Epic Games have announced their new Epic First Run program, to entice more developers to release on their store exclusively and give developers a boost. With this we can expect to see many more developers opt to go Epic exclusive.
The Epic First Run program will give developers 100% of the revenue, so Epic Games will not take a cut from sales on the Epic Games Store for the first 6 exclusive months. It's opt-in for developers and does not prevent them from selling it directly and selling it using keys via the likes of Green Man Gaming, Humble Store and other stores that sell keys. Naturally, this rules out Steam and GOG, which is largely the point of it to get more people to shop on the Epic Store and not Steam.
After the 6 month exclusive period is up, developers can then release elsewhere and the revenue split goes back to 88% for developers and 12% to Epic Games.
Epic also mention that they now have over 68 million monthly active users with over 230 million players. To help get word out, developers who opt into the Epic First Run program will get "new exclusive badging, homepage placements, and dedicated collections" along with features in "elevant store campaigns including sales, events, and editorial as applicable".
See Epic's announcement here.
What do you think to this news?
On Linux and Steam Deck, you can use the likes of the Heroic Games Launcher to really simplify getting games from Epic since they still do not officially support either with the Epic Store.
In related news Denuvo are rolling out some special protection for Unreal Engine games.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Holzkohlen Aug 23, 2023
ElectricPrism Aug 23, 2023
Especially a BAD DEAL for THEM.
Oh you'll paint my house for $500? -- yeah sorry, no.
If I was a publisher, my respect for EG would have just dropped -- nobody can stay in business working for free.
And who wants to deal with resentful angry "I did it for free" vibes -- the money is exchanged as a assurance that the person will shut the fuck up and do their job providing you with value.
Quoting: ElectricPrismIf I was a publisher, my respect for EG would have just dropped -- nobody can stay in business working for free.Fortnite and Tencent can provide a lot of money. And EG saves a lot of money by relying on Steam for features – like Epic exclusive games with a Forum on Steam.
And it's not really completely free. It's a loss leader.
Quoting: SakuretsuGreat for the devs for obvious reasons (MONEY!) but awful for the costumers because of all that disgusting exclusivity.Quite ambiguous for the devs. At best. Exclusivity in itself is a cost to developers. A really significant one when it means you're only releasing on a little also-ran store and not on Steam where the people who will actually buy your game are. Sure, you get to release on Steam in 6 months, but first, you may have lost a certain momentum by then, you'll have to try to rebuild your "releasing the game" buzz from scratch and you may fail--and worse, some people will be aware of your exclusive and be annoyed about it. And second, even if you can get all the sales on Steam that you would have gotten, there's still cashflow; is a typical indie developer fine with delaying their main paycheck an extra 6 months?
In return you get no up-front payment for exclusivity, just a small extra percentage on your rather limited Epic store sales. If I were releasing a game, it would not in my opinion be worth it.
ElectricPrism Aug 23, 2023
Quoting: Purple Library GuyExclusivity in itself is a cost to developers. A really significant one when it means you're only releasing on a little also-ran store and not on Steam where the people who will actually buy your game are.
Bingo. The adage come to mind -- cutting off your nose to spite your face.
It's like a 6 year old -- you offer them 2 choices -- they can get 6 money (dimes and quarters) or only 1/2 of a $20 bill.
Children will think the 6 money is more, when it's not even comparable.
Quoting: Purple Library GuySure, you get to release on Steam in 6 months, but first, you may have lost a certain momentum by then, you'll have to try to rebuild your "releasing the game" buzz from scratch and you may fail--and worse, some people will be aware of your exclusive and be annoyed about it
To go along with that thought, there are games on EG that people don't even know exist -- like Kingdom Hearts 3.
And to go along with consumer pshycology, once something is no longer a fad, and someone has waited 6 months or 1 year -- what's the difference between waiting even longer for a sale?
Final Fantasy VII signed a exclusivity deal and I think I bought a copy in the bargain bin a extra 6-months or 12-months out.
The 2nd chapter -- still haven't bought. I'll probably wait for it go to on sale again 50-75% off in a year or two.
Same goes for things with Denuvo, DRM, or EAC -- Yeah, no, I don't need to feed the beasts -- why would I pay for something that is not guaranteed to work and comes with no warranty?
There's a lot of fish in the game sea.
ElectricPrism Aug 23, 2023
Quoting: KlaasQuoting: ElectricPrismIf I was a publisher, my respect for EG would have just dropped -- nobody can stay in business working for free.Fortnite and Tencent can provide a lot of money. And EG saves a lot of money by relying on Steam for features – like Epic exclusive games with a Forum on Steam.
And it's not really completely free. It's a loss leader.
Yeah about that ...
The CCP government recently siphoned all the money out of Tencent (6m-1y) (Which they can do because corporations in china are part of the government by law.)
Again, the problem with paying nothing for something -- is that it creates disparity -- or actual modern day slavery.
Disparity occurs when deals are not fair. Ethically, really bad things happen when one party wins too much at the other's expense. (In this case my empathy is with the foreign workers and employees who just want a living wage.)
Edit: This is really just communism 101 -- drop prices to attempt to drive competition out of business, power companies, baby formula / whatever -- and then once you have a monopoly raise prices to unfair levels. The idea of the state subsidizing failure also comes to mind -- like when a company makes airplanes that have aeronautic defects that cause them to crash -- and the state shows up to pay to keep the company in business when they are on a collision course with bankruptcy.
Anything that is not worthy of staying in business -- and can be destroyed -- should be destroyed. The big players shouldn't be subsidized to continue to fail creating abusive relationships with customers and employees. If they can't make it -- survival of the fittest -- tough luck, they will be replaced with more worthy businesses.
Last edited by ElectricPrism on 23 August 2023 at 8:06 pm UTC
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