We reported earlier about the (somewhat) surprising announcement that Zombie Army 4: Dead War‘s PC version would be an Epic Games Store exclusive. CEO Jason Kingsley had said earlier in interviews that he didn’t see the company taking any exclusive deals. Part of what swayed them was that they felt it was good for the game, but Kingsley gave an even more blunt answer about the sudden change of heart today: it’s all about the green.
In an interview with GamesIndustry, Kingsley talked about the Epic Games Store and the disruptive state of PC gaming right now. He really didn’t mince words or try to hide any intentions, saying that Epic was “paying out the nose,” to get their store on top and what changed his mind on those exclusive deals was that cold, hard cash that Epic was offering.
“Generally I think I would prefer not to do exclusives but I understand Epic’s position with it, and quite frankly they are paying through the nose to build their store,” said Kingsley. “All credit to them, it’s fantastic, and we’ll take some of their money, thank you very much.”
Now, look, this is something that kind of goes without saying in the back of all of our heads. I doubt anyone is remotely shocked that the biggest reason for these deals hasn’t been the much talked about revenue split, or a vague sense of competition or whatever. But you have to appreciate the honesty of it either way, and as we’ve mentioned before, it’s practice that probably isn’t going to stop anytime soon.