EPIC Announces 100M Subscribed Users to EPIC Games Store in Just One Year of Operation

[Raevenlord]

Cut from the digital storefront cloth as you will, the EPIC Games Store has come to stay. EPIC has just announce that its digital distribution platform has achieved over 100 M subscribed users (which is different from active users, so mind the gap). That is still a success by any metric, since the digital games storefront was such a one-sided market before EPIC entered the fray - you'd be forgiven for describing the PC games distribution platform network as being composed of "Steam and the others".

Through platform exclusivity deals for new PC launches, a more enticing profit split between developers and games that are available through its store (with its headline and exclusive-grabbing 88-12 percent revenue split), monthly game giveaways and the power of Fortnite, EPIC has said that the EPIC Games Store alone generated $680 million in revenue thus far. Of that amount, Epic says $251 million represents sales of third-party games. part of that revenue has been channeled back at gamers - $23 million has been distributed in coupons and discounts toward game sales. According to EPIC, the nine most successful games in its platform are World War Z, Borderlands 3, Untitled Goose Game, Metro Exodus, Control, The Outer Worlds, The Division 2, Dauntless, and Satisfactory.



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[Cheeseball]

Eh, I have to admit I am one of them. Mostly because of Borderlands 3 (redeemed from my RX 5700 XT) and MechWarrior 5 (bought with their $10 holiday discount ticket). I also claimed the majority of those free games they were giving out.

If anyone is still on the fence with using the EGS launcher, you can always block the IP addresses on your hardware/router's firewall. I do the same with Steam anyways and only make changes if needed.

 

[Super XP]

Eh, I have to admit I am one of them. Mostly because of Borderlands 3 (redeemed from my RX 5700 XT) and MechWarrior 5 (bought with their $10 holiday discount ticket). I also claimed the majority of those free games they were giving out.

If anyone is still on the fence with using the EGS launcher, you can always block the IP addresses on your hardware/router's firewall. I do the same with Steam anyways and only make changes if needed.

Never thought of blocking the IP address, but wouldn't that prevent you from playing a game on say Steam?

 

[Fluffmeister]

Free games, 100 million freeloaders.

 

[demian_vi]

Free games, 100 million freeloaders.

the EPIC Games Store alone generated $680 million in revenue thus far

 

[Fluffmeister]

the EPIC Games Store alone generated $680 million in revenue thus far

Of course, paying for exclusives works too.

Consoles have been playing that game for years.

 

[Imouto]

the EPIC Games Store alone generated $680 million in revenue thus far

Users spent $251 million in third-party games. At a 12% cut it is $30 million for the EGS. But then they went and bragged about giving out $23 million in coupons that leaves a balance from third-party games at a measly $7 million.

If you factor the inane amount of games they gave away for free and the exclusivity deals it is quite clear they are hemorrhaging cash on the EGS.

 

[Cheeseball]

Never thought of blocking the IP address, but wouldn't that prevent you from playing a game on say Steam?

Only the IP addresses that the telemetry is trying to connect to. I still allow and port forward (if they don't support UPnP) the IPs for multiplayer games and the friends list.

 

[demian_vi]

Of course, paying for exclusives works too.

Consoles have been playing that game for years.

Nevertheless 680M revenue means there are a lot non freeloaders among the 100M customers, unlike you insinuated. Why they are buying from there is irrelevant. And from the article its clear that 450M were on 1st party, so exclusives are only 30% of revenue

Users spent $251 million in third-party games. At a 12% cut it is $30 million for the EGS. But then they went and bragged about giving out $23 million in coupons that leaves a balance from third-party games at a measly $7 million.

If you factor the inane amount of games they gave away for free and the exclusivity deals it is quite clear they are hemorrhaging cash on the EGS.

That’s irrelevant to the initial message I was answering and wrong at the same time. You forget that from the remaining 450M on 1st party games, they keep the majority of the money.

Even if they were hemorrhaging money you should congratulate them, as these money end up in ours and the developers pockets after all.

 

[Fluffmeister]

Nevertheless 680M revenue means there are a lot non freeloaders among the 100M customers, unlike you insinuated. Why they are buying from there is irrelevant. And from the article its clear that 450M were on 1st party, so exclusives are only 30% of revenue

I don't really care, I'm one of the freeloaders.

 

[demian_vi]

And I’m one of the paying customers

 

[Fluffmeister]

I gathered, thanks for the freebies!

 

[Super XP]

I am all for fair competition in this arena, but I dislike the Exclusivity of games per each platform. Nothing should be exclusive except Valve games stay on Steam and Epic games stay on there platform.

 

[64K]

Users spent $251 million in third-party games. At a 12% cut it is $30 million for the EGS. But then they went and bragged about giving out $23 million in coupons that leaves a balance from third-party games at a measly $7 million.

If you factor the inane amount of games they gave away for free and the exclusivity deals it is quite clear they are hemorrhaging cash on the EGS.

Epic is wallowing in cash due to Fortnite.

Revenue from Fortnite from microtransactions:

2018 2.4 billion dollars
2019 1.8 billion dollars

Sweeney said that Epic will continue the exclusives and free games in 2020.




Steam changed their cut in late 2018 in response to Epic. They now take 30% of the first 10 million in sales on a game then they drop the cut to 25% for sales between 10 million and 50 million dollars then they drop their cut to 20% for sales over 50 million dollars.

 

[Super XP]

Epic is wallowing in cash due to Fortnite.

Revenue from Fortnite from microtransactions:

2018 2.4 billion dollars
2019 1.8 billion dollars

Sweeney said that Epic will continue the exclusives and free games in 2020.




Steam changed their cut in late 2018 in response to Epic. They now take 30% of the first 10 million in sales on a game then they drop the cut to 25% for sales between 10 million and 50 million dollars then they drop their cut to 20% for sales over 50 million dollars.

