Why does Xbox not publish on Epic Games Store and GoG?

JonathanHanlon1 · Jan 26, 2025

Hi,

I was browsing through the sales on Epic Games Store and noticed that there is no Xbox Game Studios published games on the store, similarly I tried checking GoG and there are a small number of games published by Xbox Game Studios there. The only ones on GoG being As Dusk Falls and Psychonauts 2 (which was only done because Double Fine was purchased mid development).

The Xbox brand has prided themselves on wanting their games to be in front of as many eyes as possible as their justification on publishing games on all consoles and PC through the Microsoft Store and the Xbox App, but Steam is an exception and is also published on, while Epic Games Store and GoG are ignored? I feel that's counterintuitive to the stance Xbox are looking to take and I was wondering why this is the case? Because currently it makes it hard to believe that the Xbox brand actually wants to "put their games everywhere" when they are fine to put them on only 1 other storefront on PC.

Thank you!

:)

JonathanHanlon1

That's fair, but it's mildly disappointing that apparently Xbox doesn't have some kind of general feedback form that people can give suggestions into which can then make its way up to higher ups that can make these decisions, even just to make voices heard

SwordofWhedon

no one in a public facing position with that kind of knowledge/power talks to consumers. If you want to go to an event like comicon or pax that would be the only forum i'm aware of, and i wouldn't expect an answer to the level of specifics you want

JonathanHanlon1

Just because one is the most popular shouldn't mean that others are ignored surely? Microsoft has a number of games that would be fine DRM-free that would sit well in GoG, many previously published Bethesda titles for example, Fallout 4 recently launched on both Epic and GoG (conveniently enough a game released pre-Microsoft purchase) but then something like Starfield or the recently announced Indiana Jones game don't appear to be launching on either of them when they are both Single Player only experiences.

It feels disingenuous to me for the Xbox leadership to say they want to support as many platforms as possible and then limit their purchasing on PC to their own store and Steam, they even committed to putting their games on rival cloud providers, but again this was forced on them because they really wanted the Activision-Blizzard merger to be approved.

Also you mention that Epic has higher prices, do you have any examples of this? I haven't encountered a game that costs more on Epic than on Steam (barring when a sale is on going)

SwordofWhedon

no one here can speak on policy for Microsoft,

JonathanHanlon1

Is there somewhere that I can provide this feedback if it's not suitable for this forum? I have tried looking on the Xbox website and I'm struggling to find a place that I could leave this feedback.

Why does Xbox not publish on Epic Games Store and GoG?