Epic Games (archive)

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, the game sold 1M copies in three days after its Epic and consoles release, and it was just revealed that the total number of players is 7M, less than a month after the game was released on Steam.

The SteamDB owner estimations put the number of Steam owners at 131K-209K, with 12K concurrent players at its best.

This suggests that most of the sales took place before the Steam release, but it's unclear how many of the sales were on the Epic store compared to the consoles. Either way, it's a major success for the game.

The article contains some important clarifications by Epic:

After publication, an Epic Games representative reached out to give us a more current figure. These days, Tencent owns about 35% of Epic shares.

Epic is an American company based in North Carolina. Tim's the controlling shareholder. There is no realistic chance of the Tik Tok scenario occurring with Epic. In the worst case scenario, Tencent would have to sell 15% to other shareholders, and business would continue on as usual.

Some highlights:

• Users who claim free games convert to paying at about 30% on average
• Expect free games for years to come
• Reminder that developers can keep 100% revenue of their in-app purchases
• Kyle Billings appears to have taken Sergiy Galyonkin's place as the store strategy director
• Ground to make up, 2024 and 2025 to be focused on enhancing the player experience
• Epic rewards first of its kind on PC, 5% goes back to the player
• Crossplay required for new games reminder
• 1919 of the 3174 games were via the self-publishing system
• New Epic Savings sales to last two weeks, occur multiple times a year
• Ongoing work includes launcher performance and wishlist improvements
• Features planned for 2024 and 2025 include improvements to the download manager, activity feed introduction, personalized store suggestions, pre-loading for self-published games, third-party subscriptions, publisher-funded coupons, dynamic discounts for bundles

Alongside this exciting update, Fallout 4 will be available to purchase on the Epic Games Store.

Story trailer is also out.

• Battlefield 1 Revolution
• Battlefield 4 Premium Edition
• Battlefield Hardline Ultimate Edition
• Dead Space (2008)
• Dead Space 2
• Need for Speed Deluxe Edition
• Need for Speed Heat Deluxe Edition
• Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered
• Need for Speed Most Wanted
• Need for Speed Payback - Deluxe Edition

John Davidson of The Australian Financial Review has been reporting on the ongoing 16-week trial of Apple and Google, with the other party represented not only by Epic but also Australian phone users as a class. Tim Sweeney himself is to testify.

The updates so far:

• Monster court case could speed the end of Apple’s walled garden (Web Archive)
• Epic Games opens case against Apple, Google (Web Archive)
• Judge led through ‘sideloading’ Fortnite – and finds it all too hard (Web Archive)
• What did Epic Games say to a Melbourne judge that made Apple so mad? (Web Archive)
• What peanut butter has to do with what’s available in the App Store (Web Archive)
• iPhone will be ‘degraded’ if Epic wins court case, Apple warns (Web Archive)
• Epic battle with Apple and Google heads into the wilds (Web Archive)
• Fortnite billionaire admits he loved, deceived Apple (Web Archive)
• Apple exec’s secret to success: don’t take notes (Web Archive)

Edit: Added the web archive links to the full articles.

From a financial report by Remedy.

Previously, it was announced that "the game has already recouped a significant part of the development and marketing expenses"

The game uses UE 5.4 and Epic's MetaHuman Creator. More on the game tech in this video.

From Wolfire v. Valve.

Sent: Monday, December 3, 2018 4:13 PM

To: Gabe Newell; Erik Johnson

Ok, our announcement (below) is going live with tomorrow. The Epic Games store is launching Thursday at The Game Awards.

Later this week, we'll be escalating a conversation with Apple in which an authoritarian government (not China) is demanding that either Epic alter Fortnite on iOS or Apple block it, and we'll be responding with a memo on the human rights principles that would be violated by either action. We'll be refusing and asking Apple to either continue to carrying Fortnite or to permit Epic to distribute it directly to customers through an Enterprise Certificate, and escalating as needed. Fortnite is consistently the top-grossing game on iOS.

So, the question of open platforms and store economics will be foremost on Apple execs’ minds this week. I believe the best outcome can be achieved if Apple speedily concludes that the combination of an app store monopoly and 30% fees is untenable, and that opening iOS up is the best stop-loss strategy.

Right now, you assholes are telling the world that the strong and powerful get special terms, while 30% is for the little people. We're all in for a prolonged battle if Apple tries to keep their monopoly and 30% by cutting backroom deals with big publishers to keep them quiet. Why not give ALL developers a better deal? What better way is there to convince Apple quickly that their model is now totally untenable?

-Tim

"We are investigating but there is currently zero evidence that these claims are legitimate," an Epic Games spokesperson told Eurogamer this morning.