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{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox software
{{Infobox software
| name = Epic Games Store
| name = Drug Store
| logo = Epic games store logo.png
| logo = Epic games store logo.png
| screenshot =
| screenshot =

Revision as of 02:51, 23 May 2019

Drug Store
Developer(s)Epic Games
Initial releaseDecember 6, 2018; 5 years ago (2018-12-06)
Platform
Available in13 languages
List of languages
Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (BR), Russian, Spanish (EU and LATAM), Simplified Chinese, and Turkish
Type
LicenseProprietary software
Websiteepicgames.com/store

The Epic Games Store is a digital video game storefront operated by Epic Games. It launched in December 2018.

Storefront and software

The Epic Games Store is a storefront for games available via the web and built into Epic Games' launcher application. Both web and application allow players to purchase games, while through the launcher the player can install and keep their games up to date.

Epic's newer games will be exclusively available through its store and the company plans to fund developers to release exclusively through their store, using revenue guarantees to developers that opt for this, with Epic paying the difference should a game underperform.[1][2] For other developers, Epic takes only a 12% share of revenue, the rest going to the developer, and for any games developed using the Unreal Engine, Epic forgoes the 5% revenue-based fee for those games sold through their storefront. Of that revenue fee, Epic pays for other services such as content delivery services, and ends up with about 5% of the gross revenue, though with economies of scale, this could increase to 6-7%.[3] By Epic's calculations, the storefront's reduced portion of profits was sufficient to be profitable.[1]

Epic plans to offer one free game every two weeks through 2019.[4] Epic Games also has offered sales, in which Epic absorbs the discount from the sale. For example, its first store-wide sale in May 2019 offered a discount of US$10 off any game valued at US$15 or more.[5]

The store at launch had a barebones set of features, but Epic plans to develop feature subsets comparable to other digital storefronts. Eventually the storefront will offer user reviews, but this feature will be opt-in by developers to avoid misuse by activities like review bombing.[2] Additional planned features include cloud saving and achievements.[6] There are no plans to include internal user forums. The storefront will include a ticket-based support system for users to report bugs and technical problems for games to developers, while developers will be encouraged to link to external forums and social channels of their chosing, like Reddit and Discord, in lieu of storefront-tied forums.[7] It does not have features such as virtual reality headset support,[1] nor expected to have any "game-shaped features" similar to Steam's trading cards designed to drive sales.[6]

[6]

History

Digital distribution of games for personal computers prior to the introduction of the Epic Games Store were through digital storefronts like Steam and GOG.com, with Steam being the dominant channel with an estimated 75% of all digital distribution in 2013.[8] Valve Corporation, which operated Steam, took a 30% revenue cut of all games sold through their services, a figure matched by the other services like GOG.com. In August 2017, Epic's Tim Sweeney suggested that 30% was no longer a reasonable cut, and that Valve could still profit if they cut their revenue share to 8%.[9]

In early December 2018, Epic Games announced that it would open a digital storefront to challenge Steam by using a 12% revenue split rather than Steam's 30%.[10] Epic also said that it would not impose digital rights management (DRM) restrictions on games sold through its platform.[10] The store opened days later, on December 6, 2018, as part of the Game Awards, with a handful of games and a short list of upcoming titles.[11][12] The next day Epic Games announced plans to release a free game every two weeks,[13] which Epic Games plans to continue throughout 2019.[14] The store was open for macOS and Windows platforms before expanding to Android and other platforms.[10] Epic aims to release a storefront for Android devices, bypassing the Google Play Store, where it will similarly only take a 12% cut compared to Google's 30%. While Apple, Inc.'s monopoly on iOS currently makes it impossible for Epic to release an App Store there, analysts believe that if Google reacts to Epic's App Store by reducing their cut, Apple will be pressured to follow suit.[15]

Sergey Galyonkin, the store's director of publishing strategy

Prior to the store's launch, its Director of Publishing Strategy, Sergey Galyonkin, had run Steam Spy, a website that collected Steam usage data from public profiles to create public sales statistics. He ran the site as a side-project, but used it to learn what developers would want from Epic's store, namely fewer social elements and less visual clutter.[16] The store will be hand-curated until it opens to developer submissions in mid-2019.[1] Once at this point, Epic's staff will still need to approve games for the store, a process that "mostly focus[es] on the technical side of things and general quality", according to Tim Sweeney. Sweeney does not expect this vetting process to be as stringent as the approvals needed to publish games on home video game consoles, but will use human evaluation to filter out bloatware and asset flips, among other poor-quality titles.[17] Epic does not plan to allow adults-only mature content on the store.[12]

