At the end of last year EPIC announced the launch of its digital store, using as a base the platform that little by little it has been creating for the distribution of Fortnite and other projects in development like the sadly canceled Unreal Tournament reboot .
We all watched with curiosity and caution, as it was going to battle with the heavyweight of digital distribution on PC, STEAM , and enter a field in which other stores such as GOG (its most direct competitor) or Humble Bundle had been fighting for a long time to snatch the top spot from the players’ favorite store.
He announced its launch in a rather unexpected way during the Game Awards , surprising with the news that they were going to give us games every few weeks and also was going to have interesting exclusives, such as the port of Journey for PC or the new game of the Supergiant Games team , the makers of Bastion, Transistor or Pyre .
(Differences in the distribution of sales between STEAM and EPIC GAME STORE)
This news about exclusives and giveaways interested us players, but EPIC kept the best cards for another audience, the developers. Digital stores keep a percentage of the sales that are produced, with the distribution of profits between the different available platforms varying greatly. STEAM , having practically a monopoly on the digital sale of video games on PC, has quite tyrannical conditions on the distribution, keeping 30% of the money up to 10 million dollars in sales, then dropping to 25% and 20% from of the 50 million profit.
This is a big problem for indie developers, as it is very difficult for them to reach 10 million in sales and, even if that is the case, losing 25% or 30% is a heavy blow for them. Other smaller stores like ITCH.IO keep only 10% or Humble Bundle with 15% , so they are more popular with this group of developers. The blow to the table that EPIC has given is that they are going to keep only 12% of the sales produced, being a little more than ITCH.IO , but with the difference that EPIC is immensely more known and popular. In addition to everything related to economic issues, EPIC plays with the advantage of being able to offer developers the Unreal Engine as well , offering an ecosystem that encompasses both the development and distribution of the game.
(The Division 2, the first big exclusive / Ubisoft – Massive)
These succulent conditions, plus the growing popularity of the EPIC Game Store, have caused several developers to start leaving STEAM to switch to the new platform, and we are not just talking about small groups: the bombshell this week has been that Ubisoft Remove the pre-sale of The Division 2 from STEAM (yes, those who already bought it will be able to continue downloading it when it goes on sale) to sell it exclusively on the EPIC platform. In addition, Tim Sweeney announced that this would not be the only exclusive that they would have from Ubisoft in their store. Everything indicates that upcoming games like Assassin’s Creed or perhaps the rumored Splinter Cell will surely rule out their departure in STEAM .
Without a doubt, all the decisions and actions of EPIC are possible thanks to the enormous sums of money that they have earned for their good decisions made with Fortnite . That huge mattress obtained by these benefits is what has allowed them to pay for exclusives such as The Division 2 or gifts from games like Super Meat Boy or Subnautica .
For us, the users, all this is nothing more than good news, since STEAM has controlled the digital market for so long, it implied very controlled prices. In addition, now everyone will have to renew themselves to offer new ideas and content in the world of sales and distribution on PC. Who knows, maybe they will rethink going back to game development and finish Half Life 3 at once …
