About five years later, the Epic Games Store is still not profitable

[Daniel Sims]

The big picture: Legal battles against Apple and Google have repeatedly brought attention to the struggle faced by Epic Games' store. The company has spent several years shoveling hundreds of millions of dollars to thwart Steam's dominance in the sector with no success.

After nearly five years since the Epic Games Store launched, the company admitted this week that it still isn't profitable. Although Epic remains committed to growth, acknowledgment of the storefront's current position indicates it has missed prior goals.

The admission came during testimony from Epic Games Store's boss, Steve Allison, during the company's ongoing antitrust suit against Google. The situation echoes criticisms Apple made against Epic during its legal battle two years ago.

When Apple and Epic went to court over the former's walled ecosystem in 2021, the Cupertino powerhouse pointed out financial statements showing the Epic Games Store had lost hundreds of millions of dollars over the two years before the hearing. Estimates indicated that Epic wouldn't recoup those losses until 2027, but the company later said it hoped for the store to reach annual profitability by 2023. Apple countered, saying it doubted the storefront would ever make money.

Allison's admission this week suggests Epic has missed its initial targeted timeline. The losses primarily stem from the millions the company pays game developers to ensure their newest titles are temporarily exclusive to the Epic Games Store – these payments totaled $444 million in 2020 alone. Apple called these and other practices unsustainable.

Epic also pays developers to offer a rotating list of free games and only takes 12 percent of sales revenue. Since launching the store, Epic has rallied against the standard 30 percent used by most digital storefronts, including Apple, Google, and console manufacturer like Sony and Microsoft.

Court testimony recently began for Epic's lawsuit against Google. The Fortnite and Unreal Engine maker claims the search engine giant's tight control over Android and the Google Play store amount to a walled garden. Initially, 36 US states, Washington DC, and dating app company Match shared Epic's complaints, but Match's new terms with Google leave Epic as the sole remaining complainant.

Epic's prior legal fight with Apple ended with the Cupertino giant emerging largely victorious. Fortnite remains banned from the App Store (though it is accessible over cloud services). Additionally, Apple is not required by law to allow alternative stores or app sideloading. However, the court ruled that Apple must make concessions regarding in-app payment processors. That result reflects poorly on Epic's chances against Google.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/100767-after-almost-five-years-epic-games-admits-store.html

 

[brucek]

Another thing it hasn't accomplished after 5 years is making my life as a PC gamer any more convenient, fun, or affordable. It should have spent its large exclusives budget on at least reaching feature parity with Steam (or better yet exceeding) and/or lowering prices to consumer.

I've ended up re-purchasing games on Steam that I had to first buy on Epic.

 

[torchyear]

I’m conflicted about storefront fragmentation. On one hand it’s it’s incredibly convenient to be able to access everything on one platform (e.g. Steam), but this also places them in a position of power with pricing and dictating terms of service. But multiple platforms means having to deal with multiple accounts for exclusive titles. At least it’s not as bad as the television streaming situation. We’re not forced to take out multiple paying subscriptions (yet).

On my system it’s been a process of attrition - I have Steam and GOG installed, and simply stopped playing Origin/EA, Ubisoft, and Epic titles because it was dumb having their launchers installed to just play one or two games.

 

[dangh]

And I'm buying all my faves on gog first, epic second and steam third. I don't need to be pampered like a baby because this will take away my freedom as well. We need competition and I will be supporting that as long as possible.
And I think the last chance to put back competition to mobile phones would be eu directive. Epic fights a good fight but in us money rules all.

 

[gigantor21]

Another thing it hasn't accomplished after 5 years is making my life as a PC gamer any more convenient, fun, or affordable. It should have spent its large exclusives budget on at least reaching feature parity with Steam (or better yet exceeding) and/or lowering prices to consumer.

I've ended up re-purchasing games on Steam that I had to first buy on Epic.

I don't even have EGS installed on my PC anymore. I just log in on the website to collect free games.

For all Tim's "fight the power" pomposity, and all the money they've dumped into it, EGS still isn't worth using day-to-day. It's not competitive in ways that matter.

 

[m4a4]

They still haven't given many people a compelling reason to choose them over the more convenient game store.

And buying exclusives doesn't help it seems.

 

[i like foxes]

I dont use only Battlenet launcher.

 

[i like foxes]

I am from Europe . Steam wants from me to pay VAT om my own . So , I m not inclined to buy directly from Steam . Also , many sites have introduced 3DS2 standard for payments . Our card currently is not set up for this and cannot buy Steam games any more . But I have enough not played games

 

[Atmajaya2020]

I got Steam when I played pc games for the first time, so another platform/store dont give new experience.. still, its good to know that there is other option for me to buy game outside Steam.. I hate monopoly..

