Epic Games Aims to Revamp Its PC Store by Adopting Steam’s Successful Strategies After Eight Years

Epichas invested heavily in creating a PC gaming store that can be described as merely “functional.” However, Epic is not backing down from the Epic Games Store. In fact, they have an ambitious roadmap filled with upcoming features that will feel quite familiar to anyone who has navigated Valve’s Steam store.

During the Unreal Fest event in Chicago on June 18, the team behind Fortnite unveiled their plans for the Epic Games Store, which has been around for seven years. They promised a significant redesign along with a list of essential features that, surprisingly, are still missing from EGS. According to a Reddit user, photos from a presentation detailing the next year for the Epic Games Store highlighted some of these features as “Up First.”

Looking ahead, Epic is set to introduce written user reviews, player profiles (yes, still not available), enhanced discovery options, publisher coupons, improved search functionality, and a public release of a revamped “Version 2” of the Epic Games launcher and store. Additionally, they are working on third-party communities (possibly forums), new API tools, universal controller support, and enhanced notifications and social discovery.

While all of this sounds promising, it also appears to be heavily inspired by Steam. If I were managing a digital PC gaming store that wasn’t Steam, I would likely take cues from Valve’s successful features as well. However, it’s puzzling that it has taken Epic nearly a decade to roll out features that Valve has offered for years. I’m also curious about how Epic plans to incorporate AI into the store and its coding.

In 2021, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney mentioned that the store had incurred losses exceeding $300 million, but he framed it as part of a “fantastic plan” to develop the store and expand its business. Five years later, it seems Epic still has a considerable journey ahead to truly compete with Valve’s well-established Steam.