Epic Store is the good guy here, trust me!
A monopolistic market is never a good thing. Sooner or later, the firm holding the complete market will turn against the favour of the customers, or its suppliers, in this case the game developers. While Steam has never let its customer base down, by cheating them or charging extra ever, it has been taking a large chunk of money from developers (30%!) for just adding their products on its shelves. But with the rise of a worthy competitor, Epic Store, much is hopefully to change, if it finds support from the ardent Steam supporters.
The customers or gamers till now, have been extremely unfair to Epic, who has not done anything but play by the book. When a new competitor wants to enter a market dominated by a single extremely large player, it has to use multiple tricks to penetrate the market to make a tiny space for itself. Epic has made its space by picking up exclusivity deals by offering a good margin to publishers (12%, a third of what Steam charges!). This has brought in reluctant gamers who have no choice but to buy from Epic.
When a new competitor wants to enter a market dominated by a single extremely large player, it has to use multiple tricks to penetrate the market to make a tiny space for itself.
This, while may seem unfair, isn’t exactly. Epic has every right to pitch for an exclusive PC retail deal with publishers. The onus of this move goes to the publishers, who decide to sign up to this deal. And, they have their reasons.
Publishers are not wrong in choosing Epic
Investors love such money saving techniques, and are always going to choose a cheaper retailer. Epic Store is a great way to woo investors, who constantly think about profit maximisation.
Choosing Epic Store for publishers is a great way to woo investors
Not only for investors but for customers too. It helps save a lot of money and gives the publishers the option to pass on the savings. If not outright, the publishers can pass it on by giving big discounts.
Secondly, this may in the future, convince game makers to reduce the amount of paid DLCs they release and instead add them into the overall package, which is a plus for gamers.
And finally, in the cut throat gaming industry, this system may even bring more niche games to the fore, even as the current market remains mostly driven by monetisation of every inch of a game with microtransactions and loot boxes. This may be because devs won’t fear pitching a game, knowing that they will be able to earn a huge cut of what they make, easily convincing the investors to pump in money.
But this may be very long term. In the short term, its important to note that if not Epic, someone else would have filled the shoes of a major competitor to Steam.
In the short term, its important to note that if not Epic, someone else would have filled the shoes of a major competitor to Steam.
Having another big digital marketplace to fight Steam tooth and nail is a good thing for the customers.
The free games are Epic
Epic has also found fame in its initiative to bring out one or two free games every week. This not only means that people get to play free games, but also that these gamers will stop buying these very games from Steam, hoping that eventually they will be offered free by Epic. This has been a very successful strategy to bring in more customers, at the expense of a minor sales drop at Steam.
Free games seem predatory, but it still is pretty fine as far as business ethics go. Giving games free out cannot be considered wrong and shows how much value and quality is added to a customers life when we see a new force arrive. Sit back and enjoy this limelight everyone!
Epic is a revolution, a necessary devil, but it needs some fixes…
The Epic Store, which was earlier just a launcher for the overnight sensation that is Fortnite, has a lot of work to be done before it be considered a true trustworthy interface for gamers.
Free games seem predatory, but it still is pretty fine as far as business ethics go.
For instance, it lacks a lot of quality of life features of Steam, like hours of play and reviews. These things tell a gamer what to expect of a game before we hit the buy button. Games are not like Netflix, where a season of a show lasts not more than 5–6 hours on average.
The interface itself is quite cumbersome, with the lack of a list view and mouse hover features. It also seems a bit laggy compared to the smooth performance of Steam.
What Steam needs to do…
While Steam may feel that it doesn’t need to do much, it needs to take immediate action to avoid letting its player base slowly trickling out. Most new products or entire marketplaces are rejected in the beginning by true fans of their competitors, only to change their stance and get on the new bandwagon!
The cash rich Epic is sure to have more tricks up its sleeves than we (or Steam) think!
Steam needs to start respecting its publisher base and giving them an opportunity to reason with Steam, in hopes to reduce the loss of players. Steam can maybe come down from its high horse and reduce the revenue cut that it keeps for itself.
Epic is no small player now. It earned more than USD 2 billion from Fortnite only in 2018, with God knows how much more in the current year. So the cash rich Epic is sure to have more tricks up its sleeves.
While Steam is ahead, it should give out free games too, in order to bring in new customers who would have initially been swayed by Epic’s free game per week initiative. I am guessing a lot of gamers who usually pirate games would have come to Epic before they did to Steam, in hopes of grabbing free games and being introduced to a reasonably good marketplace.
An Epic battle ensues
Steam and Epic, have a long and tough battle ahead, which is not going to end without any major tectonic changes (or improvements) to the PC gaming market. So sit back and relax, we the customers are the true winners here anyway. Hopefully we’ll see more new competitors, like GOG Galaxy 2.0.
