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One of the strategies Epic Games uses to get users onto the Epic Games Store is by offering free games every month. Now, thanks to the legal battle between Epic Games and Apple, we have a sense of how much Epic has paid to offer these free games.
According to documents released during the trial, Epic Games has shared the price it paid to offer games like Subnautica and the Batman Arkham series for free on the Epic Games Store. All-in-all, Epic has spent over $11.5 million on games to offer through the Epic Games Store.
The most expensive game Epic licensed is the Batman Arkham games, which Epic paid $1.5 million for. A close second is Subnautica which Epic paid $1.4 million for. According to Epic's internal numbers, Batman and Subnautica brought in 613,912 and 804,052 new Epic users respectively.
But the high prices for these games aren't necessarily the most shocking parts of Epic's disclosure. It's actually the lower prices Epic paid to offer some of these games for free. Epic paid as low as $45,000 on some games like Super Meat Boy or RiME. Epic paid $63,000 for Ubisoft's For Honor. Not every major title is listed in this document. It's unknown how much Epic Games paid to offer Grand Theft Auto 5 for free, but the title's popularity seemingly knocked the Epic Games Store offline temporarily. More details are expected to be revealed as Epic's court case against Apple continues. Epic has already revealed that Fortnite made over $9 billion in profit in 2019, and more skins are coming to Fortnite including, potentially, skins for Samus from Metroid, LeBron James, and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor.Want to know how much $ the devs of those 'free' Epic Games Store games got, & how many copies were grabbed? Here's the first 9 months to September 2019. pic.twitter.com/5hkLb1VEjj
— Simon Carless (@simoncarless) May 3, 2021