Epic Games Store finally allowing devs to self-publish games

Epic Games has kicked off its closed self-publishing beta, which allows publishers and developers to submit their own games to the store and control what content appears on the storefront.

Think of it like Steam Direct, basically.

By allowing studios and publishers to add their own products to the store, Epic is hoping the store library will “grow faster than ever before” – a boon for both consumers and developers alike. The beta is invite-only at the time of writing, but anyone interested in accessing the new tools can apply to Epic to be considered for the beta.

“Sign up is now open to participate in a closed beta for a new suite of Epic Games Store self-publishing tools,” said Epic. “These new tools streamline the process for developers to set up their own product pages, achievements, pricing, offers, and upload builds and updates on the Epic Games Store.

“If you’re a developer and you’ve wanted to get your game on the Epic Games Store and in front of its 58 million monthly active users, submit your content for closed beta consideration.”

With Steam Direct, there were criticisms that Valve lost out on quality control when publishers started adding their own titles to the storefront, with many users bemoaning the lack of curation that followed its introduction.

Epic has noted that anything “hateful or discriminatory,” – or that includes pornography, illegal material, or malware – will not be allowed on the store (but you know how things like that always seem to slip past the filters).

Epic’s self-publishing system is being introduced in closed beta as a means of “[stress testing] the toolset and improving it” with developers feedback while increasing the number of games and apps on the Epic Games Store.”