Epic Games Store Refund Policy, Local Currency Support And How It Compares to Steam
Epic Games pulled a huge power move for the PC gaming community when they announced last month [...]
Epic Games pulled a huge power move for the PC gaming community when they announced last month that they are going up against Steam for the online library niche in video games. With Fortnite's record-breaking success that continues to pump out strong numbers, the studio wants to take that and make it even bigger with their own launcher for both their games and third-party titles. Pair that with their incredible developer split and free games offered, it's already proven it's a huge contender. But how is it's refund policy? And local currency support?
Former SteamSpy Sergey Galyonkin has also switched over to Team Epic Games and has let the PC community know exactly what their refund policy is and how it stacks up. Most importantly, it supports up to 30 different regions, 130 countries total, for regional prices. Though he mentioned they don't have local pricing for everything though the team is working hard to ensure that number grows even more.
Epic Games store now supports 30 different regions (130 countries in total) for regional prices. We don't have local pricing for all the countries yet, but that's a start.
We use US Dollars for now for most of them because adding regional currencies will take time.
— Sergey Galyonkin (@galyonkin) January 11, 2019
Galyonkin also added that Epic Games changed their refund policy to match more that of Steam, though again - they are working on making it even better and more self-service oriented:
We also changed our refund policy. Unlimited refunds within 14 days of purchase and under 2 hours played. The team is working on the self-service solution, but for now, you'll have to go through player support.
— Sergey Galyonkin (@galyonkin) January 11, 2019
It will be done automatically by your payment provider.
— Sergey Galyonkin (@galyonkin) January 11, 2019
The Unreal Engine website updated their blog with the big announcement with a move that could shake up the PC community immensely. "For the past five years, we've been building tools enabling Epic to bring our games directly to players," read the latest reveal. "We built the Epic Games launcher on PC and Mac featuring Fortnite and Unreal Engine; we built a worldwide digital commerce ecosystem supporting dozens of payment methods; and we gained great economies of scale thanks to Fortnite's growth."
They mentioned that they had two visions for this undertaking: a store that offered "fair" economics as well as a direct relationship with their player base. Since Epic Games is already known for being incredibly hands-on with their gaming community, it's not a shock to see that be a priority for the studio.
The latest announcement also shared some important notes about how this will work, including what it means for developers. According to Epic Games, "Developers receive 88% of revenue. There are no tiers or thresholds. Epic takes 12%. And if you're using Unreal Engine, Epic will cover the 5% engine royalty for sales on the Epic Games store, out of Epic's 12%."
Thoughts on the state of the Epic Games Store so far? What would you like to see them bring to the table? Join in on the conversation in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy!