Epic Games has been promising a major overhaul of its game launcher for what feels like an eternity. We’re talking faster performance, a redesigned storefront with personalized recommendations, and streamlined browsing. But will it be enough to shake Steam’s seemingly unbreakable dominance? According to one industry analyst, the answer might be a resounding “no.”
The Steam Question
Speaking with PC Gamer“>PC Gamer, Emmanuel Rosier, Director of Market Intelligence at Newzoo, expressed serious doubts about Epic’s ability to recover. His argument centers on the fact that while Epic has been offering free games as a lure, these giveaways often backfire, inadvertently boosting sales on Steam instead of driving lasting engagement with the Epic Games Store itself. Players tend to stick to one launcher rather than fragment their game libraries across multiple platforms.
“I don’t really see how they can turn that around because Steam has become so inevitable,” Rosier stated bluntly. “The Epic Games Store gets players by giving away free games, but people just log in, grab the freebies, and then leave. It’s almost like collecting games rather than actually playing them.”
Epic’s Ambitious (and Perhaps Overextended) Strategy
Rosier further elaborated on Epic’s broader strategy, suggesting that their attempts to compete across multiple fronts – Steam as a storefront, Apple and Google in mobile gaming – may have stretched their resources too thin. “The challenge I think Epic is facing is that they try to win everywhere in the past few years. They try to win against Steam, against Apple, against Google Play, and probably they run out of steam on where they cannot fight all these battles at the same time.”
Fortnite: A Beacon of Hope?
Despite his pessimism regarding the Epic Games Store as a whole, Rosier was considerably more optimistic about Epic’s prospects as a game developer, specifically highlighting Fortnite“>Fortnite. He pointed to the growing trend of incorporating crossover cosmetics from other popular games, noting that characters like Sonic the Hedgehog and Pac-Man are now sharing screen space with icons like Kingdom Hearts“>Kingdom Hearts’ Sora and Persona 5’s Joker in Fortnite’s current season. “You can see they put a lot of thought into Fortnite right now,” he said. “They are doing everything they can, and I think it’s working better when you look at the state of Fortnite today compared to six months or one year ago.”
The Future is Uncertain
Ultimately, Rosier’s assessment paints a less-than-rosy picture for the Epic Games Store. While the upcoming overhaul might offer some improvements, it seems unlikely to significantly challenge Steam’s entrenched position in the PC gaming landscape. Earlier this year, Epic Games’ Steve Allison said Xbox had “welcome[d” the idea of including Epic’s storefront on its hardware], suggesting a potential future partnership. However, whether that will translate into meaningful change remains to be seen.
Source: Eurogamer
Comments
Be the first to comment.