The Epic Games Store could be draining your laptop’s battery, according to a report by PCWorld.
Gaming on a laptop comes with its caveats, especially when it comes to battery life. While many gamers will play intensive games with a laptops power supply plugged in, sometimes it’s worth trading performance for portable playability. However, according to tests conducted by PCWorld, The Epic Games Store could be hindering your experience by draining your battery life even further [via PC Gamer].
The experiment was carried out on a Microsoft Surface Pro 7+, which features an 11th gen Tiger Lake processor. Whilst testing the device, PCW discovered that the Epic Games Store app was running in the background, hidden in the taskbar.
The app apparently has a drastic effect on battery life, regardless of whether you’re running a game or not. The same tests were carried out using Steam’s application, which apparently had a minuscule effect on the battery.
Here’s a list of what PCW tested when checking the Epic Games Store on the Surface Pro tablet:
- A battery life test on a “clean” PC after a factory reset
- A battery life test after loading and signing into the Epic Games Store, with the app hidden in the taskbar
- A battery life test after loading and signing into the Epic Games Store, with the window active
- A battery life test after loading the Epic Games Store, then signing out
- A battery life test after exiting the Epic Games Store app
On average, the Epic Games Store reduced the device’s battery life by around 20% on average. This is a pretty huge reduction, especially if you’re trying to maximise your laptop’s longevity.
The issue seems to affect new Tiger Lake-based systems primarily, so if you’ve got a laptop with the chipset, it’s probably best to keep an eye on the Epic Games Store app.
Epic Games has yet to respond at the time of writing.
Featured Image Credit: Epic Games