Epic Games has launched a new program that will allow developers to keep 100% of their net revenues when launching games on the platform.
As introduced in a blog post, Epic Games has now launched the 'Epic First Run' program, which is an "opt-in exclusivity program" for third-party developers. Outside of the program, developers gain 88% of their revenue, with Epic taking a 12% cut. Inside the program, however, as long as developers make their games exclusive to the platform for the first six months, they'll get 100%. After the six months is up they'll go back to earning that 88% in revenues.
Alongside this additional revenue, developers will get a range of other benefits too, including having their games "presented to those users on-store with new exclusive badging, homepage placements, and dedicated collections." As well as this, Epic First Run games will also be "featured in relevant store campaigns" (including sales events and editorial) and will benefit from continued exposure throughout its time in the program.
As for who's eligible, the new program is open to publishers and developers "of any scale" as long as they have a registered Epic Games developer account and their upcoming title is set to launch on or after October 16, 2023.
The title in question also has to be "eligible" to take part in the program, which means it must be a new release that has not been released on a different third-party PC platform or been included in a subscription service (i.e. Xbox Game Pass). It's also worth noting that "Games or apps with a pre-existing exclusivity deal with the Epic Games Store are not eligible for the program."
This is great news for developers who are looking to get a bit more revenue out of the games they launch. It doesn't change much for players but what this does mean is that some upcoming PC games could be limited to the Epic Game Store, instead of Steam or the Microsoft Store, for example, for the first six months of their life.
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