The Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit is bringing the fans closer to open data. Due to its trial phase, multiple documents have started revealing the amount of cash Epic Games paid for exclusivity and freebies on the Epic Games store. Many anti-trust issues that have arisen between the two giants Epic Games and Apple, have been sources of some important data, which publication didn’t go unnoticed.
Among the info provided, there is trustworthy expenditure data on Epic Games freebies and exclusives. Among the games on which Epic Games spent a lot of money is Borderlands 3, 2K Games action-RPG first-person shooter, paying $146 million. The investment got paid back in the time span of two weeks after the game has become exclusively available on the Epic Games Store.
Also notable: Epic paid Take-Two $146 million in advances for PC Borderlands 3 exclusivity ($115 million for the game + marketing + one-off fee) and recouped the minimum guarantee part ($80mil) in just the first 2 weeks. pic.twitter.com/3YThZuy5pJ
— Simon Carless (@simoncarless) May 4, 2021
But that’s not all. Epic Games had also brought tons of new game titles that have been a part of the Epic Games Store’s free games promotions and other stuff. Whether is a weekly or monthly basis, there are numerous free-to-acquire titles on the Epic Games Store that still cost the company money. Epic Games has spent a total of whopping $11.6 million on freebies only in its first nine months of Epic Games Store’s existence.
Epic Games’ goal is to expand the Store’s user base, and the best way to do that would be a promotion of this caliber, where free games could attain a higher number of consumers on its platform. Only in September 2019, Epic Games already had 38 games available for free.
Subnautica, solely, the first-ever game that had started the Epic Games tradition of free copy giveaways is the highest acquired video game on the Epic Games Store, with 805,052 users collecting the title in their free EGS library.
The Epic Games Store is undoubtedly the most popular free-video-game dispensing machine at this moment. It is also one of the reasons why the platform is still breathing solidly up to this day, despite the lower store cuts compared to Valve’s Steam.
