EPIC TAKES ON STEAM
The FORTNITE creator launches an enticing alternative to Steam
gamesindustry.biz. “But with
developers receiving 88% of revenue
and Epic receiving 12%, this store
will be a profitable business for us.”
To further entice gamers away
from Steam, the Epic Games Store is
also offering a free game every two
weeks during 2019. “Epic is funding
these free releases so players can
experience the wide range of creative
works that will be available,” says
Sweeney. And, interestingly, besides
“adult-only content”, Epic promises
the games on its platform won’t be
curated “based on developers’
creative or artistic expression”.
One thing the Epic Games Store
doesn’t have is forums. This could beE
pic Games, riding on
the success of Fortnite,
is taking a shot at Valve
with its very own
digital distribution
platform. The Epic Games Store
differs from Steam in a number of
ways, but mainly in the fact that
developers who sell their games on
it receive a much bigger cut of the
profits. It’s an alluring prospect in
the financially uncertain world of
game development, and a shrewd
move by Epic.
Compared to Steam, which offers
developers a 70/30 split for games
that earn less than $10 million, the
Epic Games Store offers an 88/
split. Devs who use Epic’s own
Unreal Engine 4 will even have their
5% engine royalty waived for sales on
the Epic store. “In our analysis, stores
charging 30% are marking up their
costs by 300% to 400%,” Epic
founder and CEO Tim Sweeney told“DEVELOPERS ARE
RESPONSIBLE FOR
THE INDUSTRY’S
ENORMOUS GROWTH”Valve has Te a m
Fortress 2, Epic
has Fortnite.