The Epic Games Store has managed to stand out among its competition in the past few years and was able to pose itself as a major alternative to Valve's Steam. By having many timed exclusive titles that weren't available on other platforms, people started to see it as a viable option for games. However, when compared to services like Steam or GOG, the Epic Games Store lacked many features that gamers were used to, such as achievements. Since then, the Epic Games Store has slowly made strides into implementing achievements in its games. They started back in 2020 by putting achievements into some more notable titles, like Ark: Survival Evolved. Since then, more of the games available on their service retroactively put achievements in.
Achievements were given a big update earlier in 2022 in an attempt to improve functionally and prepare the app for upcoming features. The "My Achievements" section of the Epic Games Store has been updated to better show off a user's in-game progress, as well as make it easier to display by implementing measurable data. There were other UI improvements as well, but the update seemed to generally be geared to making achievements easier to access and have more detailed information. Despite these design changes, many games still have no achievements, even with new releases.
Not Enough Games on the Epic Games Store Have Achievements
While some games available on the Epic Games Store have achievements, the vast majority of games on the platform don't. The Epic Games Store has hundreds of games on the platform, yet a little under 100 games have achievements at the time of writing. Many of these games are also available on other platforms such as Steam or the Microsoft Store and have achievements available there. However, many games such as Disco Elysium and Bugsnax have added achievements in despite being years old. There is still a possibility for Epic partners to go back and put achievements in their games.
The reality of the situation is that Epic Games can not make developers put achievements into their games despite the incentives to do so. People outside of developers working with Epic Games do not have much knowledge of how difficult it is to implement achievements into their games, so it could be seen that is more trouble than it is worth. However, putting achievements into games could tap into an audience that really values these additions.
The Epic Games Store Is Missing Out On a Core Audience
For many gamers, achievements are a big draw when choosing what platform they would want to purchase a game on. They would much rather purchase something where they can get a platinum trophy on PlayStation or contribute to GamerScore on Xbox. Achievements have even directly affected game developers, such as the developer of Skully, according to Finish Line Games' Lead Designer Jason Canam, who cited achievement-based systems as a favorite innovation of the seventh console generation.
Many people who prefer to use platforms with achievements feel like their time and money are better spent elsewhere than the Epic Games Store. For example, PlayStation is still making improvements to its trophy system by making them seem more worthwhile. These platform differences help people decide to buy a game on Steam or GOG rather than the Epic Games Store. Epic wants its platform to be a major alternative to Steam, so it needs more incentive for developers to implement achievements to not lose out on this audience.
The Epic Games Store still has a lot to do in order to catch up with other platforms. Features are being implemented and it is likely that achievements will come to many of the games available on the platform over time, but that change has to come sooner rather than later. Epic should do what it can to further test the waters with achievements and provide incentives for implementing them. The Epic Games Store has to work with its partners and encourage a big push to add achievements to existing games as well as upcoming titles.