Although it recorded a rapid growth in the number of users, in fact Epic Games reported a loss of 2 consecutive years with the amount of up to 450 million USD.
Although the legal battle between Epic Games and Apple (US first instance trial) will take place in May, right now the related developments of the case continue to attract attention from the public. .
A few days ago, the Australian trial was postponed for the third time, but the legal documents show interesting information. The Epic Games Store lost approximately $ 181 million in 2019 and nearly $ 273 million in 2020, showing that since its launch in 2018, the company has never been profitable. Also, in 2021, Epic Games’ expected loss is about $ 139 million.
According to Apple forecasts, the business of Epic Games by the end of 2021 has lost $ 600 million after 3 years. To be profitable, Epic Games may have to wait until 2027.
The thing has been predicted from before
In fact, Epic Games has previously confirmed that the Epic Games Store will not be profitable until 2023. On loss information, Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, is very optimistic: ” Although Apple calls it a loss, in my view it is an investment, which is also the basis for bringing huge profits in the future.
Although the CEO of Epic Games is confident about profitability, it still cannot change the fact that they have “lost”. As a company that owns Unreal Engine tools, the loss of 450 million USD in the past 2 years is beyond the imagination of many people.
In this case, with the backing of the Unreal Engine being used by most of the developers, the Epic Games Store took up to 4 years to be profitable causing people to question whether or not the business strategy is. “Take profit as a profit” of company leaders?
Free business strategy
According to the official data Epic Games published before, the progress of the game store in the past 2 years is very clear. By 2020, the total number of users on the Epic Games Store will reach 160 million, up 56% from 108 million in 2019. Besides, daily active users reach 31.3 million in 2020, increasing 192% and total user time is 5.7 billion hours, up 70%.
But the problem also lies here, in this era, an emerging gaming platform can achieve such a marked growth, spending money is an inevitable option.
According to the New York Times, in 2020 alone, Epic Games has invested about $ 444 million in the monopoly of the game, with Control of 505 Games alone, the amount amounted to 10.45 million USD. Such a huge investment, in exchange for a one-year monopoly of several games, is also Epic’s best weapon for taking the market from Steam.
But Epic’s revenue from these exclusive and third-party games is relatively limited. In 2020, players spent $ 700 million on the Epic Games Store, which is only $ 20 million higher than in 2019. Of which, revenue from third-party titles is $ 265 million, only up $ 14 million compared to 2019. Apple estimates show that if you count transactions in 2019, Epic will lose at least $ 330 million in exclusive expenses.
Of course, in addition to investing money in exclusive content, Epic Games also promotes a free business strategy to attract new users. The $ 450 million loss is mainly due to this business method. According to Epic’s official data, from 2019 to 2020, the platform distributed 180 games for free, with a total value of up to $ 3,862 (US price) with 950 million purchases. This is actually a buy 1 get 1 free, but with a free gift for buyers, Epic Games has to pocket money for the developer.
On the one hand, they’re spending money on game companies and developers for exclusive content, on the other, they’re out-of-pocket attracting players who aren’t willing to pay. After all, in terms of business, Epic Games is the one to lose.
A healthy competition
Indeed, for developers, whether their game has a chance of being included by Epic in the Epic Games Store (471 games in 2020) or directly on Steam, Epic’s arrival makes a difference. special. For the gaming industry, the PC games market is no longer dominant enough and only acts as an incentive for competition. If Epic can gain a foothold, Steam’s upcoming business strategy must also change.
With the strength of the Unreal Engine, Epic Games Store can completely use competitive tactics to disadvantage Steam. However, to challenge Steam’s position is not easy, especially keeping players from paying fees, Epic Games has too many obstacles to overcome before making any profits.
Of course, competition is inevitable and is also a necessary factor for the development of the market. Whether healthy competition can be maintained, that depends pretty much on the final court ruling after the legal battle between Epic Games and Apple is over.
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