Fortnite's rise to success also led to a big rise in spending for Epic Games, with the company embarking on a number of acquisitions, investing heavily in securing content for its own store to compete with Steam and a few major lawsuits levied against the likes of Apple and Google. The company began to spend outside of its means, leading to a number of lay-offs this year. Unfortunately it doesn't sound like the Epic Games Store will be turning things around anytime soon, as it has yet to turn a profit.
As part of the Epic v Google court battle, which is taking place this week, Epic Games Store lead, Steve Allison, confirmed on the witness stand that the store has yet to turn a profit, as reported by The Verge. He told the courtroom that Epic's goal is still growth with the store as Epic continues to try to challenge Steam's dominance in the PC game marketplace.
Epic Games has spent hundreds of millions on securing timed exclusives for its store to sway customers over from Steam, alongside weekly free game giveaways. We learned during the Epic v Apple trial that the company committed to over $400 million in minimum guarantees for developers shipping games on its store in 2020 alone. The number of exclusive deals has slowed down since then but there is still a considerable amount of money being spent.
In 2021, Epic Games' lawyers revealed that realistically, the company doesn't expect to turn a profit on its store until 2027 and so far, it looks like the company is still on that track.
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KitGuru Says: Epic Games has taken more than a few financial risks in recent years, with Fortnite being the engine powering it all. The company is unlikely to be in dire straits anytime soon though, as Fortnite continues to grow, attracting the most concurrent players since launch just this month.