The Epic Games Store Is Still Not Profitable After All These Years

The Epic Games Store has not become profitable, even after five years on the market. The company revealed this during the Epic vs Google trial.

According to The Verge, Epic Games general manager and vice president Steve Allison said on the witness stand that the store isn't profitable yet. However, Epic's goal for its PC games storefront is still growth.

Epic launched its online digital storefront for games in December 2018. It was supposed to be a competitor to the near-complete dominance of Valve's Steam storefront. Epic attempted to differentiate itself by offering a better revenue split with game developers, giving an 88% of revenue generated as opposed to Steam's 70%.

Additionally, Epic also paid for timed exclusivity for some PC games, but this strategy wasn't received well by everyone. Some timed exclusives were pricey, too. Epic paid $146 million to secure Borderlands 3 timed exclusivity and that was only for six months rather than the typical 12-month window. Back in 2021, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney admitted that the storefront had not turned a profit yet, and that's still the case in 2023.

Unfortunately, Epic Games laid off more than 800 employees in September. At the time CEO Tim Sweeney said the company had "been spending way more money than we earn."