Epic Games

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Epic Games Inc.

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 1991
Seat Raleigh , North Carolina , United States
United StatesUnited States 
management Tim Sweeney
Branch Software development
Website www.epicgames.com

Epic Games is a software company based in Raleigh , North Carolina, USA . The company has been developing computer and video games since 1991 and established itself with games such as the Unreal and Gears of War series, as well as the battle royale shooter Fortnite . Through the licensing and further development of the in-house Unreal Engine , a development software for computer games, Epic Games is one of the leading providers in the field of game engines . The company also operates the Epic Games Store Internet sales platform .

history

Epic Games headquarters in Raleigh
Entrance to the Epic Games office, 2016

Epic Games was founded in 1991 as Epic MegaGames by Tim Sweeney in Rockville , Maryland and released the first game ZZT in the year it was founded . Over the next several years, Epic MegaGames made a name for itself by releasing shareware games like Jill of the Jungle and Jazz Jackrabbit . In 1992, OverKill was one of the first vertically scrolling shoot 'em ups in the shareware area.

In 1998 the first-person shooter Unreal was released. Its success was continued through the continuation of the Unreal series and the distribution of the respective Unreal engine . In 1999, Epic MegaGames renamed Epic Games and relocated its headquarters to Raleigh, North Carolina.

Between 2006 and 2011, Epic developed the cover shooter Gears of War and its two successors in cooperation with publisher Microsoft , mainly for the Xbox 360 game console . The lead developer was the jazz jackrabbit inventor Cliff Bleszinski . In 2012, Bleszinski left the company. In 2014, Epic sold the trademark rights to the series to Microsoft and handed over responsibility for further development to Microsoft's Black Tusk Studios .

In May 2012, Epic Games took over many employees from the bankrupt developer Big Huge Games . The new employees became part of the new Impossible Games development studio in Baltimore . However, in February 2013, Epic closed the studio again. In June 2012, the Chinese Internet company Tencent acquired about 48.4% of the shares in Epic Games for 330 million US dollars and thus holds about 40% of the company. Two Tencent representatives have been on the game developer's board of directors since then . In November 2013, the studio took over the Polish developer People Can Fly and renamed the studio Epic Games Poland. However, in 2015 it became independent again and changed its name to its original name.

In 2017, Epic released Fortnite: Battle Royale, a competitor to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds , which was able to overtake the pioneer of battle royale games in 2018 in terms of sales. For the development of the Battle Royale mode, work on a new edition of Unreal Tournament had previously been put on hold. In 2018, according to insider information, Epic generated a profit of three billion US dollars, primarily through the Fortnite success, and the company value was estimated at 15 billion dollars. Tim Sweeney, the company's majority shareholder, was named to Bloomberg's list of the 500 richest people , with an estimated net worth of more than $ 7 billion. The game's popularity extended beyond its realm. For example, the victory dances occurring in it were imitated outside the context of the game, for example as a goal celebration in professional football. However, according to a report by the game website Polygon , the increasing success of the game also overwhelmed the capacities of the developer studio. Employees complained about working hours of 70 to 100 hours a week in order to publish new content every week and to maintain the sales of the game. Despite good pay, the negative effects on employees would have been ignored. Officially declared as a “voluntary service”, employees were dismissed if they refused to work overtime because they could otherwise not meet the deadlines set for tasks.

At the beginning of December 2018, Epic announced the opening of its own digital web shop for computer games in order to establish an alternative to the market-dominating provider Steam . As the main incentive for providers, Epic offered a higher share of the revenue and additional perks when using the Unreal engine. A few days after the announcement, as part of the computer game award The Game Awards , the Epic Games Store was officially opened. For the market entry, Epic secured numerous exclusive distribution rights in the following months, which met with clear criticism in some customer groups, especially because in some cases, such as Metro Exodus, games that could already be pre-ordered on Steam disappeared from the offer. The exclusive contracts guaranteed the developers about a minimum turnover, which Epic promised to compensate with its own funds if the necessary sales figures were not achieved.

