[Guest0918231]

1. Steam became a success because of the games Valve developed.

2. Epic created Fortnite, which you likely know is a popular release. That game is leading to the Epic store getting off the ground and gaining traction. This is causing a rather large loss in revenue for Valve.

That's why games are important. If you control the top games, you control the users, and you control the platform.

[drKarl]

Epic Store is light years behind Steam. It is very barebones and primitive. In Steam when you go to the games in your library you see a lot of content, you see your DLCS, achievements, community content, etc. In Epic Store you don't even have a page for each game in your library, just a small cover to launch the game. Steam has Play on TV, Play on phone/table and Remote Play together which are great features. Also Epic catalog is so much smaller than Steam's.

Also, it is interesting to have some context of Epic Games. I remember when it was Epic MegaGames and they released the original Unreal games, THAT was the hit that defined the company as they also started to license their Unreal Engine (which they still do today).

Long story short, around 2012 the massive chinese giant Tencent acquired a big portion of Epic Games (40%) that allows Tencent to nominate directors, and the company shifted towards GaaS (Game as a Service). Many long time Epic Game employees left the company around that time.

Epic Games used one of their games, Fortnite: Save the World, to develop Fortnite Battle Royale, which was a huge success.

It's very important to note that Fortnite's biggest competitor, PlayerUnkown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), is owned and developed by Tencent.

Also note that Tencent owns 100% of Riot Games, as well as having various stakes at different gaming studios.

[krageon]

All no doubt very good points, but they also don't meaningfully matter. The cold fact is that Epic is doing way better than most people want it to, regardless of how bad it is or how shady it's investors are.

[ehsankia]

Eh, you only need strong games to get your platform started. As you pointed out, HL/CS helped really kick starts Steam, and similarly Fortnite helped kickstarts Epic. But once your store picks up, I don't think game exclusives are as necessary as you imply to keep it going. Do you think all Steam games are just going to leave if Valve never makes a game ever again?

[ekianjo]

> Steam became a success because of the games Valve developed.

So what? That was years ago, and that says nothing about the present state of affairs.

> This is causing a rather large loss in revenue for Valve.

No it isn't, because you are missing the fact that the gaming market is not a zero-sum game, fix-cake that you can only get a share of. It's constantly growing, and new games create new public the whole time.

[Guest0918231]

> So what? That was years ago, and that says nothing about the present state of affairs.

You overlooked my second point, about Fortnite leading to the Epic store gaining traction, which is the present state of affairs. Also look at EA Games launches their store in the past by using their AAA games as leverage. All these gaming stores and trying to use games as a way to get their foot in the door, so I think you're wrong by saying it's no longer a valid approach. In fact, it's the only approach that seems to work.

> No it isn't, because you are missing the fact that the gaming market is not a zero-sum game, fix-cake that you can only get a share of. It's constantly growing, and new games create new public the whole time.

It's very much a zero-sum situation when these stores sell the majority of the same games. When you spend your $60 buying Grand Theft Auto on the Epic store, that's a $60 loss for Steam, because you're not going to buy the game twice. When one store wins your sale, the other loses it.

[philliphaydon]

Probably a large loss for epic too with how much they give away to con people into their terrible service.