TheVerge: The #EpicGamesStore still isn’t profitable.

[John Elden Ring]

The Epic Games Store still isn’t profitable. We knew the company was spending millions to give away free games every week, but we’d heard it was a bit of a money sink despite not actually paying for each and every copy given away.
In case you’re keeping track, Epic Games Store boss Steve Allison says on the witness stand his store isn’t profitable yet. The goal is still growth, he says. Emails revealed during the Epic v. Apple trial suggested the company was hoping to claim half of all PC gaming revenue.

It has been revealed during the ongoing antitrust legal battle with Google that the Epic Games Store still isn’t profitable, 5 years later. The comments were made by Epic Games Store General Manager Steve Allison, who said that the store isn’t profitable yet (via The Verge). “The goal is still growth”, he revealed.

The Epic Games Store first incentivized developers coming to its platform by introducing a more generous revenue split with 88% of sales going to the developer. In comparison, Steam only offered 70%, but changed its program to a tier-based program soon after Epic Games’ announcement.

In an October 2019 document, it was revealed that Epic Games had planned to grow to 50 percent of all PC revenue. Such an aggressive deadline was predicted by Epic Games’ generous revenue split compared to Steam, in addition to the company buying PC exclusives on the platform.

 

[Remember_Spinal]

and it will never be. Steam has a monopoly on pc and theres not even an acquisition that exists that could change that

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

and it will never be. Steam has a monopoly on pc and theres not even an acquisition that exists that could change that

If MS was to buy steam and try to move everyone to the windows store.

That's an acquisition that could break the steam Monopoly. Maybe Epic should buy steam and give it to MS.

 

[Playstation Sucka]

If MS was to buy steam and try to move everyone to the windows store.

That's an acquisition that could break the steam Monopoly. Maybe Epic should buy steam and give it to MS.

They aren't going to be able to buy a store on pc because they already have Microsoft Store

 

[ethomaz]

I'm shocked

BTW Epic told that few months ago.

 

[historia]

Steam is not really a monopoly. They just got better services than other fronts. A lot of people got library there.

There is no reasons that ACTI, EA, Ubisoft and R* all crawling back to them

They also invest shit ton on Linux.

The real monopoly should be taken down is Windows. With ABK it gonna get worse.

 

[Would_you_kindly]

and it will never be. Steam has a monopoly on pc and theres not even an acquisition that exists that could change that

Well their idiotic CEO was saying how he didn't need a deal with Microsoft promising games would go to steam because he trusts them so we'll wait & see how that pans out if they finally get a steady stream of big IPs releasing

 

[flaccidsnake]

Fuck Epic and fuck their POS store. They came in to prove that Valve are greedy rentiers, and proved through their actions that Valve deserves even more than they're taking.

 

[Kokoloko]

Fuck Epic and fuck their POS store. They came in to prove that Valve are greedy rentiers, and proved through their actions that Valve deserves even more than they're taking.

Valve are greedy lol. For a company that started off making games, they make less games than all the other platforms

 

[flaccidsnake]

Valve are greedy lol. For a company that started off making games, they make less games than all the other platforms

wtf? who cares? their work on Steam is the most important thing they can be doing. there's unlimited good games to play, and only one good gaming platform on PC.

 

[Kokoloko]

wtf? who cares? their work on Steam is the most important thing they can be doing. there's unlimited good games to play, and only one good gaming platform on PC.

Well Valve fans care, they barely make games anymore.
Dont they charge a higher percentage than Epic from the developers?

 

[flaccidsnake]

Well Valve fans care, they barely make games anymore.
Dont they charge a higher percentage than Epic from the developers?

Sure, I want Half Life 3, I want Portal 3. It has nothing to do with them being greedy. If they made a Half Life every year and ran the series into the ground, that would be greedy.

Epic Games Store has been released for 6 years now, and barely improved since launch. Compare that to the last 6 years of Steam. If we look at revenue share vs investment in the platform, clearly Valve would be justified taking more.

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

They aren't going to be able to buy a store on pc because they already have Microsoft Store

They just bought Activision Blizzard...

 

[Playstation Sucka]

They just bought Activision Blizzard...

And Valve is just a different ball game this one isn't going to happen

 

[flaccidsnake]

And Valve is just a different ball game this one isn't going to happen

it's wild how many icon posters think this is inevitably going to happen. MS dissolving Xbox and exiting videogames is more likely.

 

[Zzero]

The real monopoly should be taken down is Windows. With ABK it gonna get worse.

Can you imagine actually having to navigate through different OSes for work and home, or optimize programs for them? Taking down "Windows" is not only not anti-monopolistic its actually incredibly harmful to consumers- something that most "monopoly" legislation has carve-outs for. Perhaps a slap on the hand for the pre-installed ads that fucking 11 is foisting on me on my new box right now.

Now Chrome/Chromium on the other hand, there's a monopoly that needs to be taken down.

 

[flaccidsnake]

Can you imagine actually having to navigate through different OSes for work and home, or optimize programs for them? Taking down "Windows" is not only not anti-monopolistic its actually incredibly harmful to consumers- something that most "monopoly" legislation has carve-outs for. Perhaps a slap on the hand for the pre-installed ads that fucking 11 is foisting on me on my new box right now.

Now Chrome/Chromium on the other hand, there's a monopoly that needs to be taken down.

Ridiculous post. Windows is a monopoly because Microsoft builds it to be anti-competitive. They were sued by the US govt in the 90s for the exact same shit they still do. Making their shitty browser impossible to remove. Forcing you you use it. Making it complicated to install competitive software.

Microsoft Antitrust Case

The Microsoft antitrust case came to be one of the high-profile cases a few decades ago. In the 1990s. U.S. federal regulators sued Microsoft

corporatefinanceinstitute.com

It's only due to the insane legalized bribery in the US government that Microsoft was not split into OS | Other divisions.

It's bizarre that you specified "Chrome/Chromium" since Chromium undermines the case that Google/Chrome is a monopoly. If Microsoft made a Chromium version of Windows that took out all the anticompetitive shit, AND released it for free, there would be nothing to discuss.

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

it's wild how many icon posters think this is inevitably going to happen. MS dissolving Xbox and exiting videogames is more likely.

It would make more sense, sell the consoles portion and keep going as a games publisher.

However, given how bad they have been as a publisher I don't think this is such a good idea, but what do you do after you spent $100 billions on something?

 

[Yurinka]

Not surprising, but helps Fortnite and the other Epig published games being more profitable.

I assume Epic's plan isn't to make their store profitable. But it's to make their games more profitable thanks to don't paying the 30% revenue share to other stores in PC and -if allowed- in mobile and console.

 

[flaccidsnake]

It would make more sense, sell the consoles portion and keep going as a games publisher.

However, given how bad they have been as a publisher I don't think this is such a good idea, but what do you do after you spent $100 billions on something?

After the $70b acquisition of Activision, they would probably have to do this rather than liquidate everything gaming at MS. But I don't see the strategic play for MS Corp as a publisher. They're a software services company at core, not an entertainment publisher. The strategic value of Xbox was based on the speculative idea that everyone will have a computer in their living room. They were right in ~2000 to bet on that. But in 2023, the outcome is mixed. Playstation destroys Xbox, but Sony is not doing much to leverage it as a computer. They've had great success with PS4 and PS5 by streamlining them down to core gaming functions.

Smart TVs are really the mainstream computer in the livingroom, but they are primarily video streamers than application platforms. The standalone set top box exists, but in a narrower form. If MS was starting from scratch to put a computer in the livingroom, it might not be a videogame box. It might be more like a Chromecast or AppleTV.

So why would MS want to be a publisher?