Ahh.  Super unfortunate.  I wish you guys luck and I'll see you all when you're out of the jailhouse.

Stardock's bizdev people messed up when they signed that EGS exclusivity contract. I imagine they didn't know how hated it was among the actual fans.

Almost certainly it was do or die for them.  

It's better they took the contract, because the game will at least exist now.  Maybe some will buy on EGS and it'll be alright.  Maybe EGS advertises the game and the community grows.

And eventually, hopefully, we'll get it off the EGS.  Time will tell, but it's ultimately better the game exists than not.

Per the FAQ: Sins of a Solar Empire II - FAQ (sinsofasolarempire2.com)

WILL SINS OF A SOLAR EMPIRE II BE ON STEAM OR OTHER PLATFORMS?

We would love to have Sins of a Solar Empire II on as many platforms as possible; right now, we are focused on delivering the best game possible on Epic.

I've never had any understanding at all of this irrational hatred people have for the Epic store. It's a platform selling Windows games exactly like Steam. Steam also is a form of DRM. Countless games are exclusive on Steam and nowhere else, as they are for Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo. It's OK to hate just one of those distribution systems and no others, I guess, but then don't expect to see the games you want developed actually get funded and made. I find this attitude incomprehensible. 

Well, if people don't want Sins 2 because they won't be buying it from a place with an "optimized storefront", I have no words to offer them. I'll be too busy enjoying Sins 2. 

Couple of reasons to dislike the epic store.

Epic is half owned by by a Chinese company and is beholden to their whims.

Epic is entering these exclusivity deals explicitly for the purpose of denying access to these games on platforms like steam. PC is supposed to be the open platform, not the platform of exclusives and consumer hostile moves like this. Epic is introducing something to the PC space that should never have existed on the PC space.

People put games exclusively on steam, not because Valve is an anti-competitive monster, but because Valve has made a good store. People like it. And it is easier for a developers to do that instead of selling their own.

However, Valve is so incredibly open that you can literally buy games for steam not on steam and own the games in two platforms by using humble bundle. All over the place you are able to purchase games from developer websites and get a steam key for free.

Epic games is an exclusive monster that can and will suck down the entire computer game playing space and annihilate every possibility for there to be real openness and competition in this space anymore.

If you are using the epic game store you are contributing to this and you will be to blame when they inevitably cobble up the market and lock you out of being able to do anything but hand them money.

Then they will hand your gaming data to China because they are half owned by tencent.

This is a HUGE mistake. Epic is where new games go to die. There has always been ZERO hype for these Epic exclusive releases. Hades was a flop on Epic and blossomed on Steam. Darkest Dungeon 2 is flopping right now on Epic. You may as well say "we're not really interested in your money right now, try again later!" It's just a horrible horrible storefront and there is a reason why Steam is so much preferred. It took Epic years to even have something as simple as a shopping cart, and when they did get it Epic acted like it was a huge achievement - as if they were a big boy now because they no longer wet the bed. They're pathetic. Do want to know how terrible the Epic Store is compared to Steam? When Anno 1800 got removed from Steam, the forums were still left up because those who preordered still got it. The Steam forums are still THE place to talk about Anno 1800 outside of the official forums. It's a very active community, despite not being able to be purchased on Steam anymore. And you'll probably get a repeat of that with Sins 2, where there will be lots of discussion on the old Sins 1 Steam forum.

But oh well, I guess. The contract's already been signed. Very unfortunate how devs can be suckered in with sweet promises of "assured profit" and "better percentages", when actual sales will not be anything they could have been. I certainly won't touch anything related to Epic Games. If you had it on GoG, I'd say 'fine' and pre-order. But Epic? Forget it. Not with a fifty foot pole.

It will be out on other platforms eventually, if you've waited 15 years you can wait another two or three for the exclusivity agreement to end.

Damn, I was trying to purchase but couldn't find it anywhere else.

Hard Pass until its elsewhere.

wow...... There are just so many haters out there. As for the China comment, that really made me laugh because most things are made in China. In fact, the majority of the components in the device you are using to access this forum is made in China.   

One important note for those still living in the dark ages. You can integrate Steam, Epic, Xbox Live, Origin/EA, Ubisoft Connect to name a few into GoG and view everything under one Launcher. So I personally don't see the big deal.