Obviously the world would be a better place if the Epic Games Store could grow its market share and do better against its competitors. With the 12% revenue split, developers could better survive and retain key talent as well as afford to take bigger risks and make even better games.
The biggest hurdle to this bright future is that customers are shackled to their existing game libraries and don’t want to move somewhere that they’ll need to buy their games again. But what if they didn’t have to buy them again? Is there any scenario in which someone could verify their previous purchase on another storefront and then download the game again through Epic?
I know it sounds crazy but I really think that’s the only way to compete at this point, and why should developers insist on people needing to buy their games twice? I could imagine some developer with a big sequel coming out might opt into this kind of program for their previous game, so people could re-download a game they already own and that would drive traffic toward the new game where they get a better revenue split.
Of course there would be many issues with fraud and logistics but that why I’m asking if such a thing is even possible. Seems like it would be a win for both Epic and developers if they could move at least some of their customers over. I know a lot of people would switch in a heartbeat if they could bring their games with them.
What other ideas have people been kicking around? It seems like a pretty bad situation and the handful of Epic exclusives do nothing to address the core issue.