How to Publish Your Game on the Epic Games Store (And Why You Should)
Epic has recently started allowing indie devs to self-publish on their store. Here's how to publish your game on the Epic Games Store.
If you're a game developer, you have many options when it comes to publishing your games. In the past, we've talked about itch.io, Poki, CrazyGames, and even Steam. Today, we'll talk about a new giant: the Epic Games Store. Here's how to publish your game on the Epic Games Store, and why you should do it (using GDevelop).
About the Epic Games Store (Why You Should Publish on There)
Steam used to be the biggest name in town when it came to selling digital games on PC. But Epic (the creators of the Unreal Engine, as well as the uber-popular game Fortnite) decided to start their own game store, and went all in.
It was a bit shaky at first, but the EGS (short for "Epic Games Store") started giving away free games on Thursdays. Big games, too. And of course, it's the only way to get Fortnite on PC.
So, slowly but surely, the EGS is growing and getting an ever-bigger share of users. And recently, they announced they were going to allow indie game developers to self-publish on their platform.
How to Publish your Game on the Epic Games Store - Part 1: the EGS
For a long while, you could not self-publish on the Epic Games Store. But in March of 2023, Epic announced that it was opening the doors for developers to publish their games on the EGS.
You can also publish your game on Steam, itch.io, Newgrounds, Poki, gd.games and Crazygames. You can see how to publish in all of these storefronts by checking out our dedicated page on publishing.
Cost
The cost to publish a game on the EGS is actually identical to Steam: US$100 per game. But do keep in mind, you need to comply with the requirements in order to be able to publish the game.
Commission
There is also a 12% commission on every sale made on EGS, which means you'll make 88% of every sale. For example, if your game is sold for $10, you'll make $8.80 and EGS will make $1.20.
This is a lot lower than Steam's 30% commission fee, so it'll be interesting to see if Steam responds to the different in commissions.
Remember, though, than having a game submitted to the EGS, doesn't guarantee approval. You still have to meet the guideliness and pass a stringent review.
Overall, though, the process is very simple now when it comes to having an EGS developer account and selling your game on there. But what about making the right package to upload?
How to Publish Your Game on the Epic Games Store - Part 2: Your Engine
How to package your game for EGS will depend a lot on which engine you use. Every engine has a different way of accomplishing this. Different engines can also provide builds for different operating systems.
In the case of GDevelop, packaging your game forEGS is actually very easy. In fact, even with a free GDevelop account, you can perform a cloud build with a single click!
We have a handy guide for this process on the GDevelop Wiki. You can even create multiple builds at the same time.
And that's it! You don't need to code differently for different platforms, and you don't need to pay GDevelop to publish on extra platforms, either.
So if you want to make a game only once, without writing a single line of code (though you can add JavaScript if you want), make your game with GDevelop and publish it on the Epic Games Store with just one click!