From the new documents in the case of Epic Games and Apple, it became known about the decline in revenue forecasts for the Epic Games Store. The company expects that the store will remain unprofitable for a long time and will begin to bring minimal profit only from 2025.The document was provided by EGS General Manager Stephen Allison at the end of November.
This is a revision of the store’s development strategy and the publishing direction of Epic Games, intended for internal use.
The other day, Reddit users drew attention to the document. Despite the presence of encrypted information, on the eighth page there is a table with data on the projected revenue of the Epic Games Store.
The company increased its forecast only for 2021 — from $547 million to $574 million. Up to 2024, Epic Games expects a decrease in estimated EGS revenues:
- 2022 — from $774 million to $658 million;2023 — from $1.004 billion to $748 million;
- 2024 — from $1.177 billion to $838 million.
- According to the document, the total revenue of Epic Games Store from 2019 to 2027 may amount to $4.362 billion.
At the same time, the store will start to make a stable profit only from 2025. Until then, EGS will remain unprofitable with the exception of 2023 — then a small profit of $16 million is expected. Based on the published forecasts, by 2027 the total operating losses of the store will amount to $965 million.
Also on page 14, the company noted a sharp reduction in the number of new deals concluded with developers and publishers. We are talking about the minimum guaranteed payments that companies rely on for the temporary exclusivity of their titles in EGS.
The document notes that as of June 2020, more than half of the games signed by Epic Games have been released. This suggests that the company has begun to conclude significantly fewer exclusive deals since the third quarter of 2019. What exactly is the reason for this slowdown is not specified.
Despite not the most optimistic forecasts, the company has repeatedly stated confidence in its strategy. In April, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called the EGS losses “a fantastic investment.” According to him, the chosen development plan will bring its results in the long term.