Epic Games, Inc.

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Epic Games, Inc.

Basic information
Founded	1991
Type	Private
Industry	Video Games
Official website	https://epicgames.com/

Epic Games is a software development and media-publishing company founded in 1991 by Tim Sweeney.

Consumer impact summary

Overview of concerns that arise from the company's conduct regarding (if applicable):

• User Freedom
• User Privacy
• Business Model
• Market Control

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Bad Practices

Forced Arbitration

Since before March 18, 2022 Epic Games updated their policy for using their Epic Games Store to include include forced arbitration in their Terms of Service in order to continue using their platform. In case you do not agree to it you are effectively locked from all your previously purchased games and software.

Between August 20, 2020 & September 17, 2020, Epic Games updated their policy for Psyonix's Rocket League over a year after it's acquisition to include forced arbitration in their Terms of Service in order to continue using their game, which for many had paid for before the Free-to-play change. If you do not agree to it you are effectively locked from all your previously purchased games and software. If you do continue use (offline) without explicitly agreeing, by previous agreement to changes to EULA, you agree to the new terms. Upon agreement, you have 30-days to Email or Write them your wish to opt-out. [I'm not sure if that counts from your original agreement or per-EULA change.]

Incidents

Unreal and Unreal Tournament

In 2022, owners of various entries within the Unreal and Unreal Tournament series had their licenses effectively expired, and were thus unable to launch or install these games. (Editor's note: add a screenshot of UT being grayed out in the launcher!)

A few years later, some entries in the series would make its way to the Internet Archive for users to freely install, but not all delisted games have been re-published onto the platform.

Removal of Linux and MacOS versions of Rocket League

In 2020, Epic and its subsidiary Psyonix announced that whilst Rocket League gamers had purchased the game with full support for Linux and MacOS, this support was being withdrawn and the game would be offline only for these Operating Systems, and gamers were directed to play the game on Windows instead. Many speculated that the change was in relation to Psyonix's acquisition by Epic Games several months earlier. At the time of acquisition Epic stated that gamers "will still be able to play Rocket League on Steam with all of the content they've previously purchased."

Account requirement for Rocket League

Main article: Epic Games forced third party account creation in Rocket League

With the v2.48 patch on January 29th 2025, Steam users wanting to play Rocket League were suddenly met with an error upon startup of the game, with the user being required to create an account with Epic Games before being able to access the game they bought and paid for. This change was not mentioned in the patch notes, and was done well after the game was moved from Steam to EGS in 2020.