The Epic Games Store is still not making a profit five years after it launched.
Store boss Steve Allison made the admission this week as he gave evidence in Epic’s legal battle with Google over in-app fees, The Verge reported.
Allison told the court hearing in San Francisco that his store was not profitable yet. The goal was still growth, he said.
Epic launched its PC game store in December 2018 as a direct competitor to Steam. It has chased marketshare by sinking serious money into securing PC exclusives – $1 billion in 2021, PC Gamer reported.
There were also regular free-game giveaways and more favorable revenue splits for publishers and developers.
But the poor result is apparently part of Epic’s plan. In 2021, the company said it did not expect its store to make a profit before 2027, and in a 2021 tweet, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney suggested losing more than $300 million that year was part of a strategic plan to grow the store and business.
As the publisher of Fortnite and owner of Unreal Engine, Epic likely has cash to blow, but in September Sweeney confirmed 830 employees would be laid off because the company was “spending way more money than we earn”.
Epic is suing Google over the 30% commission the search giant charges on in-app purchases in its Google Play store, claiming it constitutes a monopoly.
Epic sued Apple for similar reasons in 2021. The court mostly sided with Apple.
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