[Mista]

As of September 2019, Epic Games had signed up 105 exclusives for the Epic Games Store, amounting to a total of just over $1 billion spent securing them. That’s according to documents released as part of the ongoing Epic vs. Apple trial, which is unearthing some very interesting business dealings indeed.

In its October 2019 ‘Review of Performance and Strategy’ document (hosted here as a .pdf), it’s reiterated that Epic spent $444 million on its 2019 exclusive launches: we already knew that. But it also confirms that $542 million was spent on 2019 launch exclusives, while—as of September 2019—it had already spent $52 million securing four exclusives for 2021. Naturally, that number will have increased since.


It’s hardly breaking news that Epic Games is throwing a heck of a lot of money at its PC storefront, but $1 billion on exclusive launches—most of them timed, as they usually come to Steam after 12 months—is a startling number. Far more startling than the $11 million it spent between December 2018 and September 2019 on its free games offerings, which seems fairly miniscule given how many new account sign-ups it cultivated.

The exclusives will likely continue, too. According to Epic’s “Aggressive Pursuit Model”—that is, the model they’ll follow if things are going well—it’ll aim for 52 exclusives in 2021, 36 in 2022, 34 in 2023 and 34 in 2024.

Epic Games has spent at least $1 billion on exclusives

Previously confidential documents offer more proof of Epic’s sledgehammer approach to gaining marketshare.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[regawdless]

Ok, now that's a lot of money. But I think it's a smart investment at the right point in time. As long as FortNite is flooding them with money, better make sure to use that money to build the future success for the company.

 

[HariSeldon]

You don't spend that money without expecting to make it back. You spend it to buy market share and destroy competitors so that you can then control the market and squeeze customers.

 

[Test]

aggressive pursuit mode when things are going well is pure savagery

long live unreal engine

 

[Grinchy]

PC store exclusives are so pointless, though. It's not like a game can take advantage of the store to be better.

People bitch about console exclusives but at least they can take complete advantage of the hardware they are on.

 

[Test]

 

[Mista]

You don't spend that money without expecting to make it back. You spend it to buy market share and destroy competitors so that you can then control the market and squeeze customers.

I mean they made 9 billion from Fortnites first two years so that's nothing