Almost 5 years after its launch, the Epic Games Store is still not profitable

The Epic Games Store, launched almost five years ago in December 2018, is still not profitable. Steve Ellison, the head of Epic Games Store, said this during the ongoing trial between Epic and Google, Eurogamer writes. Despite the lack of profitability, Epic’s strategy remains focused on growth. The company had ambitious goals of capturing half of all computer game revenues, as evidenced by emails disclosed during the trial.

Epic’s store started with a developer-friendly 88/12 revenue split, which contrasted with the industry-standard 30 percent split used by competitors such as Valve’s Steam at the time. To attract both buyers and developers, Epic has implemented various strategies, such as weekly game giveaways and exclusive PC offers, such as the recent release of Alan Wake 2.

In August, Epic introduced the First Run program, which offers third-party developers 100% of revenue for six months in exchange for exclusivity on the Epic Games Store. After this period, the revenue split reverts to the original 88/12 arrangement.

Amid these efforts to increase sales, Epic also faced internal problems, including layoffs. In September, the company confirmed the layoffs of about 830 employees, mostly outside the core development teams. This included almost half of the Bandcamp staff, which Epic Games sold to Songtradr, a music licensing and distribution platform.