Epic to Go Head-to-Head with Steam as It Opens Its Own Game Store Platform - MMORPG.com News

SBFord

Epic to Go Head-to-Head with Steam as It Opens Its Own Game Store Platform - MMORPG.com News

Epic Games is ready to take on Steam by launching its own multi-game store platform. The company blog indicates that the store has been in progress for over five years. The Epic Games Launcher will be made available for PC and Mac and will feature, of course, Fortnite and the Unreal Engine. "We built a worldwide ecosystem supporting dozens of payment methods; and we gained great economies of scale thanks to Fortnite's growth." the blog reads.

Read the full story here

SBFord

While I applaud the new platform and the smaller-than-Steam revenue cut, I really, REALLY don't want another multi-game launcher. However, if games adopt it and offer better prices due to the lower revenue cut due to Epic's reduction, then I'm all for it. We'll see if it takes off.

Alverant

I'll see if they do a better job than Steam when it comes to letting in buggy games and asset flips before I make a decision. Steam has its flaws and if they're not going to address them seriously then someone else will. Also, what's their return policy?

Scorchien

lol good luck Epic ..

Dreamion

Finally some competition in the market, 12% vs 30%, that's great news!

Aeander

If anyone has the potential to actually compete with Steam, it's the maker of one of the gaming industry's most iconic engines and its current most popular game. I wouldn't write this one off.

Also, this isn't really an additional launcher, if one already plays any of Epic's games. I imagine it will probably replace the Epic launcher they already railroad their players into using.

Gutlard

Yeah man, I need another username/password/8-step verification to deal with! Thank you!

I've always hated box prices for digital items as well, and never liked the excuse that game prices have stayed the same all these years. So what! They were overpriced to begin with and then you got rid of all your overhead....

In the long run, the more competition is supposed to be better for us I guess in a perfect world. In our world though, when one company gets away with reaming us, others jump on the bandwagon also.

I just have SO many Steam games and GOG games and UPlay games and Origin games and Epic games and Amazon games soon and Battlenet games, hell I don't even know. I really like how GOG adds more and more games to its list of cross-play with Steam though. That's a great feature.

Gut Out!

6stack_Chris

We might tickle the idea of selling our game on this platform, once more and more information comes out around use adoption, support, business and marketing from EPIC, this might actually prove beneficial. They are clearly engaging the indie market here, and with the load of poorly built games posted to Steam every minute, it might be nice to actually shop around on a platform that is not saturated with junk.

From a user standpoint, yes this might be a bit of a hassle, but from a business standpoint, this might be a great investment, and with that low % that Epic is asking for, it is more profit for the company to support their products.

timeraider

A launcher.. for Fortnite only? I mean.. thats basically the only actual game they have.. and probably will have

JeffSpicoli

Won't even take a second look at this. Besides the fact i like all my games in one place Steam has been EXCELLENT when it comes to their return policy. I also love the fact Steam has taken a step back when it comes to censorship and treats me like the adult that I am .

alkarionlog

you mean like origin?

gog normally have a higher price base then steam, hence why is kinda hard I get something from gog, but I do love the free DRM from it, but since most games I get do have some kind of multiplayer on it, its teh drm right there already

k61977

Guess I won't be playing anything from epic. Don't want another launcher, will not install another one.

Steam may not be the best but they hit the market at the right time just like WoW did. I used direct 2 drive before steam to buy my games. Going to be honest I prefer to have all my games in one place with the ease of updating without me having to tell them to, or have god knows how many programs running just to play games and keep them up to date.

Steam has gotten better over the years, I remember when you couldn't get refunds for instance, think they did it the right way by letting you try it out and if it doesn't fit you can refund no questions asked since devs do not do demos really anymore.

It's sucks for the devs that they take 30% but that is between them and steam. In reality though steam allowed a lot of devs to reach a player base that they most likely would have never gotten on their own.

