Epic Announces Their Own Online Game Store With Better Revenue Cuts for Developers

Epic, the company behind the Unreal Engine and battle royale game Fortnite, has announced their own online game store: The Epic Games Store. This new platform boasts a favorable revenue split for developers, taking nearly 1/3rd of what Steam takes.

The Epic Games Store features a straight 88/12 percent revenue split for all games hosted on the service. They're looking to offer developers something better than Steam's 30/70 split, which isn't too far from what Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo also take from their respective storefronts. Additionally, games made using Epic's Unreal Engine will be waived of the engine's usual 4 percent revenue fee.

This is likely the source of inspiration for Steam's recent revenue change, offering lowered revenue splits for major selling titles.

A number of curated titles will be available on the storefront once it launches, though none of them have been revealed at this time.

Taking on Steam, the largest online game distributor service, is no easy task. Bethesda turned heads when they announced that Fallout 76 would only be offered on the Bethesda.net title, and Blizzard games have always only been on the Blizzard.net platform, but both companies hold a number of big-name titles under their best to drive sales. Epic's largest game title right now is the free-to-play Fortnite game.

The reduced revenue cut is appealing to developers, sure. But what reason does the consumer have to choose Epic over Steam?