With its own store for games, Epic aims to attract new PC players. And possibly take them away from Steam – right next to Fortnite. In doing so, they criticize Valve.
This is Epic’s plan: Many of you know Epic as the creator of Fortnite. The free battle royale game is installed on many computers. Epic is now leveraging this reach, this installation base, to launch its own shop for online games.
The advantage: Instead of taking 30% like Valve (Steam), Epic’s store only takes 12% of the revenue per game sold. 88% goes to the developers of the game.
A clear challenge to Steam, which is reiterated in an interview with a jab. They accuse Steam and Valve of demanding too high a share of the revenue.
The Epic Games Store – What is known?
This is what Epic is doing now: Epic is building a new launcher, into which the games store will be integrated.
What does the store do differently? Epic’s store divides the revenue 88% to 12%. 88 to the game’s developers, 12 to Epic for providing the platform.
In contrast to Steam’s 70/30 version, this is a clear advantage for the developers of the distributed games.
When will the Epic Games Store launch? It is expected to launch “soon” with selected titles. Throughout 2019, the selection will be further expanded.
Clear challenge to Valve: Too high markup
What does Epic say about this? “During the duration of Fortnite, we learned a lot about the costs of operating a digital store,” explains Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games, to MCV.
“In our analysis, the 30% stores markup their costs by around 300 to 400 percent.”
Sweeney believes that a store can be profitable with only 12% – and does not need to demand 30%. A clear jab at Steam and its operator “Valve,” who want 30%. They have calculated the 12%, explains Sweeney.
There is also a graphic comparing games using Unreal Engine with the competing engine Unity on Steam and Epic Games.
In Epic’s store, it doesn’t matter which engine the games use that are distributed there. However, if games use the Unreal Engine, Epic waives the licensing fee.
“We believe that creators (game developers and also content creators) are responsible for the tremendous growth and dynamics of the gaming industry and should receive the lion’s share of the profits from game sales,” Sweeney says to MCV. “Companies offering support services like engines, stores, platforms, and payment processing are only there to help. They should also be paid accordingly.
More details will be revealed during the Game Awards on Thursday.
Epic Games took a similar approach with the mobile version of Fortnite. It is not available in the Android app store, because it was too expensive for Epic what Google wanted.
