Today, Epic Games is announcing a new multiplatform publishing effort with a developer-first approach. gen DESIGN (The Last Guardian), Playdead (Inside, Limbo), and Remedy Entertainment (Control) are the first partners to announce relationships with Epic Games Publishing.
The Epic Games approach to publishing fundamentally changes the developer/publisher model, and aims to have the most developer-friendly terms in the industry, so that creators can focus on making great games.
- Full creative freedom and ownership. Developers retain 100% of all intellectual property and full creative control of their work.
- Fully-funded projects. Epic Games Publishing will cover up to 100% of development costs, from developer salaries to go-to-market expenses such as QA, localization, marketing, and all publishing costs.
- 50/50 profit sharing. Developers earn a fair share for their work -- once costs are recouped, developers earn at least 50% of all profits.
“We’re building the publishing model we always wanted for ourselves when we worked with publishers,” said Tim Sweeney, Founder and CEO of Epic Games.
"gen DESIGN, Remedy, and Playdead are among the most innovative and talented studios in the industry, with strong visions for their next games,” said Hector Sanchez, Head of Epic Games Publishing. “They will have full creative control, while Epic will provide a solid foundation of project funding and services.”
Additional information, development partners, and games will be announced in the coming months.
Jerykk wrote on Mar 30, 2020, 12:21:Beamer wrote on Mar 30, 2020, 07:51:
Epic is curated as a bug. They don't have the ability to add everything, only what they think will sell. That's a nice side effect that will go away. Discoverability still sucks, and one is always better off researching off storefronts than on it.
Nah, it's not even about what's going to sell. Look at their actual selection. Did they really think Omen of Sorrow was going to sell well? Rune II? Bee Simulator? Any of the random, obscure indie games that they've given away for free?
Again, getting on EGS comes down to three things:
1) Timed exclusivity.
2) Giveaways.
3) Highly-anticipated games.
If you aren't doing one of those, you aren't getting on EGS.
Beamer wrote on Mar 30, 2020, 07:51:
Epic is curated as a bug. They don't have the ability to add everything, only what they think will sell. That's a nice side effect that will go away. Discoverability still sucks, and one is always better off researching off storefronts than on it.
Jerykk wrote on Mar 30, 2020, 03:41:Slick wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 19:57:
It's kind of nice to have an actual curated list of high-quality content, as opposed to the Alibaba Warehouse that is Steam.
Ah, yes, high quality content like Omen of Sorrow (64 MC), Sinking City (71 MC), Bee Simulator (58 MC), Mechwarrior 5 (74 MC), Shenmue III (69 MC) and Rune II (47 MC)...
EGS' selection has nothing to do with curation. If you want to get onto EGS, you need to do one of three things:
1) Accept a timed exclusivity deal.
2) Allow your game to be one of the weekly giveaways.
3) Be a highly-anticipated, high-profile AAA game like Cyberpunk or Death Stranding.Slick wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 19:57:
I like how it's assumed that given the choice, game developers wouldn't want their game on a store that takes 12% instead of 30%. Weather it's exclusive to that store or not, shouldn't they want their games be available to the world and not have to throw stacks of paper at Valve for the privilege?
Not a single publisher or developer has chosen to be EGS-exclusive because of the 88% cut. Those deals are entirely the result of Epic giving them significant lump sum payments. That's why every single EGS exclusive ends up on Steam and other platforms within a year. The larger cut doesn't mean shit when you're selling significantly fewer units.
As you said, publishers and developers should want their games to be as broadly available as possible. That means not being exclusive to EGS.Slick wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 19:57:
A game which doesn't use Steamworks or SteamVR doesn't need to be on Steam.
A game that doesn't use Steam APIs doesn't need to be exclusive to Steam. Games should be available on as many distribution platforms as possible. Steam, GOG, EGS, Uplay, Origin, Game Pass, Itch.io, etc. However, exclusivity deals (like the ones Epic does) prevent that from happening.
Slick wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 19:57:
It's kind of nice to have an actual curated list of high-quality content, as opposed to the Alibaba Warehouse that is Steam.
Slick wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 19:57:
I like how it's assumed that given the choice, game developers wouldn't want their game on a store that takes 12% instead of 30%. Weather it's exclusive to that store or not, shouldn't they want their games be available to the world and not have to throw stacks of paper at Valve for the privilege?
Slick wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 19:57:
A game which doesn't use Steamworks or SteamVR doesn't need to be on Steam.
The_Pink_Tiger wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 19:39:Valve said "Fuck you Vivendi, we don't want to pay your outrageous cut of the profits, we deserve the right to self-publish", and they won, and everyone cheered. Now other companies have said: "Fuck you Valve, we don't want to pay your outrageous cut of the profits, we deserve the right to self-publish." And everybody booed.
Actually, the part most people boo'd at was when the Epic said, "You can sell on our store but you can't sell it on Steam. Even if you promised your customers that you would. Even if you already took money saying that you'd do that." That's the part that got most people angry.
It's not the selling on Epic that upsets people, it's the exclusivity. Take a game like Subnautica; available on Steam but also available on EGS. Nobody is upset about that. But if they'd made it exclusive to one platform, that deserves some disdain. Especially if the platform has a significantly smaller audience and offers less features. PC gamers don't like exclusives. This preference of PC gamers was made quite obvious when EA did with Origin, so it shouldn't have surprised Epic when they followed suit.
It is true that I don't like the Epic Game Store. But this is not because I'm a "Steam fanboy"; in fact, in the beginning I was supportive of Epic's move because I agree that to some degree Valve has become complacent and needs shaking up. But I - and many others - do not like the methods Epic has chosen, and to disregard this concerns as simply "fanboyism" seems a willful blindness at best.
Valve said "Fuck you Vivendi, we don't want to pay your outrageous cut of the profits, we deserve the right to self-publish", and they won, and everyone cheered. Now other companies have said: "Fuck you Valve, we don't want to pay your outrageous cut of the profits, we deserve the right to self-publish." And everybody booed.
RedEye9 wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 19:03:
https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/free-games
World War Z, Figment and Tormentor X Punisher
jdreyer wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 15:46:Wait....what? I'm not outraged about any games not being on Steam with the exception of those that were advertised as such when the dev/publisher were accepting funds (pre-orders or kickstarter). My post was responding to the dead horse that Steam never does anything for PCGaming.
Blizzard and EA don't offer most of that stuff either. Where's your outrage about all of their games not being on Steam?
Steele Johnson wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 17:21:RedEye9 wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 14:40:
I had an idea for a sit-stand desk• and IKEA helped fund it. Now they won't let me sell it at Crate and Barrel, but I knew that when I entered the dealio.
•not me or my desk (also I never collaborated with IKEA on anything except the legal amount of horse and kangaroo they can include in their delicious meatballs)
How dare you make business deals and then try break them!?
Slick wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 17:40:
Good thing you guise aren't "fan boi nerd"s or anything.
lulz
Centralized patching / Optional versioning / Beta programs
wtf_man wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 17:36:Avus wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 17:02:Blizzard and EA don't offer most of that stuff either. Where's your outrage about all of their games not being on Steam?
This is why I don't even have EA Origin and any Blizzard games in my computers.
Ditto. (Not counting older games on GoG.)
Avus wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 17:02:Blizzard and EA don't offer most of that stuff either. Where's your outrage about all of their games not being on Steam?
This is why I don't even have EA Origin and any Blizzard games in my computers.
jdreyer wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 16:24:Slashman wrote on Mar 26, 2020, 16:03:
Now if Epic starts publishing games from developers from the ground up. Awesome. I won't be buying them but that's good for Epic and doesn't involve pulling shitty moves by advertising on Steam and then not selling there.
That's exactly what this story is about. So why are you complaining?