https://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&boardid=1&threadid=268734

Dang!
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On 18.02.2024 21:40, Ant wrote:
> https://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&boardid=1&threadid=268734
>
> Dang!

Thanks Ant for sharing!

On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 19:40:21 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:

>https://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&boardid=1&threadid=268734
>

I could have sworn we discussed this topic a month or three ago
(except back then it was only $560 million USD). Except I can't find
reference to it; maybe it was on another forum.

Doubtlessly, that value is based on the full retail price of the game,
so it's likely incredibly inflated. And I have absolutely no belief
that Epic /paid/ that much for the freebies; more likely, they
convinced the publishers to give away the games for free as a
marketing gimmick (possibly with the promise of reduced fees).
Certainly, the publishers would not have made an extra half-billion US
dollars in revenue if the games hadn't been given away for free;
they'd have just done without. So Epic's 'generosity' isn't as
generous as the offered number suggests.

Still, as a beneficiary of all the freebies (even if all I do is log
them into a spreadsheet so I can see The Number grow and grow! ;-) I
am grateful. Thank you Epic for giving away all those games.

But I am also absolutely sure that Epic benefitted much more from the
give-aways than it cost them.

On 2/18/2024 4:01 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 19:40:21 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
>
>> https://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&boardid=1&threadid=268734
>>
>
> I could have sworn we discussed this topic a month or three ago
> (except back then it was only $560 million USD). Except I can't find
> reference to it; maybe it was on another forum.
>
> Doubtlessly, that value is based on the full retail price of the game,
> so it's likely incredibly inflated. And I have absolutely no belief
> that Epic /paid/ that much for the freebies; more likely, they
> convinced the publishers to give away the games for free as a
> marketing gimmick (possibly with the promise of reduced fees).
> Certainly, the publishers would not have made an extra half-billion US
> dollars in revenue if the games hadn't been given away for free;
> they'd have just done without. So Epic's 'generosity' isn't as
> generous as the offered number suggests.
>
> Still, as a beneficiary of all the freebies (even if all I do is log
> them into a spreadsheet so I can see The Number grow and grow! ;-) I
> am grateful. Thank you Epic for giving away all those games.
>
> But I am also absolutely sure that Epic benefitted much more from the
> give-aways than it cost them.
>
Most likely that $580 million value is based on what the full, regular
price of the games would have been.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 23:07:42 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

>On 2/18/2024 4:01 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>> On Sun, 18 Feb 2024 19:40:21 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
>>
>>> https://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&boardid=1&threadid=268734
>>>
>>
>> I could have sworn we discussed this topic a month or three ago
>> (except back then it was only $560 million USD). Except I can't find
>> reference to it; maybe it was on another forum.
>>
>> Doubtlessly, that value is based on the full retail price of the game,
>> so it's likely incredibly inflated. And I have absolutely no belief
>> that Epic /paid/ that much for the freebies; more likely, they
>> convinced the publishers to give away the games for free as a
>> marketing gimmick (possibly with the promise of reduced fees).
>> Certainly, the publishers would not have made an extra half-billion US
>> dollars in revenue if the games hadn't been given away for free;
>> they'd have just done without. So Epic's 'generosity' isn't as
>> generous as the offered number suggests.
>>
>> Still, as a beneficiary of all the freebies (even if all I do is log
>> them into a spreadsheet so I can see The Number grow and grow! ;-) I
>> am grateful. Thank you Epic for giving away all those games.
>>
>> But I am also absolutely sure that Epic benefitted much more from the
>> give-aways than it cost them.
>>
>Most likely that $580 million value is based on what the full, regular
>price of the games would have been.

Seems likely.

Says Epic's 'year in review': 86 games given away, total redeemed
value of free games is $2,055USD. That comes to ~$24USD per game,
which sounds low... until you remember how many of the 2023 freebies
were small Indie titles whose full retail price was $10USD or less
(you know, great classics like "Shapez" or "Melvor Idle" or "Silent
Age" ;-). The only way the few 'AAA' games they gave away could drag
the average was if they too were counted at full retail value.

Also, I misread the original title. Epic apparently gave away 586
million games /total/... not games worth $586 million. If we multiply
the total number of games by the claimed $2,055 value of those games,
the total value of all those games is... $1.2 trillion dollars.
Meaning Epic is claiming to have given away games whose value is more
than the GDP of Saudi Arabia.

So, yeah, take those numbers with a grain of salt. ;-)

Interestingly, Epic only made $310 Million USD from third-party sales
on their store-front (in comparison, Steam apparently made $8.5
billion USD in 2021. Up-to-date numbers are hard to get for Steam). Of
course, Epic also made another $1 billion USD from its own games
(mostly Fortnite stuff, I'm guessing). The third-party revenue
diminished by 13% too. As a front-end for Fortnite, EGS is doing fine,
but as a competitor to Steam? Not so much.