LogInThe company hasn't changed its stance on exclusives, it just shifted its focus to bigger projects, Epic Games CEO confirms.
Although Epic Games has not announced exclusivity deals for its Epic Games Store lately as frequently as it once did, it is still dedicated to securing such deals, the company has confirmed.
Speaking to PC Gamer, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said that the company remains committed to securing exclusivity deals for its Epic Games Store. According to Sweeney, Epic has not altered its stance on exclusives and the reason for the recent reduction in exclusivity deals may be attributed to the company's new focus on bigger, more high-profile titles.
"We're really honing our strategy based on what we observed worked really well in previous launches, and what didn't work really well," Sweeney explained. "A handful of major exclusives really moved the needle … and the smaller games, especially games that had a smaller audience that was typically on Steam, we found that a lot of those players weren't willing to move over."
Additionally, Epic Games is expanding its publishing wing, funding the development of upcoming games such as Remedy's Alan Wake 2, a new game from Limbo studio Playdead, and a title from The Last Guardian developer genDesign. Epic has roughly 14 games in its publishing pipeline, which includes PC Building Simulator 2, and a selection of games from Mediatonic, the creators of Fall Guys, acquired by Epic in 2021, which now operates as a publishing subsidiary.
According to Epic Games Store's general manager, Steve Allison, all of these games will remain exclusive to the store for "a long time."
Additionally, Allison mentioned that some publishers have opted for timed Epic Store exclusives without an agreement in place. This approach allows them to take advantage of the better revenue share that Epic offers during their launch before releasing the game on Steam. For example, Rockstar released Red Dead Redemption 2 on the Epic Games Store a few weeks before it became available on Steam.
In addition to its exclusive deals, Epic Games Store has been successful in attracting users by offering free games on a weekly basis since 2019. The company said that it plans to continue with this strategy until at least the end of 2023. This approach is set to attract more users to join the Epic Games Store, which was launched in December 2018 as a competitor to the popular Steam platform.
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