From The Verge: Epic is adding five new PC apps to its Epic Games Store launcher today, in a fresh bid to offer more than just games. Indie game store Itch.io is arriving on Epic Games Store today, alongside open-source browser Brave, streaming radio app iHeartRadio, 3D model tool KenShape, and open-source painting app Krita. These are Epic Games Store’s first new PC apps since Spotify launched in December.
Epic Games is promising to add more PC apps in the future, including communications app Discord. There’s even a new section in the Epic Games Store dedicated to PC apps, so it’s clear Epic has ambitions to run its own Windows store here. That’s not entirely surprising, as Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has long called for open app models and stores on Windows. Microsoft’s own Windows store has failed to become a popular location for the vast amount of Windows apps and games, and popular apps like Adobe Creative Suite, Chrome, Discord, and Zoom aren’t even in the Windows app store.
Epic will face similar challenges to Microsoft in convincing developers to list their apps in a store, but it’s taking a slightly different approach. Epic doesn’t take a cut from any purchases made inside any apps, so if you download Itch.io free from the Epic Games Store then nothing goes to Epic when you purchase an indie game.
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