Epic Games Store - 88% split goes to devs

[lordkosc]

I might wait a year and still buy it from Epic.

No doubt a better game by then and a better EPIC storefront.

[jsnell]

As it was stated many times before… we don’t know how all this works. Epic could have guaranteed sales way above what’s realistic for the game.

We’re not totally in the dark, there are a bunch of data points to work from.

First, from Phoenix Point we know that the mechanism that’s used is cash advances. And we know the exact numbers, which did not seem unrealistic: about 55k-62k copies depending on the pricing assumptions.

The other data point is the THQ Nordic financials, which gave enough information to figure out both a) Satisfactory made $10M in revenue in Q1, which would be roughly 300k copies, and b) the revenue was from actual sales, so they’d already made back the advance.

(There must be some incentive, not?)

25% more revenue per unit sold is the incentive. The advances are just a way of de-risking the move.

[Scott123]

Is anyone using the Steam Link and Steam Controller for Epic Games Store games?

[Brad_Grenz]

If we’re all about supporting the developers here, we probably shouldn’t be buying games on sale either. Does Epic allow you to buy games directly from the developer and give you a key for the Epic store as well?

In the current sale Epic is paying the difference. The devs get the same amount as if it sold full price.

As it was stated many times before… we don’t know how all this works. Epic could have guaranteed sales way above what’s realistic for the game. (There must be some incentive, not?) Then there would be no real helping them get over the threshold. Again, in that case you’d primarily support Epic and finance the deal, make the new distribution monoply worthwhile. I don’t say it’s the most realistic outcome, I’d just mention that Epic’s paid exclusivity might have led to a situation where Epic’s the one who needs sales the most and in which it remains unclear how exactly/when developers (in case of paid exclusivity, arrangements/guarantees) additionally profit from the customer’s choice. That’s all.

Sounds like a bunch of horseshit you’ve invented in your head to rationalize not supporting the devs. Better not buy the game on the tiny chance that you cost Epic more than you help the devs. Never mind Epic makes hundreds of millions of dollar each month with Fortnite so they will never feel any pain. Meanwhile an indie game that is entirely dependent on individual game sales can only benefit from your purchase.

[LockerK]

Weird that people weren’t this passionate about supporting the developers when itch.io or the Humble Widget or the Discord store rolled out.

[Brad_Grenz]

Weird the difference having exclusive games people want makes. You might even call that a validation of Epic’s strategy.

[LockerK]

Huh, I thought this was about supporting the developers but now it’s apparently about justifying anti-consumer behavior.

[Brad_Grenz]

Don’t look at me, I wasn’t the one trying to invent scenarios where not buying a game to punish Epic was actually good for the developer.

[legowarrior]

I think that Epic provides a lot more visibility then either of the options you suggested for developers.

Also, exclusives do force you to buy from Epic, which helps Epic gain some traction and helps keep them viable for long enough to actually be a player.

[LockerK]

No, but you decided to attack someone who was having a discussion about how the agreement might look for… reasons? Who knows.

I’m done going in circles about this tonight, so feel free to get the last word if you want.

[Brad_Grenz]

Yes, excuse me for challenging some conspiracy theory bullshit about how sales don’t help devs.

[Wendelius]

I’m done going in circles about this tonight, so feel free to get the last word if you want.

Of course you got a reply. You’re the one who threw in a snide:

Weird that people weren’t this passionate about supporting the developers when itch.io or the Humble Widget or the Discord store rolled out.

How do you know that? You are on Qt3. People here are both passionate about games and generally very supportive of (indie or not) developers, some of which post here. So that was a bit of a weird thing to “contribute” to the conversation. We all here generally enjoy seeing games and devs succeed.

[lordkosc]

Also, exclusives do force you to buy from Epic, which helps Epic gain some traction and helps keep them viable for long enough to actually be a player.

There is no one being forced to buy. At least as far as I know. :)

[LeeAbe]

In the current sale Epic is paying the difference. The devs get the same amount as if it sold full price.

Good on them. One sale when they are still trying to buy their foot in the door doesn’t mean much though. The point was that if we as gamers cared so much about the devs getting their fair share, we wouldn’t wait for sales to buy games. Trying to use it as an argument on how great Epic is in this thread is laughable. Our actions as gamers show we don’t really care, we just want cheap games.

[CraigM]

It’s console wars bullshit all over again.

Like I get supporting the Epic store, but what I don’t get is the axiomatic ‘all things Epic does are good for developers, and if you dont like them you hate devs’ responses.

[Brad_Grenz]

You understand 88% of a sale price is still way more than 70% of a sale price, right? You haven’t proven anything. You’re just wandering around the field with the goalpost on your shoulder.

Like I get supporting the Epic store, but what I don’t get is the axiomatic ‘all things Epic does are good for developers, and if you dont like them you hate devs’ responses.

Please challenging claims that everything Epic does is evil is not the same as arguing that everything they do is good. But arguing that less sales for a game are better for a dev than more sales for a dev sure is anti-dev.

[LeeAbe]

Again, can devs sell keys for Epic and pull in 100% of the profit like they can on Steam?

[legowarrior]

Do a lot of developers do that? I know they can generate keys from steam, but I don’t know many who have actually gone so far as to set up their own store fronts for their game and sell directly to clients separate Keys.

[Brad_Grenz]

For good reason. Chances are an indie game dev is probably not actually that good at running their own online store. Using Humble widgets has gained traction. That’s preferable to the horror stories of having the personal storefront hacked or used to launder a bunch of stolen CC numbers and having to decide between leaving the stolen codes active, or shutting them off and making a lot of mad customers who bought the game in the gray market. Epic codes are available through Humble, though.

[LeeAbe]

I have bought a few games directly, usually early access. Anyway, if Epic cares so much about devs, shouldn’t they be offering that?

This 88% thing is purely marketing to pull in devs so they can expand into the market. Epic doesn’t give a shit about devs, they just want to make money like everyone else.