Fortnite developer Epic Games will launch a brand new digital distribution platform called Epic Games Store to compete with Valve’s Steam platform.
Tim Sweeney has revealed that Epic Game Store will debut with a collection of games and the store will also feature one free game every two weeks throughout 2019. Epic is funding these free releases so players can experience the wide range of creative works that will be available.
Instead of a 70/30 split in revenue like Steam, Epic Games Store takes only 12 percent. Game developers gets to keep the remaining 88 percent of its revenues, which is kind of a big deal. To make the deal much sweeter for game developers, the store is available to all variety of engines, and Epic will also waive all royalties related to the Unreal Engine if the games are sold through Epic’s storefront.
Additionally, there will be tools for players to communicate with developers privately, such as a ticketing system for bug reports and questions, to mitigate toxicity resulting from reviews being the only native communication mechanism. The Epic Games Store also includes the ‘Support-A-Creator’ program which is specially designed to reward YouTube video makers, Twitch content creators, cosplayers, community builders, influencers, and bloggers for highlighting developers’ games.
Epic is going to reveal more information about their store at the 2018 The Game Awards this coming December 6.
