Epic Games Store now offers Itch.io's indie marketplace
Discord and Houseparty are coming, too.
Epic Games is determined to show that it's more open than Apple or Valve, and that now includes some of the less gaming-oriented apps you'll find in its online portal. The company has added a slew of PC apps to the Epic Games Store that include the indie-centric game shop Itch.io — unlike the App Store or Steam, you can download someone else's marketplace.
You'll also find Brave's privacy-focused browser, iHeartRadio's media player (in North America), the 3D model generator KenShape and the painting app Krita.
Bigger titles like Discord and Epic's "face-to-face" social network Houseparty are coming in the future.
Itch.io's appearance will be helpful for finding the indie titles Epic wouldn't normally carry, but it also serves as a call-out to policies precluding access to other app stores on rival platforms. Epic is effectively issuing a challenge to Apple and Valve to loosen their own approaches. We'd add that this is a counter to Steam's growing library of non-game apps. Whether or not Valve offers rival stores, it may feel pressure to expand its software catalog.
