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If you happen to’ve ever questioned what it really prices when one in all these massive online game companies are making a gift of “free” video games, effectively, the invoice for the Epic Video games Retailer was $11.6 million for the primary 10 months of its existence.
The knowledge got here to gentle on Monday as a part of Epic Video games’ lawsuit vs. Apple Pc. Author and online game historian Simon Carless stated a spreadsheet exhibiting 38 titles, given away between December 2018 and September 2019, was “accidentally published early” as a part of a trove of lawsuit paperwork and displays.
Wish to understand how a lot $ the devs of these ‘free’ Epic Video games Retailer video games bought, & what number of copies had been grabbed? This is the primary 9 months to September 2019. pic.twitter.com/5hkLb1VEjj
— Simon Carless (@simoncarless) May 3, 2021
The giveaways launched throughout that interval reveal fascinating information factors about how a lot Epic Video games paid for the privilege at hand out free video games in an effort to lure in new customers. The primary sport launched as a part of that promotional push, Subnautica, proved to be one of many retailer’s hottest, with 4.6 million entitlements, netting Epic greater than 800,000 new accounts. Subnautica was additionally one of the costly buyouts for Epic at $1.4 million. That labored out to a price of $1.74 per new Epic account, which might seem like a stable return on Epic’s funding right here.
Different video games, like Tremendous Meat Boy, Rime, For Honor, World of Goo, and the Jackbox Celebration Pack, earned Epic new customers for about 50 cents every — partially as a result of Epic paid far much less (between $45,000 and $63,000) for these older titles than it paid for video games like Subnautica, Mutant Yr Zero ($1 million), or the Batman Arkham collection ($1.5 million).
Metro: 2033 Redux is listed as costing Epic zero {dollars} to buyout, however that obvious anomaly appears to be a results of Metro Exodus’ Epic Video games Retailer one-year exclusivity in 2019.
What the info doesn’t present is how a lot Epic paid for per week of free Grand Theft Auto 5 giveaways on the Epic Video games Retailer, which it did in Might 2020.
In-court proceedings for Epic and Apple’s lawsuit started on Monday (with shouting from Fortnite followers who had gotten one of many public areas obtainable to the proceedings). The 2 dragged one another to federal courtroom late final summer season, after Epic circumvented Apple’s App Retailer on the in-game sale of Fortnite foreign money, to keep away from paying royalties it considers too excessive and undeserved by Apple.
Apple has countered that Epic and its “Coalition for App Equity,” protesting Apple’s practices, are disingenuously making an attempt to keep away from paying honest and customary royalties for promoting to an iPhone set up base numbering greater than 1 billion units, worldwide.
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