Epic Games New ‘Epic First Run’ Program To Offer 100% Net Revenue Share For Teams In The First Six Months

If you can remember, one of the largest controversies years ago for the video game industry was the formation of the Epic Games Store. While many were accustomed to the dominant Steam platform and other like CD Projekt Red’s GOG.com, Epic Games took it upon itself to open its own launcher. This, of course, came from the surge of success in Fortnite that still carries into 2023.

Since then, we’ve seen the platform evolve with many improvements and furthered success for Epic Games. For one, the free games: after the first year in 2019, Epic Games promised to continue offering free games through its platform and titles still get offered to users even now. Additionally, one milestone players were waiting for was achievements. First introduced for select games, the feature has went on to countless other releases as well on the platform too.

Now this week, Epic Games revealed a new ‘Epic First Run’ program that will benefit developers. In that, the first six-month run of a release will grant teams with 100 percent of the net revenue on its project.

We’re introducing the Epic First Run program: an opt-in exclusivity program for third-party developers on the Epic Games Store. The new Epic First Run program gives participants the opportunity to boost their net revenue from user spending on eligible products from 88% to 100% in their first six months on the Epic Games Store. After their six-month run, participants will continue to benefit from Epic’s 88%/12% revenue split.

The new program gives developers of any scale the opportunity to activate our global audience right at launch. While this is a major part of the release journey, that’s not all of it. For this program to reach peak efficiency, developers must promote their products early and often with their target audience.

“The Epic Games Store is home to a huge, rapidly growing global audience with over 230 million players and 68 million monthly active users. Participating products in the Epic First Run program will be presented to those users on-store with new exclusive badging, homepage placements, and dedicated collections. In addition, products will be featured in relevant store campaigns including sales, events, and editorial as applicable. Once a product joins the program, it will benefit from continued exposure throughout its Epic First Run.”

In a similar approach, Microsoft has also favored developers on its titles releasing on the Windows Store. Back in spring 2021, the Xbox firm pledged to increase the revenue stream from 70 percent to 88 percent. Although not the full basket for half a year like Epic Games, it is a considerable amount nonetheless. You can read the full report by hearing here.

What is your position on the new ‘Epic First Run’ program?

Source: Epic Games