News Epic Store Unprofitable, but Keeps Giving Away Free Games

[Admin]

As revealed in recent Epic v. Google testimony, the Epic Games Store on PC has yet to turn a profit. All the free games and exclusivity contracts apparently haven't helped the situation.

Epic Store Unprofitable, but Keeps Giving Away Free Games : Read more

 

[peachpuff]

Kind of sounds like amazon when they first started, although I don't know if any vc's who are pouring money into it.

 

[abufrejoval]

Sorry, but this isn't news. It's an opinion piece and I avoid social networks for that.

If you want your opinion on this news site, the forums should suffice.

 

[tummybunny]

Their business model rewards people that don't pay for games. Why pay for something that will eventually become free?

 

[waltc3]

EPIC is simply trying to break into a well-entrenched business dominated by Steam for many years. It's tough, and someone trying to do that needs lots of working capital, which EPIC apparently has. The free games are simply to get people in the habit of visiting the EGS site as often as possible. Sweeney has bitten off a lot. I'm thinking Sweeney is where Valve was 20 years ago--he's growing tired of the game-engine race and wants to transition, as Valve did so long ago, to something less demanding but financially rewarding. I have nothing against EGS at all, and as far as the exclusivity deals go, EGS started giving customers a break on the list prices--which the developers could afford with the reduced distribution fees. I certainly applaud that.

All of this is designed not to make profits, but to get people, and game developers, used to the EGS. People are wrong to get mad at EPIC because of the exclusivity deals--because it's the dev/publisher who decides to take the exclusive deals, knowing that his game won't be distributed by any other outlet like Steam or Gog for a set period. EGS can make the offer, but the dev has to be the one to decide if the reduced distribution is worth the discounted fees. Time will tell if EPIC will be successful, of course. I wish EPIC lots of luck with Google.

 

[punkncat]

Call me old fashioned, whatever, I pine for the days that all the game devs wanted to be on Steam. Now I have something like 5 game loaders on my desktop and a good portion of the games open two of them at the same time.

I have not been a huge fan of much of their library. I messed around with Fortnite for a bit. EVERY SINGLE TIME I logged in, here is this giant update to it. Really stinks to have a data cap and have to deal with that. I haven't been fully enthused with a good portion of their titles TBH. Them closing shop wouldn't be a drop of water in my care pail.

 

[JamesJones44]

Call me old fashioned, whatever, I pine for the days that all the game devs wanted to be on Steam. Now I have something like 5 game loaders on my desktop and a good portion of the games open two of them at the same time.

I have not been a huge fan of much of their library. I messed around with Fortnite for a bit. EVERY SINGLE TIME I logged in, here is this giant update to it. Really stinks to have a data cap and have to deal with that. I haven't been fully enthused with a good portion of their titles TBH. Them closing shop wouldn't be a drop of water in my care pail.

Sadly you should never want one company controlling distribution, it will just cause the price of the things you want increase unchecked.

What we really should be asking for is a standard that can be followed by all of the distributors so we don't have to have 70 apps installed just to play/buy a game.

 

[stonecarver]

Man I hope they don't go away through the years I have a built up library of 385+ of Epic games.

 

[emike09]

If Epic's game launcher was good, I think more people would use it. Give us a freaking review system!!! Epic is in the thrones of Netflix and other streaming services, where there isn't a global consensus on a game's review. Just watch our sh1tty movie we paid money to make!!! They're happy to sell us a $70 game that literally nobody likes, and the end-user is disappointed. Steam let's us see that. It keeps developers in check, and lets the end-user make an educated decision on how they spend their money.

On top of that, the Epic achievement notifications are absolutely annoying, and there's no official way of disabling them. I've found a way, but it's super hacky.

No big picture mode. No real community. The launcher is resource heavy. No VR. Free games are crappy games. No mobile support. It's yet another application to install that wants to use resources in the background. It's janky, it's old-fashioned, and there is no reason I'd ever want to buy a game from the EGS. The only games I have on EGS are the ones I really wanted to play, but aren't available on Steam.

