Game self-publishing now possible at Epic Games

With a significant market share, Epic Games is the second-largest seller of digital games. According to data from past years, it was estimated at around 15%, which is not a wrong position. However, according to the same data, the second position belongs to GOG, the third to Humble Bundle, and the fourth to Itch.io.

While Steam occupies the first position, and you were surely thinking about it from the beginning. According to the data, it is unreachable today from the rest of the competition; its market share is estimated at around 75%.

So, while Valve works to maintain its leadership position, the other retailers are looking for ways to close the gap or at least compete for the medals.

Epic Games seeks to improve its competitiveness

Although GOG, Humble Bundle, and Itch.io operate on different scales, Epic Games has ambitions (legitimate, of course) to make a dent in Steam’s market share. Moreover, we can say that this will be beneficial on its own.

However, the Fortnite creators’ store must improve its competitiveness against Valve’s to achieve that significant change. Giving away games each week has shown to be extremely expensive and inefficient for moving up; or, at least, earning a substantial increase in its market share.

In this regard, in 2021, we learned that Epic Games wanted to allow self-publishing in its store; by then, a closed beta was introduced. Nevertheless, the concept seemed sound because it would make it easier for new games to enter the market and would be an affordable option for game producers of all sizes. They could also take advantage of the store’s sales conditions, which were much more favorable than those offered by Steam.

Self-publishing store

Despite knowing about the idea of the self-publishing store for some time, we had forgotten about it. Finally, the company revealed that it has officially opened its store to self-publishing.

To upload a game to the Epic Games store, a developer (or their distributor) must pay a publishing charge of $100.

It enables third-party services for in-app sales, in which case it does not charge a commission, in keeping with its lawsuit against Apple; the commission charged for each transaction is 12% instead of Valve’s 30%.

Overall, this is a wise move for Epic Games; opening the store to developers of different sizes and types is something Steam has been doing for some time now. In addition, this will allow the company to significantly expand its repertoire without incurring the expense of managing the total for each new title fully.

Now we must wait to see how this new self-publishing mechanism is received. Also whether Epic Games thus increases its user base and revenue, bringing it closer to profitability.

Header: Epic Games