Bullock gave multiple reasons for the exclusivity agreement. Chief among them was the amount of exposure that MechWarrior 5 would get on the front page of the Epic Games Store as compared to Steam.
“It’s a good platform,” Bullock said, referring to Steam. “But, as we’ve done our updates and our little exposure rounds that they provide [for MechWarrior Online], what I’ve found is the critical mass [of other new games being released] is just so heavy over there that ... after a patch or something ... 10 hours later it’s done and you’re buried again. So that was a concern for us and, I think, it’s a growing concern for a lot of smaller developers.”
By contrast, Bullock said his team expects to be in front of Epic Games Store customers for a full month or more after his game comes out. Additionally, he cited the increased volume of new users that he expects will be adopting the platform for Borderlands 3, which will be releasing exclusively on the Epic Games Store around the same time as MechWarrior 5.
The goal, he said, is to sell at least 1 million copies of MechWarrior 5. Given what he knows about the sales of Harebrained Schemes’ BattleTech and other games in the same genre, he believes that’s entirely possible. Moreover, he feels it’s especially possible on the Epic Games Store.
CJ_Parker wrote on Aug 1, 2019, 11:43:Razumen wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 22:22:
If Epic was really doing this for devs and gamers, they'd waive it for any store. Just a scummy move to ramp up revenue from games that they'd usually only get 5% from up to 12%.
Engine licensing is Epic's core business model and the 5% is their flat fee regardless of where the game is sold. They only charge the 5% if a game generates at least $3,000 revenue per game per quarter.
If a game sells less (as may be the case with very small indie devs) then there is no fee and the engine can be used for free.Also, people are conveniently forgetting that Steam makes ZERO profit off of Steam keys that they generate for FREE for third party stores-so in those cases the developers get much more, possibly close to 100% in some cases.
People also conveniently forget to mention that devs can not request free Steam keys all willy-nilly. Valve reserves the right to deny high volume requests. Devs can't just generate the keys as they please. They have to request them and get approval.
When the devs sell on those "free" keys on 3rd party stores then e.g. Fanatical or GMG also take a cut so forget about 100%.
Bumpy wrote on Aug 1, 2019, 08:33:DarkCntry wrote on Aug 1, 2019, 01:58:MeanJim wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 21:00:
Here's a crazy idea: Release your game on all stores, and let people chose where to buy it. Raise the price on other stores that take a bigger cut to make up for the difference in what EGS takes. It's a win for everyone, consumers get to chose where to buy the game and the dev/pub gets the same profit, more probably since it would be available and getting exposure on more store fronts.
Yea, that would go over like a lead balloon...you'd have people yelling and screaming about how more expensive it is on X or Y store. I mean, we already get this a lot with things like GMG's prices compared to straight Steam.
There's really no 'good' way to do something like that and not have someone, somewhere, screaming about X store making things too expensive.
Boohoo, too bad. If someone wants it badly in their store of choice, they'd need to pay for it and support their freedom of choice.
I happily pay a higher price and buy whatever I can on GOG.com for their lack of anti-piracy software.
CJ_Parker wrote on Aug 1, 2019, 11:43:
When the devs sell on those "free" keys on 3rd party stores then e.g. Fanatical or GMG also take a cut so forget about 100%.
jdreyer wrote on Aug 1, 2019, 14:02:Nimh wrote on Aug 1, 2019, 06:44:Not true. There are lots of games for sale on EGS and Steam. Oxygen Not Included for example just came out of EA on both platforms.
Epic has no interest in non-exclusive new releases.
Nimh wrote on Aug 1, 2019, 06:44:Not true. There are lots of games for sale on EGS and Steam. Oxygen Not Included for example just came out of EA on both platforms.MeanJim wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 21:00:
Here's a crazy idea: Release your game on all stores, and let people chose where to buy it. Raise the price on other stores that take a bigger cut to make up for the difference in what EGS takes. It's a win for everyone, consumers get to chose where to buy the game and the dev/pub gets the same profit, more probably since it would be available and getting exposure on more store fronts.
Epic has no interest in non-exclusive new releases.
CJ_Parker wrote on Aug 1, 2019, 11:43:We are in the era of conveniently forgetting facts. sighRazumen wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 22:22:
If Epic was really doing this for devs and gamers, they'd waive it for any store. Just a scummy move to ramp up revenue from games that they'd usually only get 5% from up to 12%.
Engine licensing is Epic's core business model and the 5% is their flat fee regardless of where the game is sold. They only charge the 5% if a game generates at least $3,000 revenue per game per quarter.
If a game sells less (as may be the case with very small indie devs) then there is no fee and the engine can be used for free.Also, people are conveniently forgetting that Steam makes ZERO profit off of Steam keys that they generate for FREE for third party stores-so in those cases the developers get much more, possibly close to 100% in some cases.
People also conveniently forget to mention that devs can not request free Steam keys all willy-nilly. Valve reserves the right to deny high volume requests. Devs can't just generate the keys as they please. They have to request them and get approval.
When the devs sell on those "free" keys on 3rd party stores then e.g. Fanatical or GMG also take a cut so forget about 100%.
Razumen wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 22:22:
If Epic was really doing this for devs and gamers, they'd waive it for any store. Just a scummy move to ramp up revenue from games that they'd usually only get 5% from up to 12%.
Also, people are conveniently forgetting that Steam makes ZERO profit off of Steam keys that they generate for FREE for third party stores-so in those cases the developers get much more, possibly close to 100% in some cases.
DarkCntry wrote on Aug 1, 2019, 01:58:MeanJim wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 21:00:
Here's a crazy idea: Release your game on all stores, and let people chose where to buy it. Raise the price on other stores that take a bigger cut to make up for the difference in what EGS takes. It's a win for everyone, consumers get to chose where to buy the game and the dev/pub gets the same profit, more probably since it would be available and getting exposure on more store fronts.
Yea, that would go over like a lead balloon...you'd have people yelling and screaming about how more expensive it is on X or Y store. I mean, we already get this a lot with things like GMG's prices compared to straight Steam.
There's really no 'good' way to do something like that and not have someone, somewhere, screaming about X store making things too expensive.
MeanJim wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 21:00:
Here's a crazy idea: Release your game on all stores, and let people chose where to buy it. Raise the price on other stores that take a bigger cut to make up for the difference in what EGS takes. It's a win for everyone, consumers get to chose where to buy the game and the dev/pub gets the same profit, more probably since it would be available and getting exposure on more store fronts.
Red886 wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 23:58:
EPIC is just forced savings for 12 months.
not too bad considering games exclusive to EPIC in 2019 thus far is rather shit.
Creston wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 23:30:Shock wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 21:24:Creston wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 11:19:
Can't fault his math, but I find it curious that he says he can stay on the front page of the EGS for a longer time than with Steam (Certainly a possibility), but then he releases around the same time as BL3.
No offense, buddy, but which of these two games do you think is going to be front and center?
There's 3 months difference between release dates.
Borderlands 3 - Sept 13
Mechwarrior 5 - December 10
Oh okay. I was just going by what the guy said himself. "which will be releasing exclusively on the Epic Games Store around the same time as MechWarrior 5."
Razumen wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 22:22:jdreyer wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 22:02:Razumen wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 20:26:Tipsy McStagger wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 17:17:jdreyer wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 15:46:
Yeah, I doubt it's 10 to 1. That said, if it's double:
500K copies @ $50 per game on EGS @ 88% revenue = $22M
1M copies @ $50 per game on Steam @ 65% revenue = $32.5M
I'll take it one further for this example of break even is 177k more game copies
677k copies @ $50 per game on steam @ 65% revenue = $22M
Steam takes 30%, not 35%.
If you had read Blue's blurb, you'd know that in addition to Steam's 30%, PG must pay Epic 5% for licensing the Unreal engine. That 5% is waived if they use the EGS. So revenue losses are 35% on Steam but only 12% on EGS.
If Epic was really doing this for devs and gamers, they'd waive it for any store. Just a scummy move to ramp up revenue from games that they'd usually only get 5% from up to 12%.
Also, people are conveniently forgetting that Steam makes ZERO profit off of Steam keys that they generate for FREE for third party stores-so in those cases the developers get much more, possibly close to 100% in some cases.
MeanJim wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 21:00:
Here's a crazy idea: Release your game on all stores, and let people chose where to buy it. Raise the price on other stores that take a bigger cut to make up for the difference in what EGS takes. It's a win for everyone, consumers get to chose where to buy the game and the dev/pub gets the same profit, more probably since it would be available and getting exposure on more store fronts.
Shock wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 21:24:Creston wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 11:19:
Can't fault his math, but I find it curious that he says he can stay on the front page of the EGS for a longer time than with Steam (Certainly a possibility), but then he releases around the same time as BL3.
No offense, buddy, but which of these two games do you think is going to be front and center?
There's 3 months difference between release dates.
Borderlands 3 - Sept 13
Mechwarrior 5 - December 10
jdreyer wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 22:02:Damn Your Eyes!Razumen wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 20:26:Tipsy McStagger wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 17:17:jdreyer wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 15:46:
Yeah, I doubt it's 10 to 1. That said, if it's double:
500K copies @ $50 per game on EGS @ 88% revenue = $22M
1M copies @ $50 per game on Steam @ 65% revenue = $32.5M
I'll take it one further for this example of break even is 177k more game copies
677k copies @ $50 per game on steam @ 65% revenue = $22M
Steam takes 30%, not 35%.
If you had read Blue's blurb, you'd know that in addition to Steam's 30%, PG must pay Epic 5% for licensing the Unreal engine. That 5% is waived if they use the EGS. So revenue losses are 35% on Steam but only 12% on EGS.
jdreyer wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 22:02:Razumen wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 20:26:Tipsy McStagger wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 17:17:jdreyer wrote on Jul 31, 2019, 15:46:
Yeah, I doubt it's 10 to 1. That said, if it's double:
500K copies @ $50 per game on EGS @ 88% revenue = $22M
1M copies @ $50 per game on Steam @ 65% revenue = $32.5M
I'll take it one further for this example of break even is 177k more game copies
677k copies @ $50 per game on steam @ 65% revenue = $22M
Steam takes 30%, not 35%.
If you had read Blue's blurb, you'd know that in addition to Steam's 30%, PG must pay Epic 5% for licensing the Unreal engine. That 5% is waived if they use the EGS. So revenue losses are 35% on Steam but only 12% on EGS.
For all sales between $10 million and $50 million, the split goes to 25 percent. And for every sale after the initial $50 million, Steam will take just a 20 percent cut. “The value of a large network like Steam has many benefits that are contributed to and shared by all the participants