That's a lot of cash lol,
Steam made about $4.5 Billion back in 2017 I believe.
Though I cannot find any revenue for 2018 or 2019 anywhere.

 

[Fourstaff]

I am definitely one of the freeloaders, but its only a matter of time before the come up with a game which I will pay for. Its a common business tactic these days to build user base and hope profit will follow suit.

 

[kapone32]

Epic is wallowing in cash due to Fortnite.

Revenue from Fortnite from microtransactions:

2018 2.4 billion dollars
2019 1.8 billion dollars

Sweeney said that Epic will continue the exclusives and free games in 2020.




Steam changed their cut in late 2018 in response to Epic. They now take 30% of the first 10 million in sales on a game then they drop the cut to 25% for sales between 10 million and 50 million dollars then they drop their cut to 20% for sales over 50 million dollars.

This can be nothing but good for the average gamer.

 

[Valantar]

Subscribed? Do they mean registered? Last I checked there was no such thing as a subscription to the Epic Games Store.

 

[64K]

That's a lot of cash lol,
Steam made about $4.5 Billion back in 2017 I believe.
Though I cannot find any revenue for 2018 or 2019 anywhere.

I have seen the estimates as well but bear in mind that 4.5 billion dollars was revenue from sales. Steam has a sliding scale for their cut depending on the amount of sales for a game. It ranges between 20% and 30%. We don't know for certain what Steam's sales are because as a privately owned company they aren't required to report it to the public but assume that their revenue has gone up to 4.75 billion dollars for 2018 and 5 billion dollars for 2019 both of which are probably too high though.

Assume once again that their average cut is 25% and you come out with Steam's income:

2018 1.18 billion dollars
2019 1.25 billion dollars

in contrast Epic had a revenue from Fortnite alone of:

2018 2.4 billion dollars
2019 1.8 billion dollars

Most of that must have been profit for Epic because the amount of work that goes into making cheap microtransaction material doesn't cost a lot to develop.

Then you add in the amount of revenue generated from licensing the Unreal Engine which is the most popular engine used for Developing games and it's clear that Epic is a very profitable Publisher (as long as the massive Fortnite revenue continues to roll in) and Epic is uniquely situated financially to go to war with Steam. Even EA couldn't have done what Epic is doing.

 

[moob]

And I’m one of the paying customers

Same. I've got 83 games on EGS and I've bought 8 of those. 75 free games with some great stuff in there.

 

[Super XP]

Well competition is a great thing. Though I'm not totally sold on the Epic Game Store just yet. I'll always stock with Steam as I have a lot of games with that platform.

Same. I've got 83 games on EGS and I've bought 8 of those. 75 free games with some great stuff in there.

That's interesting. 75 Free Games, and tell me where do you find the time to play these games? I carefully select the games I want and ensure they are worth it, as my time is valuable so want to get the most out of it.

Though I suppose you really don't have to play them all, but are there if you want to dabble with some and see how they play. 75 Free Games?? Why not lol

On a side note, anything that has to do with a so called Monthly Subscription, no thanks I'm out. I ain't buying such nonsense. I'll gladly pay for a game outright, and pay for expansion sets outright and other techniques to support developers. But subscription based nonsense only benefits Board of Directors by appeasing there Greed while devs get Jack Shit in return.

 

[moob]

That's interesting. 75 Free Games, and tell me where do you find the time to play these games? I carefully select the games I want and ensure they are worth it, as my time is valuable so want to get the most out of it.

Though I suppose you really don't have to play them all, but are there if you want to dabble with some and see how they play. 75 Free Games?? Why not lol

Of the 75, I had owned/played 25 of those on Steam already. Of the remaining 50, I've probably tried about a handful so far, though I do intend on trying out a few more. As for where I find the time, I enjoy gaming so I make time. lol It also helps that I mostly only play single-player titles now. If I can find a good co-op title then I'll jump on it but for the most part single-player games are usually shorter experiences so you can get a lot of them in. I'm not a completionist either so I don't worry about Achievements or whatever.

 

[Super XP]

Of the 75, I had owned/played 25 of those on Steam already. Of the remaining 50, I've probably tried about a handful so far, though I do intend on trying out a few more. As for where I find the time, I enjoy gaming so I make time. lol It also helps that I mostly only play single-player titles now. If I can find a good co-op title then I'll jump on it but for the most part single-player games are usually shorter experiences so you can get a lot of them in. I'm not a completionist either so I don't worry about Achievements or whatever.

Ah OK.

Same here, love single-player games like Rage2 Prey, Dying Light, DOOM and especially the Metro series. To name a few.
Co-op, I have over 2,000 hrs on Left 4 Dead 2. Thats my favorite Co-op. Still waiting for L4D3 though, we all are lol

 

[moob]

Ah OK.

Same here, love single-player games like Rage2 Prey, Dying Light, DOOM and especially the Metro series. To name a few.
Co-op, I have over 2,000 hrs on Left 4 Dead 2. Thats my favorite Co-op. Still waiting for L4D3 though, we all are lol

For co-op I meant story-driven co-op, like A Way Out. Unfortunately because of schedules my friends and I rarely have free time at the same time to really dig into a good online co-op game. We tried with the Division, played it once and never played it again. Same with Division 2. Same with Destiny 2 (though I do solo that one). Actually, the same with a number of games. lol It's gotten to the point where if one of us brings up a game, we ask if we'll play it more than once and the answer is usually no. Battlefield used to be our go-to but BFV was, and is, still such a mess that I was the only one who even bought it and I played online once. I waited months before even trying it, and my first time online I got a crash-to-desktop. Yuck.

 

[Super XP]

Ah I got you. BFV really needs fixing yesterday lol