News Epic Games Store

So looks like Disney pulled some games from Steam with no warning. Even though it’s still available that’s all I needed to stop playing around and buy Split Second.

Not sure if it was any good but I’m kinda kicking myself for not buying Hercules when it was like $1 for all of those years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman
so good to see Tim helping the small devs again


Not surprised. I figured he had some deal with Google because he went from trashing them to glazing them overnight. Also the new terms they suggested were weird as hell (i.e. Fortnite's cosmetics microtransactions would only have a 9% cut while basically every other game is in a 20% tier).

He'll stop shitting on Apple and Valve the moment he gets sweetheart deals from them
 
He'll stop shitting on Apple and Valve the moment he gets sweetheart deals from them
We soon learned that refers to Epic spending $800 million to purchase some sort of services from Google: “Every year we’ve decided against Google, in this year we’re deciding to use Google at market rates,” he said. Sweeney did throw cold water on the idea that Epic and Google are jointly building a single new product together, though. “This is Google and Epic each separately building product lines,” he clarified, when Judge Donato asked what the term sheet referred to with the line “Google and Epic will work together.”

It is not Epic getting money from Google but the other way around.
 
It is not Epic getting money from Google but the other way around.
The only thing we know for sure is Epic is buying $800 million of services from Google and the deal involves Unreal Engine in some way. We don't know the full details and what Google is getting. Also the proposed Google Play rate changes skew heavily towards Epic


Now, Google and Epic have filed a joint motion that outlines a deal in which third-party app stores will be allowed on Android worldwide. In addition, the deal proposes that rather than its traditional 30% commission, Google will take a cut of "either 9% or 20%, depending on the type of transaction" for payments made through Play-distributed apps that use alternative payment options.

The revised service fees will only apply to new installs, defined in 'Exhibit B' of the joint motion as "apps first installed/updated from Google Play on or after October 30, 2025." Exhibit B also outlines scenarios in which the 20% commission cap would apply, including loot boxes and purchases that provide "more than a de minimis gameplay advantage." By contrast, the 9% cap would apply for purchases that "do not provide more than a de minimis gameplay advantage" (such as cosmetic items), as well as in-app subscriptions and in-app and linked purchases in non-game apps.

As Fortnite's microtransactions are cosmetic, they get the 9% tier and most other games will be in the 20% tier.

The judge outright asked if it was quid pro quo. The Verge has a more detailed liveblog which includes the judge questioning Sweeney as to why he suddenly wants peace when he once called Android a "fake open platform" to why he dropped the demand that Epic get access to the entire Google Play catalogue.

I obviously have my biases but it looks like a sweetheart deal where Google gets rid of litigation with a nice cash infusion and Epic gets what they want in the mobile market. And FWIW I think the judge will still approve it.
 
It only took Epic 7 years to figure out what they should have been doing day 1 instead of pissing off everyone with exclusives. It would have also been more popular in 2019 instead of today as Fortnite was more relevant and Steam was much smaller.

Also explains why the likes of Capcom and Pearl Abyss are putting their games on EGS when they had no interest before. Gotta wonder how much Epic is spending on this program because I doubt the residuals from Fortnite skins is going to be that high.
 
It only took Epic 7 years to figure out what they should have been doing day 1 instead of pissing off everyone with exclusives. It would have also been more popular in 2019 instead of today as Fortnite was more relevant and Steam was much smaller.

Also explains why the likes of Capcom and Pearl Abyss are putting their games on EGS when they had no interest before. Gotta wonder how much Epic is spending on this program because I doubt the residuals from Fortnite skins is going to be that high.

It's not like it's a new concept either - I believe it was in 2010 that Valve started to do promos where if you bought or preordered certain games on Steam you got promo items based on that game in Team Fortress 2.
 
Last edited:
If it's working as a marketing tool for them then more power to them and add all the games to EGS.

I am just not sure if this is what Timmy had in mind for his store.
I suspect indies will do weeklong free days to try and juice their Steam sales, and then it will become oversaturated and stop being effective because everyone loves a goldrush/bubble in gaming.

Then the free games stop and we all lose.
 
I suspect indies will do weeklong free days to try and juice their Steam sales, and then it will become oversaturated and stop being effective because everyone loves a goldrush/bubble in gaming.

Then the free games stop and we all lose.
Yeah, like just about everything that started as being a good new method of advertising they tend to get overwelmed after a while.
 
  • This!
Reactions: lashman
I recently had the displeasure of creating my own Epic account.
My son saw a video of LEGO Fortnite Odyssey and was immediately smitten, and asked me if he could play it.

It was hard to say no, when the game is completely free, and trying to explain one's objections regarding a company such as Epic to a kid is kind of hard.

So I gave in.
I downloaded LEGO Fortnite Odyssey, which forced me to download Fortnite proper, which weighs in on over 100 gigs!!!!
Talk about immediately starting to regret things....

LEGO Fortnite Odyssey is actually a really cool LEGO game, and perfect for kids since you can do pretty much whatever in the game.
It's just a shame that it is tethered to Fortnite and what all that entails.

So far, I've had to update Fortnite twice. Each time, it's an update that is about 1-2 gigs in size, but the update takes up to an HOUR to complete. With fast, stable internet and an SSD drive.

And not only that, I really don't understand how Epic has managed this, but when the update of Fortnite is running, it makes my entire computer chug to a crawl.
Yesterday, my son wanted to play LEGO Fortnite, but it had to update, so I suggested we play something else instead. While the EGS update of the game was running, I barely managed to boot Steam and launch another game.

What the hell kind of crappy coding does EGS and Fortnite have???? What makes it EAT system resources while doing stuff???
 
file.webp

Your own game forces developers to use Epic's payment processor you bozo. Console companies require you to use their payment processors on their platform you bozo. Valve only requires you to use their payment processor when using their platform you bozo. You can use web shops to buy microtransactions and use them in the Steam version you bozo.

Anyway, in less infuriating news Epic's top sellers now show F2P games and, to the surprise of no one, it's dominated by gachaslop.
 
Steve Allison posted that the year in review will drop next week. Place your bets?

Guessing
-80 million peak MAU
-$1.3 billion revenue
-$500 million 3rd party

3rd party should get a nice boost as they ran the 20% rebate for damn near the entire year. I also get the feeling they're going to be cute and say all transactions that were made via their payment processor for the mobile version count as EGS revenue. At the same time, Fortnite player numbers dropped like a rock in the second half of 2025 so really I'm just throwing numbers out my butt.

Edit: I forgot to mention the top sellers removed the F2P games for some reason. I guess they didn't want Mihoyo to hog the top spots every day. :smart-thinking-blob:
 
Last edited: