Sweeney, CEO of Epic, recently reported in an interview* that its
exclusives program --where Epic paid publishers to release games
/only/ through Epic-- were 'not a good investment'. They didn't bring
much in the way of return on revenue, and didn't do much to bring in
new customers.
At least not compared to its free games program, anyway.
Which really shouldn't be too much of a surprise; one of the biggest
complaints gamers have had about the Epic Game Store from the onset
was their dislike of the exclusivity deals. Many players boycotted EGS
entirely, and even when they didn't, many publishers have reported
that their time as an EGS exclusive hasn't been particularly
profitable, as many gamers just wait until the game appears on Steam
before they purchase. Developers aren't too upset with the program,
since they see the EGS exclusivity period as an extended -and
paid-for-by-Epic - early access program, with the final release being
when the game is released on other platforms.
Nor should the success of the free games program be surprising; it is,
after all, exactly what it was designed for. Onboarding new customers
--that is, getting them to visit your website, and take the time to
create an account-- is one of the most difficult parts of any online
sale. Free games ease the pain for customers, making them more likely
to perform the necessary first steps. And once you've created an
account, you're magnitudes more likely to actually buy something from
the store in the future.
How much this actually effects sales isn't entirely clear. New user
growth has definitely slowed; while between 2019 and 2020, the user
base ballooned by 48%, between 2022 and 2023, the increase was down to
a 10% increase (total users in 2024 were 260 million). At this point,
pretty much everyone who is interested likely already has an Epic
account. Even more, it's not clear how many of those people who signed
up for Epic accounts actually ever BUY anything. It's anecdotal, but
almost everyone I know who has Epic only ever opens the client to get
the free game, and never purchases anything from the store. I strongly
suspect the only real advantage to the free games program is to
bolster Epic's numbers when it advertises to publishers, but means
nothing when it comes to increased revenue.
Despite all this, Epic remains committed to both its exclusivity deal
program and it's free games. Well, I won't complain about the latter
(The Number Must Grow!) and as for the former, well... it really
doesn't bother me. I'm not rushing out to buy new games when they're
new anyway, and if I have to wait out a 1-year exclusivity deal before
I buy a game, I don't really care too much. I'll just wait until it's
on Steam or GOG. I certainly won't be giving any of my cash to Epic.
* read here
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/many-of-epics-exclusivity-deals-were-not-good-investments-says-tim-sweeney-but-the-free-games-program-has-been-just-magical/
Epic: Exclusives Not Worth It