Epic Games Store to have even more exclusives in the coming years

The Epic Games Store has been a tremendous success for Epic over the last couple of years. The PC gaming platform generated over $700 million in the last year alone, and while the majority of that sum ($435 million) came from Fortnite, third-party titles also raked in over $256 million, largely thanks to a strong lineup of exclusives and timed exclusives.

The Fortnite and Paragon — if anyone even remembers the third-person MOBA these days — developer plans to double down on that strategy, with a spokesperson telling PC Gamer that the digital storefront has “more exclusives coming in the next two years than we have published to date.”

The publication estimates that the Epic Games Store has had some form of exclusivity for more than 100 titles since its inception back in 2018. So, we should expect at least 100 more exclusives in the next couple of years, if not more.

The strategy also makes a lot of sense. In a recent interview with GameDaily, EGS General Manager Steve Allison noted that exclusives accounted for 90% of all new releases on the store and also have also “driven the majority of revenue so far.” The deal is lucrative for developers, too, with Epic offering to take only a 12% commission off game sales, while Steam charges a relatively hefty 30%.

Alongside exclusives, the Epic has also tried to court gamers away from Steam and into its own ecosystem with the offer of two free games every week. This has proven to be a hugely successful venture for the platform, with gamers claiming more than 750 million free games in 2020 alone. That was undoubtedly a significant factor behind the store’s ability to attract over 160 million users in just two years.

The company has confirmed that it’ll continue to offer free games this year as well.