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I’m conflicted about storefront fragmentation. On one hand it’s it’s incredibly convenient to be able to access everything on one platform (e.g. Steam), but this also places them in a position of power with pricing and dictating terms of service. But multiple platforms means having to deal with multiple accounts for exclusive titles. At least it’s not as bad as the television streaming situation. We’re not forced to take out multiple paying subscriptions (yet).

On my system it’s been a process of attrition - I have Steam and GOG installed, and simply stopped playing Origin/EA, Ubisoft, and Epic titles because it was dumb having their launchers installed to just play one or two games.

- You and me both. I currently only use Steam (and any launchers that are slipstreamed into Steam like EA). I used to have Stardock, Battle.net, Origin, Uplay, GOG... but with 200+ games on Steam and maybe 3-5 games on each of the other launchers I just sort of gave up on the rest.

Epic showed up too late, its too underdeveloped, and its another launcher that I might fire up a handful of times until I forget my password and just give up on it entirely.

I just beat Alan Wake 1 on Steam and it was good enough to get me to pick up Quantum Break and Control, but ironically I'll likely pass on Alan Wake 2 cause I've basically gotten to a point where if it isn't on Steam then I'm not really interested.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I’m conflicted about storefront fragmentation. On one hand it’s it’s incredibly convenient to be able to access everything on one platform (e.g. Steam), but this also places them in a position of power with pricing and dictating terms of service. But multiple platforms means having to deal with multiple accounts for exclusive titles. At least it’s not as bad as the television streaming situation. We’re not forced to take out multiple paying subscriptions (yet).

On my system it’s been a process of attrition - I have Steam and GOG installed, and simply stopped playing Origin/EA, Ubisoft, and Epic titles because it was dumb having their launchers installed to just play one or two games.

I'm ALL for alternative platforms, and the competition is one of the few things that has kept Valve as honest as they have been with Steam, knowing the big dogs could go elsewhere.

The EGS store isnt it. It's missing consumer reviews, it's storefront pushes out garbage at a level that make the play store blush, its embracing of crypto has further polluted its catalog. Throwing money at devs doesnt fix anything. The rich kid who throws money at others to make them like him doesnt have actual friends, and isnt fixing anything.

More importantly, in the last 5 years the EGS has shown 0 interest in fixing these problems or providing a better experience for end users.

- You and me both. I currently only use Steam (and any launchers that are slipstreamed into Steam like EA). I used to have Stardock, Battle.net, Origin, Uplay, GOG... but with 200+ games on Steam and maybe 3-5 games on each of the other launchers I just sort of gave up on the rest.

Epic showed up too late, its too underdeveloped, and its another launcher that I might fire up a handful of times until I forget my password and just give up on it entirely.

I just beat Alan Wake 1 on Steam and it was good enough to get me to pick up Quantum Break and Control, but ironically I'll likely pass on Alan Wake 2 cause I've basically gotten to a point where if it isn't on Steam then I'm not really interested.

God I miss the Stardock store. It's a shame gamestop broke it, lost my purchases of sins and supreme commander to that shutdown.

 

[m4a4]

I'm ALL for alternative platforms, and the competition is one of the few things that has kept Valve as honest as they have been with Steam, knowing the big dogs could go elsewhere.

I'd just like to point out that Valve is also a private company. They aren't beholden to any shareholders expecting profits first. I don't think any of the other main stores can say the same.

Now, that's not saying that they don't need competition, but they have shown that they don't really care and do their own thing (for better or worse).

 

[VaRmeNsI]

I hate using the EGS app, slow and sluggish compared to Steam and lacks many features.

 

[kiwigraeme]

Gog galaxy is a good launcher - one ring to rule them all

Problem with Epic is DLC is quite expensive - so if get game cheap - can't get DLC elsewhere

 

[loki1944]

If Epic had been DRM free like GoG; but with new AAA games it would have had more success

 

[poshflamingos]

And I'm buying all my faves on gog first, epic second and steam third. I don't need to be pampered like a baby because this will take away my freedom as well. We need competition and I will be supporting that as long as possible.

What competition? Epic is not competition, they're the literal opposite of competition. They pay devs for exclusivity contracts to make it so those games aren't available anywhere else, in an attempt to strong-arm customers into being forced to use their awful, underdeveloped platform. They're literally paying devs to avoid competing with Steam. How does that benefit me as a consumer? It doesn't, it makes the market objectively worse for me.

Competition would be Epic and Steam both selling the same games, me being free to choose where I want to buy from, and Epic winning me over with lower prices, better features and better support. THAT is competition, and THAT benefits me as a consumer. But that couldn't be further from what Epic is doing with their store.

