Posts: 4,621
Threads: 95
Joined: Mar 2003
Reputation:
6
To add to the above, since I finished adding my games.. My Geforce Now library went from ~40 games to 217, after I went through the free stuff I got from Epic. How this can be a survivable business strategy for Epic I have no idea.
This also means that about 30% of all the games I own, I can play on Geforce now, meaning that I am considering if a M2 Pro Mac mini is more than enough for my gaming needs for the next 10 years, instead of waiting for an M3 Mac Studio. 
Posts: 618
Threads: 6
Joined: Aug 2001
Reputation:
4
(06-04-2023, 05:14 AM)Thain Esh Kelch Wrote: How this can be a survivable business strategy for Epic I have no idea.
Spoiler: it's not. I don't know a single person who ever bought a game from Epic because of their free games. Many people collect them, a few play them but spend money elsewhere. Even temporary game exclusives often have people wait 6 months to 1 year for the game to become available on Steam (by which they may have moved on so don't even buy the game at all), and permanent exclusives are very few in number. Besides there are now way less exclusives than when the EGS started, so either it wasn't worth it to EGS, or to publishers, or both. Weekly free games are still there, but I wonder for how long; while they have the Fortnite cash machine, they can probably afford it though.
Posts: 1,538
Threads: 98
Joined: Aug 2004
Reputation:
0
09-05-2023, 09:39 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-05-2023, 09:42 AM by Wumpus.)
(06-04-2023, 11:56 AM)Camper-Hunter Wrote: (06-04-2023, 05:14 AM)Thain Esh Kelch Wrote: How this can be a survivable business strategy for Epic I have no idea.
Spoiler: it's not. I don't know a single person who ever bought a game from Epic because of their free games. Many people collect them, a few play them but spend money elsewhere. Even temporary game exclusives often have people wait 6 months to 1 year for the game to become available on Steam (by which they may have moved on so don't even buy the game at all), and permanent exclusives are very few in number. Besides there are now way less exclusives than when the EGS started, so either it wasn't worth it to EGS, or to publishers, or both. Weekly free games are still there, but I wonder for how long; while they have the Fortnite cash machine, they can probably afford it though.
I don't know Epic's numbers, but I do know some of their games perform very well. (By which I mean on their platform.) Borderlands 3 for example, did big numbers on their year 1. Dead Island 2 sold a milllion + copies also exclusive. Ubisoft (such as AC Valhalla) said it was their highest selling game of all time, and they are happy with being on Epic. While I'm sure their numbers pale in comparison to Steam, Epic also doesn't need its store to be a huge hit. They make their money elsewhere, such as something like 500M a month with Fortnite and (their annual Fornite revnue has been 5+ BILLION a year.) Additionally, they make great money licensing the Unreal Engine to most of the industry.
I buy on Epic fairly often, due to either an exclusive game I want, or a super sale that is well beyond Steam.
Posts: 8,799
Threads: 227
Joined: Aug 2005
Reputation:
7
(09-05-2023, 09:39 AM)Wumpus Wrote: Ubisoft (such as AC Valhalla) said … they are happy with being on Epic. Until they weren't and came back to Steam. They have subtly hinted at their sales numbers on Epic and Ubisoft Connect not meeting their expectations overall.
Posts: 2,708
Threads: 64
Joined: Jul 2001
Reputation:
16
(09-05-2023, 12:21 PM)Janichsan Wrote: They have subtly hinted at their sales numbers on Epic and Ubisoft Connect not meeting their expectations overall.
Such a loaded word, "expectations". Who knows how reasonable those expectations were? But it puts the burden of the failure squarely on the other party.
And you know what? Their support for Mac is not meeting MY expectations overall.
Posts: 618
Threads: 6
Joined: Aug 2001
Reputation:
4
09-07-2023, 01:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-07-2023, 01:10 PM by Camper-Hunter.)
Their expectations can be anything and only Ubisoft knows them, but they can very easily compare console and PC versions sales. So say PC sales plunged by 30% when console sales were stable compared to the previous AC game, then the reduced fee taken by Epic wouldn't be enough to compensate for sales on Steam, Epic and Ubiconnect. These are just random numbers I throw around, it's just to point out Ubisoft can at least compare revenue by platform.
Posts: 2,708
Threads: 64
Joined: Jul 2001
Reputation:
16
(09-07-2023, 01:09 PM)Camper-Hunter Wrote: just to point out Ubisoft can at least compare revenue by platform. Understood. I just was reacting to the corporate-speak. Some bean counter has decided to blame Epic, and it might be completely justified, or it might be that unrealistic. There is no apples-to-apples comparison - there could be a dozen reasons for sales to shift one way or another. So I was marveling at how neatly the word "expectations" shifted the blame.
Posts: 198
Threads: 37
Joined: Sep 2007
Reputation:
0
|
