Exclusivity Costs: EPIC Games Store's Control Cost $10.5 million to Become PC Exclusive

[moproblems99]

I'm not sure what planet you're on but that doesn't sound like earth. You got it all twisted, quality is something you don't just cut, and add at will, if there's no quality you might want to overhaul the entire project and who takes part to it. ROFL Epic fixing budget crunch, Epic's money aren't helping any quality, they're only helping developer's greed and indifference.

Yeah everything goes to advertising, go sleep man you're making no sense, AAA titles suck because they want to sell to the masses and put close to no effort in particulars, contents, polishing and testing - advertising changes little for sagas that everyone knows they only need a regular amount, and that doesn't cost nearly as close as the costs of production for the thing.

I think you need to study the fundamentals of software development seeing as no reasonable statement seems to resonate. Eventually you'll figure out the real world is tough and generally not idealistic.

 

[oxidized]

I think you need to study the fundamentals of software development seeing as no reasonable statement seems to resonate. Eventually you'll figure out the real world is tough and generally not idealistic.

Again, you're sleepy go to bed.

 

[64K]

I think 505 Games knew that Control would sell well. They just made it an EGS exclusive to make an extra 10.5 million dollars. Who wouldn't do that? These video game Publishers are a business. They make money any way they can just like every other business.

 

[oxidized]

I think 505 Games knew that Control would sell well. They just made it an EGS exclusive to make an extra 10.5 million dollars. Who wouldn't do that? These video game Publishers are a business. They make money any way they can just like every other business.

Sell well? Honestly doesn't look like it sold that well, it sold just like it should on EGS, i still haven't seen anywhere anyone talking about even 1 million copies sold, it's probably still kinda far from that, not that i would trust what Epic says, but not reaching even virtually a million copies sold after 1 month and with all the money spent on it...Ah right i forgot Epic and their briefcases loaded with money to the rescue. Control is pretty good technically, the gameplay is kinda fun and physics are glorious, but overall the game feels like a 6/10 mainly because the story is confusing and poorly structured, who they think they are David Lynch? Stanley Kubrick? Not even in the same galaxy, so if there wasn't Epic saving Remedy's a** it would've gone down just like it did with Quantum Break.

 

[64K]

Sell well? Honestly doesn't look like it sold that well, it sold just like it should on EGS, i still haven't seen anywhere anyone talking about even 1 million copies sold, it's probably still kinda far from that, not that i would trust what Epic says, but not reaching even virtually a million copies sold after 1 month and with all the money spent on it...Ah right i forgot Epic and their briefcases loaded with money to the rescue. Control is pretty good technically, the gameplay is kinda fun and physics are glorious, but overall the game feels like a 6/10 mainly because the story is confusing and poorly structured, who they think they are David Lynch? Stanley Kubrick? Not even in the same galaxy, so if there wasn't Epic saving Remedy's a** it would've gone down just like it did with Quantum Break.

I think only PCGamer gave a somewhat bad review on the game. The other sites that I saw gave it a good to very good review. This site said it was a good game as well. W1zzard summed it up in his performance review:

"Overall, Borderlands 3 is a highly entertaining shooter that's worth the cost if you liked Borderlands 2 and are willing to overlook that it's an Epic Store exclusive."

Borderlands 3 Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis

Borderlands 3 is the latest installment in the epic loot-and-shoot series. The graphics are greatly improved and you are free to pick between DirectX 11 or DirectX 12. We took the game for a spin using 23 of the latest graphics cards, testing 1080p, 1440p, and 4K in both DirectX 11 and DirectX 12.

www.techpowerup.com

I haven't played the game yet but I will probably enjoy it. I'm expecting the game to be a typical Borderlands game and I don't take the story seriously in that type of game.

 

[moproblems99]

W1zzard summed it up in his performance review

I think you grabbed the wrong review.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I think 505 Games knew that Control would sell well. They just made it an EGS exclusive to make an extra 10.5 million dollars. Who wouldn't do that? These video game Publishers are a business. They make money any way they can just like every other business.

505 Games thought Control was a major risk which is why they went with an exclusivity agreement. It's a new IP and new IPs have an extremely high chance of being a market flop.

There's no "extra" involved with exclusivity contracts as I explained in this thread. The only thing "extra" is that the publisher gets 18% more per copy sold than they do on GOG/Steam. I made a mistake on that thread (17% share instead of 12%) so I'll redo the math and tell you exactly how much "extra" they got versus making those sales on Steam/GOG...

88/100=9,490,000/x
88x=9,490,000*100
88x=949,000,000
x=949,000,000/88
x=‭10,784,090.91

‬Digital Bros/505 Game received approximately 10,784,090.91 euros from EGS for signing the exclusivity contract.

