Epic's Tim Sweeney has come out in defense of exclusive titles found on the Epic Games Store. In a long series of Twitter posts, Sweeney stated that he believes that "exclusives are the only strategy that will change the 70/30 status quo at a large enough scale to permanently affect the whole game industry". Further, despite the unpopularity of exclusive titles by "dedicated Steam users," the program is working.
In judging whether a disruptive move like this is reasonable in gaming, I suggest considering two questions: Is the solution proportionate to the problem it addresses, and are gamers likely benefit from the end goal if it’s ultimately achieved?
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) June 26, 2019
Other takeaways from Sweeney's posts:
- 30% "tax" is more than the entire profit of studio building a game.
- "The strategy of exclusives is proportionate to the problem".
- Even if what the company is doing isn't ultimately successful, the industry will change and other stores "will significantly improve their terms".
- The extra 18% developers bring back leads to reinvestment, profit and price reduction.
- All of the above ultimately benefits gamers.
- Epic is facing its challenges and solving problems that arise.
You can read the entire Twitter string here.
