The Epic Games Store is trying to position itself as a competitor to Steam. The launcher faced a lot of headwind – however, it seems that the current developments are quite satisfactory.
This was the response to the Epic Games Store: Both at launch and in the following months, the Epic Games Store struggled to gain popularity among PC gamers. Many still criticize that the additional launcher is unnecessary given the availability of Steam.
Also on MeinMMO, the comments on the launch were mostly negative: “Great. Another launcher that nobody needs and isn’t competition anyway… just like all the others, cluttering up PCs,” read one comment from user “TimTaylor”. “Just because you have a well-running game, you think you can compete against an already established platform?” criticized user “Vallo”. Overall, the response was difficult.
In an interview with the portal “GameDaily“, Epic Games executives mentioned some figures – and they don’t look bad at all.
Here’s how things are going currently with the Epic Games Store
This is how the store operates: Among other things, the EGS is characterized by charging developers less money and securing some exclusive titles such as Borderlands 3 or Metro Exodus – at least temporarily. Furthermore, the store distributes free games weekly.
The strategy seems to pay off – as Steve Allison from the Epic Games Store mentioned to “GameDaily”, they are currently exceeding their expectations regarding account numbers and revenues.
Here are the numbers: Within the first year, the store has a total of 108 million accounts that have purchased at least one PC product – whether for money or for free, added Epic CEO Tim Sweeney. However, this is only part of the total account numbers, which amount to 300 million cross-platform users. This resulted in a revenue of 680 million dollars.
While this does not reach the numbers of the industry leader Steam, which can count over a billion accounts, they have exceeded their own expectations. Also thanks to the free games: “The speed of free game installations is much higher than we originally expected,” said Sweeney, “We are happy with the results”.
Exclusive games also play an important role, as Allison confirmed. They are responsible for the majority of revenues. This strategy is also set to continue this year.
Fortnite also plays a role in the marketing department of the Epic Games Store:
