Support NeoGAF

[Afro Republican]

https://m.windowscentral.com/epic-games-store-85-million-users-already

Days ago, Epic Games announced that it was bringing some popular PlayStation 4 exclusives to PC. Developer Quantic Dream recently expressed interest in going multi-platform, and the team is porting Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human to PC for the first time. You won't find these titles on Steam. Even titles like Obsidian Entertainment's The Outer Worlds will launch on the Epic Games Store and Microsoft Store before they hit Steam.

Fortnite is an incredibly popular game, and it doesn't seem like slowing down. The popularity of this free-to-play title as well as the exclusive announcements has propelled the Epic Games Store number to 85 million users. A report by PC Gamer provided more details.

Epic Games said during a GDC presentation today that there are now 85 million registered users of the Epic Games Store on PC — and, according to user surveys from August 2018 and January 2019, 40 percent of them report not having Steam.​

It's great to see that the number has risen to 85 million users. Despite opposing viewpoints, competition is always good for the industry and Epic Games will push Steam to do better when it comes to its customers and developers.

People always used to laugh when people pointed out Steam was complacent and not really preparing for the future, Valve itself hasn't really been putting out much of anything, but this proved it.

Not only 85 million users but nearly half never used or are no longer using steam. That's a massive success!

Of course I buy physical so I don't care for these stores, but for you PC gamers this may be hard on you Steam fans!

 

[Fuz]

Not only 85 million users but nearly half never used or are no longer using steam

Oh hai.
I just have free games in the EGS, though.

 

[Threeshotgamer]

I think this sums up just about anything that Epic is claiming at this point:

 

[-MD-]

40 million PC players that don't have steam accounts.

They must buy a lot of games.

 

[Kadayi]

Of course I buy physical so I don't care for these stores, but for you PC gamers this may be hard on you Steam fans!

Pretty sure most of them are Fortnite players there bud.

Still, a man with no investment or interest in digital platforms opens mouth, so we must listen to his sage advice,

 

[godhandiscen]

Given the reach Fortnite has, these could easily be people who just started PC gaming starting with that game. I don't doubt Epic. However, it is a weird stat to parrot.

 

[Lucumo]

I guess it's "relevant" because it's a store but Steam still only captures a small fraction of the PC gamers market, so that number doesn't really matter.

 

[Rugabuga]

There's always been millions who never had a steam account because they played LOL, WOW, etc. That number doesn't mean anything.
Hell, how many of those 85 million have actually bought or dl a game from the epic store?

 

[SirKicksalot]

Two of them are mine because I have no friends to complete Fortnite challenges!

 

[Kadayi]

Hell, how many of those 85 million have actually bought or dl a game from the epic store?

I'd like to know that as well.

Two of them are mine because I have no friends to complete Fortnite challenges!

 

[ZeroZeroQuatre]

And how many of them are developers using the Unreal Engine ?

From 2016 :
"Unreal Engine 4 is now used by over 2 million developers" - source

 

[ResilientBanana]

So basically everyone that's played Fortnite.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Liars, damn liars, and statisticians.

That being said a few years from now when Fortnight kids turn into Fortnight young adults with disposable income, I can see Epic's long game coming to fruition.

 

[Spukc]

now say how many users only have fortnite.
and state how many users only log in when new free game is out..

Cause last time i tried to log in when the new free game was out.
I suddenly had a queue timer.

hilarious. fuck i can't wait for BR games to fucking die, moba is going hard/

 

[A.Romero]

It's a weird flex but interesting data nontheless.

Epic's challenge is figuring out how to turn Fortnite kids into other kinds of games.

 

[nowhat]

So I wonder - the article claims this is about PC players only, but could those ~40M that haven't used Steam or no longer do include Android users as well?

In case someone has missed this, Fortnite isn't available in the Play Store. This is not any kind of restriction placed by Google, but as Android allows sideloading without rooting, Epic wants the full cut of all MTs sold (if same were possible, you can bet they'd do the same on iOS).

(Why would anyone want to play something like Fortnite on a phone is beyond me, but I've long stopped trying to understand kids these days. And yes, get off my lawn.)

 

[Bkdk]

With EPS brining in some Sony games, they will become my favorite platform soon, hope they keeps it up and will be able to have some talented devs developing great games with their unreal engine for the platform.

 

[Hinedorf]

Don't you know they're the #1 Online gaming store for Online gaming stores that start with the letter "E"

I don't believe the statistic but then I do consider how many kids who have really no outlet to any other game simply know about Fortnite from school. Similarly there's lots of Fortnite players that don't really play other games.

Even if it's true, that's 40% of 85 million users who are going to be shocked when they discover Steam is significantly better than Epic in every way for a customer.

 

[Mattyp]

I know Fortnite is a true monster but it's impressive if true, and explains why they would be buying exclusive access to so many games. They just need to start getting those users into buying games other than fortnite and they've got a store very capable of taking a large market away from Steam of a younger generation.

 

[down 2 orth]

Dude enough with the Epic Store spam, its taking up the space of more interesting articles.

 

[CuNi]

Spoiler: My reaction

At least 3 of those accounts are mine because I didn't want to have my Unreal Engine Account that's connected to GitHub be connected to my Fortnite Account and a 3rd one was.. honestly I don't even remember why I got that one.
I got a few of the free games so far but haven't bought anything and all my friends are the same, which doesn't mean everyone is like this.
Also, how many of those Accounts are hackers and how many more are hackers second/third/Xth accounts because the old one got banned?
That's like saying "Steam has XYZ number of registered Accounts" which also again means absolutely nothing.
Of course it has a strong userbase because of all the Fortnite players but this number alone means nothing.

Oh and I wonder...
How DO they know how many of those accounts have a steam account or use steam? I surely haven't seen a form or survey asking me this recently.
Ohh right, I forgot...

 

[Wonko_C]

I only have it because of the Unreal Tournament Pre-Alpha, which is dead now thanks to Fortnite. But I'm taking all their free games also, and I guess they'll never see a single cent from me unless they make their games' regional pricing cheaper than Steam.

 

[Hinedorf]

I only have it because of the Unreal Tournament Pre-Alpha, which is dead now thanks to Fortnite. But I'm taking all their free games also, and I guess they'll never see a single cent from me unless they make their games' regional pricing cheaper than Steam.

Dunno about you but I really liked that Unreal Tourny pre-alpha! Had a few work friends jump on and we had a blast with it. Disappointing they axed the project.

 

[Wonko_C]

Dunno about you but I really liked that Unreal Tourny pre-alpha! Had a few work friends jump on and we had a blast with it. Disappointing they axed the project.

Epic should just open-source it and let the fans finish the job.

 

[Sub_Level]

Can't blame Epic for not wanting to finish Unreal when Quake Champions fizzled out the way it did. Rest in peace.

 

[IzukuMidoriya]

40 million PC players that don't have steam accounts.

They must buy a lot of games.

The only games I buy are EA games with the serial code on the manual.

 

[Silver Wattle]

Worthless number.

 

[Kagey K]

I love watching the PC people struggle now with the timed deal bullshit consoles have had to deal with for years, since Sony started it with Tomb Raider.

Welcome to real competition. Enjoy your divided player base.

 

[Mokus]

Sorry, but I don't believe those numbers. They must heavily rounding it up from somewhere.

In this pace Google will come out saying, Stadia has 2 billion users, because YouTube.

 

[Kagey K]

Sorry, but I don't believe those numbers. They must heavily rounding it up from somewhere.

In this pace Google will come out saying, Stadia has 2 billion users, because YouTube.

Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean everyone else doesn’t also.

Care to share how you think they are wrong? They are pulling in Fortnite players who use no gaming store as well as hardcore players unwilling to let certain games pass them by for “reasons.”

How much are they rounding up, thousands? Ten thousands? Millions?

 

[Lucumo]

Enjoy your divided player base.

Hm? The divided player base existed ever since Steam became a relevant thing.

 

[Kagey K]

Hm? The divided player base existed ever since Steam became a relevant thing.

Pretty sure that’s when the PC base united. I know it’s about when I quit PC and and went back to consoles.

 

[Lort]

Steam is the past. Epic and microsoft are the future.

 

[Kagey K]

Steam is the past. Epic and microsoft are the future.

Why not both?

 

[nowhat]

I love watching the PC people struggle now with the timed deal bullshit consoles have had to deal with for years, since Sony started it with Tomb Raider.

Ehh? If you're talking about Rise of the Tomb Raider, it was an Xbox exclusive for a year - don't think Sony had much to do with that?

 

[Kagey K]

Ehh? If you're talking about Rise of the Tomb Raider, it was an Xbox exclusive for a year - don't think Sony had much to do with that?

No I’m talking about the original Tomb Raider on Dreamcast, and Sony had everything to do with it.

Sony was the pioneer of the moneyhatted exclusive, yet people like to pretend it happened in the 360 era with MS.

 

[nani17]

No I’m talking about the original Tomb Raider on Dreamcast, and Sony had everything to do with it.

Sony was the pioneer of the moneyhatted exclusive, yet people like to pretend it happened in the 360 era with MS.

Atari started that not Sony. They bought and paid for many exclusives and Nintendo was worse with the NES

 

[Kagey K]

Atari started that not Sony. They bought and paid for many exclusives and Nintendo was worse with the NES

As long as we all admit paying for exclusives didn’t start in the 2000s I’m Ok with every example shown.

So many people want to pretend it’s a new thing, but like almost anything new they want to do..... it’s all been done.

It’s like being woke but for old people who are too tired to be woke up about shit they already knew.

 

[Ban Puncher]

 

[nowhat]

No I’m talking about the original Tomb Raider on Dreamcast, and Sony had everything to do with it.

Sony was the pioneer of the moneyhatted exclusive, yet people like to pretend it happened in the 360 era with MS.