In January 2020, the market research company SuperData reported that Fortnite's 2019 sales had declined by 25%. Fortnite is by far the top-selling game from Epic Games.

The Japanese technology group Sony , which also owns the Playstation brand, acquired a 1.4% stake in Epic Games for $ 250 million in July 2020. Thus, Epic Games is valued at a total of $ 17.86 billion.

In August 2020, Epic introduced a payment method in the mobile versions of Fortnite in the App Store and in the Google Play Store that bypassed the payment via the respective store and instead processed it directly via Epic. Google and Apple removed the app from their marketplaces. Epic then started a campaign in which the actions of Google and Apple were attacked and filed a lawsuit in US courts. App developers have to pay a sales fee of 30 percent to Google and Apple, which Epic sharply criticized.

Computer games

Web links

Commons : Epic Games  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Cliff Bleszinski out at Epic Games . Gamespot. Archived from the original on October 9, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 8, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / uk.gamespot.com
  2. ^ Microsoft acquires Gears of War from Epic, hires series producer Rod Fergusson
  3. ^ Matt Martin: Epic building new studio with Big Huge Games staff. In: GamesIndustry.biz. June 3, 2012, accessed February 13, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Mike Williams: Epic Games closes Impossible Studios, delays Infinity Blade: Dungeons. In: GamesIndustry.biz. February 8, 2013, accessed February 13, 2013 .
  5. ^ Matt Martin: Tencent paid $ 330m for 40% share in Epic Games. In: GamesIndustry.biz. March 22, 2013, accessed March 22, 2013 .
  6. ↑ Bulletstorm studio People Can Fly is now Epic Games Poland; helping develop sandbox shooter Fortnite. In: VentureBeat. November 1, 2013, Retrieved April 25, 2019 (American English).
  7. ↑ Epic Games: Development studio People Can Fly independent again. In: Golem.de . Retrieved on April 25, 2019 (German).
  8. ↑ Daniel Herbig: The Battle Royale phenomenon: How Fortnite PUBG has overtaken the rank. In: heise online. Retrieved April 25, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Unreal Tournament - Development stopped, download remains. In: Gamestar . December 6, 2018, accessed April 25, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Fortnite - Epic Games makes $ 3 billion in profit in 2018. In: Gamestar . December 28, 2018, accessed April 25, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Rich through Fortnite - Epic boss Tim Sweeney now billionaire. In: Gamestar . January 9, 2019, accessed April 25, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Jörg Kramer: Football and "Fortnite": Joy from the console . In: The time . February 17, 2019, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed April 25, 2019]).
  13. ↑ Colin Campbell: How Fortnite's success led to months of intense crunch at Epic Games. April 23, 2019, accessed April 24, 2019 .
  14. ^ Allegra Frank: Epic Games is launching its own store, and taking a smaller cut than Steam. In: polygon . December 4, 2018, accessed April 25, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Kyle Orland: Epic Games Store launches with extremely limited selection of games. In: Ars Technica . December 7, 2018, Retrieved April 25, 2019 (American English).
  16. ↑ challenge to Steam - List of all the exclusive title of Epic Games Store. In: Gamestar . April 3, 2019, accessed April 25, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Epic Games Store: Great success for Metro Exodus, outcry over Outer Worlds. In: PC Games Hardware . March 21, 2019, accessed April 25, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Phoenix Point at Epic - The details of the exclusive deal. In: Gamestar . March 14, 2019, accessed April 25, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Fortnite: 25% less sales - Still at the top. In: gaming-grounds.de. January 4, 2020, accessed on January 4, 2020 (German).
  20. ↑ heise online: Sony joins Epic Games with 250 million US dollars. Retrieved August 18, 2020 .
  21. ↑ n-tv NEWS: "Fortnite" developer defends himself against Apple. Retrieved August 18, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Psyonix is ​​Joining the Epic Family! Accessed May 1, 2019 .