Epic Games wants devs to bring their back catalogs to its store

Epic Games announced this week that it’s launching two programs for its PC gaming store. The first is its First Run program, its initiative where developers can boost their revenue on games while they’re exclusive to the Epic Games Store. The other is the Now on Epic program, which incentivizes devs bringing their previously published games to the EGS.

In both programs, Epic offers devs the option to get 100% of the revenue on qualifying products within the first six months of bringing them to the EGS. For First Run, the product is a game launched exclusively on the EGS, and for Now on Epic, it’s an older game released on the EGS for the first time but which is available on another platform. After the six months are up, the games fall under Epic’s typical 88/12 revenue split.

According to Epic’s FAQ, any game published before October 31 this year qualifies for the Now on Epic program, but developers must commit to releasing at least three games on the EGS (or all of their existing games, if they have less than three). The program appears to be a limited-time option, as developers have until December 31, 2024 to enroll in the program, and must launch their products on the EGS before June 30, 2025.

These programs launch shortly after Epic underwent a retrenchment that saw it lay off over 800 employees. CEO Tim Sweeney revealed at the time that Fortnite revenue was slowing down, and that the company could no longer count on that to sustain its metaverse ventures. The company detailed its plans to bring more users to its PC gaming storefront in a talk at Unreal Fest called “Getting the Most out of Epic Games Store and Epic Online Services.”