Epic merging various storefronts to Fab marketplace

Alemja

Didn't see a topic on this and I could imagine this could affect people here. Epic will eventually be merging all of their storefronts into one place called Fab, this will include Unreal Marketplace, Artstation, Quixel and Sketchfab

More info:

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/fab-content-marketplace-launches-in-october-publishing-portal-opens-today

zetheros

there's a script to claim all items on Quixel to your Epic account btw https://gist.github.com/jamiephan/0c04986c7f2e62d5c87c4e8c8ce115fc#file-run-js

Fabi_G

Curious to see how the user experience, navigating this über-store, will turn out.

iam717

I do not touch e-stores much but curious what are the "stipulations" on items within their grasp for this conglomerate?

They free to use all items indefinitely? 

Even upon passing of users for any reasons they deem necessary, i see potential to create these e-stores for only one purpose creating a library to NOT pay anyone in the future for anything since they have this library of content at their finger tips. 

Also editing 20% of anything makes it "new" right, there is also that, and how interesting that these things we've created since they take so much time has been whittled down on cost to 2 digits from 3 or 4 digits, how convenient for everyone else.

I'm old and grumpy so yeah i see b.s. everywhere and just can not keep the trap shut i guess.

pior

"Also editing 20% of anything makes it "new" right"

No.

zetheros

iam717 said:

I do not touch e-stores much but curious what are the "stipulations" on items within their grasp for this conglomerate?

the only downsides I see is monopoly & AI, nothing we haven't seen before. All of this infrastructure existed already; artstation, sketchfab, quixel, etc. It'll all just be in one place now, likely for AI purposes. Calling it now; we're going to see unoptimized 3d meshes generated by data from Fab in combination with nanite. It's why they've been pushing nanite so hard lol

pxgeek

Looks like epic is also waiving their commission for the rest year.

For any of y'all merchants out there that generate revenue from it: it might be a good time to advertise and/or run promotions.

I'm pretty sure there are folks out there that would be more than happy to purchase stuff and support creators

myclay

zetheros said:

there's a script to claim all items on Quixel to your Epic account

Fwiw, those files are UE-Only content and are for end-use in Unreal Engine and Twinmotion only.

zetheros

ya, UE only! For everything else, Polyhaven and Textures.com are pretty good. I might actually switch over to these other two (as well as make my own) just in case Epic decides to pull a Riccitello. The less strings attached the better

pior

Well this is stressful for sure. As of recently the UE Marketplace hasn't been quite as healthy as it used to be, as it has no more human moderation from Epic on flagged comments and reviews - meaning that harassement and some shady practices happen. So migrating to a new platform could mean either further enshittification, or a fresh reboot.

On the plus side, Fab has a distinction between pricing for individuals and for professionals, meaning that if a studio purchases assets for prototyping they'll pay more if the creator decides to enable the feature. This sounds great to me and long overdue.

On the *very* negative side, at first sight the migration doesn't seem to carry over existing ratings and questions (ie : customer support), meaning that years and of efforts and QA/Q&A are seemingly vanishing. I'd have to double check.

Oh and ... the migration process ignores existing square thumbnails, putting the 16:9 "featured image" as a new thumbnail. A non-issue for those who kept both consistent, but not so great when it requires some last minute editing ...

At least the migration process is fast and very straightforward.

Alemja

I went onto the Epic forums to see if they could provide any more information about how the Fab Marketplace will impact Artstation users, particularly if you have pro, because it alters the split of revenue you get. Plus there is all kinds of integration on Artstation profiles and websites for things you sell on the marketplace, and there is no information on how that will affect people who have that. I found the information about how Fab affects Artstation, very vague and inadequate.

My post is here, we'll see if I get an answer.

https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/further-clarity-regarding-artstation-marketplace-moving-to-fab/2044603

NGL if the revenue split stays 88/12 with the move to Fab, I see less of a reason to have a Pro account. I would still have an Artstation account, begrudgingly, because I can take part in art blasts and it is handy to have it to search for people. However all of the other pro features I could get around by just hosting my own website once again, and probably for less money.

pior

Well, if anything it will be interesting to see if they reply - as unfortunately the UE forums have been in somewhat of a zombie state ever since they switched to this (black, mobile-oriented) layout ; and support staff is even less present now compared to just a year or two ago.

Also just FYI there is a separate forum subsection for Marketplace contributors called the "creators hub" where this kind of question might have more chance to get a reply - but even that seems to be barely monitored by the devs/support staff these days anyways

Alemja

I did get a staff response, their forums are kind of a mess to navigate so I missed that section completely. Here is what they replied:

These are all good questions - we’ll communicate more about this in the coming months but for the moment nothing is changing on ArtStation Marketplace.

About what I expected, it doesn't really inspire confidence but it looks like the only option is to sit tight and wait for now on how this is going to roll out.

Rima

Can they maybe try banning AI shit on the new one...? Artstation's marketplace is halfway unusable for the amount of AI "reference packs", half of which don't tag themselves as AI so they clog the place up even if you use the filter.

Zack Maxwell

It might be coincidental, but my earnings on Artstation have gradually gone down to roughly a quarter of what they used to be after Epic took over. I wonder if that's a shared experience caused by problems with the site itself. If so, this transition might not be great   
It could also just be that I haven't been managing my store well enough.

Benjammin

Well, my first experience with Fab was absolute rubbish, coming from using Bridge to manage Megascans stuff:
No more one click download - Bridge would pull all the files, Fab has things separated and downloads them as zips
No more shared local libary - I have a library in Fab, but it just tells me what I "own".

I feel like a solid content management tool has been replaced* with another Turbosquid.

*It still exists for now, but it only lets you access your current library

Hey Epic, how about thinking about your UX first, then work out how to squeeze more $ out of the industry?

poopipe

Benjammin said:

Hey Epic, how about thinking about your UX first, then work out how to squeeze more $ out of the industry?

I get it 
but 
lol

Benjammin

poopipe said:

Benjammin said:

Hey Epic, how about thinking about your UX first, then work out how to squeeze more $ out of the industry?

I get it 
but 
lol

Yeah. I know.