Case Study: Epic Games Store's Recommendation Carousel — Increasing Discovery

Gaming · 6 min read

Epic redesigned the storefront carousel to surface a mix of curated editor picks, personalized recommendations, and time-limited offers. The carousel uses mixed-bandwidth assets: low-res placeholders first, then progressive sharpening, which keeps the page responsive while maintaining visual appeal.

Ranking signals combine playtime trends, social graph overlap, and price sensitivity. Epic tested multiple weighting schemes and found that introducing a diversity factor — deliberately surfacing titles outside the immediate predicted cluster — increased overall engagement and purchase breadth. Visual badges for controller support and session length helped users quickly assess fit for their play style.

A/B tests also revealed that micro-copy explaining why a game was recommended (“because you played X”) increased click-through rates and reduced return-to-store churn. The final design balances personalization with editorial curation, increasing long-tail visibility without undermining flagship promotions.