Earth Defense Force 6 Launches To Negative Reviews On Steam, Requires Epic Games Account For Online Play

D3 Publisher and Sandlot’s third-person shooter, Earth Defense Force 6, has launched to negative reviews on Steam.

The outrage against the Steam version of Earth Defense Force 6 comes from the game suddenly requiring an Epic Games Account for online play. Prior to launch, there had been no mention of such a requirement on its store page. The game had been up for pre-order a month prior to launch, and those who purchased it did so without being aware of this important piece of information.

Around six hours after release, the Steam store page for Earth Defense Force 6 was updated to reflect the requirement of needing a third-party account. Even if you only play with those players who own the Steam version, the game still requires a third party account with Epic Games in order to play online. Many of the negative review for Earth Defense Force 6 have argued that the developer deliberately withheld information regarding the requirement until after launch is potentially an illegal business practice. It’s also worth noting that none of the previous titles Earth Defense Force titles have required an Epic Games Account.

Other concerns raised against Earth Defense Force 6 in negative reviews including downgraded visuals compared to prior entries, the frame rate being capped at 60 frames per second, glaring pop-in issues, slow loading times, the lack of a V-Sync option, the lack of accessibility settings, major performance issues, including stuttering, even on capable systems.

For the uninitiated, Earth Defense Force 6 is the sixth main game in the Earth Defense Force series and the eleventh overall, including spinoffs. The game is available on both PlayStation systems and Windows PC, with the PC version available on both Steam and the Epic Game Store. It has set sales records for the series, selling over 300,000 copies in its first week since launch.