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Epic Games Store tops $680 million in player spending and over 100 million users (free games promotion will continue through 2020)

arcadepc

arcadepc

Banned
Dec 28, 2019
1,925
Add in-game forums, workshop support, reviews, mods, patches, guides, discussions etc Only Steam and to a lesser extent GOG do that. Epic Store feels now like another bland console interface like Xbox store, Uplay, origin, etc were players don't matter.
Even the best exclusives can not make up for it
 

Deleted member 16452

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,276
arcadepc said:
Add in-game forums, workshop support, reviews, mods, patches, guides, discussions etc Only Steam and to a lesser extent GOG do that. Epic Store feels now like another bland console interface like Xbox store, Uplay, origin, etc were players don't matter.
Even the best exclusives can not make up for it
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At the end of the day its about getting and playing games and for that purpose it works.

Hopefully they keep improving the store/launcher like they have been doing last year.
 
ThreepwoodMighty

ThreepwoodMighty

Banned
Dec 14, 2019
464
LewieP said:
Lol if you joke about shopping carts to Tim Sweeney on twitter he adds you to this list


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He added me as well.
 
Madjoki

Madjoki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,230
daxy said:
We could do that in the early 2000s. No excuse for me. I don't like it when Nintendo is so behind on services. Don't like it here either.
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Control on EGS, and things like Lack of achievement and in game guides made me feel like I was playing dirty pirated version instead of legit copy.

I don't even really care about achievements, but it's really something you expect from legit games.

And accessing guides direct from game is so convenient.
 
ThreepwoodMighty

ThreepwoodMighty

Banned
Dec 14, 2019
464
Madjoki said:
Control on EGS, and things like Lack of achievement and in game guides made me feel like I was playing dirty pirated version instead of legit copy.

I don't even really care about achievements, but it's really something you expect from legit games.

And accessing guides direct from game is so convenient.
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The lack of achievements is really annoying if you like them. That's enough to keep me from using this store.

Also achievements are very boring and poorly implemented into Steam, but at least they're there.
 
Alexandros

Alexandros

Member
Oct 26, 2017
17,794
2Bee said:
At the end of the day its about getting and playing games and for that purpose it works.

Hopefully they keep improving the store/launcher like they have been doing last year.
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I would argue that for many people (at least if those Playtracker estimates are even somewhat accurate) Steam is more than just a way to acquire and play games. The estimated sales numbers for most EGS exclusives seem to indicate that most people would rather wait for a game to hit Steam and then buy it.
 
DeadlyVenom

DeadlyVenom

Member
Apr 3, 2018
2,763
With all the paying for flat rate discounts, paying for sales advances, paying for free games to give away, paying for everything besides development of their platform I wonder how much they actually MADE off this store?

How long are they willing to play the loss leader and try to get a slice of the marketplace?

Because, I'll take your free games and make you pay those developers for them, but it doesn't make me want to spend money on your store.
 
Paertan

Paertan

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,383
Good that it is successful. I really like that they are taking a lower cut of revenue from the developers. I hope it spreads.
 
.exe

.exe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,206
Is there a figure on how many of those '108 million accounts that downloaded at least one game' did not just download Fortnite? That would be interesting to have.
 
.exe

.exe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,206
GhostTrick said:
And that's if you count Fortnite.
If you limit to the store, the number is 2.32 dollars per users in a whole year.
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Wonder what the avg and median spend is per paying user (who does not only play/spend on Fortnite).
The numbers we have are still a little vague.
 
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Mass_Pincup

Mass_Pincup

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,121
cw_sasuke said:
Not really, since they are still establishing the plattform and many signed up because of Fortnite which they play for free or the free games. The performance is ahead of their internal expectations.
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I mean the fact that their internal expectations were below that amount says it all really. And if in a whole year, with all their promotions (directly impacting their bottom line) they still failed to convert non paying customers into paying customers, I don't see what's going to change in the future since at some point they're going to stop their spending spree.

This shows an unwillingless for EGS' user to actually buy games. It's a bit problematic when your trying to be a game store.

GhostTrick said:
And that's if you count Fortnite.
If you limit to the store, the number is 2.32 dollars per users in a whole year.
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That's insane, I wonder how long they're going to run it as a loss.
 
DeadlyVenom

DeadlyVenom

Member
Apr 3, 2018
2,763
So wait, Fortnite's revenue on PC was nearly double that of every other game on their store combined?

That $250m figure seems kind of low considering how much money they have been spending to acquire exclusives, discounts, and free games. No way they turned a profit on 12% of that.
 
GhostTrick

GhostTrick

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,297
daxy said:
Wonder what the avg and median spend per paying user (who does not only play Fortnite) is.
The numbers we have are still a little vague.
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I'd like to know indeed how many of those 108M users bought a game and not "redeemed a free game".