So after a quick google I found this: http://www.seganerds.com/2016/10/25/the-forgotten-history-of-sega-and-tomb-raider/

An interesting read, but a few quotes:

Tomb Raider was shown to SEGA, and SEGA liked what they saw. Securing a timed-exclusivity deal with Eidos (remember when those didn’t cause riots?), Tomb Raider was slated to launch on the Saturn a full month ahead of the PlayStation and PC versions (“Loving Lara” 26).

Unfortunately, due to weak marketing by SEGA, this timed deal didn’t lead to much of a boost for either company. It was only after Tomb Raider launched on the Sony PlayStation and PC that Lara’s fairy tale rise to fame began. Vastly surpassing Core’s projected sales, Tomb Raider became an instant hit, and the definitive standard for 3D gaming.

[...]

Tomb Raider was one of the first 3D games to define what a 3D game was. In a time where companies were struggling to update their 16-bit hits to 32-bit hardware, Tomb Raider demonstrated sound, workable mechanics for platforming, combat, and puzzle solving in a three-dimensional space. It catered to player freedom, allowing gamers to truly project their will through the vessel on screen. Despite a few bugs, Tomb Raider on the Saturn was and always will be a landmark next-generation title. It pushed the hardware to the limit and had functional, fun, gameplay to back it up. Had SEGA put a little more enthusiasm into marketing Tomb Raider for the Saturn, or even secured it as a full exclusive, one could speculate endlessly as to how the 32-bit console war may have veered in a different direction.

Tomb Raider ended up being a smash hit for the PlayStation. Along with the likes of Quake, Tomb Raider also encouraged a fair number of PC gamers to upgrade their graphics cards. But it was Sony’s immediate capitalization on 3D gaming’s newest star that solidified the Tomb Raider brand. Sony not only framed the PlayStation as the 3D gaming console, but they played a huge part in popularizing Lara Croft. Eidos and Sony agreed to a console exclusivity deal for the next several years.

Going by that, it seemed to be a mutual agreement between Eidos and Sony rather than the latter buying exclusivity outright - and a similar one was offered to SEGA first.

 

[Kagey K]

So after a quick google I found this: http://www.seganerds.com/2016/10/25/the-forgotten-history-of-sega-and-tomb-raider/

An interesting read, but a few quotes:

[...]

Going by that, it seemed to be a mutual agreement between Eidos and Sony rather than the latter buying exclusivity outright - and a similar one was offered to SEGA first.

K now try gTa, III, Vice city and SanAndreas. Or are we just going to continue this road of mutual agreements?

Rise of the Tomb Raider was a mutual agreement in the same line.....

 

[KonradLaw]

The only valuable thing you can take from this is that we at last know what's the number of registered Fortnite users on PC - about 85 mln. Which means close to 1/3 of the userbase.

 

[nowhat]

K now try gTa, III, Vice city and SanAndreas. Or are we just going to continue this road of mutual agreements?

Rise of the Tomb Raider was a mutual agreement in the same line.....

I'm not saying there haven't been other exclusivity agreements (timed or otherwise) since, or before. Whether that is a shitty business practice is debatable, but it's just business as usual, for many companies.

Just that your original assertion regarding "Tomb Raider on Dreamcast, and Sony had everything to do with it" doesn't entirely seem historically correct. And also that "Sony was the pioneer of the moneyhatted exclusive" is patently false.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

40 million PC players that don't have steam accounts.

They must buy a lot of games.

I have a steam account and have zero games thru them.

 

[Mecha Meow]

Ah, that old Blizzard tactic of using the cheaper Asia accounts to pad the WoW numbers.

 

[Freeman454]

The only valuable thing you can take from this is that we at last know what's the number of registered Fortnite users on PC - about 85 mln. Which means close to 1/3 of the userbase.

Most are on ps4?

 

[Quixz]

now say how many users only have fortnite.
and state how many users only log in when new free game is out..

Cause last time i tried to log in when the new free game was out.
I suddenly had a queue timer.

hilarious. fuck i can't wait for BR games to fucking die, moba is going hard/

Epic's long play is that their store will eventually become your preferred place to buy games.

 

[Orenji Neko]

I love watching the PC people struggle now with the timed deal bullshit consoles have had to deal with for years, since Sony started it with Tomb Raider.

Welcome to real competition. Enjoy your divided player base.

Not the same. Unlike console only people, we dont have to buy another piece of hardware for some exclusive game. Minor inconvenience of another account is nothing compared to buying yet another device. There is no struggle in clicking one icon to play a game over another.

 

[petran79]

Lets see if they'll use Denuvo and whether they'll allow Denuvo discussions

 

[Virex]

I don’t believe those numbers. I think this is how Epic got those numbers

Epic : “Sir, do you play video games on your
PC / Laptop?”

Person : “Em no. I use it strictly for work”

Epic : “So sir do you not have Steam on your
computer or anything?”

Person : “look I just told you I use it for work.”

Epic : “Thank you for your time sir”

Epic : To himself : “I’m just going to mark that
as a non Steam user. Therefore he must
be using the Epic store. Mmmmm...
yes. I’m just going to mark it as an Epic
store user”