The move is designed to make more titles Epic Games Store exclusive…
The Epic First Run programme allows developers of any size to claim 100% of revenue if they agree to make their game exclusive on the Epic Games Store for six months.
After the six months are up, the game will revert to the standard Epic Games Store revenue split of 88% for the developer and 12% for Epic Games.
The first few months of a game release are absolutely critical, no matter the size of the studio. I won't buy anything on Epic just out of principle, and I'm sure there are countless other people who share the mindset. A 100% share, vs a 70% one, is definitely appealing at first glance, but it'll butcher your numbers for short-term gain
Someday maybe they will try to improve the launcher instead of burning all the money in exclusives that only pisses people off. I uninstalled that shit and don't even bother to take the free games anymore.
Say what you will about epic, but this is compelling as hell for Devs. Hopefully this puts more pressure on Steam to reduce their cut. Competition is good.
If you're so against epic, have a little patience and wait until it comes to steam 6 months later. That's what I'll be doing. But don't just mindlessly shit in epic because you (as a consumer) don't like their business model intended to attract devs. You can dislike something while also recognising the good in it.
Man epic games store is actual industry aids. We don't buy games on steam because we have no other choice. We buy them because it's by far and large the best platform. I don't want 10 different apps for different games. I want my collection in one spot. Epic games sucks. I've never given them a single cent and never will. I've claimed many a free game on there but the irony is I just buy them on sale through steam and never actually play them on epic. I want playtimes, achievements and the games themselves in one fucking spot. If steam becomes wildly anti consumer I would absolutely change my stance. But valve and it's customers have a pretty good relationship imo.
God I hate Epic. I hate them with every fiber of my being. The fact that I have to have their crappy, insecure game store bloatware just to try to learn Unreal for personal projects is dumb. Hence why I am learning Unity and Godot.
So is it just me or does every game that becomes a epic exclusive never do as well as they should. i think most game developers realize this, which is why epic is desperate to get developers on their failing launcher. maybe they should try offering all the things steam does. regardless i cant switch because i own too many games on steam, im locked in.
"Let us offer you 100% of the money from a marketplace 0.0001% as large! Did we mention you get all the money that neither of us are making? We will throw in all the good will with gamers we've earned too."
I already block ads and advertisements, so the game will just be completely off my radar for another six months until I see friends start playing it. Eh. It's far too much effort to try a new platform after the dumpsterfires of Origin and Uplay to play 1-3 games.
The only game I'd actually install a new launcher for would be a new Half Life Game.
They've done everything to encourage game developers, expecting consumers to follow. But none of this entices me to leave steam. I, like many, will gladly wait.
Ouf, crazy how many people are actually pushing for valve to have a complete monopoly. Ya it's a good product but so was chrome. Diversity is important for consumers.
I'd expect EGS exclusivity to be the norm then. People who will buy the game eventually will buy the game eventually. Those are fixed sales since they'd get the same revenue from them either way. It's just a breakdown of the sales lost from people refusing to buy the game ever outweighs the 30% you gain. Which at this point it seems like a ridiculous proposal since every game seems to launch to bigger and bigger numbers regardless of what bullshit the game pulls. People who wait for sales would barely matter since a steam sale is like a year after release and they weren't making bank on them anyways.
But at face value, getting 70% of one Steam sale is only 10% more than you'd make off two copies sold at 100%. So one "never buy" looses you 2.3 sales of a game in revenue. Cool but any converted sale from someone who wouldve bought on Steam but can't wait and buys on EGS offset that in favor of EGS. I guarantee more people will buy from EGS compared to never buying the game. 2.3x more? Yeah, for sure, lol. I'm sure someone could do some clown math for a break even point per 1 million sales at that point. But considering a bulk of a games purchase is at launch it's just skewed so heavily toward EGS exclusivity makes more financial sense.
There's also the percentage that just don't buy on PC and buy on console instead, but again that's the same cut you'd get just launching it on Steam
Is this in lieu of an insentive payout up front or is it supplementary to one? If this is supplementary to an upfront payout I could see how it'd be worth it for a small dev. But if you don't get that payout up front for exclusivity I can't see how this would make any sense. I can't imagine EGS sales amount to much compared to what you'd get from a steam release; even with 100% revenue.
I think they should double their offer and keep the duration adjustable:
Be one week exclusive, get 100% for two weeks,
Be one month exclusive, get 100% for two months.
Then, it becomes a game for the publisher. Launch on Epic and if there are no transactions, abort after one day. But if there are sales, hold on a bit to pocket the 100%.
Publishers will gamble and stay on Epic a bit longer to get better percentages from the strongest fans but they have to end exclusivity to capture the entire market.