Scale of Epic Games giveaways cost revealed in court documents

[HEXUS]

The firm spent $11.6m on free games giveaways in its first 9 months of operation.

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[Ttaskmaster]

Well... after all that, the one thing I'm really left wondering is whether the founder of GameDiscoverCo really doesn't have an automobile in his life!!

Honestly though, if it gets more money to the devs and keeps them making games, rather than going bust like so many of the good ones have, then I'm perfectly fine with corporate domination of the world. It's pretty much inevitable anyway and a staple of sci-fi culture, so we might as well get some good games while we're off building better worlds.
Timed exclusivity isn't a factor for me as I generally don't buy games when new, as they're too pricey and I prefer to wait for the fully-patched all-inclusive DLC-laden ultimate editions when they're on sale. It doesn't seemed to have hurt their profits any, though - A few Mil spent for several Bil profit!

[cptwhite_uk]

Yeah that's a good investment it would seem. To be honest I don't like any of the online games platforms, I find Steam feature rich but clunky and bloated with completely pointless features, and Epic Games Store very basic and lacking basic options - why do I have to see an icon the size of a playing card for every game I own, instead of a simple list?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

To be honest I don't like any of the online games platforms, I find Steam feature rich but clunky and bloated with completely pointless features, and Epic Games Store very basic and lacking basic options - why do I have to see an icon the size of a playing card for every game I own, instead of a simple list?

One thing Steam has over the others is its Linux integration. I was quite suprised at home many games,work under Proton now! Also using Lutris,managed to get Vortex mod manager working too. At least it gives me an option,if MS starts going full retard with Windows and moves to a subscription model!

BTW,have you tried GOG Galaxy?? You can launch games from Steam,EGS,etc through it.

[LSG501]

To be honest, I don't really see the amount of spend as that much when you consider what they were going up against.

Considering how long steam had been around and the user base it had amassed the only way Epic were going to get some traction for a competing store and prevent essentially a monopoly or at best a duopoly if you include MS Store (lets be honest gog isn't really a threat to steam) on the pc desktop was to go in 'aggressively' with offers and better cuts etc.

IIRC aren't epic exclusives limited duration so they can also go on other stores but a bit later.

[Iota]

IIRC aren't epic exclusives limited duration so they can also go on other stores but a bit later.

As far as I'm aware they are, I know I got Control Ultimate Edition on Steam while on sale, long after the period of exclusivity on EGS. So really by having it exclusive on EGS the developer lost revenue. I'd probably have got it full price as it was one of the few games I thought looked interesting enough to warrant.

Really all Epic are doing in terms of exclusivity is making me determined to wait for market competition. The freebies they offer are probably being snapped up by mainly players who already have EGS installed for Fortnite looking at the overall 5% of new users they drew in for that 9 month period. So really that's a lot of investment for a potential nominal return.

[tag75]

got over a hundred games thanks 2 epic

[Euphonium]

got over a hundred games thanks 2 epic

How many of them have you installed or played though?

I did similar to you but up until a week ago my answer to that was "zero"

[Tabbykatze]

I was expecting them to have paid much more in a year frankly, that's pocket change for most large enterprises like MS, Epic and Steam

[Ttaskmaster]

As far as I'm aware they are, I know I got Control Ultimate Edition on Steam while on sale, long after the period of exclusivity on EGS. So really by having it exclusive on EGS the developer lost revenue. I'd probably have got it full price as it was one of the few games I thought looked interesting enough to warrant.

Yes, generally one year of exclusivity, I believe.

That dev may have lost some sales revenue, but I understand they and other devs still get some kind of guaranteed payment (in addition to the one paid for the exclusivity), which is probably more surety than they'd get if their game tanks under Steam sales, especially in the very very extremely unbelievably unlikely event that the game turns out to be a steaming pile of unoptimised bug-ridden poo.... but that pretty much never happens with high-end games, right.....?

[fend_oblivion]

You gotta appreciate what Tim is fighting for.

[Spud1]

Honestly though, if it gets more money to the devs

Publishers, not developers. We have no information (and likely won't ever, in general) how much of this extra money actually gets back into the development teams hands.

You have to wonder how much better Epic would have done if they had kept their credibility intact and put this money into developing a nice platform that people wanted to use instead - they had so much respect from the community in general prior to all the EGS stuff, and could have leveraged that + Fortnite alone, along with a great store/client to attract a lot of customers..but they didn't.

[Spud1]

Sorry, double post....

[Iota]

You have to wonder how much better Epic would have done if they had kept their credibility intact and put this money into developing a nice platform that people wanted to use instead - they had so much respect from the community in general prior to all the EGS stuff, and could have leveraged that + Fortnite alone, along with a great store/client to attract a lot of customers..but they didn't.

Fair point, I wouldn't have automatically excluded them for bringing console style exclusivity to the PC platform, but it is was it is. Tim Sweeney seems to enjoy doubling down and telling other businesses how to behave, yet acts miserably towards consumers while trying to line his own pockets first and foremost.

Double standards. I just can't support Epic in its current form.

[cybermarketingservices]

got over a hundred games thanks 2 epic

How many of them have you installed or played though?

I did similar to you but up until a week ago my answer to that was "zero"

What made you change your stance on that?