[lbotos]

Launchers are 1 step away from a "store".

I was playing fortnite, and via that launcher they can easily upsell/cross-sell me to their other titles.

I might consider it a "distribution channel" which could serve as a store for sure.

[notSupplied]

The main between a launcher and a store is how many people have transacted on your platform once and have a credit card saved on file. Epic has secured "1st time payment" from a huge swath of players. This is such a huge and rare opportunity, I'd be surprised if they're not making moves towards becoming a Steam competitor, especially given Tim Sweeny's historically bitter conflict with gatekeepers such as the Windows Store.