Epic wants to accept money from Fortnite iOS players with its own payment processor, bypassing Apple's fee (which it famously did without permission to kick off this whole fight), while Apple would like to continue getting 30 percent of Fortnite's iOS revenue, thank you very much.Įpic called its plan to go after Apple and Google "Project Liberty."Įpic has even bigger plans than bypassing Apple's fee in Fortnite, though. Epic says that's unfair, arguing that Apple and Google have all the power when it comes to smartphones, so developers are forced to pay their fees if they want to make successful mobile apps. Apple makes developers get approval to sell iOS applications on its App Store, and also enforces use of its payment processing system for in-app purchases, which gives Apple a 30 percent revenue cut. Other fun things Epic and Apple have to say about each otherĪll of this shin-kicking between Epic and Apple is over the way transactions are handled on iPhones and iPads. ![]() "EGS is not yet profitable at its current scale and stage of development because it has front-loaded its marketing and user acquisition costs to gain market share," reads Epic's filing, citing CEO Tim Sweeney. And what Apple calls 'losing money,' Epic would probably call 'investing money.' This spending is all part of the plan, says Epic, and its 12 percent revenue cut will eventually be enough to sustain the store, something it has been saying since it launched the store at the end of 2018. ![]() In its new filing ( PDF here), Epic puts a happier face on its business plan, saying that it expects the Epic Games Store to start earning annual profits in 2023. Apple points out that Epic doesn't think that'll happen until 2027. Added up, that's an estimated $600 million that the Epic Games Store will need to recoup before it'll be profitable on the whole. Here are some of the big timed Epic Store exclusives (or semi-exclusives, "not on Steam" being the important part) that are coming soon:Ĭiting depositions from Epic Games Store VP and GM Steve Allison and Epic VP of business development Joe Kreiner, Apple says that Epic lost $181 million on the Epic Games Store in 2019, projected a loss of $273 million last year, and projects another loss of $139 million this year. Some of those deals must be for exclusives releasing in the future, but according to Apple's learnings, Epic is going to eat "at least $330 million in unrecouped costs from minimum guarantees alone" if you also consider 2019's deals. ![]() That $444 million in advances to third-party devs isn't close to being recouped, then. In its end-of-year report, Epic said that players spent $700 million on the Epic Store in 2020, but third-party game sales only accounted for $265 million of that spending. For example, Epic put down $10.45 million for Control.Īpple says that Epic lost $181 million on the Epic Games Store in 2019, projected a loss of $273 million last year, and projects another loss of $139 million this year. A "minimum guarantee" is just another way to refer to an advance: It means that Epic guarantees the publisher a certain amount of money whether or not their game actually sells enough to cover it. More precisely, that's $444 million on "minimum guarantees" for games that release on the Epic Games Store but stay off of Steam for a year.
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