Mass_Pincup said:
That's insane, I wonder how long they're going to run it as a loss.
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Those 251M dollars are revenue generated for 3rd parties btw. Out of those, Epic generated 30 millions of dollar through their cut. That's ridiculously unsustainable.
Especially when you consider that they run on razor thin margin with subpar services and move costs onto customers.

And when you realize that out of those 30 millions of dollar, you can already remove 23 millions of dollar of coupons... And 10 millions for Control exclusivity. They litterally bled money if you count the free games and other exclusives. To achieve such a low number in the end.
 
Mass_Pincup

Mass_Pincup

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
7,121
GhostTrick said:
Those 251M dollars are revenue generated for 3rd parties btw. Out of those, Epic generated 30 millions of dollar through their cut. That's ridiculously unsustainable.
Especially when you consider that they run on razor thin margin with subpar services and move costs onto customers.

And when you realize that out of those 30 millions of dollar, you can already remove 23 millions of dollar of coupons... And 10 millions for Control exclusivity. They litterally bled money if you count the free games and other exclusives. To achieve such a low number in the end.
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I'm still dumbfounded at anyone greenlighting this initiative with a lower revenue forecast than what they achieved.

To put the $251 millions figure into perspctive, it's about 4.2 million copies of a AAA games, for a full fiscal year. I think they also have about 80-90 timed exclusive games, which would make an average gross of 2.7 millions per game.That's insanely low.
 
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GhostTrick

GhostTrick

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,297
Mass_Pincup said:
I'm still dumbfounded at anyone greenlighting this initiative with a lower revenue forecast then what they achieved.

To put the $251 millions figure into perspctive, it's about 4.2 million copies of a AAA games, for a full fiscal year. I think they also have about 80-90 timed exclusive games, which would make an average gross of 2.7 millions per game.That's insanely low.
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Now, let's say Borderlands 3 sold between 1 to 1.5 million copies on EGS.
That's between 60 to 90M dollars for ONE title out of those 251M.
 
Catshade

Catshade

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,197
I can see (well, speculate) that the free games program and the $10 coupon works better for them (in terms of acquiring new users) than, say, 10 million bucks for Control exclusivity. More free games and less exclusivity is win-win for everyone, I suppose.
 
Rand a. Thor

Rand a. Thor

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
10,213
Greece
The free games thing has been an absolute life saver with how little disposable income I have. Just gotta hope they redo some of the earlier stuff like Fez or Axiom Verge cause i missed em the first time, and we get more legacy remasters like Darksiders.
 
texhnolyze

texhnolyze

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,144
Indonesia
Paertan said:
Good that it is successful. I really like that they are taking a lower cut of revenue from the developers. I hope it spreads.
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No, it's not. When it comes to 3rd party games, they're running the store in red. Fortnite is still the main source of income, funding everything.

Read the OP fully or at least this page to get more insight.

Catshade said:
I can see (well, speculate) that the free games program and the $10 coupon works better for them (in terms of acquiring new users) than, say, 10 million bucks for Control exclusivity. More free games and less exclusivity is win-win for everyone, I suppose.
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Yeah, true. Combined with regional pricing, those coupons are too good to pass up. Some AAA games released in 2019 went as low as below $10 for some regions.

Now THAT is an incentive that potential customers need.
 
DeadlyVenom

DeadlyVenom

Member
Apr 3, 2018
2,763
If they are hoping that this can be their cash cow in the long term, once the Fortnite money dries up...I don't think they are doing enough to encourage people to stick around. Once they aren't paying for exclusives, paying for discounts, or paying for free games there is nothing left of the platform to speak of. If they are just making this store out of the goodness of their hearts to dump money into for no return and to just give games away forever, then I guess they are doing a good job.
 
Alastor3

Alastor3

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Oct 28, 2017
8,297
DeadlyVenom said:
If they are hoping that this can be their cash cow in the long term, once the Fortnite money dries up...I don't think they are doing enough to encourage people to stick around. Once they aren't paying for exclusives, paying for discounts, or paying for free games there is nothing left of the platform to speak of. If they are just making this store out of the goodness of their hearts to dump money into for no return and to just give games away forever, then I guess they are doing a good job.
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It's not like they have only Fortnite for a cash flow, didn't i heard they have like 20+ unrevealed games they are working on?
 
Delusibeta

Delusibeta

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
5,648
Alastor3 said:
It's not like they have only Fortnite for a cash flow, didn't i heard they have like 20+ unrevealed games they are working on?
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That's news to me, unless you're confusing Epic with Riot.

That said, considering Epic launched Battle Breakers (which promptly sunk without trace) this year, I would expect Epic would have something in the pipe. Just not 20+ somethings, y'know.
 
Paertan

Paertan

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,383
texhnolyze said:
No, it's not. When it comes to 3rd party games, they're running the store in red. Fortnite is still the main source of income, funding everything.

