- Blood West saw a 200% sales surge on Steam after EGS offered it for free, according to Dave Oshry
- The CEO of indie developer New Blood Interactive said that the store is a great advertisement for Steam sales.
- Hence, even when Epic is offering titles for free, players prefer to buy the game on Steam.
Arguably, the biggest threat to Steam’s dominance in the PC gaming market has been the Epic Games Store. However, despite giving out free games worth thousands of Dollars, the platform has failed to capture Steam’s audience, with the Epic CEO even admitting that the launcher is clunky.
While Steam has been hitting revenue milestones year after year, Epic Games Store has failed to see a substantial increase in revenue. As it turns out, even the free games offered by the storefront find a bigger audience on Steam, according to the developer of the indie title Blood West.
Why It Matters: Players preferring to pay for games on Steam that are available for free on EGS showcases that no storefront can take away Steam’s audience by just giving freebies instead of making an accessible launcher.
Dave Oshry, the CEO of Blood West developer New Blood Interactive, revealed that the game sold 200% more on Steam after it went free on the Epic Games Store. Oshry stated that the studio did not get any compensation for the free giveaway either, as all the money went to publisher Hyperstrange.
However, the Epic Games Store freebie turned out to be a great advertisement for players on Steam, as Blood West saw a massive sales spike during the holiday season.
According to Oshry, the storefront seemed like a marketing black hole beforehand, but this made him realize that it has a knockoff effect on Steam sales.
It’s no secret that players prefer Valve’s platform over the Epic Games Store thanks to the accessibility and customer-service Steam gives to players. But this is certainly a new low for EGS as users decided to spend money to play Blood West instead of getting it for free on the launcher.
Do you think any future launcher will be able to take away the PC market share of Steam, or is it a lost cause? Tell us in the comments below or head to the Tech4Gamers forum for discussion.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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