Epic Games Store Still Not Profitable; Company Confirms in Court
Epic Games Store continues to drain its owner's wallet. Yesterday's hearing confirmed that the digital platform is still not providing profits to Fortnite's developers.
Monday court hearing between Epic Games and Google brought us a very important piece of news - the digital store owned by the creators of Fortnite is still not profitable. This was confirmed by the head of Epic Games Store (EGS), Steve Allison, who at the same time assured that further development of the platform remains the company's main goal.
Epic Games vs Google - what's at stake?
Let's start by explaining how the two companies went on the judicial warpath. It all started in 2020, when Epic Games brought a lawsuit against Google.
- Epic Games had objections to the operation of Google Play, the app store developed by the owners of the famous search engine and Android.
- The developer ofFortnite disagreed with the high margin (reaching about 30%), which was charged for purchases in the said store. According to Epic Games, such actions by Google had signs of monopoly.
- Epic Games is demanding the introduction of easier payment methods on Google Play, which will not be handled by the giant. In addition, EGS' owner wants Google to use third-party app stores.
- Google, on the other hand, argues that this would be dangerous for Android users and would reduce the chances of a level playing field with Apple and iOS.
Speaking of Apple, at one time Epic Games also issued similar objections toward the App Store. In this case, the conflict also moved to the court, which a few months ago awarded the iPhone manufacturers a point. You can read more about this case here.
It's worth mentioning that the court dispute between Epic Games and Apple had also been going on since 2020. During one of the hearings in 2021, it was announced that Epic Games Store was not profitable, but this was supposed to change in 2023 - as you can see, nothing came of these assurances.
Epic Games Store as an alternative to Steam
The Epic Games Store platform was launched in 2018, and was supposed to be an alternative to Steam. The creators of the digital store have been grasping at various methods to attract users. The most popular of these by far are game giveaways, which will continue, as Epic Games assures.
- Among the high-profile titles that could be obtained for free from Epic Games Store were GTA V, Control or Dying Light.
- Epic Games has also prepared an interesting offer for game developers. As of recently it guarantees game developers 100% of revenue from title sales for six months. After that period, settlements will revert to the old system, i.e. 88% for the developer and 12% for Epic Games.
- The store also offers exclusive PC games for its users. One of the latest releases is Alan Wake 2, which is getting very good reviews.
Although Epic Games has shown figures for 2022, which confirm the growth of their digital store, the company is still not recording profits from its operations, as stated at yesterday's hearing. Recall - last year EGS was used by some 230 million users..
Layoffs and significant departures
Due to the poor financial situation of Epic Games, the company's owner, Tim Sweeney, decided to say goodbye to some employees. At the end of September as many as 830 people have left the company, or about 16% of the total workforce.
The atmosphere was also not improved by the resignation of Sergey Galyonkin, who was director of publishing strategy at Epic Games. In addition, he worked on the popular Fortnite and Epic Games Store.
If the Epic Games Store does not start making a profit, Tim Sweeney will have to think hard about whether to close the project. Even if the head of Epic Games officially assures of its further development. We are left to follow the events of the court and wait for further developments.