Because of those gross sales happening at EGS with 12% stake, they received 9,490,000 euros for those sales. If those sales were at GOG/Steam, they would have received 7,438,853.64 euros. By making those sales on EGS instead of GOG/Steam, they got 1,941,136.36 euros "extra." As you can clearly see, it's revenue sharing that makes a huge difference, not the exclusivity contract.

Control has for sure sold over 179,765 copies.

 

[64K]

I think you grabbed the wrong review.

It's the last line on the 5th page that I linked to.

505 Games thought Control was a major risk which is why they went with an exclusivity agreement. It's a new IP and new IPs have an extremely high chance of being a market flop.

There's no "extra" involved with exclusivity contracts as I explained in this thread. The only thing "extra" is that the publisher gets 18% more per copy sold than they do on GOG/Steam. I made a mistake on that thread (17% share instead of 12%) so I'll redo the math and tell you exactly how much "extra" they got versus making those sales on Steam/GOG...

88/100=9,490,000/x
88x=9,490,000*100
88x=949,000,000
x=949,000,000/88
x=‭10,784,090.91

‬Digital Bros/505 Game received approximately 10,784,090.91 euros from EGS for signing the exclusivity contract.

Because of those gross sales happening at EGS with 12% stake, they received 9,490,000 euros for those sales. If those sales were at GOG/Steam, they would have received 7,438,853.64 euros. By making those sales on EGS instead of GOG/Steam, they got 1,941,136.36 euros "extra." As you can clearly see, it's revenue sharing that makes a huge difference, not the exclusivity contract.

Control has for sure sold over 179,765 copies.

We have yet to see what the sales of any of these Epic exclusives will be on Steam. We don't know how many are really holding out until it comes to Steam. I suspect most that wanted the game went ahead and bought it on EGS but it will be interesting to know in 6 months if Valve does make that info known. One thing is obvious though. This hurts Steams sales because people that already have the game aren't going to buy it again when it comes to Steam. If 505 Games gave people the option I think most would have chosen Steam.

 

[moproblems99]

It's the last line on the 5th page that I linked to.

Somehow it went from Control to Borderlands 3. I got confused.

 

[kapone32]

We have yet to see what the sales of any of these Epic exclusives will be on Steam. We don't know how many are really holding out until it comes to Steam. I suspect most that wanted the game went ahead and bought it on EGS but it will be interesting to know in 6 months if Valve does make that info known. One thing is obvious though. This hurts Steams sales because people that already have the game aren't going to buy it again when it comes to Steam. If 505 Games gave people the option I think most would have chosen Steam.
[/QUOTE]

Based on some quotes in this very thread I think there are a ton of people that will wait for the game to come to Steam.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

We have yet to see what the sales of any of these Epic exclusives will be on Steam. We don't know how many are really holding out until it comes to Steam. I suspect most that wanted the game went ahead and bought it on EGS but it will be interesting to know in 6 months if Valve does make that info known. One thing is obvious though. This hurts Steams sales because people that already have the game aren't going to buy it again when it comes to Steam. If 505 Games gave people the option I think most would have chosen Steam.

I would propose that the only reason why anyone has even heard of Control is because of the controversy caused by it being an EGS exclusive. It wouldn't have got a quarter the publicity it did without that. Digital Bros/505 Games took the exclusivity contract because they feared it would flop no matter where it was sold.

 

[64K]

We have yet to see what the sales of any of these Epic exclusives will be on Steam. We don't know how many are really holding out until it comes to Steam. I suspect most that wanted the game went ahead and bought it on EGS but it will be interesting to know in 6 months if Valve does make that info known. One thing is obvious though. This hurts Steams sales because people that already have the game aren't going to buy it again when it comes to Steam. If 505 Games gave people the option I think most would have chosen Steam.


Based on some quotes in this very thread I think there are a ton of people that will wait for the game to come to Steam.

This may be cynical on my part but I think there's a big difference between what some people say on the forums and what they really do. An example is when EA started the Origin Store. People were all over the internet calling for a ban of Origin because they were making some of EA's published games exclusive to the Origin Store. 2 years later and Origin claimed to have over 40 million active accounts.

I would propose that the only reason why anyone has even heard of Control is because of the controversy caused by it being an EGS exclusive. It wouldn't have got a quarter the publicity it did without that. Digital Bros/505 Games took the exclusivity contract because they feared it would flop no matter where it was sold.

It got pretty wide spread coverage by the gaming press. I just checked Metacritic and there are 29 reviews listed so far and most of the major sites reviewed it.