Lililune

No Linux,Bye!

alkarionlog

thunderC said:

Won't even take a second look at this. Besides the fact i like all my games in one place Steam has been EXCELLENT when it comes to their return policy. I also love the fact Steam has taken a step back when it comes to censorship and treats me like the adult that I am .

true but maybe the pricing in the games list will be lower, since epic will take a smaller cut, would be wise, to give a certain lower price to players, something in the middle, devs get more and players pay less, win/win.

only problem I can see is if epic can give the same support as steam, lets see what do happen.

I learned a long time loyalty is a nice thing to have but you better choose who you give your loaylty to, I choose my money, company can go to hell for all I care, I will go with what give me the best offer for what I want

Asm0deus

Haha yea no not another platform BS to launch game.....

Albatroes

I'm sure everyone knows by now what happened to Icarus when he flew to close to the sun....

Panther2103

Torval said:

Lililune said:

No Linux,Bye!

That's about how I feel. Valve puts a lot of effort into making games work on Linux. That's where I buy my games. It's not love or brand loyalty. It's practicality. Right now Steam is the only major store front that works on Linux. That's where and how I spend my gaming money.

Are you gaming on linux? Or just out of principal for them supporting all platforms? 

Actually just curious, as I've tried to play PC games on linux in the past and was having all kinds of fun trying to get things to work. 

TEKK3N

I don't see other publishers giving a cut of their revenues to a competitor.
I don't think Steam has anything to worry about.

Aeander

TEKK3N said:

I don't see other publishers giving a cut of their revenues to a competitor.
I don't think Steam has anything to worry about.

Except that Steam takes an even larger cut. A much, much larger cut. Money talks, and a strong competitor could make Valve revisit its overly large take, which is good for AAA and indie developers alike.

Panther2103

Aeander said:

TEKK3N said:

I don't see other publishers giving a cut of their revenues to a competitor.
I don't think Steam has anything to worry about.

Except that Steam takes an even larger cut. A much, much larger cut. Money talks, and a strong competitor could make Valve revisit its overly large take, which is good for AAA and indie developers alike.

This.

Because Valve was the only real company doing a digital storefront originally, and they are the biggest option right now with the widest reach, they are able to ask absurd cuts. 30% is extremely high. 

We need more storefronts to offer companies a bigger cut, so that Valve can potentially go lower, providing companies more income on games that might not sell as well as a big budget AAA game. 

Dauzqul

This is great for indy developers, though.

If you made a game and sold it on Steam, Steam would take 30%. Then whatever is left, you will be paying taxes etc.

EPIC is only taking 12%, which is a monumental difference.

zaberfangx

Lililune said:

No Linux,Bye!

I agree with Epic lack support of Linux 90% of the times as I am all for competition. Just this is not competition if people went to go from 1 DRM store to a new DRM store.

Whiteshade92

We don't need a new store.

zaberfangx

Panther2103 said:

Torval said:

Lililune said:

No Linux,Bye!

That's about how I feel. Valve puts a lot of effort into making games work on Linux. That's where I buy my games. It's not love or brand loyalty. It's practicality. Right now Steam is the only major store front that works on Linux. That's where and how I spend my gaming money.

Are you gaming on linux? Or just out of principal for them supporting all platforms? 

Actually just curious, as I've tried to play PC games on linux in the past and was having all kinds of fun trying to get things to work. 

I'm gaming on Linux is more to try new things and Microsoft doing to many shady things best not support them for a bit + windows 10 spyware I don't need. Other then that Linux gaming came a long way, and steam just made it much easy to play a lot windows games with out to much Trouble.

immoralthang

How about continuing development on the Unreal Tournament game sitting in limbo????

Thane

uch, don't make me read it up now :P

what are the conditions? especially with steam's changest last year, this could be a welcome change for private game devs (yes, we still exist)

any "you wanna use us, pay us!" prices?

uh, and who the hell plays on linux....