As many of you are probably well aware of at this point, my primary platform for playing video games is PC. In the modern age, Steam, run by the Valve Corporation, has dominated the market to the extent that many people have accused the store of having an effective monopoly over the gaming market on PC. While other stores exist, they have all paled compared to the Steam userbase and are not considered to be true competitors. Enter the Epic Games Store which has sought to break this seeming monopoly through free games and exclusives funded through the success of Fortnite. I’ve spoken before about how I considered the Epic Games Store’s existence to be a good thing but I have also expressed reservations over the feasibility of the store in the long term. Taking all of this into account, as well as some new information that has been provided, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the state of the Epic Games Store as we enter 2021.
In the interest of full transparency, I should mention that I’m still not registered with the Epic Games Store. I still consider the Epic Games Store as a whole to be a substandard experience compared to Steam and even some other smaller distributors. However, I would hope the fact that I consider Epic Games Store’s existence to be good for the industry as well as how I’m willing to criticise Valve a sign that I’m going to be as impartial with this information as I can be.