New game store... by Epic!

Hi there!

Amazing news from Epic Games (in my opinion), a new game store is coming!!

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/announcing-the-epic-games-store

This is something that was seen coming, Steam is in decline and more and more indie developers (and not so indie) decide to publish their games on platforms like Itch.io or Game Jolt. I've always hated Steam, for its abusive policies and for leaving adrift a store that has been saturated with all kinds of games and software.

Of course Steam is where it is because it has not had competitors, although that doesn't justify its carelessness and total indifference for its content.

I hope this awakens Valve and start doing things right.

I don't like a lot the fact that there will be AGAIN another shop for games (another account to create!), but that being said, it's great because it's Epic Games.
I saw the news yesterday and shared it immediately with Denis for RealMyha, and I'm looking forward to learn more.
Hopefully it will make Steam react (in a better way than their recent announcement about the revenue share of 30% dropping down to 20% for million-seller studios only).
I also don't like Steam a lot. So far that I remember I have always found reasons to complain about them. However it's a pretty convenient plateform, and without them ASA would have been sold so "well" (in regard to this niche market and the fact that it's a solo project without serious marketting).

In addition, in Steam, apart from its 30% (now 20%), we have to keep in mind the $ 100 that you have to pay to publish... for virtually no visibility in the store. Steam has a problem for years and has not been able to solve it.

Anyway, not much is known about the Epic store, but tomorrow (December 6) they will give more details.

On Steam it is still 30% for all developers... I still think it is way too much compared to the visibility as you say.
It is 25% only for big developers who sell a very lot of copies, and 20% if they sell millions of them.
They chose to attract the big developers again, but I don't know if it will work. Even 20% is a lot.
In comparison, Epic will only take 12% and I'm sure that even like this they will make money.
Can't wait to see more about it!

I'm also curious about the new epic's store. Let's see what they will propose. I really agree that 30% is way too much. Valve should really adjust this.

Yeah!

Until now there was no real controversy about it (not publicly I mean), and Steam was dominant on the market. So they had no reason to deprive themselves of this beautiful source of money (I would like to know how much they were making each year! They must be super rich). It doesn't mean that I agree with their method. On the contrary haha

Any news from the Epic Store? I remember Juanjo talking about an announcement on December 6. It shouldn't be long now.

The store is online!

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/

Although all the games are not yet available you can already visit and buy some of them.

As I have been able to find out, for now the selection of the games in the store will be done manually. This will make Epic have absolute control of what goes into his store, which I think is great... but I don't think this system works when the volume increases.

On the other hand, they have also announced that every two weeks they will have a free game! The first will be Subnautica. And they have also said that there will be no DRM (it will be optional). They are really working seriously to face with Steam.

Anyway, this is just the beginning... we will see more news in the future.

Meanwhile on Steam...
https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-explains-steam-discovery-bug-that-made-indie-games-harder-to-find/

I think they know that they should react to the news of Epic but I think they are not very clear what to do... it seems they are blocked.

Mmmh, manual selection is like GOG. I had a bad experience with them, I don't think it's good for small indie devs. But we will see!

And regarding optional DRM, it is already the case on Steam (I never put DRM on my games), it's up to the choice of the developers.
So.. this is just an announcement from Epic but nothing new.

Regarding Steam, they probably wait and see. Epic is not the first one to open a new store, so... will they succeed?

I agree with you Simon, Epic has not announced anything new but is the first big company that really wants to compete with Steam (to be honest Origin, GOG and the other platforms didn't scare Steam).

But if it's true that this doesn't look good for small devs (and very small devs), not everyone will be able to publish in the Epic store... we will always have Itch.io and Game Jolt.

More details about how to publish games in the store:
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/about