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Funniest thing to me is so many will claim these games and then not use the store at all for its intended purposes. How many people have actually been won over to SPEND money in the Epic Store with free games?
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Epic Games Store - the console war comes to PC
- Thread starter LESS T_T
- Start date
Funniest thing to me is so many will claim these games and then not use the store at all for its intended purposes. How many people have actually been won over to SPEND money in the Epic Store with free games?
On the one hand, you have a point. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine that Epic would continue to sink money into the free games if they didn't get something out of it. Suits in management don't like losing money.
MadMaxHellfire
Arcane
perhaps selling data is more profitable than the store on the front.
Lacrymas
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If it's free, you should always remind yourself of the old adage "if you don't pay for it, you are the product being sold".
But hey, I got Cities: Skylines for free.
All of these free games seem to come without DLC, so you are incentivized to buy DLC on this store if you decide that. That's also a bonus they get.
Also, that list is more than likely fake, since the first game was Cities: Skylines and not Dying Light.
Here's the thing with the Epic Store if we only look at it as a service in competition with GOG and Steam - the premise of the Epic Store doesn't do anything for the consumer. Only developers/publishers benefit from that, since the whole idea is for them to get more money and not be shafted with the 30% cut Steam gets. I'd think competing with Steam would be quite easy since they don't offer anything for the consumer, but I guess not. GOG offers no DRM, which comes with quite a few advantages. Epic is basically Steam without the time and emotional investment of the people using the service, so what's the point? Free games can only get you so far before you actually have to make a profit. Offer games cheaper than on GOG and Steam (i.e. those 18% or whatever is left over from Steam's cut once you get your 12% cut), then we might talk.
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I don't think any of us really know the percentage of PC gamers who don't really give a shit which store/client they get their games from, since stores and publishers don't really release any detailed sales info. Even for those who don't really care though, you have to give them a reason to buy other stuff on Epic after they get their freebies and exclusives. Otherwise they'll return to their default or buy where a game is cheaper. It's amazing to me Epic is trying to be the big Steam competitor, spending millions to get people to try out their client, but then giving people zero reason to prefer that client.
Multi-headed Cow
Arcane
Buying more than one game at a time indicates you have too much free time and lowers your social credit score. Tim knows this and protects the gamers by not including a shopping cart, because Tim and Epic Games are on the side of the consumer!2020 has come and went and still no fucking shopping cart
Shopping carts have been proven to reduce the conversion rate (% of intent to buy which converts into an actual purchase) because those extra steps between "adding to cart" and paying give the brain a lot of time to think things over. There's a reason why Amazon pushed the one-click shopping. The less steps involved, the more you sell, impulse purchase is not a myth.
Gaming forums, where we argue that full-priced video games being given away for free are bad for you.
V_K
Arcane
Yeah, it's almost like a kids forum where they argue that strangers giving away free candy are bad for you.
Lacrymas
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GOG exists, so Steam definitely doesn't have full monopoly. As for free games, hey, they are free, I can share the account with friends. Epic just doesn't offer anything else to make it worthwhile to spend actual money there. The free games are really quite amazing depending on context. Gaming is already probably the cheapest hobby there is, and this makes it so that gamers on an extremely tight budget can have access to non-shareware games without pirating. I'm not entirely sure what will happen to them when Epic inevitably bankrupts, though.
Well they did bring some console exclusives to PC and they financed a couple of game studios. Diabotical got released with Epic's help and they provided annual esports prize money as well. The price was their exclusivity but who knows if the game would even come out without it.
Lacrymas
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That's great, but where's the part where Epic actually makes money rather than giving it away?
Fortnite.
They have to lose tons of money just to bring in customers and break the monopoly. Then they can start profiting from the store. Don't expect free games to go on forever. It's a common tactic, gog was doing it in the beginning too, just not at the same scale.
Is it possible it's reverse for some people? Because I realized I impulse bought a lot of multiple things at once. The last time I bought something seperate was Death Stranding in August and Beautiful Desolation in Feb. For Steam I can put stuffs into the cart, turn it off and do something else, then next day coming back and those stuffs are still in the cart. For Epic, I can click purchase something to check out the price after coupon discount, then turn it off, then I completely forget about what I was going to buy.
Meanwhile I'm here debating whether I should buy The Pathless for 6 dollars. Honestly I found a platform having a built-in wallet system makes it easier to impulse buy rather than... the lack of shopping cart.
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Is it possible it's reverse for some people? Because I realized I impulse bought a lot of multiple things at once. The last time I bought something seperate was Death Stranding in August and Beautiful Desolation in Feb. For Steam I can put stuffs into the cart, turn it off and do something else, then next day coming back and those stuffs are still in the cart. For Epic, I can click purchase something to check out the price after coupon discount, then turn it off, then I completely forget about what I was going to buy.
Meanwhile I'm here debating whether I should buy The Pathless for 6 dollars. Honestly I found a platform having a built-in wallet system makes it easier to impulse buy rather than... the lack of shopping cart.
Obviously it won't apply to everyone, but it's a clear behaviour observed from web analytics (where people click on the site, how long they spend on each screen, etc.). In your case, one could argue that it's not so much the shopping cart as the reminder. Note how for example Amazon prominently shows the stuff you looked at the last time: even if it's not in your cart, it's pushed in front of you to remind you that you were thinking about it. Ultimately, it's not a perfect science, but the dominant trend is clear: every step in the purchase process reduces your conversion rate, so reducing the number of steps is worth it, even if it costs you some other sales.
That's why in the case of Epic, I'm convinced that's the only reason for the lack of cart/multibuy feature. They could have that implemented overnight if they wanted to, it's not exactly rocket science.
Lacrymas
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Vietnamese dong?
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