Epic Games are once again trying to entice more game developers to not only ship same-day on the Epic Games Store, but to use Unreal Engine too.
Announced during Unreal Fest Seattle 2024 is the new "Launch Everywhere with Epic" program. A deal for game developers and publishers that use Unreal Engine, to get a reduced royalty cut from 5% to 3.5%. This reduced cut will apply to all platforms and all stores (including Steam and consoles), as long as they ship their games at least same-day on the Epic Games Store. This new royalty model will begin January 1st, 2025.
This is on top of previous exclusive deals like Epic First Run, that can give developers 100% of the revenue for 6 months before going back to their standard 88%/12% split.
No doubt something that will entice more developers to get their games shipped on the Epic Store, and likely Unreal Engine too since the royalty fee is quite low. It's also another way for them to get more developers to release on their new mobile stores too, since developers also get 100% of net revenue if they use their own in-app payment solution (or 88% using Epic's).
The Epic Games Store still has no official Linux desktop or Steam Deck support, so you'll need community-built software like Heroic Games and Lutris to work with it.
QuoteEpic Games reduce their cut for Unreal Engine games for same-day Epic Store launches
I'm pretty sure that is illegal and that other companies have been litigated against for this kind of thing.
Quoting: pbQuoting: EhvisSo basically Epic is still trying to please the publishers instead of the customers while the latter is the only potential source of income.
They've been this way from the start and it's taken them nowhere so far.
( I think of Monty Python's Cheese Shop skit )
( https://invidious.nerdvpn.de/watch?v=Hz1JWzyvv8A )
They call themselves a Game Store despite not having customers/gamers to buy stuff
Not much of a game marketplace is it?
Quoting: ElectricPrismQuoteEpic Games reduce their cut for Unreal Engine games for same-day Epic Store launches
I'm pretty sure that is illegal and that other companies have been litigated against for this kind of thing.
You'd have to show that Unreal Engine had a dominant market position in game engines, and that they were using that to unfairly tie the Epic Games Store. It's a feasible argument, but not a slam dunk.
Quoting: KithopI'll echo the sentiment here though: good news for publishers, but they're doing *nothing* for consumers, so why should we care?Their plan is to starve Steam users of games, so you should probably care. There's definitely no reason to welcome it, of course.
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