Epic Games will soon launch the Epic Games Store—a games store with 88 percent in revenue going to developers—with a hand-curated set of games for PC and Mac, the company announced. It will later open up more broadly to other games, and to Android and other open platforms throughout 2019.
The Epic Games store will operate on the following principles:
All Developers Earn 88 Percent
Developers receive 88 percent of revenue. There are no tiers or thresholds. Epic takes 12 percent. And if you’re using Unreal Engine, Epic will cover the 5 percent engine royalty for sales on the Epic Games store, out of Epic’s 12 percent.
Have a Direct Relationship With Players
People who buy your games automatically subscribe to your newsfeed so you can reach them with game updates and news about upcoming releases. The newsfeed is front-and-center. You’ll also be able to reach your players through email, if they choose to share it.
Connect with Creators
YouTube content creators, Twitch streamers, bloggers, and others are at the leading edge of game discovery. The 10,000-strong Epic Games Support-A-Creator program helps you reach creators, so they can help you reach players. If you opt to participate, creators who refer players to buy your game will receive a share of the revenue that you set (tracked by code or affiliate marketing link). To jumpstart the creator economy, Epic will cover the first 5% of creator revenue-sharing for the first 24 months.
Developers Control Their Game Pages
As a developer, you control your game page and your newsfeed. There will be no store-placed ads or cross-marketing of competing games on your page, and no paid ads in search results.
All Engines Are Welcome
The Epic Games store is open to games built with any engine, and the first releases span Unreal, Unity and internal engines.
When You Succeed, We Succeed
We’ve built this store and its economic model so that Epic’s interests are aligned with your interests. Because of the high volume of Fortnite transactions, we can process store payments, serve bandwidth, and support customers very efficiently. From Epic’s 12 percent store fee, we’ll have a profitable business we’ll grow and reinvest in for years to come!