 

[kapone32]

This may be cynical on my part but I think there's a big difference between what some people say on the forums and what they really do. An example is when EA started the Origin Store. People were all over the internet calling for a ban of Origin because they were making some of EA's published games exclusive to the Origin Store. 2 years later and Origin claimed to have over 40 million active accounts.

You are absolutely right. I could be included in that as I was blasting Steam when I got TW Shogun 2 and had to install Steam to play the game.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

It got pretty wide spread coverage by the gaming press. I just checked Metacritic and there are 29 reviews listed so far and most of the major sites reviewed it.

Even games that flop get a lot of reviews. This is proof of nothing.

 

[oxidized]

I think only PCGamer gave a somewhat bad review on the game. The other sites that I saw gave it a good to very good review. This site said it was a good game as well. W1zzard summed it up in his performance review:

"Overall, Borderlands 3 is a highly entertaining shooter that's worth the cost if you liked Borderlands 2 and are willing to overlook that it's an Epic Store exclusive."

Borderlands 3 Benchmark Test & Performance Analysis

Borderlands 3 is the latest installment in the epic loot-and-shoot series. The graphics are greatly improved and you are free to pick between DirectX 11 or DirectX 12. We took the game for a spin using 23 of the latest graphics cards, testing 1080p, 1440p, and 4K in both DirectX 11 and DirectX 12.

www.techpowerup.com

I haven't played the game yet but I will probably enjoy it. I'm expecting the game to be a typical Borderlands game and I don't take the story seriously in that type of game.

No idea why you brought up Borderlands, but whatever. Control isn't not a poor game, it's an ok game, but it's heavily weighed down by the story and the characters, it's all confusing and nothing is explained, the ending is a clusterfu** and i guess that even replaying that won't help anyone understand, because the story is just poorly structured and narration is nonexistent. Also saying that many sites gave it a very good review, isn't going to make me change the idea, besides most of those sites have very low standards, and give non sufficient rates only to stuff i wouldn't even dare to rate, ridden with bugs and problems of all sorts.

 

[64K]

Even games that flop get a lot of reviews. This is proof of nothing.

My point was that Control did get a lot of press. Not just because it is an Epic exclusive.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

My point was that Control did get a lot of press. Not just because it is an Epic exclusive.

My point is that press coverage doesn't directly translate to sales.

505 Games/Digital Bros signed an exclusivity contract and it paid off. The rest is theory and conjecture.

 

[64K]

My point is that press coverage doesn't directly translate to sales.

505 Games/Digital Bros signed an exclusivity contract and it paid off. The rest is theory and conjecture.

I don't know why you said that no one would have heard about Control if not for being an EGS exclusive. It's getting plenty of reviews by major sites. Here's the latest review I read:

Review: Control is Remedy’s best game yet—and a ray tracing masterpiece

The promise of solid games like Alan Wake, Quantum Break has finally been fulfilled.

arstechnica.com

Surely sales will improve with such glowing reviews.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Just look at TPU:

TechPowerUp

www.techpowerup.com

The 2017 E3 announcement for Control got no coverage. What did get coverage? How did the press mostly find out about it? Remedy signing an EGS exclusivity contract in March of 2019. TPU is proof of this--other sites are similar. It wasn't on the radar for most people until EGS controversy put it there.

Websites like TPU and Arstechnica decided to review it because of RTX support. As demonstrated by your link, RTX is keeping Control in the tech press because it's now one of their benchmarking titles.


Edit: Arstechnica is the same way:

Ars Search

arstechnica.com

Went through 10 pages of results going back to October 25, 2018, and only got four hits, all after the exclusivity contract was announced:

Epic seems to have paid $10.5 million for Control’s PC exclusivity

Money likely came as advance against earnings ahead of Epic Games Store sales.

arstechnica.com

Dealmaster: 1TB SSDs, Control, PS4 Pros, and more in today’s top tech deals

Plus lots more video game deals, an Apple Watch Series 4 discount, and more.

arstechnica.com

Review: Control is Remedy’s best game yet—and a ray tracing masterpiece

The promise of solid games like Alan Wake, Quantum Break has finally been fulfilled.

arstechnica.com

Control pre-E3 hands-on: The modern-day X-Men video game we’ve always wanted

After the beautiful-but-uneven Quantum Break, Remedy has emerged from its labs with gold.

arstechnica.com

 

[oxidized]

Just look at TPU:

TechPowerUp

www.techpowerup.com

The 2017 E3 announcement for Control got no coverage. What did get coverage? How did the press mostly find out about it? Remedy signing an EGS exclusivity contract in March of 2019. TPU is proof of this--other sites are similar. It wasn't on the radar for most people until EGS controversy put it there.

Websites like TPU and Arstechnica decided to review it because of RTX support. As demonstrated by your link, RTX is keeping Control in the tech press because it's now one of their benchmarking titles.