In January 2019, Ubisoft announced its plans to distribute its games via the Epic Games Store, with its upcoming Tom Clancy's The Division 2 to be sold on the storefront (in addition to Ubisoft's own Uplay storefront) instead of Steam, making it the first major third-party publisher to utilize the Epic Games Store.[18] Publisher Deep Silver followed suit later that month, announcing that Metro Exodus will be exclusive to Epic Games Store for one year, at a reduced US$50 (in North America[19]) compared to US$60 when it was offered on other storefronts.[20][21] Epic has subsequently made partnerships with Private Division and Quantic Dream for publishing on the store.[22]

Reception

The Epic Games Store was announced a few days after Valve had revealed a change in the Steam revenue sharing model that reduced Valve's take, reducing their revenue cut from 30% to 25% after a game made more than US$10 million, and to 20% after US$50 million.[23] Several indie game developers expressed concern that this change was meant to help keep larger AAA developers and publishers and did little to support smaller developers.[24] As such, when the Epic Games Store was announced, several journalists saw it as potentially disruptive to Steam's current model.[25][26] Some developers and publishers have announced plans to release games that they were planning to release through Steam now exclusively through the Epic Games Store, or to have timed exclusivity on Epic's storefront before appearing on other services.[27][28]

Some consumers have reacted negatively towards the developers and publishers of games that have opted for Epic Games Store exclusivity, as it appears to create division in the gaming community similar to games that are released with timed exclusivity on home consoles.[29] Metro Exodus, by developers 4A Games and published by Deep Silver, had been planned as a Steam release. However, Deep Silver announced a few weeks before release that the game would be a timed-exclusive on the Epic Games Store, eventually available on Steam a year after release. Some users were upset by this, review bombing the game on Steam and complaining at 4A Games. Deep Silver backed up 4A Games, and noted the decision for Epic Games Store exclusivity was made by Deep Silver's parent, Koch Media.[30] In the days that followed after Metro Exodus' release, players used the Steam review system to praise the game as Epic Games Store lacked user reviews at that time. [31] Phoenix Point, a spiritual successor to X-COM by X-COM' lead designer Julian Gollop, was successfully crowdfunded with players given the option of redemption keys on Steam or GOG.com. In March 2019, Gollop announced that they have opted to make Phoenix Point exclusive to the Epic Games Store for a year; backers would get a redemption key for the Epic Games Store as well as for Steam or GOG a year later when the exclusivity period was up, as well as being provided the first year's downloadable content for free. Gollop explained that with the exclusivity deal, his team received additional financial support to finish up Phoenix Point. Several backers were angered by this decision, believing that Gollop's team used their funds to get the game to a point where they could get external investment and then change the direction of the game. Gollop asserted that the deal with Epic Games did not alter Phoenix Point's ultimate direction, but did offer full refunds to backers if they wanted.[32] Following a number of other time-exclusive planned releases on the Epic Games Store announced during the 2019 Game Developers Conference and further complaints from players about this, Steve Allison, head of the storefront division, admitted that they not want to cause such disruption in the gaming community. According to Allison, they will try to avoid making such large-scale exclusivity deals so close to a game's release, and want to try to respect what the community wants.[29] According to Sweeney, they will continue to accept offers for exclusivity on the Epic Games Store from any developers or publishers that are interested, regardless of what prior plans they had made with Steam or other storefronts.[33] Sweeney has also stated that they likely would stop seeking out exclusivity deals should Valve reduce its 30% revenue share, as he has compared that to a tax on game development.[34]

