T
hisyearhastrulybeenanEpicone.Afterlaunching
itsstorefrontattheendof2018,EpicGameshas
spentmostof 2019 settingitselfupasa directrival
to Steam.Itsapproachtothisendeavourhasn’tbeenwithout
controversy.Thestudio’spolicyofofferinglargesumsof
money (£8millioninthecaseofRemedy’sControl)todevelopers
for exclusiverightstopublishtheirgameshascomeunder
criticismfrommanyPCusers.
Personally,I don’thaveanissuewithdeveloperssigning
up to theEpicStore.Ata timewhenthegamingspaceis
more competitivethanever,I can’timagine
anyoneturningawaythestabilitythatcomes
with suchanoffer,especiallyinthecaseofsmaller
indie developers.
Thatsaid,althoughit’sgreatthatsomeof
Epic’s moneygoestowardsdeveloperstohelp
create thegamestheywanttomake,froma
user perspective,theEpicStoreisstillfaraway
from offeringthequalityofservicethatSteam
currently provides.
For users, Epic’s main selling point was that the Epic Store
would offer a hand-curated selection of titles. This is the
opposite of Valve’s open-floodgates policy, where any software
with a pixel in it can be sold on Steam.
To its credit, the Epic store does provide this curated selection.
Launch up the storefront and you’re almost guaranteed to
find a quality title positioned front and centre. While that
curation is nice, however, it simply doesn’t make up for the
Epic Store’s sheer dearth of features compared with Steam.
Many of the most treasured Steam features are community-
orientated, and it’s in this area that the Epic Store is most
lacking.TheEpicStorecurrentlylacksanequivalenttoSteam’s
userreviews,Steamgroups,voicechat,groupchat,wish lists,
achievements,forums,communitypagesforgames and so
on.Italsolackssomeincrediblybasicfeaturesforan online
store,suchasa shoppingcartandautomaticrefunds.
Asidefromthehand-curationaspect,theonlytangible
benefitthattheEpicStoreoffersoverSteamisa regular
influxoffreelyavailablegames.
Again,that’sa goodaspectofthestore,butit’snotenough
toaccountforthefactthatplayersareforcedintobuying
certaingamesfroma storefrontthat’sfar less
usefultothemthantheonethey’vealready
usedforyears.Almosta yearintotheEpic Store’s
existence,I honestlyexpectedEpictocatch up
withSteama littlefaster,especiallywhen you
considertheresourcesthatareclearly at the
company’sdisposal.
However, 11 monthsdowntheline,it’s still
missinga lotofbasicfeatures.I alsoexpected it
to be more conceptually ambitious. Even if Epic
implements all the features I just listed, it’s still only going
to offer a service that’s equivalent to Steam.
I’m still in favour of the PC having a direct competitor to
Steam, and Epic is one of few studios with the resources
to pull it off. However, the Epic store is still a long way off
being as beneficial to players as it is to developers.
Valve has spent 15 years building a reputation as the
benevolent granddaddy of online PC game sales, and it’s
going to take much more than a curated storefront and
a big sack of cash for players to start viewing Epic in the
same way.Games
Rick Lane is Custom PC’s games editor @Rick_LaneRICKLANE/INVERSELOOK
EPIC FLAW
As it approaches its first anniversary, Rick Lane looks back at the Epic Store
I honestly expected
Epic to catch up
withSteama
littlefaster