Epic Games Store Leak Suggests Subscriptions Are In The Works

(CTN News) – The Epic Games Store may be preparing to announce a subscription service on its platform, according to a recent leak.

As Xbox Game Pass has grown in popularity in recent years, subscription services have become increasingly popular. Subscriptions are becoming a viable future strategy for gaming companies, and Epic Games Store appears to be joining them.

The subscription-as-a-service model has been around for years, but it wasn’t explored extensively in gaming until EA Play and PlayStation Now (PS Now) launched in 2014. Microsoft launched the Xbox Game Pass service a few years later, which the company has aggressively marketed ever since.

Subscription services seem to be gaining traction in the industry now that more companies are looking to revamp their offerings.

Data leaked from Epic Games Store suggests that it might introduce a subscription service. It appears that the dataset includes annual and monthly periods, along with additional discounts for subscriptions. In addition, it implies that EA Play could be one of the subscriptions offered, similar to Steam or a Game Pass-like bundle. The service will also offer timed trials. Despite launching a subscription service on Fortnite,

Epic Games Store has not announced or commented on a similar service.

A potential Epic Games Store subscription comes barely a week after Ubisoft announced changes to its subscription service. In recent months, Ubisoft has revamped its Ubisoft+ service, offering two tiers; Ubisoft+ Premium at $17.99 and Ubisoft+ Classics at $7.99. As a Premium member, you’ll have access to Ubisoft’s back catalog of games as well as new releases when they come out.

The second tier will feature older titles such as Fallout 4, Rainbow Six Siege, and Far Cry 6. Whatever the case may be, Epic Games may follow the Xbox Game Pass route or follow a similar pricing strategy.

Epic Games Store, however, hasn’t had it all easy as of late. A total of 870 Epic Games employees were laid off in September, or about 16 percent of its workforce. Epic Games cut staff after divesting Bandcamp and spinning off most of Super Awesome, two companies it acquired in 2020 and 2022.

The company claimed the cost-cutting efforts were made without compromising development or core aspects of the business in order to focus on Epic Games’ “ambitious plans”. In the coming months, it will be interesting to see how a potential subscription service could fit into these plans.

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