China is perhaps one of the biggest video game markets on the planet, so you would expect Epic Games to make some sort of announcement if it were to launch its digital storefront in the country. Not true, apparently.
According to the news site Techweb (which is in Chinese, so I recommend reading the article via Google Translate), the Epic Games Store “quietly unlocked” in China early in the morning of May 14th, Beijing time. This lack of any fanfare is uncharacteristic for Epic Games, which has announced its support for other regions and languages in the past.
Unlike the Epic Games Stores in other countries, the Chinese store doesn’t take credit cards. Instead, the store accepts Alipay and WeChat. Moreover, the Chinese region is described as a “low-cost zone,” so Chinese gamers can purchase games for pennies on the dollar, or technically yuan on the dollar.
For instance, the Chinese Epic Games Store offers the standard edition of Borderlands 3 for $29.99 instead of the usual $59.99, while Metro: Exodus is $34.99 instead of $49.99. And, for some reason, the prices are listed in dollars instead of yuan.
All the features Epic has added to other versions of their store are intact for the Chinese release. The Chinese version comes with game preloading, free game reminders, and offline mode. And since Epic plans to update its store with features such as cloud saves and wish lists, the Chinese version is bound to receive those features eventually.
For more Epic Games Store news, stick with Twinfinite.
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