Why Epic Games delivers games for free on a weekly basis

Since December 2018, Epic Games, which operates a game distribution platform, has been conducting a campaign to distribute several games for free every week. According to the year-end report of Epic Games, 103 games were distributed free of charge in 2020 and more than 479 million downloads, but why Epic Games offers such a service The overseas media, The Verge, explains.

Three reasons why Epic Games can give away $ 17.5 billion worth of games for free --The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/12/22380895/epic-games-store-afford-give-away-17-5-billion-free-games

In order to compete with the competing game distribution platform ' Steam ', Epic Games has countermeasures such as exclusively selling some games on its own game distribution platform 'Epic Games Store' and distributing games for free. I'm taking The titles distributed include not only indie games but also popular AAA- class games, and have been distributed regularly for more than two years.

Epic Games has a 'minimum deposit' of 444 million for exclusive sales to game distributors, according to an investigation report filed in court by Apple, which has been sued by Epic Games for fair competition. He said he had prepared dollars (about 48 billion yen). However, if you look at the 2020 sales released by Epic Games, you can see that the sales of third-party games are 265 million dollars (about 29 billion yen), which is less than the minimum guarantee amount. According to an Apple survey, $ 330 million (about 36 billion yen) of the minimum deposit has not been collected and is recorded as a loss.
Epic Games is losing about 30 billion yen to compete with Steam-GIGAZINE

The Verge estimates that if all the games that were distributed for free were sold at the suggested retail price, the total sales would be $ 17.5 billion. However, you can think of these games as being downloaded because they are free. As for how the minimum guarantee amount is determined, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said, 'We pay the amount agreed with the developer in a lump sum, regardless of the number of downloads.'

'Apple describes it as a'loss', but it's an'investment'to build a profitable business in the future,' Sweeney tweeted, saying that the game will be distributed for free. I take it positively. As the game is distributed weekly, many players have come to use the Epic Games store, and in 2020, the number of active users per day reached a maximum of 31.3 million. ..

Mr. Sweeney evaluated these series of business models as 'successful' and indicated that he would continue this policy in the future.

Apple spins this as “losing money”, but spending now in order to build a great, profitable business in the future is exactly what investment is! It's equally true whether you're building a factory, a store, or a game.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 10, 2021