Epic Games will publish new titles from three well-known and respected game studios: Gen Design (maker of The Last Guardian), Playdead (Inside, Limbo), and Remedy Entertainment (Control). The projects will be released under Epic Games Publishing, a new multiplatform publishing effort with a developer-first approach.
The North Carolina-based Epic Games is on an expansion path, thanks to the riches from its Fortnite franchise, and now it is working with outside game studios to bring new games to the market. This move will help it diversify beyond Fortnite and the Unreal Engine, and it will also help populate the Epic Games Store with new titles.
And Epic said its approach to publishing fundamentally changes the developer/publisher model, and aims to have the most developer-friendly terms in the industry, so that creators can focus on making great games.
Full creative freedom and ownership
Above: Remedy’s Control was one of the top games of 2019.
Developers retain 100% of all intellectual property and full creative control of their work. Epic Games Publishing will cover up to 100% of development costs, from developer salaries to go-to-market expenses such as quality assurance, localization, marketing, and all publishing costs.
It will have 50-50 profit sharing. Epic said developers will earn a fair share for their work. Once costs are recouped, developers earn at least 50% of all profits.
Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games, in a statement, said the company is building the publishing model that Epic always wanted for itself when it worked with publishers in the past.
Hector Sanchez, head of Epic Games Publishing, in a statement that the three studios are among the most talented with strong visions for their next games. He said they will have have full creative control, while Epic will provide a solid foundation of project funding and services.
Additional information, development partners, and games will be announced in the coming months.
Author: Dean Takahashi.
Source: Venturebeat
