Epic Games promises free games as it uses Fortnite cash to launch new PC game store
EPIC GAMES is using some of the millions it has made from Fortnite's shock success to launch a new online store for PC games.
It is going to launch soon with a small selection of hand-picked games from a variety of developers, with many more set to be added during 2019.
As a sweetener, the store will be releasing 26 games for free in 2019 at a rate of one every two weeks.
These releases will be funded by Epic itself "so players can experience the wide range of creative works that will be available," .
It could see the price of PC games plummet as Epic has said it is only going to be taking a 12 per cent commission on sales, compared to the 30 per cent taken by Valve from Steam purchases.
It has said it's also going to waive the licensing fee for games developed using it's own Unreal Engine, meaning developers will see the total fees paid drop by almost two thirds in some cases.
If developers pass on half these savings to gamers and keep half themselves, then you could expect to see prices drop by about 10 per cent.
The platform will also be free of ads. "Epic will manually curate the Epic Games storefront rather than relying on algorithms or paid ads," according to Sweeney, talking to .
In another major shift, the store will launch without any user review facility at all.
When the feature eventually launches, it will be up to developers whether they enable user reviews for their products or not.
User reviews have become controversial of late because of the tendency for Internet users to 'review bomb' games over unrelated actions by the developer, or features some elements of the community have deemed controversial.
Less controversially, the store will also support mods, free-to-play games and non-commercial products.
Players will also be able to get automatic refunds within 14 days of purchasing a game if they don't like it.
Initially this will be managed by their customer service team, but an automated system is planned for the very near future.
The games will also not generally be curated "based on developers' creative or artistic expression" but on "the technical side of things and general quality", Sweeney said.
This doesn't stretch to smut, though, with "adult-only content" being the one exception.
All that means you could see PUBG on the Epic Store next to Fortnite, despite the bad blood between the two games.
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