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Epic Games are trying to pull over more developer to the Epic Games Store, with the launch of two new incentives with the previously announced First Run and the newly announced Now On Epic deals for developers.

The First Run program was announced back in August, which is where developers can launch on the Epic Store as an exclusive for 6 months and get a 100% revenue share instead of their usual 88%/12% split, which it reverts to after the 6 months are up. Developers can still sell directly and use third-party key stores, so this is clearly aimed at getting developers away from the likes of Steam.

Newly announced today though is the Now On Epic deal, where Epic want developers to bring their older games to the Epic Games Store. Similar deal here, with Epic offering six months of 100% revenue and after that it drops back to the 88%/12% split. Developers can opt in on this if their game launched elsewhere before October 31, 2023.

Full announcement here.

You can use the Heroic Games Launcher or Lutris for easy installs from the Epic Store, since Epic Games don't support Linux or Steam Deck officially in any way with their own store.

Also, while we have you here, you can currently get both Blazing Sails and Q.U.B.E. ULTIMATE BUNDLE free until October 19th.

ICYMI: Epic Games also announced in September they let go over 800 people.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Epic Games, Misc
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25 comments
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Mal Oct 16, 2023
  • Supporter
As Reddit common sense goes: 100% of 0 is still 0.
dpanter Oct 16, 2023
Good grief man, Timmy has no shame.
What's next, 'happy endings' when signing up with the devil Epic?
Thibug Oct 16, 2023
So instead of making the store better (Still no proper review system), they are using money to get developers onboard and hope that customers will follow... Next news, Epic laid off 50% of their staff because they are losing money ?


Last edited by Thibug on 16 October 2023 at 2:38 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Oct 16, 2023
Next news, Epic laid off 50% of their staff because they are losing money ?
They just recently got rid of over 800 people...
Thibug Oct 16, 2023
Next news, Epic laid off 50% of their staff because they are losing money ?
They just recently got rid of over 800 people...

I know, because they were losing a lot of money. Yet they continue to use exclusivity deals (That cost them money) to get games on their store, so if they continue at the same rate, it will be back in the news at some point...

Also this seems very dumb, because they loose money when the game is an exclusive title, and only start making money once the deal is over, when developers and publisher with common sense will put the game on another store, making the Epic Game Store not the first choice for most people... Having lot of games is not going to make people come to their store if the experience is still bad
BalkanSpy Oct 16, 2023
Epic Games is getting more and more desperate now that their cash cow Fortnite is losing popularity. It is getting increasingly difficult for them to stay afloat.

They should rather focus on making a new Unreal Tournament.


Last edited by BalkanSpy on 16 October 2023 at 2:52 pm UTC
slaapliedje Oct 16, 2023
Epic Games is getting more and more desperate now that their cash cow Fortnite is losing popularity. It is getting increasingly difficult for them to stay afloat.
Funny how that works, isn't it? Maybe they should have stuck to actually making games instead of trying to compete without any incentives to customers to buy from them over Valve. Exclusivity just pisses people off. They needed to actually have features that people cared about.

One feature that would have gotten me to buy games from them is a native Linux client, no client, no usage by me...
Thibug Oct 16, 2023
They should rather focus on making a new Unreal Tournament.

Or, you know, make the store actually worth using, because right now, it's not
Linux_Rocks Oct 16, 2023


Not even the good kinda trap either. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
dredhammer Oct 16, 2023
Yeah where is Epic getting the money to fund this?
When they announced those layoffs the excuse was they had overspent on deals like these.
dibz Oct 16, 2023
So instead of making the store better (Still no proper review system), they are using money to get developers onboard and hope that customers will follow... Next news, Epic laid off 50% of their staff because they are losing money ?

That was my first thought too. Pretty much everyone hates using the store and their client, but they seem entirely oblivious or unwilling to deal with it. Even if they add reviews, the client itself is still terrible.

I've said it before, but I imagine devs putting games on stores other then steam -- even making sales on them -- at least partially rely on steam for most of those sales. Why? Because I'm fairly sure most people would look up a game on steam prior to making a purchase.
Bogomips Oct 16, 2023
I think it is a really nice idea from Epic, I encourage them to only do exclusive for the next year at 100 % revenue for devs that way, if we are lucky, in 2024 they will earn the bankruptcy achievement.
Grogan Oct 16, 2023
Any game dev that takes those carrots can kiss my money, and my ass, goodbye. I buy a lot of games and I don't need to buy theirs.
Arehandoro Oct 16, 2023
Just a couple of weeks ago, Epic fired 870 people.


Last edited by Arehandoro on 16 October 2023 at 5:19 pm UTC
mindedie Oct 16, 2023
Even if they announce 120% revenue sharing for devs, games still cost same for end user/paying customer, excluding freebies. Those won't last much longer, IMHO. What else they have as store...?
Termy Oct 16, 2023
There is literally not a single reason why someone in their right mind would choose to buy a game on EGS instead of Steam - usually not even a monetary reason.

I mean it's one thing to focus on the devs, but if you so openly give the middlefinger to the customers and show with every decision that you don't give a single fuck about them, then not even exclusives will save you...
Purple Library Guy Oct 16, 2023
Epic Games is getting more and more desperate now that their cash cow Fortnite is losing popularity.
People don't think ahead, do they? Games are going to wane in popularity eventually; I didn't expect Fortnite to stay at the top as long as it did. If I'd been running Epic I would have made at least a minimal plan where it's like, 50% of windfall Fortnite profits go to harebrained expansion schemes, the other 50% save for a rainy day.
kuhpunkt Oct 16, 2023
Next news, Epic laid off 50% of their staff because they are losing money ?
They just recently got rid of over 800 people...

And just now 50% of Bandcamp

BREAKING: Epic Games lays off roughly 50% of Bandcamp amidst its sale to Songtradr.

The Fortnite maker purchased the music platform just last year but is now spinning it off amid massive cost cutting.

https://twitter.com/ethangach/status/1713970488257413600
libgradev Oct 16, 2023
Honestly, I don't even bother collecting the free games anymore...
Grifter Oct 16, 2023
Tangentially related: Epic recently also announced they'd stop player trading on dec 5 in rocket league, they'd prefer if you bought items directly from their 'shop'.


Last edited by Grifter on 16 October 2023 at 10:16 pm UTC
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