Developer and publisher of Fortnite, Epic Games has announced a multiplatform publishing division. In a move that’ll surprise no one, the new arm of the company will be called Epic Games Publishing.
In a statement released today, Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney said that the company is “building the publishing model we always wanted for ourselves when we worked with publishers.”
The new publisher intends to offer developers a better deal than found elsewhere, in a similar manner to the Epic Games Store on PC. Here are the key promises as listed in Epic’s own statement:
- Full creative freedom and ownership. Developers retain 100% of all intellectual property and full creative control of their work.
- Fully-funded projects. Epic Games Publishing will cover up to 100% of development costs, from developer salaries to go-to-market expenses such as QA, localization, marketing, and all publishing costs.
- 50/50 profit sharing. Developers earn a fair share for their work -- once costs are recouped, developers earn at least 50% of all profits.
They’re not starting out from zero, either. With the statement, Epic Games announced that they had signed off on deals with Remedy Entertainment, developer of Control; Gen Design, the studio which most recently produced The Last Guardian; and Playdead, developers of successful indie side-scrollers, Inside and Limbo. According to Remedy, they’ll be working on two titles with Epic Games Publishing, with one a larger title, and the other a smaller release set in the same universe.
© Epic Games
"Gen Design, Remedy, and Playdead are among the most innovative and talented studios in the industry, with strong visions for their next games,” Hector Sanchez, Head of Epic Games Publishing said in the statement. “They will have full creative control, while Epic will provide a solid foundation of project funding and services.”
Epic Games has said that more partners and the first games to be delivered as part of the deal will be announced in the next few months. You can read the full announcement from Epic Games by clicking here.