Epic Games' First Exclusives Were Flops; Only One Game Turned Profit
The documents released during the trial between Epic Games and Apple reveal even more interesting data. According to the latest information, the only exclusive game that made a profit for Epic in the first wave of exclusives was Satisfactiory.
- Documents from the lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple have revealed that Steam's main competitor lost a lot on Epic Games Store exclusives;
- Of the 23 games that were released between December 2018 and June 2019, only Satisfactory turned a profit.
More Epic Games secrets are coming to light due to the lawsuit with Apple. The latest revelations concern titles that were temporary exclusives on Epic Games Store, specifically the money the corporation had to spend to keep the games. According to GameDiscoverCo newsletter, we recently learned the list of titles from so-called "first wave" of EGS exclusives, released between December 2018 and June 2019 (23 items). Of the many games made available on EGS during that period, only one made a profit for Steam's competitor.
Source: GameDiscoverCo
The list does not reveal the titles, but here's where the invaluable help of netizens comes into play. Reddit user MrBubbaJ matched the release dates with the titles, which gives fairly comprehensive stats. Of course, these are not official information, but we can safely assume that most of Reddit user's work matches reality
The aforementioned data shows that the only game that "broke even" and earned some money is Satisfactory, released on March 19, 2019. Epic Games assumed the game would bring in revenue of at least $11.5 million (MG - minimum guarantee); the game made $11.6 million, coming out just barely positive. But this is the only game on which the company did not lose. The rest of the games released as exclusives in Epic Games Store reported results below expectations.
For example, Metro Exodus, which two years ago was a strong selling point in the platform's catalog, earned 22.2 million dollars less than expected. The expected sales result was set at $37 million, while 4A Games' title earned just over a third of this amount.
Nevertheless, Epic Games can afford to pay extra to have exclusive games, otherwise it wouldn't have announced other big titles that will not appear on Steam in digital distribution. However, the platform prefers to keep silent about the losses incurred during the "first wave". The company has not issued any official position.
