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.
So, no thank you.
Then they made the Gears of War franchise XBox exclusive. They announced it late too, soon before release. I had been eagerly awaiting Gears of War 2.
Now they are engaging in unfair business practices to get publishers to use their store.
Also, any game company that takes the Epic exclusive carrot I'll wait until they are offered at desperation sale prices, if ever, before I'll buy anything from those companies. I caved for Tiny Tina's Wonderlands out of boredom (and love of the franchise, the way it used to be), but was I ever sorry I did. The game turned out to be a royal burn. So now I am completely resolved on this.
Last edited by Grogan on 23 August 2023 at 8:57 pm UTC
Schattenspiegel Aug 24, 2023
Still smells a bit desperate, does it not?
pleasereadthemanual Aug 24, 2023
There are also no Linux games on EGS. I like GOG because it's the only big store (aside from Itch) that gives you the game files you can copy and launch yourself, but EGS doesn't do that. I struggle to find a single positive thing to say about EGS, because I can't even say competition is a good thing. If EGS somehow starts beating Steam, everything is worse for everyone.
Competition is only a good thing when the competitor is pedaling something you want. EGS fails to serve any of my needs or wants. Steam, GOG, and Itch all serve varying numbers of my needs and wants to varying degrees.
Quoting: AdutchmanWhat I don't understand, is why they won't just hire a few good developers and make the platform enticing for users: if they would have feature parity with Steam, I would be a lot less hostile to them. Money can't be the issue because EG store has been a money sink for as long as it has existed.It's an interesting question. I can't help feeling it's actually a personal or corporate-culture style/instinct thing. The person or zeitgeist in charge of Epic, Sweeney or whatever cabal of suits, does not think about profit-making as something that's related to satisfying customers. Rather, they seem to think in terms of cunning tricks and shortcuts.
(There must be some kind of separation between broader management and whoever's in charge of keeping Fortnite going, because I get the impression that whatever one thinks about the game, devs really work hard to keep stuff flowing to hold the players' attention. Mind you, if I were Sweeney et al., I would have a superstitious fear of disturbing anything around the goose laying them golden eggs)
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualI hate the Epic Games Store. It's such a chore to even sign in to claim the two free games a month that I stopped doing it a long time ago. Heroic Games Launcher is actually nicely designed and fast.I just claim them using the website.
There are also no Linux games on EGS. I like GOG because it's the only big store (aside from Itch) that gives you the game files you can copy and launch yourself, but EGS doesn't do that.
Most of the freebies I have been interested in have been free of DRM and doesn't require the client. I just exfiltrate them using legendary and run them with Wine/Proton as I see fit.
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