Epic is planning more ‘major’ Epic Games Store exclusives
It says smaller titles weren’t enough to tempt players to move over from Steam
Epic has suggested players should expect to see further high-profile Epic Games Store exclusives in the future.
The number of Epic Games Store exclusive titles being announced may have slowed since the PC marketplace’s early days, but it’s still part of the company’s strategy to tempt users away from Steam.
“We’re really honing our strategy based on what we observed worked really well in previous launches, and what didn’t work really well,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney told PC Gamer.
“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.”
One of the Epic Games Store’s biggest exclusives was Borderlands 3, which “crushed” expectations, according to the marketplace’s general manager Steve Allison.
Aside from striking blockbuster deals for third-party exclusives, Epic is also funding the development of games as part of its own publishing label, which was announced in 2020.
Upcoming games from the label include Remedy’s Alan Wake 2, and new projects from Limbo maker Playdead and The Last Guardian studio Gen Design.
Epic claimed this week that as of last year, there were over 230 million Epic Games Store PC users, up 36 million from 2021.
626 new PC titles were added to the store in 2022, taking the total to 1,548.
Players spent $355 million on third-party games, which was up 18% year over year, although total spending on all games fell 2% to $820 million.
Further reading
The next free Epic Games Store title has been revealed
Epic also said it plans to continue giving away free PC titles on a weekly basis throughout 2023.
The next free Epic Games Store title was revealed on Thursday. Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War will replace Call of the Sea, which is currently free to claim until March 16.
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