Wednesday, August 23rd 2023
Epic Games Introduces First Run Program, Offers 100% Revenue to Developers for Exclusivity
Today, we're introducing the Epic First Run program: an opt-in exclusivity program for third-party developers on the Epic Games Store. The new Epic First Run program gives participants the opportunity to boost their net revenue from user spending on eligible products from 88% to 100% in their first six months on the Epic Games Store. After their six-month run, participants will continue to benefit from Epic's 88%/12% revenue split.
The Epic Games Store is home to a huge, rapidly growing global audience with over 230 million players and 68 million monthly active users. Participating products in the Epic First Run program will be presented to those users on-store with new exclusive badging, homepage placements, and dedicated collections. In addition, products will be featured in relevant store campaigns including sales, events, and editorial as applicable. Once a product joins the program, it will benefit from continued exposure throughout its Epic First Run.
The new program gives developers of any scale the opportunity to activate our global audience right at launch. While this is a major part of the release journey, that's not all of it. For this program to reach peak efficiency, developers must promote their products early and often with their target audience. Learn more about publishing best practices by reading our marketing tips found in our Developer Resources Documentation.
The Epic First Run program is open to developers and publishers on the Epic Games Store with eligible new releases launching on or after October 16, 2023. For more information, visit our information page.
What is the Epic First Run program?
Epic First Run is an opt-in exclusivity program that offers third-party developers 100% net revenue of user spending on eligible products in their first six months of exclusivity on the Epic Games Store. When the exclusivity period ends, the revenue share captured from user spending will revert to 88%/12%.
Who can participate?
This program is open to developers and publishers with registered Epic Games developer accounts and eligible products launching on or after October 16, 2023.
What products are eligible for the program?
A new release game or app which has not been previously released on another third-party PC store or included in a subscription service available on another third-party PC store.
Games or apps with a pre-existing exclusivity deal with the Epic Games Store are not eligible for the program.
How do I get an Epic Developer account?
To create an account, go to the Developer Portal website at dev.epicgames.com/portal and follow the instructions to sign in then register your organization and products. For more information, please see our Developer Portal account creation guide.
Can I still release a product on my first-party store or website?
Yes. Products in the Epic First Run program can also be released simultaneously on publishers' and developers' own stores or launchers with direct sales, sale of an Epic digital redemption code, or integration with our keyless redemption program. Please note, keyless distribution will require technical work to implement for developer or publisher's launcher and/or store.
Developers and publishers can also use the Epic Games Store's keyless redemption program to sell on other stores including Green Man Gaming, Humble Store and several others. After the six-month exclusivity period ends, developers are welcome to release their products on other third-party stores, while continuing to benefit from Epic's 88%12% revenue share.
How do I sign up for the Epic First Run program?
We will open registration through our self-publishing flow in the Epic Developer portal in October 2023. Check our information page for updates!
General questions about the program? Head over to the Epic Games Store Developer Community to connect with our staff and other developers on this topic and more. If you have a confidential question, please log in and start a private discussion with the topic Epic Games Store and the subject "Epic First Run". If you're already a partner, please reach out to your Epic Games Store account manager directly.
How do I release my product on the Epic Games Store?
It has never been easier to bring your games to the Epic Games Store. In March this year, we launched our self-service publishing tools to streamline the onboarding and release process. The tools allow developers to register, set up, test and distribute their games all directly through the Epic Developer Portal.
Read more about the benefits and requirements of self-publishing on the Epic Games Store in our self-publishing tools announce blog, and visit our distribution page to sign up. For more on the Store's current player numbers and trends, visit our 2022 Year in Review.
Source:
Epic Games
The Epic Games Store is home to a huge, rapidly growing global audience with over 230 million players and 68 million monthly active users. Participating products in the Epic First Run program will be presented to those users on-store with new exclusive badging, homepage placements, and dedicated collections. In addition, products will be featured in relevant store campaigns including sales, events, and editorial as applicable. Once a product joins the program, it will benefit from continued exposure throughout its Epic First Run.
The Epic First Run program is open to developers and publishers on the Epic Games Store with eligible new releases launching on or after October 16, 2023. For more information, visit our information page.
What is the Epic First Run program?
Epic First Run is an opt-in exclusivity program that offers third-party developers 100% net revenue of user spending on eligible products in their first six months of exclusivity on the Epic Games Store. When the exclusivity period ends, the revenue share captured from user spending will revert to 88%/12%.
Who can participate?
This program is open to developers and publishers with registered Epic Games developer accounts and eligible products launching on or after October 16, 2023.
What products are eligible for the program?
A new release game or app which has not been previously released on another third-party PC store or included in a subscription service available on another third-party PC store.
Games or apps with a pre-existing exclusivity deal with the Epic Games Store are not eligible for the program.
How do I get an Epic Developer account?
To create an account, go to the Developer Portal website at dev.epicgames.com/portal and follow the instructions to sign in then register your organization and products. For more information, please see our Developer Portal account creation guide.
Can I still release a product on my first-party store or website?
Yes. Products in the Epic First Run program can also be released simultaneously on publishers' and developers' own stores or launchers with direct sales, sale of an Epic digital redemption code, or integration with our keyless redemption program. Please note, keyless distribution will require technical work to implement for developer or publisher's launcher and/or store.
Developers and publishers can also use the Epic Games Store's keyless redemption program to sell on other stores including Green Man Gaming, Humble Store and several others. After the six-month exclusivity period ends, developers are welcome to release their products on other third-party stores, while continuing to benefit from Epic's 88%12% revenue share.
How do I sign up for the Epic First Run program?
We will open registration through our self-publishing flow in the Epic Developer portal in October 2023. Check our information page for updates!
General questions about the program? Head over to the Epic Games Store Developer Community to connect with our staff and other developers on this topic and more. If you have a confidential question, please log in and start a private discussion with the topic Epic Games Store and the subject "Epic First Run". If you're already a partner, please reach out to your Epic Games Store account manager directly.
How do I release my product on the Epic Games Store?
It has never been easier to bring your games to the Epic Games Store. In March this year, we launched our self-service publishing tools to streamline the onboarding and release process. The tools allow developers to register, set up, test and distribute their games all directly through the Epic Developer Portal.
Read more about the benefits and requirements of self-publishing on the Epic Games Store in our self-publishing tools announce blog, and visit our distribution page to sign up. For more on the Store's current player numbers and trends, visit our 2022 Year in Review.
26 Comments on Epic Games Introduces First Run Program, Offers 100% Revenue to Developers for Exclusivity
The point I'm trying to make is this one: if GOG was better more developers would be willing to work with them and more customers would be willing to buy from them.
Of course some developers/publishers will never go to GOG but for the rest, indies in particular, it's a matter of cost/benefit and if you don't see them there is because there was too much of the former or too little of the latter and in both cases it's GOG's fault.
At Steam the cut they take is 2.5 times that of EGS and still developers and publishers fall over each other to publish there. Why? The quality and features of the platform.
And EGS is at least doing something to attract developers to their platform and if one thing doesn't work they try something else.
GOG? You can count with the fingers on one hand the number of new AAA titles that release on GOG on a year, if any. What you get instead is games like Fallout 4, releasing on GOG almost 8 years after release everywhere else. If GOG's agenda is to push for better digital rights they could do a lot better but they're just sitting there waiting for games to fall on their lap.