I'm really not interested in arguing about the slugfest of multi-billion dollar companies - in the end, neither really cares about consumers - but I am interested about facts being made public that are tangentially related, such as:

Epic paid over $11 million for their freebies within their first year alone. That may sound like much, but it really turns out to be just chump change for Epic because...

Fortnite made over $9 billion between 2018 and 2019. All I can say is: I weep for humanity. Ugh.

Sony charges developers for crossplatform feature if such games earn more outside of their Playstation ecoverse (while everybody else does not). Talk about scummy.

I think one of the most interesting ones is that securing Borderlands 3 for only 6-month exclusive on the PC cost them $146 million USD.
https://www.polygon.com/22419102/epic-games-vs-apple-lawsuit-documents-exclusive-borderlands-3-egs-146-million

I wonder what the heck it cost Epic to allow for GTA5 PC to be free for a week.

EDIT:
Also, it's possible Saints Row 5 and Dead Island 2 could become Epic timed-exclusives on PC:
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/saints-row-5-and-dead-island-2-may-be-exclusive-to-epic-games-store/

Wow, that's 1.5 times what the entire Steam store brought in and about 7% of all gaming revenue that year.
https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-global-games-market-will-generate-152-1-billion-in-2019-as-the-u-s-overtakes-china-as-the-biggest-market/

We also got to know that Walmart has a cloud gaming service in the works:

https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/4/22418882/walmart-cloud-gaming-service-epic-games-trial-emails

This trial is no bringing some light to the doings of Epic and Apple, but also other companies.

I wonder if Sony and Walmart knew if this type of info could be leaked through this trial.

It's times like this I realise it's a miracle it is we get any single player games at all anymore. And how much the gaming culture, outside of little "bubbles" such as GOG, has really left me behind. I will never understand what motivates people to play shit like that, not to mention pay money for some worthless virtual crap in such a game.

Are there any direct links to the court case. I would rather not visit PCgaymer or polygon smear websites.

FTFY

We live in different times. I don't know your age, but assuming you're about the same as me (35), we come from an era where the majority of games were single player only and that was the focus. The multiplayer part was kind of an addition. Sure there were those multiplayer only games like Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament, and while they were popular, they were mainly PC games, and had to be paid for. Consoles were primarily for single player games.

Even before Fortnite, I remember gifting a lot of good single player games to my godson, and you know what he did? Played for a bit and then went on to play CS or Team Fortress 2 with his friends.

Kids nowadays want to be connected and play online with their friends more than ever. In my time, I wanted to play outside and hang out.

Fortine was born in a time where console players are now used to get multiplayer only games. And assuming that the vast majority of players are kids, it's easy to understand why this is such a success: they could get a PS4 or an Xbox One for $199 during sales, plus the game being f2p. Parents buying them new skins every now and then adds to it. And last but definitely not least, the streamers (aka influencers) like Ninja. Then every kid wanted to be like him.

It's unfortunate really, because these type of games, imo, are hollow. They don't have a good narrative story, they don't make you care for their characters, they don't make you feel sad, happy or have your jaw dropped with their set pieces or story moments because they have none. But there are things they're definitely good at: getting a lot of people angered and be toxic to each other.

But despite all this, single player games are here to stay. And they'll continue to be a very important component of the game industry.

It makes you wonder just what is it about Fortnite that it became (like Minecraft) such a defining game for an an entire generation. Was it just blind luck?

Yep, I also grew up in the good old days, when most games were single player; some had big SP campaigns and a small MP portion; and some of them were flat-out MP-based.

I'm 40, BTW. Been doing console games since I was a kid at arcades & on my Atari 7800; and also had a NES, Genesis, and Playsation (original).

Moved over to PC gaming back in 1995 - and no looking back, since then.

I even remember back when Q3A and UT, BF 1942, BF2 - which were skirmish-based games, as I like to put it - their skirmish modes could be played as offline games against bots, if you didn't want to go online and play w/ players. Plus, you could basically practice, before you took on players online.

Now, we have COD MP's, which likely barely last at least a year b/c they pump these games out yearly - and who knows if anyone's say playing some of the older MP's, since the new one's out and likely getting all the play. I really wish these games, if player count dies, we could just flat these offline against bots.

Man, I miss the old days.

Nice to see the titans fighting every now and then. Entertaining and enlightening.

I'm actually surprised at just how low most of the free games cost Epic. I assumed the cost would be higher. Most companies that size would pay more in advertising and marketing than Epic is paying for their free games, yet the free games bring them much better publicity and new accounts, plus extra money for small devs to help make their next game.

And $115M for the Borderlands 3 12 month PC exclusive is lower than I would have assumed as well, and it went on to be something like 3rd for the year on NPD charts as well, so would have made them shitloads even when taking out the console sales from the NPD figures...and NPD is just the USA, so there is the rest of the world too. Clearly Epic knows what it's doing with the money it throws into exclusives and freebies.

And some of the Sony deals that are coming to light recently. Since the 1980's I've always said Sony are the dirtiest company in the entertainment industry.

Another funny contract detail to come out is how Nintendo specifically states in contracts that they will not deal with any company with ties to Yakuza or other organized crime. So if it ever comes to light that Tencent have Triad ties then no more Fortnight on Switch!

Looks like Epic has plenty of cash to throw at devs. No wonder they cave in. Pretty sad really.

It's not "caving in" or "sad" at all for the devs. From EGS they get free money and/or guaranteed minimum revenues, and they only pay EGS 12% of their income.

In contrast, by releasing on Steam and/or GOG, they get no free money, no guaranteed minimum revenues, and they get the 'privilege' of being extorted for 30% of their income.

Under those circumstances, going with EGS is a no-brainer and the wisest possible decision for the devs.

Hopefully more of the devs will get on board the EGS train too, that it may smash the Steam monopoly all the sooner! :)