World War Z sells 'way above expectations' on PC thanks to Epic Store exclusivity, dev says

Game sold more than 250,000 Epic Games Store copies, accounting for more than a quarter of total sales.

[slavish0]

Good for them

[TekoIie]

"Karch added: “On the PC specifically, we are performing way above expectations thanks to the support we have received from the Epic Games Store." He did not expand on how exactly the Epic Store had helped the game exceed expectations."

Kek.

[fsfsxii]

EGS is not a software dumpster house, so actual good games will be very noticeable instead of fighting for visibility among hentai games like on steam lol
Steaming dumpster more like

[Wolffenblitz]

"Actual good games"

[Seafort]

Epic Store doesn't have that many games on their store so all games will be noticed. World War Z should be selling over a million copies as it has such a high visibility on Epic Store, right? Wrong!

You sell on a new and seriously underdeveloped store and you get low sales. The only reason World War Z and many other games are on Epic Store in the first place and no where else is because Epic had to bribe them with an exclusivity contract of a couple of million dollars and guarantee them a revenue if they didn't sell that well.

[2pacalypsenow]

They don’t really think pc gamers will believe this crap right?

I mean do they really think people will believe it wouldn't have sold as well or even better if it also released on Steam?

Sounds like it’s just money talking..

[Pandamobile]

It's not really hard to understand why games have sold above expectation on EGS vs. Steam. Steam has 1000x more competition for store space. Even if EGS has half the userbase that Steam does, when there's a fraction of the available content on the store, it's a lot easier to get featured and pushed to consumers.

[bluefox755]

It may be true, if they had some sort of marketing deal. Even bad games sell good with financial backing. The game may very well have went under the radar without Epic. I'm not a fan of having a bunch of launchers to play different games, but that doesn't mean that a particular launcher can't or won't back a game and push it's sales. Although admittedly, I'm not privy to the details, so this may be hogwash.

[Kosic]

It could be they got more out the share cut so selling lesser numbers still racked in a good amount of profit. It would've been more if they were on multiple stores as some people may have skipped the game due to not being on their favourite client (that's a slim maybe).

But being the "in thing" and being an exclusive to one store. I do see a spike of new accounts and purchases.

Example steam takes 30%
Epic takes 12%
£30 game
Steam £9 take
Epic £3.30 (£6.70 difference)
Epic have to sell 2 and a half games to make the same profit as steam. Which in turns gives the developer around £16.75 in additional profit.

[Wolffenblitz]

Can't say it's the "in thing" if EGS and Publishers that go exclusive are getting hate from consumers.

The people buying this shit are the people that don't read gaming news articles and use their mums credit card.

[Christopher]

***The people buying this shit are the people that don't read gaming news articles and use their mums credit card.***

They don't agree with me so they must just be children defense. If this site has taught me anything, it's that who you think are kids are oftentimes adults with real jobs, family, and more, and don't care about things the way many others do. Most of them don't even care about the console or store wars, just about the best way to play their hobby.

[Christopher]

It's likely because Epic actually marketed the game unlike on Steam where it would have had no marketing aid unless they paid for it. So, they got free marketing and get more money per game sale on top of that.

It's not like the game itself was going to set the world on fire, but it might do well enough for them to add more DLC or even make a sequel down the road.

[Kosic]

@wolffenblitz the "in thing" was targeting the game. Not the process of how it's being sold.

[Al_Simmons]

Due to your username and picture. I am going to thumbs up every comment that you make. And yes, the money is talking.

[Blu3_Berry]

If it was on Steam I think it would've sold even more.

[Thundercat77]

Yes but they wouldn't be receiving the same profits. Epic give a higher percent to the devs.

[RpgSama]

Plus whatever they got for the exclusivity deal on top of that, I'm not defending their decision, but money was definitely a big factor for them

[GameBoyColor]

The devs were already paid. Its the publisher that gets that money

[Wolffenblitz]

People that keep saying shit like this are getting annoying.

The devs didn't see shit.

[meep316]

I bet a lot of that comes from the free press an epic store exclusive gets.

[Thundercat77]

Selling that much and with a higher pay rate than Steam. Others will follow. Steam will be forced to do something soon.

[YodaCracker]

Good.

[PhantomS42]

So much for months of PC gamers screaming from rooftops about how none of them will use the Epic Store. Good for the devs though.

[Hungryalpaca]

Pretty sure it would have sold way more on steam. 250k is extremely low.

[Felix_Argyle_Catbro]

"250k is extremely low"

It isn't. If you think that 250k in 1-2 weeks is "extremely low" then your knowledge about game sales is extremely lacking.

[GameBoyColor]

For comparison though. Thats what niche jrpgs sell. Tales games used to be in that category 6 years ago but now consistently sell more than 500k on steam.

[Felix_Argyle_Catbro]

"Thats what niche jrpgs sell"

Niche JRPGs sell less than 100k copies across all platforms. These are 1-2 weeks sales. And Tales games don't sell 500k on Steam. They reach those numbers because they have been offered on monthly humble bundles. Without them they sell less than 100k on Steam.

You people don't know anything about game sales. It's hilarious to see you try to argue against me.

[Sophisticated_Chap]

I find this hard to believe, however, the only possible way I could see this being beneficial to the developer, is the fact that the games wasn't submerged under a ton of crap games on the store. I really think that this is Steams biggest weakness.

[CurbStompin]

nobody cares.

[LeeFender]

You care enough though to post that here right? Lol

[Soulrakk]

Except for logic and basic math tells anyone that if it was on more than one launcher it would sell more. Steam has the most users on PC. How excluding yourself from loyal Steam users and handcuffing yourself to Epic gives you extra support is beyond anyone's comprehension. Except for the fact that you got paid to do so.
Bottom line is you would have sold less on Epic store if Steam carried the game. And I'd be willing to bet it would sell more on Steam. Stop bullshitting gamers based on an agenda.

[gangsta_red]

Good for these guys. Been meaning to pick up this game and play something similar to L4D.

[PlayableGamez-]

I think World War Z would have been a big hit on Steam considering Valve won't make L4DIII.

[Al_Simmons]

Don't care. Game looks like it may be mediocre at best. No story just running around like you have turds stuck up your a** blasting away at zombies

[BongSmack]

Maybe I'm missing something. How does limiting where your product is sold result in increased sales?