is so brazenly money-hungry and ill-considered, it hasn't gone down well.