Epic vs Steam

Emailed on May 3rd, 2019 in The Friday Forward

Fortnite creator Epic Games announced this week that it’s acquired the independent game development studio Psyonix, makers of the massively popular vehicular soccer game Rocket League.

As a result of the deal, Psyonix says it will have access to more resources to support Rocket League’s competitive e-sports league and, by late 2019, will bring the game to Epic’s PC storefront.

That last part is where the drama starts...

It sounds like Rocket League will no longer be available on Valve’s competing Steam store, though buyers of the Steam version can continue to play their existing copy of the game indefinitely and continue to receive support.

Epic Games launched their competing games store last year, and the apparent move to remove Rocket League from Steam and over to EGS really has the game world in a tizzy. 

Why is that? This is the beginning of a more fragmented consumer market for online games. Since game consoles are essentially becoming PCs, these game marketplaces will be where the money is made in the near future. 

Steam now has its first real contender in Epic.

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