The parent company to game publisher 505 Games, Digital Bros have revealed just how much Control’s exclusivity to the Epic Games Store cost the upstart digital storefront: €9.49 million.
The revelation comes from Digital Bros’ financial report leading to the end of June 2019. In one table you can see a profit of €9.49 million attributed to Control, and in another you can see €9.49 million attributed to the Epic Games Store. Considering that Control wasn’t out for another two months, it shouldn’t take much red string and pins in a cork board to connect the two.
Oh, and it’s also stated that the payment was because of an exclusivity deal.
Fast English translation: "Revenue come from the computer version of Control. The game was released on august 27 but the structure of the marketplace who requested the pc exclusivity has made possible to gain the revenue starting from this quarter".
— Nicola Armondi (@Nicola_Armondi) September 20, 2019
Epic have been going on a spending spree since the launch of the Epic Games Store, snapping up PC exclusivity period left, right and centre. It’s included big name games like Borderlands 3 and Control, and smaller indie projects, such as Ooblets.
That’s caused a great deal of backlash among vocal fans online, with Shenmue III one of the highest profile examples, eventually leading to Epic covering refunds for disgruntled Kickstarter backers of the game’s development.
However, exclusivity deals have ensured that projects big and small have a financial safety net – Ooblets developer Glumberland openly discussed how guaranteed minimum and advanced payments that Epic offered gave them security to finish the game. It’s also have not dented the games’ sales performance. In fact, Epic Games Store was the “leading digital platform” for sales of Metro Exodus, and World War Z greatly outperformed expectations.
GameDaily.biz reached out to Epic for comment. Here’s their glib response:
We don’t comment on the terms of our deals. Everyone should play Control; it’s really good.
It is really good, to be fair.
Source: Digital Bros. via GameDaily.biz
