4265

Ok so the CEO is now re-clarifying his statement.

“Epic Games store has exceeded our expectations in terms of sales in actual units of both Metro Exodus and Satisfactory during the quarter,” Wingefors tells us. “Epic Games store is in fact the group’s leading digital platform in terms of revenue generated by units sales in the quarter ending March.”

4266

Is there another digital platform the games are selling on?

4267

PSN and Xbox Live, I was assuming?

4268

Hah. Epic is the “leading digital platform” (on PC for games that are exclusive to Epic on PC).

4269

I don’t think so, they already said the sales were overwhelmingly on consoles (for Metro).

4270

I think he was clarifying for people that kept saying the majority of PC sales must’ve come from Steam before they yanked it off that store and moved to Epic.

4271

True, but that could have been the result of disc sales + digital sales on the consoles. Plus when they said leading digital platform, they didn’t say ‘for the PC’, or something like that.

You’re right, there’s still wiggle room, maybe they did mean for the PC, in which case, it’s a meaningless statement.

Edit: Oh yes, or what Telefrog said. That makes sense actually.

4272

You gotta love spin and PR. :) I get it, but as a bystander who is just interested in this sort of thing it’s annoying not to have something at least as reliable as NPD numbers were back before the digital boom.

4273

I like how everyone is trying to read vaguely worded public statements trying to push their own narrative so each side can have their own “told you so I’m so smart” moment.

4274

I mean, the statements are worded vaguely for specifically that purpose: to push a narrative.

For me, I’m just curious. I’ve always been of the opinion that the exclusive tactic for Epic will be successful, I just don’t like it. Either way, I’m still interested in the topic.

4275

The original statements were given in an investor call and the only mention of the EGS performance was “in the beginning of the year” with third parties attributing a “hesitation” to give more meaning than it might have been worth. The only reason they even followed up with another statement is because the internet with crazy about the hesitation as “proof” that it was failing because it was an EGS exclusive.

Is it true or is it not? Who knows, but the internet mob is trying to force a narrative more than the company is. It’s obvious they are trying to be vague about retail numbers, but not all the reasons for such are malicious. It’s not unusual for companies to be secretive about their sales numbers, even when doing good (and there might be contractual obligations as well).

4276

Yeah yeah yeah, let’s be real if the sales were great they would just say it

4277

But to repeat myself, they actually gave enough information to get a very good idea on the unit sales of Satisfactory on Epic since:

  • They reported the revenue of Coffee Stain separately.
  • They’ve reported numbers for Coffee Stain before, so we know what their back catalog sales are.
  • They said that the revenue was mainly from Satisfactory (as opposed to e.g. Goat Simulator on the Switch, which I think was the only other Coffee Stain release for the quarter).
  • They said the revenue was from sales of Satisfactory. If it had been straight out bribe money or from sales guarantees, that’s not how you answer, since it’d be setting unrealistic expectations for the performance of the game in future quarters.
  • The game was only released on PC, and the PC version was only on Epic.
  • We know the size of Epic’s cut.

So I don’t think they’re trying to be secretive, it’s really quite granular reporting by the standards of the industry.

Which games did they give exact sales numbers for in previous quarters?

4278

They don’t they just have to, just say it’s selling great, very happy with it being on the EGS, nope the willy nilly pussy footing around just reinforces something else, more than likely sales sucked on the pc on the EGS store but we can’t say that so lets umm, ahh, oooh ah i know lets say something, anything…

4279

Ah, I misinterpreted your comment then. Sorry!

But aren’t they using a lot of language exactly to the effect you want, just with slightly different words? I don’t understand how saying that sales are “above expectations” is wishy-washy but saying that sales are “great” is a strong statement.

So do you think that selling ~300k units of a game like Satisfactory in 11 days is sales “sucking”? (Especially when the revenue per unit is 25% higher than on Steam). Or is the theory that they’re lying about the revenues just for Epic’s benefit?

4280

Looks cool, but can’t tell how much gameplay is in the game, and not much detail on what you do.

4281

It’s like this is the first time you’ve looked at a EGS store page, Jeff! :D

4282

Outer Wilds will also be joining the Xbox Gamepass May 30th for those that have that.

4283

Wait… .which one is this one? I get Outer Wilds and Outer Worlds and Outward all mixed up. Oi vey.

4284

Outer Wilds is the one on first.