Epic Games introduces the Epic First Run program

Epic games said in an earlier blog posting: “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 68M 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.” The Fly notes that Epic Games is a privately owned company. CEO Tim Sweeney owned more than half of its shares, while the Chinese technology and entertainment holding company Tencent (TCEHY) held a 40% stake in the game maker. Other companies in the space include: Electronic Arts (EA), Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Take-Two (TTWO) Nintendo (NTDOY), Sony (SONY), Microsoft (MSFT), and Nintendo (NTDOY).