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News video games 05 May 2021, 14:29

author: Bart Swiatek

Epic Games Store Spent $1 Billion on Exclusives

Epic Games has already spent over a billion dollars on exclusive games for Epic Games Store. This is part of a strategy to capture up to half of the PC gaming market.

IN A NUTSHELL:

  1. Epic Games has already spent over $1 billion on EGS-exclusive titles;
  2. The company projects that it could control up to 50% of the PC gaming market by 2024 (in the most optimistic scenario).

Thanks to recently revealed documents from the lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple, we learned how much money the former spent on buying exclusive titles for Epic Games Store. It turns out that a considerable fortune has already been spent on this purpose - more than a billion dollars, 542 million of which went on 2019 titles, 444 million on 2020 games and 52 million for this year's "purchases" (at least, because the sum is probably bigger by now).

Epic Games Store Spent $1 Billion on Exclusives - picture #1
A page of the report showing data on the cost of EGS exclusives.

But that's not all - it is also worth noting the information contained at the bottom of the above slide, as well as on the next page, in the section describing the possible scenarios for Epic Games Store. According to the most optimistic variant - assuming "no reaction" from Steam - by 2024 Tim Sweeney's company is to control up to 50% of the PC gaming market. In the case of a slightly worse option (it takes into account the reaction of Lord Gaben, i.e. the head of Valve, Gabe Newell) it can be 35%. The least optimistic scenario assumes that it will reach a maximum of 20% and then gradually drop to 8% (in which case spending on exclusive titles will be gradually reduced).

Epic Games Store Spent $1 Billion on Exclusives - picture #2
Page of the report presenting possible scenarios for EGS.

We must admit that Epic Games' plans are really ambitious. At this point - in mid-2021 - it's very difficult to say whether any of the above scenarios will come true. Currently, Epic Games Store brings its creators huge losses, but it is worth remembering that this is part of the strategy to achieve profitability in 2023. Moreover, thanks to Fortnite, Tim Sweeney's company is certainly not short of money to finance its vision.

  1. Epic Games Store - official website