CommodoreKong

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,197
In an interview with The Verge Tim Sweeney talks about Epic Games cutting down on spending

"Last year, before Unreal Fest, we were spending about a billion dollars a year more than we were making," Sweeney says. "Now, we're spending a bit more than we're making."

Just over a year ago Epic laid off 16% of its staff. They've also cut down on the coupons offered during sales on the Epic Game stores that required Epic to subsidize the purchase of anything sold on the store as well as Quixel Megascans no longer being free.

Given that Alan Wake 2 didn't exactly light the world on fire and still hasn't made a profit as per Remedy I wouldn't be surprised if Epic's publishing business has also been affected.
 

Dest

Has seen more 10s than EA ever will
Coward
Jun 4, 2018
15,023
Work
remember when they thought they were hot shit and bought a mall and were gonna tear it down and then build a new headquarters and then didn't? lol
 

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
31,416
Sounds like they should be spending more money on free games
 

shinken

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,068
Instead of making bank with Fortnite, they HAD TO open Epic Store and lose billions of dollars. Smart.
 

Mocha Joe

Member
Jun 2, 2021
11,863
Geniuses over there spending $50-$150 million to keep a single game off Steam where they don't even make a fraction off of it back
 

Vagabond

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,830
United States
I wonder how much they invest into the EGS and if their big brained move is to have it be the ubiquitous Steam equivalent is their play.
 

Granjinhaa

Member
Dec 28, 2023
6,706
In an interview with The Verge Tim Sweeney talks about Epic Games cutting down on spending

"Last year, before Unreal Fest, we were spending about a billion dollars a year more than we were making," Sweeney says. "Now, we're spending a bit more than we're making."

Just over a year ago Epic laid off 16% of its staff. They've also cut down on the coupons offered during sales on the Epic Game stores that required Epic to subsidize the purchase of anything sold on the store as well as Quixel Megascans no longer being free.

Given that Alan Wake 2 didn't exactly light the world on fire and still hasn't made a profit as per Remedy I wouldn't be surprised if Epic's publishing business has also been affected.
The head of the epic publishing biz has left Epic and other key people seem to have left too. I'm really worried about Ueda and Playdead's new projects.
 

Dest

Has seen more 10s than EA ever will
Coward
Jun 4, 2018
15,023
Work
sounds like they got a little traversal stutter in their bank account ahahhahaha
 
Oct 1, 2024
604
Hopefully more games will be on Steam now without Epic having it first like with FFVII Remake, Evil Dead the game etc.
 

Bishop89

What Are Ya' Selling?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,715
Melbourne, Australia
gaben.gif
 

SolidSnakeUS

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,963
Maybe they shouldn't have put everything into one basket (Fortnite) and cancelled any and all of their other projects (like Unreal Tournament). Also, maybe they should just be like a normal publisher and put their stuff on other platforms.
 

STHX

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
475
I really can't stop myself from asking but... how?
You have Fortnite, you have the Unreal fees on every copy sold (the 1.5% decrease will start next year), and the amount of money invested into the EGS has clearly fallen of a cliff
How can you lose 1 billion money?
 

AM_LIGHT

Member
Oct 30, 2017
3,931
Their strategy is not working. Nothing can beat steam. I have bought games that I got for free on epic store when they go on sale on steam just because of how better the steam experience
 

reksveks

Member
May 17, 2022
5,852
Maybe they shouldn't have put everything into one basket (Fortnite) and cancelled any and all of their other projects (like Unreal Tournament). Also, maybe they should just be like a normal publisher and put their stuff on other platforms.

they could easily be profitable if they wanted to imo without releasing on other platforms

(page 20)
 

Nameless Hero

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,725
Tim, listen to me.
I have a solution for this, hear me out. It's called Unreal Tournament, trust me on this.

Also put Unreal 1 (and I guess Unreal 2) on sale again, you frog you
 

Zealuu

Member
Feb 13, 2018
1,658
I really can't stop myself from asking but... how?
You have Fortnite, you have the Unreal fees on every copy sold (the 1.5% decrease will start next year), and the amount of money invested into the EGS has clearly fallen of a cliff
How can you lose 1 billion money?

All those legal fees for suing every platform holder on the planet beginning to stack up
 

Mivey

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,230
It's a necessary sacrifice to build a superior launcher and finally kill off Steam. You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs. Also, please fund Alan Wake 3, Tim. Trust me, that alone could completely turn Epic's fortune around
 

NTMBK

Member
May 22, 2023
1,143
Just wait until the Unreal money dries up if you try to force Verse on your users
 

SneerfulOwl

Member
Nov 4, 2017
2,001
And they are currently busy suing Google and Samsung at this moment right after suing Apple.

I bet their lawyers are swimming with millions right now.
 

Patapuf

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,928
I really doubt EGS is the primary reason they are loosing so much money.

With all the companies they've bought, the low price of Unreal etc. Epic looks like a company that wanted to grow quickly and muscle out competition that way.

Their shenanigans with store cuts and lawsuits against mobile store would fit into that.

It's hard to gauge if it's successful or not.
 

Pyro

God help us the mods are making weekend threads
Member
Jul 30, 2018
16,605
United States
Concerning to say the least, hopefully they'll just give up on the EGS.
 

Xando

Member
Oct 28, 2017
31,474
One would assume they'll continue to reduce investment in EGS and stop funding games that likely aren't going to become commercially successful like Alan Wake 2.
 

JLP101

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,894
EGS was always a losing proposition. They would have had a lot more success if they just started with publishing and released the games on their own store for a year or two and then released on Steam similar to how UBISOFT and EA were doing it.
 

Pheonix1

Member
Jun 22, 2024
178
Mind blowingly bad management considering the massive, massive amounts of cash fortnite generates.
 

Mocha Joe

Member
Jun 2, 2021
11,863
Given that they don't do coupons anymore during sales and the lack of paid for exclusives I would be surprised if third party sales on EGS are anything but down in 2024.
There is still that 5% cash back incentive but that gets doubled to 10% during some holiday sales...which means the EGS store isn't making any money off games sold during periods where people tend to spend the most money on PC (Sales)
 

GhostTrick

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,788
EGS was always a losing proposition. They would have had a lot more success if they just started with publishing and released the games on their own store for a year or two and then released on Steam similar to how UBISOFT and EA were doing it.



EGS was always in trouble because Epic failed to answer a very simple question:
Why use it in the first place.

They couldn't run exclusives forever, so when the choice is between getting the game on EGS and on Steam, why would anyone choose it on EGS ?
Sure, there are very limited cases where you would, like for a few region and such. But in a regular situation ? Litterally none.
 

Fat4all

Woke up, got a money tag, swears a lot
Member
Oct 25, 2017
104,223
here
wild, they have two impressively popular, and id imagine profitable, products with Unreal and Fortnite

but sustainably seems fucked not even looking at their other investments

not quite as bad as OpenAI but woof
 
OP
OP
CommodoreKong

CommodoreKong

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,197
There is still that 5% cash back incentive but that gets doubled to 10% during some holiday sales...which means the EGS store isn't making any money off games sold during periods where people tend to spend the most money on PC (Sales)

Weren't they doing that plus the coupons for awhile?
I honestly got no idea but I thought they were unless the 5% cash back replaced the coupons.