Epic Games, the developer behind Fornite, just launched a publishing label appropriately titled "Epic Games Publishing," and it plans to do things fairly differently from other publishers. When describing its new addition, Epic boasted about its incredibly developer-friendly terms and even announced that it already has some developers in its roster.
As of now, the publisher has three studios working under it: Gen Design (The Last Guardian and Shadow of the Colossus), Playdead (Limbo and Inder), and Remedy Entertainment (Alan Wake and Control). These are the first partners to sign up with Epic, and if the publisher's developer-friendly promise is anything to go by, they won't be the last.
Epic Games Publishing plans to always put its developers first and claims that it will change the way the developer-publisher relationship works for the better. In a demonstration of this, the publisher has set terms specifically geared to favor developers. Firstly: Epic Games Publishing will allow developers to retain 100% creative control over both their work and intellectual properties. The publisher will also cover all the developmental expenses that come with creating a game, meaning Epic will pay for everyone's salary along with things like QA, marketing, localization, and, of course, publishing.
As a trade-off, the initial profit that any game earns will go to reimbursing Epic for the costs. Once that refund is out of the way, Epic says that developers stand to gain at least 50% of all the profits. Due to the wording, however, it sounds like developers can earn more, depending on the situation. And Epic can afford all of this because of the massive success of Fortnite.
When talking about the thought process behind their model practice, Epic Games Founder and CEO, Tim Sweeney said: "We're building the publishing model we always wanted for ourselves when we worked with publishers." This statement isn't surprising, considering Epic runs the Epic Store with the same kind of mentality. The store gifts developers with 88% of the revenue, which is much more generous than the shops associated with platforms like PlayStation, Xbox, and even Steam.
Epic didn't mention any of the new titles it's three new developers are working on, but it did promise to present additional information in the future. And the Head of Epic Games Publishing, Hector Sanchez, claimed "gen DESIGN, Remedy, and Playdead is among the most innovative and talented studios in the industry, with strong visions for their next games." So at the very least, all three studios have an idea of what they want to do next.
Source: Epic Games