 

[takaozo]

With games new prices I'm done with both Epic and Steam, back to torrents. Same games with a couple of days delay lanch.
And yeah 70-100 range is not for me, sorry game dev's but this is too much.

 

[Lounds]

Steam isn't under the constant pressure of shareholders and investors. Personally I prefer steam as my platform of choice as I genuinely feel steam as a business cares about its customers and making sure they have a reliable business model. I remember when I first started getting into steam and a mate said what if they go bust and you lose all your games. Yeah well I don't think that will happen any time soon, there's no stock market shorting stocks to make a quick buck against a well run business that's been catering for customers for nearly 20 years now. I think I've bought 3 games on EGS and I'll be honest I'm not down for buying anymore.

 

[ET3D]

I think that Epic made a mistake going with a 12% instead of, say, 20%. It was a bad estimate of costs, based only or running costs and not the extras around it.

It's hard to compete with Steam, because Steam allows others to sell games for the platform without Steam taking an extra cut. So Steam's competition is a bunch of other sites selling Steam games. Adding meaningful competition to this is hard.

 

[toooooot]

Another thing it hasn't accomplished after 5 years is making my life as a PC gamer any more convenient, fun, or affordable. It should have spent its large exclusives budget on at least reaching feature parity with Steam (or better yet exceeding) and/or lowering prices to consumer.

I've ended up re-purchasing games on Steam that I had to first buy on Epic.

I was going to play Troy on Epic. But then I remembered how easy it was to get mods for Total War games in Steam and did not. Steam is the best for mods.
There are still la few fun games I enjoyed, but that is about all there is at Epic.

 

[FaTaL]

Epic stick to what youre goood at, unreal engine. Let steam do its work perfectly as it has been. kthxbai

 

[fadingfool]

Steam UI is just much better than Epic and with access to mods, an easy chat option with existing friends, easy gifting function, better sales and already home to a collection of games 700 times larger than all the games I have bought on Epic (Two I think and one of those was a code with a GPU) - there is not much incentive to go with Epic. Yes I have activated the free games but aside from a couple there are not many I have downloaded. To move away form an incumbent you need something better not worse.
I'm also happy to wait until the exclusive deals are over and games have dropped in price before buying so it will take a huge incentive to move to Epic as my primary store (heck it goes Steam, GOG, greenman gaming, humble store and then maybe Epic).

 

[Marco Mint]

Maybe I'm built different, but I don't buy many games and when someone tries to coerce or force me into doing something I don't want to do, it really gets my back up.
So when I see that 2 recently released games that I had some interest in are found out to be Epic store only titles, that doesn't make me want to sign up for an Epic account, it actually has the opposite effect.
So f-em, I won't buy their games, unless it come's to a platform I'm happy with (steam) at a large discount in future due to having to wait. If it never does come to steam at a discount, that's fine too. They're only video games!

 

[dnous]

Another thing it hasn't accomplished after 5 years is making my life as a PC gamer any more convenient, fun, or affordable. It should have spent its large exclusives budget on at least reaching feature parity with Steam (or better yet exceeding) and/or lowering prices to consumer.

I've ended up re-purchasing games on Steam that I had to first buy on Epic.

That's the whole issue with EGS. It doesn't really feel like there is a will to make an actual competitive product with Steam. They just want the business with as little effort as possible, and throwing (Tencent/Fortnite) money at it was the easiest way for them to do it. Except it doesn't magically get you paying customers because EGS is still inferior to Steam.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

What competition? Epic is not competition, they're the literal opposite of competition. They pay devs for exclusivity contracts to make it so those games aren't available anywhere else, in an attempt to strong-arm customers into being forced to use their awful, underdeveloped platform. They're literally paying devs to avoid competing with Steam. How does that benefit me as a consumer? It doesn't, it makes the market objectively worse for me.

Competition would be Epic and Steam both selling the same games, me being free to choose where I want to buy from, and Epic winning me over with lower prices, better features and better support. THAT is competition, and THAT benefits me as a consumer. But that couldn't be further from what Epic is doing with their store.

-This is a great point and worth repeating.

We keep hearing about this "competition" EGS is bringing to Steam, but in classic doublespeak EGS is the one being anti-competitive and essentially refusing to evolve and become a better storefront vs Steam, relying instead on exclusives.

As it stands, if a game is on sale on Steam and EGS, I will 100% always buy it on Steam for the same price, or even a little bit more because I value Steam Workshop, Forums, Wishlisting, Reviews, etc and am willing to pay a bit more for them. EGS knows this and decides to hide behind exclusives.