It has been over six years since Epic began undercutting Steam’s 30 p.c income share for builders, asking for simply 12 p.c of gross sales on its then-new Epic Video games Retailer. Now, Epic goes even additional by decreasing these charges to zero for a sport’s first $1 million in annual gross sales.
The newly introduced payment construction will go into impact in June, Epic mentioned, and can apply to a developer’s income on a “per app” foundation. After the primary $1 million in annual gross sales, apps shall be charged the standard 12 p.c payment for itemizing on the Epic Video games Retailer.
This is not the primary time Epic has supplied a monetary break to smaller builders. Again in 2011, the corporate eschewed royalty funds for the primary $50,000 in gross sales for tasks made with the newly free Unreal Improvement Package. By 2020, that royalty-free grace interval for Unreal Engine tasks was elevated to cowl the primary $1 million in lifetime gross sales for a mission.
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Epic’s concentrate on the low finish of the gaming income scale is one thing of an inverse of Valve’s payment construction on Steam. In 2018, Valve reduce its default 30 p.c income share to 25 p.c, however just for lifetime per-game earnings in extra of $10 million. Valve’s payment goes down once more to twenty p.c after a sport hits $50 million in lifetime gross sales.
