Epic Games Store is not yet making a profit five years after its introduction
Five years after its introduction, Epic Games has not yet made a profit on its Epic Games Store. Steve Allison, the boss of the digital game store, confirmed this during the lawsuit between Epic Games and Google.
Allison confirmed that the EGS is not yet profitable. The company mainly focuses on ‘growth’, the CEO said according to The Verge during the lawsuit between Epic Games and Google. According to emails from an earlier lawsuit against Apple, Epic hoped one day earn half of all PC gaming revenue.
The Epic Games Store was introduced in December 2018. Epic sells digital PC games there. The game maker wanted to compete with market leader Steam with its store. The company is trying to gain market share by, for example, giving away free games every week and paying some developers to temporarily sell their PC games exclusively through the Epic Games Store. Epic recently did that with Alan Wake 2, for example.
Epic Games also charges twelve percent commission for game sales through its platform, while Steam charges thirty percent. Epic Games also recently introduced a First Run program, which lets developers keep all their sales for six months of PC exclusivity on the Epic Games Store.
Epic Games and Google are currently involved in a lawsuit, which started on Monday, November 6. Epic accuses Google of abuse of power with its Play Store for Android. The company says Android app developers rely on the Play Store to distribute their apps. Epic claims that Google abuses that power by charging developers a 30 percent commission for sales through the Play Store and not allowing alternative payment methods. The game maker previously sued Apple for a similar reason, but was largely wrong in that case.