It's remedy we're talking about here, they're pretty known, they don't need to sign an EGS exclusive to make people talk about them, they teased their P7 project and who follows the industry certainly was hyped for that, i was too, but ofc that was killed after they announced it would be EGS exclusive and it was buried when they showed the story trailer and hinted part of the game's plot.

 

[64K]

Just look at TPU:

TechPowerUp

www.techpowerup.com

The 2017 E3 announcement for Control got no coverage. What did get coverage?

But it did get coverage at 2018 E3.

Every game at E3 2018 and its PC outlook

Here's what we've seen so far, and whether you'll get to play them on PC.

www.pcgamer.com

https://youtu.be/8ZrV2n9oHb4

Almost everyone would have heard about this game if they frequent game sites.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

By PC Gamers which is literally their job. They cover everything at E3 (literally titled the article "Every game at E3" ).

Meh, you're trying to dismiss the importance of EGS in generating sales for Control. I've provided plenty of evidence EGS is the reason why Control did well. The fact 505 Games signed an exclusivity deal with EGS demonstrates they weren't confident it would do well to pay off their 7.75 million euro investment in Remedy to finish the game. By signing the deal, 505 Games was guaranteed to make a profit so they could go ahead and invest in another game before Control even launched.

I'm not even sure why this discussion is still continuing.

 

[64K]

By PC Gamers which is literally their job. They cover everything at E3 (literally titled the article "Every game at E3" ).

Meh, you're trying to dismiss the importance of EGS in generating sales for Control. I've provided plenty of evidence EGS is the reason why Control did well. The fact 505 Games signed an exclusivity deal with EGS demonstrates they weren't confident it would do well to pay off their 7.75 million euro investment in Remedy to finish the game. By signing the deal, 505 Games was guaranteed to make a profit so they could go ahead and invest in another game before Control even launched.

The EGS exclusive controversity probably did add to the game's coverage but I think 505 Games did it for the 10.5 million dollars and not because they feared it would fail. If Valve had offered a cash payment then they probably would have put the game on Steam.

It's just a drop in the bucket for Epic. Fortnite is still a cash cow for them. They had revenue of 2.4 billion dollars in 2018. Sweeney said he can't keep up doing exclusives on EGS but with that kind of success he can probably keep it up for years. I don't know how this is affecting Steam's bottom line because they are a privately held business and they aren't required to make their finances public.

 

[moproblems99]

The EGS exclusive controversity probably did add to the game's coverage but I think 505 Games did it for the 10.5 million dollars and not because they feared it would fail. If Valve had offered a cash payment then they probably would have put the game on Steam.

Come on now, you are way smarter than this reply. If they took the 10 mil guaranteed, why? Because they likely didn't think they would get 10 mil back on it through a normal release.

It didn't matter who offered the money, they would have taken the safety net.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

The EGS exclusive controversity probably did add to the game's coverage but I think 505 Games did it for the 10.5 million dollars and not because they feared it would fail. If Valve had offered a cash payment then they probably would have put the game on Steam.

Games usually make well over 90% of their revenue in the first six months. EGS exclusivity is like a laser beam where no exclusivity means casting a wide net (Origin, uPlay, Steam, GOG, Humble Bundle, Fanatical, Windows Store, etc.). It was a huge gamble for them to go with exclusivity because they lose a lot of market exposure by doing so. Even though EGS guarantees 9.49 million euros in sales, casting a wider net could potentially get much, much more. For Control, it's pretty obvious that 505 Games was not confident it would make 8 million euros...

The oddball is Borderlands 3. It's a known quantity and has sold exceptionally well in the past so why did Gearbox pursue exclusivity for that title? The most probable reason is Gearbox couldn't afford to finish the game without taking out a loan or finding some investors. A prepayment from EGS where they don't have to sell a share of the game is much more attractive and less risky. Yes, they still have the risk of not being able to cast a wide net but Gearbox is confident they can get that back through post-release DLCs and a re-release after exclusivity with much of the content baked into the game. The value added will keep the game attractive to buyers outside of EGS.

It's just a drop in the bucket for Epic. Fortnite is still a cash cow for them. They had revenue of 2.4 billion dollars in 2018. Sweeney said he can't keep up doing exclusives on EGS but with that kind of success he can probably keep it up for years. I don't know how this is affecting Steam's bottom line because they are a privately held business and they aren't required to make their finances public.

I think every exclusivity contract EGS signed has been win-win. Sweeney is going to keep doing it because it's profitable for everyone. There's a lot more demand for it than he anticipated.

The fact Valve hasn't done anything this year suggests Valve doesn't care.