Complaints leveled at the Epic Games Store have also included disputed claims of the Epic or the Store client collecting data on users to sell to China, as if it were spyware. This criticism was spurred by a Reddit post that claimed that the Store client was collecting user data and asserted that it was tied to Tencent's involvement with Epic. Tencent is the largest video game publisher in the world and since 2013 has had a 40% ownership of Epic Games. Due to the nature of oversight that the Chinese government has with products released in China, Tencent has to maintain a close relationship with the government. According to writers for USGamer and Polygon, due to the state of US-China political relations at the time the Store was launched, coupled with the general distrust and xenophobia among some Western video game players of Chinese players, this accusation caught the attention of many that repeated the claims from the Reddit post, and leading these people to boycott the Store and those publishers that opted to sell their games exclusively on the store.[35][36] Epic has stated that there is some data tracking but only to support useful functions such as importing one's Steam friend lists into their client, or to track streaming media viewership for their Support-A-Creator program. Some of the information in the Reddit post reflected initial methods to collect this data, but Epic stated they only used the data for their said features and since adjusted their data access to be more in line with how privacy settings should be handled.[37]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Bertz, Matt (December 4, 2018). "Tim Sweeney Answers Questions About The New Epic Games Store". Game Informer. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Horti, Samuel. "Epic's Tim Sweeney reveals how the company lands exclusives for the Epic Store". PC Gamer. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  3. ^ Kerr, Chris (April 23, 2019). "Here's why the Epic Games Store takes a 12 percent revenue cut from devs". Gamasutra. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  4. ^ Aitken, Lauren (December 7, 2018). "Epic Games Store offering 2 free games every month". VG247. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  5. ^ Kerr, Chris (May 17, 2019). "Teething pains for Epic Games Store as publishers opt out of debut 'Mega Sale'". Gamasutra. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Valentine, Rebekah (January 14, 2019). "Sergey Galyonkin: Epic Games store courting a younger, Steam-less audience". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  7. ^ Chalk, Andy (April 11, 2019). "Tim Sweeney says Epic Games Store won't have internal forums or trading cards". PC Gamer. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  8. ^ Kelion, Leo (September 2, 2013). "Valve Steam Machines to be tested with the public". BBC. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  9. ^ Jones, Richard-Scott (August 23, 2017). "Steam could be profitable with an 8% cut rather than 30%, says Tim Sweeney". PCGamesN. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
  10. ^ a b c Frank, Allegra (December 4, 2018). "Epic Games is launching its own store, and taking a smaller cut than Steam". Polygon. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  11. ^ Hall, Charlie (December 6, 2018). "The Epic Games Store is live, here's all the titles it will have for sale". Polygon. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  12. ^ a b Orland, Kyle (December 7, 2018). "Epic Games Store launches with extremely limited selection of games". Ars Technica. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  13. ^ Grant, Christopher (December 7, 2018). "Epic Games Store will offer 'a free game every two weeks' — how does that stack up?". Polygon. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  14. ^ Callaham, John (January 13, 2019). "Epic Games Store – Everything you need to know". Android Authority. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  15. ^ Galliger, Dan (December 29, 2018). "An Epic Battle Over App Fees". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  16. ^ Grayson, Nathan (December 6, 2018). "The Guy Behind Steam Spy Has Been Working On Epic's Store For Years". Kotaku. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  17. ^ Wilde, Tyler (March 20, 2019). "The Epic Store won't accept 'crappy games,' says Tim Sweeney". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  18. ^ McAloon, Alissa (January 9, 2019). "The Division 2 is skipping Steam in favor of the Epic Games Store". Gamasutra. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  19. ^ https://www.metrothegame.com/en-us/news/epic-games-store-announcement/
  20. ^ Kuchera, Ben (January 28, 2019). "Metro Exodus ditches Steam to become an Epic Games Store exclusive". Polygon. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  21. ^ Roberts, Samuel (January 28, 2019). "Metro Exodus will only release on the Epic Store, but Steam preorders will be honoured". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  22. ^ Batchelor, James (March 20, 2019). "Epic Games Store line-up expands with Private Division, more Ubisoft titles and Quantic Dream exclusives". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  23. ^ Statt, Nick (November 30, 2018). "Valve's new Steam revenue agreement gives more money to game developers". The Verge. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  24. ^ Horti, Samuel (December 1, 2018). "Valve's new Steam revenue splits favour big-budget games, and indie devs aren't happy". PC Gamer. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  25. ^ Orland, Kyle (December 4, 2018). "Epic undercuts Steam with new store that gives devs more money". Ars Technica. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  26. ^ Statt, Nick; Hollister, Sean (December 4, 2018). "Epic Games takes on Steam with its own fairer game store". The Verge. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  27. ^ Horti, Samuel (December 8, 2018). "Some Epic Store games are pushing back or scrapping Steam releases". PC Gamer. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  28. ^ Jones, Ali (December 10, 2018). "Steam releases are being delayed – and cancelled – in favour of the Epic Games Store". PCGamesN. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
  29. ^ a b Statt, Nick (March 21, 2019). "Epic Games Store chief says they'll eventually stop paying for exclusive PC games". The Verge. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  30. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (February 4, 2019). "Fallout from Metro Exodus Epic Games store exclusivity gets messy". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  31. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (February 23, 2019). "Metro Exodus players are leaving thousands of positive reviews - on Steam". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  32. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (March 14, 2019). "Original X-COM creator faces backlash after signing Epic Games store exclusive deal for Phoenix Point". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  33. ^ Kim, Matt (April 3, 2019). "Epic Games CEO Says Games Already on Steam Can Still Sign Up as Epic Games Store Exclusives". USGamer. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  34. ^ Brown, Fraser (April 25, 2019). "Epic Store will stop exclusives if Steam changes revenue split, CEO says". PC Gamer. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  35. ^ Kim, Matt (April 4, 2019). ""The Epic Games Store is Spyware:" How a Toxic Accusation Was Started by Anti-Chinese Sentiment". USGamer. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  36. ^ Hall, Charlie (April 5, 2019). "The fury over the Epic Games Store, explained". Polygon. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  37. ^ Chalk, Andy (March 17, 2019). "Epic says it doesn't use Steam data without permission after Reddit accusations". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 17, 2019.
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