There have not been numerous Epic Shop exclusivity announcements recently, which bought me thinking if Epic may be winding down that aspect of its method. Nope. According to Epic, the reverse is the scenario.
“We have far more exclusives coming in the upcoming two several years than we have printed to day,” a enterprise agent informed Computer system Gamer when questioned about its exclusivity method for the around future.
There goes my idea.
If you just seem at the figures, though, items have quieted down a short while ago. By my rely, there are presently all around 21 unreleased Epic exclusives ahead of us, and I’m guessing about some of them. That is not pretty many looking at that around 100 exclusives have introduced on the keep over the past two several years. Of individuals, a minimal below 50 percent introduced long adequate in the past that their exclusivity contracts have expired, and they are now available on Steam. That involves online games these types of as Metro Exodus, Borderlands 3, Manage, The Outer Worlds, and Hades.
Contemplate my numbers to be estimates, because they’re centered on a handbook depend and a little speculation. There’ll also be diverse thoughts about what counts as an “unique.” I’ve provided any video game that released on the Epic Retail store but not Steam, irrespective of whether or not a purpose was specified, and irrespective of whether or not the sport introduced on other, non-Steam merchants. This is what I arrived up with:
| Games you can get on the Epic Retail store, but not Steam* | Online games that had been Epic exclusives, but are now on Steam, also | Unreleased Epic Store exclusives** | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 65 | 50 | 21 |
*Excludes game titles built by Epic by itself (Fortnite, Unreal Tournament).
**Includes games that will also launch on Ubisoft or Microsoft’s outlets, and assumes that Epic-released game titles will be exclusives.
With all those quantities is mind, you can see why I suspected that Epic had stopped buying exclusives as aggressively as it had in 2019 and early 2020. Epic states that just isn’t the case, nevertheless, which suggests that there are a lot of forthcoming games we will not know about yet.
What future exclusives do we know about?
Here are the 21 still-to-release Epic Store exclusives I counted:
| Game | Take note |
|---|---|
| Chivalry 2 | 1-12 months timed exceptional |
| Kena: Bridge of Spirits | Timed unique |
| Darkest Dungeon 2 | Special right up until stop of Early Obtain |
| Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy | A person-year timed unique |
| Photo voltaic Ash | Timed exceptional, as far as we know |
| The Eternal Cylinder | Epic Retail outlet special “at start” |
| Monkey Barrels | No word on a Steam launch |
| Saturnalia | No phrase on a Steam launch |
| Oddworld: Soulstorm | No term on a Steam release |
| The Wolf Among Us 2 | No term on a Steam release |
| Jett: The Much Shore | No term on a Steam launch |
| Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong | Bloodlines 2 will not be special, although |
| Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake | Also on the Ubisoft Shop |
| Far Cry 6 | Also on the Ubisoft Retailer |
| Rainbow 6 Quarantine | Also on the Ubisoft Retail outlet |
| The Settlers | Also on the Ubisoft Keep |
| Riders Republic | Also on the Ubisoft Store |
| Upcoming Solution match #1 | Epic Games is publishing |
| Long run Remedy match #2 | Epic Online games is publishing |
| Long run Playdead activity | Epic Game titles is publishing |
| Future genDesign match | Epic Game titles is publishing |
Suitable now, Ubisoft is the biggest single resource of potential Epic Retailer exclusives, however it’s likely additional precise to label them “semi-exclusives.” Considering that 2019, Ubisoft has been releasing most of its new Laptop game titles on the Epic Games Retailer and the Ubisoft Keep (previously identified as Uplay), but not on Steam. The enterprise hasn’t claimed that these online games will not likely at any time seem on Steam, but has not announced Steam launch dates either. You can wager that the following Assassin’s Creed will release on the Epic Retailer, way too, despite the fact that I did not include things like it in this record. That sport will probably be out in 2022.
Even further out than the future Assassin’s Creed—probably, at least—are the untitled games I provided from Solution Enjoyment (Alan Wake, Management), Playdead (Limbo, Inside), and genDesign (The Final Guardian). These games are being funded by Epic alone under the new publishing wing it introduced very last calendar year, and I am building the fairly risk-free assumption that online games revealed by Epic will be Epic Keep exclusives on Pc. (Solution said that Epic is publishing its “following two unannounced video clip video games,” so I dropped it in two times.)
Outside the house of Ubisoft and Epic, the approaching distinctive checklist is quite modest. Darkest Dungeon 2 will only be there until finally it is out of early entry. Chivalry 2 may well be the up coming most important video game on the list, and like most Epic exclusives, it will only stay exceptional for a year. Things are so silent that I was genuinely shocked when Epic instructed me that it designs to raise the amount of exclusive releases over the up coming few yrs.
In 2019, Epic Online games Retail store head Steve Allison stated that the organization would not automatically chase exclusivity deals permanently, and that it could one day quit altogether, or go to acquiring “extremely, pretty several” exclusives for every yr. Together with offering absent absolutely free online games each individual week (a application that’ll carry on all through 2021), exclusives have been a way for Epic to catch the attention of new clients who would or else adhere to Steam—an entry program, but not necessarily a eternally technique. For now, that entry strategy stays in complete result, and will plainly stay that way for the foreseeable foreseeable future.
So, how’s it going? Effectively, Epic says that it marketed $265 million worthy of of 3rd-bash game titles on the Epic Retailer in 2020. In comparison to a couple several years ago, when Epic did not have a Computer activity shop at all, which is a substantial increase. In contrast to 2019, having said that, it is an raise of all-around 5.6 percent—Epic Retail store end users spent $251 million on third-social gathering video games that yr, which was store’s to start with full yr of existence. (These revenue figures overlook the price tag of coupon codes and advance payments to builders, which is how Epic secures exclusives.)
Suitable now, although, Epic is all about acquiring more individuals on to its platform, not producing money—Fortnite addresses that—and in that regard factors show up to be going quite perfectly. Epic says that it captivated 56 million regular energetic buyers in December 2020, up from 32 million at the stop of 2019, which is a 75 percent increase. Steam final noted 120M regular monthly active people, so it’s still a lot larger, but there is certainly no indication that Epic has strike a ceiling.
When I bought in touch, Epic also reiterated that it programs to provide self-publishing instruments to make the Epic Online games Keep more available to new builders just before the close of the 12 months. “Our investment into content material is going to continue on and multiply as we do the job towards an open up shop and launch even much more system options,” the company explained.