When theEpic Games Storelaunched in December 2018, it stirred up quite a bit of controversy in the gaming community, and many people are still uncertain how they feel about the online storefront’s growth strategy. In an effort to grab a large portion of the digital game market, theEpic Games Storeworked aggressively to secure a number of exclusivity deals with developers and publishers, and a lot of gamers weren’t happy about it.
While the move certainly made the Epic Games Store a known resource for buying online games, also due largely in part to the site’s biweekly free game giveaway, it hasn’t proven a lucrative strategy for Epic thus far. CEO Tim Sweeney recently revealed that theEpic Games Store is not currently profitableand likely won’t be for several years.
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The lawsuit between Epic and Apple began this week, and a number of corporate documents have been made publicly available as a result, revealing that from 2018 to 2019, the company invested $359 million in exclusivity deals and free game offers. One title that received a substantial portion of this investment wasBorderlands 3whose PC exclusivity deal with Epiccost the company $115 million. This included $15 million in marketing, an $80 million advance paid in anticipation of the game’s future performance, and an additional $11 million for Epic’s giveaway ofBorderlands: The Handsome Collection.
Borderlands 3was originally planned for concurrent release in September 2019 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam, but the exclusivity deal with the Epic Games Store meant that the game didn’t become available on Steam until six months after release. Many fans of the series voiced discontent with being forced to purchase the game from what some saw as an inferior storefront. This led to a number of people boycotting the game entirely orreview bombing previously releasedBorderlandsgameson Steam.
TheCEO of Gearbox defended the decisionto sign an exclusivity deal with Epic, though he stated that it had been an agreement between Epic and the game’s publisher 2K Games, with Gearbox having no input on the matter. According to Pitchford, the competition created by the growth of the Epic Games Store would force Steam to adapt and improve in a digital marketplace where it had heretofore maintained a near monopoly. “They’ll fight for it,” stated Pitchford. “And they’ll hang on. There’s even a chance they’ll come out on top.”
Considering that Tim Sweeney has confirmed that the Epic Games Store is “hundreds of millions of dollars” short of being profitable, Steam coming out on top is indeed a possibility. However, Epic hasn’t given up on its marketing plan of timed exclusivity deals. Other court documents in the Epic vs. Apple suit seem to have revealed that the upcoming gamesDead Island 2andSaints Row 5will be Epic Games Store exclusives, which is particularly curious becauseSaints Row 5has not even been officially announced yet.
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