Data miners found info that suggested Epic Games was likely to launch a subscription service and shared it on Reddit. However, Epic quickly clarified what this leak is apparently really about.
Most gamers know Epic Games for two reasons: Fortnite and free games. After an enticing Reddit post based on datamining, people online, including us, thought that a third element could be added to the beloved duo: a subscription model.
Is The Epic Games Store Getting A Subscription Model?
On the Epic Games subreddit, a user posted an excerpt from the Epic Games Store code and provided an interesting interpretation along with it. According to the post, Epic Games could offer a subscription soon, similar to Game Pass.
Subscriptions appear to be coming soon by u/PCMachinima in EpicGamesPC
In the comments under the Reddit post, people got excited about this potential new addition to the Epic Games Store.
However, the datamined code is not related to a potential subscription service. Instead, the code is related to support for third-party subscription services, for example EA Play.
These features are related to ongoing work to support Subscription Services from third-party developer programs on the Epic Games Store as announced in our roadmap last year, and are not related to an Epic Games-created subscription.
In this roadmap, under the header "What’s planned for Epic Games Store users in 2023?", it says "Support for Subscription Services from third party publishers and live service products", which is what the datamined code seems to refer to.
So if you were excited about an Epic Games Store subscription, we're sorry to disappoint you. Instead, it looks like existing services will be added to the store. Which ones these are is unclear so far.