I do think Steam needs to reduce their fees, but unless you have a better launcher platform than Steam, you'll never win. Let's quit with all these launchers.

 

[dalauder]

Too many people are complaining about Epic's platform. As far as I know, there are three major game platforms that actually work: Steam, Gog, and Epic. The rest (Ubisoft, EA/Origin, etc.) barely work at all and make gaming harder/worse. If I get a game on Epic, it actually works. That's good enough for me.

As far as their lawsuit...I don't know what that's about, but I'm glad there is a competitor to Steam...as great as it is.

 

[dalauder]

If Epic's game launcher was good, I think more people would use it. Give us a freaking review system!!! Epic is in the thrones of Netflix and other streaming services, where there isn't a global consensus on a game's review. Just watch our sh1tty movie we paid money to make!!! They're happy to sell us a $70 game that literally nobody likes, and the end-user is disappointed. Steam let's us see that. It keeps developers in check, and lets the end-user make an educated decision on how they spend their money.

On top of that, the Epic achievement notifications are absolutely annoying, and there's no official way of disabling them. I've found a way, but it's super hacky.

No big picture mode. No real community. The launcher is resource heavy. No VR. Free games are crappy games. No mobile support. It's yet another application to install that wants to use resources in the background. It's janky, it's old-fashioned, and there is no reason I'd ever want to buy a game from the EGS. The only games I have on EGS are the ones I really wanted to play, but aren't available on Steam.

I do think Steam needs to reduce their fees, but unless you have a better launcher platform than Steam, you'll never win. Let's quit with all these launchers.

Did you ever use Trillian back when AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was big? My high school used MSN Messenger, some people used Yahoo! Messenger, then everyone in college used AIM. So you could log into all three through Trillian (as well as ICQ and some others) and message everyone from the same place. It was amazing!

That's what gaming needs. But Trillian didn't have a store...sigh.

Also...Facebook came along a couple years later and ruined all of that.

 

[merlinq]

Did you ever use Trillian back when AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was big? My high school used MSN Messenger, some people used Yahoo! Messenger, then everyone in college used AIM. So you could log into all three through Trillian (as well as ICQ and some others) and message everyone from the same place. It was amazing!

That's what gaming needs. But Trillian didn't have a store...sigh.

Also...Facebook came along a couple years later and ruined all of that.

Trillian was the bee's knees.
I miss ICQ.
But yes, this is what gaming needs.
And platform-transferability, even if charged a small fee.
GOG used to offer limited platform transferability, someone with more funding could manage it I am sure.

 

[TheOtherOne]

The game changing (pun intended!) difference NOW is, every company wants to have their own Launcher App since that gives you FREE pass to collect user data. Unless one company, for eg. Valve, buys every other game publisher/distributor, it's highly unlikely we will EVER see all major distributors under one platform even when it's the best thing for consumers.

 

[punkncat]

Sadly you should never want one company controlling distribution, it will just cause the price of the things you want increase unchecked.

What we really should be asking for is a standard that can be followed by all of the distributors so we don't have to have 70 apps installed just to play/buy a game.

Oh, I fully understand the economic ramifications, but would honestly pay a couple dollars more a game just to have it be that simple once again. I feel much the same way about Netflix. At one point they WERE the streaming service, and any movie production that wanted to be available for streaming....well, you get the point. Much in the same way as having five gaming launchers running, it's pretty much the same for video entertainment.

 

[OneMoreUser]

Yet another "article" on TG that is biased.
While I am sure Epic is not around for the good of mankind, it is certainly so that they are doing all gamers a big favor. Not only are they giving away free games, they are raining in Steam and also making Google and Apple restrain them self somewhat - all things that help game developers which in turn help us gamers.
And as for the Epic platform, it seems to me to work well. Sure Steam offers more, but the core which is being a game launcher works well and since Steam has decided one must view their sales platform at every game launch, then I prefer the Epic one.

 

[stonecarver]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rMpCud1IwQ


I guess the one thing on Epic that I could complain about was not having a back button now fixed but that was it.

Every once in a while you get a cool set of games but hell if your bumming it a free game can make your day.

We treat Epic like the Girl who gave him the sandwich.