CEO Tim Sweeney regards growth as a “fantastic investment” After failing to recover costs from the Epic Games Store, Epic Games could lose millions after fighting for Steam’s market share.
In 2020, the Fortnite behemoth invested approximately $444 million to make the storefront more appealing to PC gamers, primarily through the distribution of free and exclusive deal games.
The company dug deep to provide “minimum assurances” to developers launching exclusive Epic Games Store games. Under this arrangement, games must stay for a year exclusive to the PC storefront, even though they are launched on console platforms.
This means the developer will earn a guaranteed advance from Epic if their game sells enough to recover the amount. In 2019, the company spent over $10 million securing PC exclusivity for Remedy’s Control.
An IGN study shows players spent $700 million on the Epic Store in 2020, but only $265 million was spent exclusively on third-party games.
As Apple predicts, the Epic Store will see no profitability until 2027 if it continues to run this way. Apple also forecasts the store will lose about $600 million by year-end.
While Apple claims the figure is a loss, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney stated on Twitter that it is a “fantastic investment in business growth.”
While this doesn’t initially sound advantageous to the Epic Game Store alone, Epic produces enough revenue to cover the loss, while allowing developers to release their games and see a sizable return right away.
The store saw 56 million MAUs in December 2020, up from 32 million in 2019. Epic is also in Apple’s continuing antitrust duel-the trial is set for May 3, 2021.
Epic | Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @njtimesofficial. To get latest updates