Read the OP fully or at least this page to get more insight.
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Ah too bad they are doing it with a loss. Not that rare when establishing in a new market. Hopefully they can turn around soon enough.
 
Dr. Ludwig

Dr. Ludwig

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,518
DeadlyVenom said:
If they are hoping that this can be their cash cow in the long term, once the Fortnite money dries up...I don't think they are doing enough to encourage people to stick around. Once they aren't paying for exclusives, paying for discounts, or paying for free games there is nothing left of the platform to speak of. If they are just making this store out of the goodness of their hearts to dump money into for no return and to just give games away forever, then I guess they are doing a good job.
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One of the talking points their EGS head Sergey Galyonkin loved to brag about in the beginning was how the store won't pursue the same strategy of deep sales like Steam does in order not to lower the percieved value of games to customers.

A year later, here they are doing deep sales and coupons that they take losses on and handing out quality games for free on a weekly basis like candy.

They're literally making shit up as they're going along with this damned store.
 
ThreepwoodMighty

ThreepwoodMighty

Banned
Dec 14, 2019
464
AJ_Wings said:
One of the talking points their EGS head Sergey Galyonkin loved to brag about in the beginning was how the store won't pursue the same strategy of deep sales like Steam does in order not to lower the percieved value of games to customers.

A year later, here they are doing deep sales and coupons that they take losses on and handing out quality games for free on a weekly basis.

They're literally making shit up as they're going along with this damned store.
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What did you expect? Tim Sweeney just woke up one day and realized that he was going to make his own store before getting out of bed. They then made up a roadmap that was to ambitious for them to handle. And one year later the store is as barebone as ever.
 
BeI

BeI

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Dec 9, 2017
5,966
GhostTrick said:
Now, let's say Borderlands 3 sold between 1 to 1.5 million copies on EGS.
That's between 60 to 90M dollars for ONE title out of those 251M.
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Do we know if free copies of games are included in any of the metrics for the store's performance? 6/9 of their most popular games came for free with GPU / CPU hardware in 2019. Borderlands 3 in particular, which still comes free with any mid-range AMD GPU or CPU. And AMD hardware has been ridiculously cheap in the last year whilst offering those deals.
 
tmarg

tmarg

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Oct 25, 2017
1,690
Kalamazoo
The numbers are just consumer spending. My guess is that the bundled copies are ones that epic prepurchased as part of exclusivity deals.
 
EloKa

EloKa

GSP
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
1,905
AJ_Wings said:
One of the talking points their EGS head Sergey Galyonkin loved to brag about in the beginning was how the store won't pursue the same strategy of deep sales like Steam does in order not to lower the percieved value of games to customers.

A year later, here they are doing deep sales and coupons that they take losses on and handing out quality games for free on a weekly basis like candy.

They're literally making shit up as they're going along with this damned store.
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Epic should add a cheap PR spin like "revenue is 60% more than our initial forecast" so people will immediately think those numbers must be great then.

Some posters will absolutely ignore the fact that their initial forecast was based on their initial store strategy. A strategy which included having no discounts, no coupon codes, no deep sales, going for only a handfull of exclusives and handing out around 15 free games to kickstart the store. Once the EGS is running fine on its own with that initial strategy, like in april or may 2019, they will stop throwing money into the EGS and still reach their intial forecast. WOW! They got 60% more?
 
ThreepwoodMighty

ThreepwoodMighty

Banned
Dec 14, 2019
464
The exclusivity deals on EGS doesn't bother me as long as they are timed exclusives. I'm always lagging behind, and have too much to play.

But do we know for a fact that everything on EGS is times? Do we know that Ubisoft will release their games on Steam after one year? Can't seem to find any info on this.
 
texhnolyze

texhnolyze

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Oct 25, 2017
23,144
Indonesia
ThreepwoodMighty said:
The exclusivity deals on EGS doesn't bother me as long as they are timed exclusives. I'm always lagging behind, and have too much to play.

But do we know for a fact that everything on EGS is times? Do we know that Ubisoft will release their games on Steam after one year? Can't seem to find any info on this.
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Lots of games have 12 months exclusivity, while some others are still unknown (such as Ubisoft). Someone made a spreadsheet here.
 
Hamster Plugin

Hamster Plugin

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Oct 25, 2017
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ThreepwoodMighty said:
The exclusivity deals on EGS doesn't bother me as long as they are timed exclusives. I'm always lagging behind, and have too much to play.

But do we know for a fact that everything on EGS is times? Do we know that Ubisoft will release their games on Steam after one year? Can't seem to find any info on this.
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Ubisoft has not said anything, but they aren't full exclusives anyway. There is quite a high chance that Ubisoft used this as an excuse to exit Steam and push Uplay more, because they want to sell Uplay+.

So far everything else is timed. The only known exception is Dauntless which was never on Steam but used its own launcher before they went with Epic.
 
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