The Epic Games Store vs Steam argument has popped up again lately with evidence proving that free Epic Games Store promotions simply lead to more sales on Steam as PC gamers push against the newer, emptier storefront.
In response to the ongoing discussion, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney claimed that “on some transactions, Epic wins. On more, Steam wins.” The CEO posited that “gamers and developers win by having more options and better deals,” a statement which irked Baldur’s Gate 3 and Divinity publishing director Michael Douse.
Responding to Sweeney’s statements, Douse fired back against the claim, stating “this altruistic pro-developer talk doesn’t sit well when Remedy seemingly went into financial crisis because they couldn’t tap Steam for AW2 [Alan Wake 2] sales suffering potentially hundreds of millions in lost revenue.”
To this day, Alan Wake 2 is still an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC with Tim Sweeney allegedly saying “it’s not coming to Steam” in an email interaction with a fan. While other games with Epic exclusivity, such as Shenmue 3 and Witchfire, eventually came to Valve’s storefront, Remedy’s critically acclaimed horror game is only available on the Epic Games Store.
“Building more options by removing options is a bold tactic.”
Baldur’s Gate 3 publishing director Michael Douse
“Not that they need the money but a percentage take to Epic could’ve recoupled dev costs nd more,” Douse continued. “Competition is good, and important, but it is difficult to buy the message when there are demonstrable cases of games underperforming as a result of the tactic”.
As for why many gamers simply don’t like the Epic Games Store, a large part of it is due to the fact that it only functions as a store. While the storefront has finally added gifting, there are no user reviews, no forums to discuss issues with games, no mod workshop, and none of the features that PC gamers have been using on Steam for two decades now.
Douse explained that the Epic Games Store’s viability “sits on their ability to convert hundreds of millions of Fortnite players into mid-hardcore premium games, and I don’t see the Fortnite brand attempting to do that”. Douse also pointed to the fact that Epic has removed options for players and developers with games like Rocket League and Fall Guys being removed from Steam to become Epic exclusives that are also part of Fortnite.
“Building more options by removing options is a bold tactic,” the Baldur’s Gate 3 dev said. “I like the pressure they’re putting on payment providers and rev split, though. But the former is probably better attributed to them than the latter.”
As someone who does use the Epic Games Store—I simply do not care about having another launcher on my system—the experience is not good. If the game is cheaper there, I’ll get it there, but the fact of the matter is that the store simply isn’t good. The Cloud Sync issue is still present, many games don’t release on the store, and loading your library of hundreds of (largely free) games invites you to lag hell.
For a store that is now eight years old, the Epic Games Store simply hasn’t evolved. After eight years, Steam was hosting workshops for mods, introduced reviews, full-fledged forums, and even the now-dead Steam Greenlight service. In eight years, Epic has finally added wishlists. It’s pretty shocking.
