Highlights
- Epic Games introduces Epic First Run, offering new third-party developers increased revenue share in exchange for timed exclusivity on the Epic Games Store.
- Starting on October 16, developers who opt into Epic First Run will receive 100% of revenue for 6 months, before returning to 88%.
- Games cannot sell on competing storefronts but can use first-party storefronts and GOG's keyless redemption program.
Epic Games revealed its new Epic First Run initiative as a way to bring new third-party developers to the Epic Games Store by offering a bigger share of revenue in exchange for timed exclusivity. The news of this latest program from the Epic Games Store received a mixed response from social media, with some users asking if the exclusivity window will do more harm than good.
The Epic First Run initiative joins a list of features that Epic Games is rolling out to developers. The Epic Online Services overlay was updated to include all major consoles, which will give developers more tools for implementing cross-play features between console and PC players that use the Epic Games Store to play titles such as Fortnite and Fall Guys. By unifying the friends list, invitations, and other safety features across the EGS ecosystem, the update will take some of the burden off of game developers who want to use the overlay. However, Epic Games is not stopping there.
Starting on Monday, October 16, the Epic First Run initiative will grant game developers who opt into the program 100% of all revenue from game sales on the Epic Games Store for six months, at which point the revenue will return to 88% for the developers and 12% for Epic Games itself. However, Epic First Run has some caveats. For the six-month window, games that are part of the Epic First Run program are barred from selling on competing storefronts such as Steam, and games that were either previously on other storefronts, part of a previous EGS exclusivity offer, or offered on subscription services such as PC Game Pass are ineligible. However, Epic First Run will allow developers and publishers to use first-party storefronts and Epic's keyless redemption program for partnered storefronts such as GOG.
Epic Games stated that the Epic First Run program is available to any game developer or publisher regardless of size and reputation. On social media, the initial response to the Epic First Run program was mixed. Some users remarked that 100% revenue from game sales and increased visibility from Epic are nice perks for some developers. However, more users expressed concerns over the EGS exclusivity requirement, and whether it would be worth sacrificing access to Steam and its vast user base as part of the program.
Nevertheless, between a growing list of free EGS titles and the Epic First Run initiative, Epic Games is far from finished with supporting its own storefront. Only time will tell how successful the new initiative will be.