They are trying to break into a pretty entrenched marketplace. Steam has a huge head start, EA owns the rights to some of the best selling franchises in the business, and Xbox marketplace has the backing of Microsoft.
Their options to become a major player are limited. Aggressively spending money on customer acquisition was probably the best move they had. Pulling their new games from competing stores risks impacting their game sales. Relying on organic growth would probably see Epic Game Store stuck as another tertiary, niche marketplace, like Gog.
It may not have worked out like they hoped, but it wasn't a bad play.
Their options to become a major player are limited. Aggressively spending money on customer acquisition was probably the best move they had. Pulling their new games from competing stores risks impacting their game sales. Relying on organic growth would probably see Epic Game Store stuck as another tertiary, niche marketplace, like Gog.
It may not have worked out like they hoped, but it wasn't a bad play.