World War Z was announced near the end of 2017 as a four-player survival-shooter inspired by the "blockbuster film franchise" of the same name. It's being developed by Saber Interactive and was originally expected to be out this year, although the August gameplay trailer above updated that release target to 2019. And today, Saber dropped another little surprise:
World War Z is coming in 2019 to the Epic Games store! https://t.co/CyTvElFmvVDecember 7, 2018
There are a couple of interesting things about this update. First, the Epic Store listing is live (it's not available for preorder yet, but it's there) but there's still no sign of it on Steam. Second, and more wild-conspiracy-minded, the World War Z website has been changed: As you can see by way of the ever-so-handy Wayback machine, it used to indicate that the game is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and Steam, but now says PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
That doesn't necessarily mean that World War Z won't be headed to Steam as well as Epic—it could be simply that Saber doesn't want to be bothered listing individual PC platforms, even though doing so would enable it to link to separate store pages, or that it's still working things out with Valve. It's also reasonable to think that if it was going to be an Epic exclusive, you'd see an Epic Store logo there instead.
But swapping out the familiar Steam piston for that bold, staid, glorious PC logo does point toward a recognition of the Epic Store's potential as a legitimate competitor to Steam, and that in itself is a remarkable turn of events. It's one thing for major publishers like EA and Activision to keep their big releases on their own proprietary platforms, but something else entirely to see mid-range developers making a show of taking their wares elsewhere.
I've reached out to Saber Interactive to inquire about whether World War Z will appear on Steam as well as the Epic Store, and will update if I receive a reply.
