The Epic Games Store Apparently Hasn’t Made Any Profit
Epic Games made waves in 2018 with the launch of their very own game platform ‘Epic Games Store’. This was heralded by the company as a direct competitor to the then-unrivaled Valve, whose platform ‘Steam’ was (and, by all accounts, still is) the champion storefront for PC games. Upon its introduction, the Epic Games Store drew in players and developers with some enticing perks, including free offerings every month and granting 88% of revenue from game sales to its creators. Considering that Steam offers no such free games, and takes a 30% cut from developers, the Epic Store was destined to succeed.
Image by Epic Games
However, according to Epic Games Store Leader, Steve Allison, the storefront has not made any money in the five years its been active. This came out through the first court testimony in the trial between Google and Epic regarding the Google Play Store. This came about due to Fortnite being removed from the storefront after Epic tried to implement in-game purchases back in 2020. The Play Store argued that this was done in a way that went against Google’s policy, and, of course, Epic disagreed. This led to November 6th, which was the first jury trial day for the case and was also the day that Steve Allison made his statement.
Image by Epic Games
The news that the Epic Games Store has made no profit may seem like a complete loss, but the company insists that growth is its current strategy. Despite this, the storefront has made more and more perks in an attempt to draw players away from Steam. This includes AAA Epic-exclusive games like Alan Wake II and 100% of revenue for developers. This is only for the first six months that their game is on the storefront, and only if that game is only available on the Epic Store.
Image by Epic Games
Epic Games is certainly not losing money- with the massive success of Fortnite alone keeping the company afloat. Unfortunately, however, when a storefront fails to make money for over five years, it does seem like some change is needed. Whether the company decides to increase profit margins by cutting back on the revenue percentage given to developers or double down on more perks, the store needs to do something drastic soon. Steam is still the leading storefront by a huge amount, with Epic relying on exclusives and profit-reducing strategies to get players onboard. If the PC market continues as it has been for the last five years, it’s unlikely that this balance will change any time soon.
