Jason Kingsley: Epic Games is “Paying Through the Nose” for Their Exclusives

While the details regarding any of the exclusive releases signed onto the Epic Games Store haven’t really been talked about since the phenomenon started, Rebellion is the latest to be swayed by Epic. Their reason? Like the others – lots of money, apparently.

Rebellion co-founder and CEO Jason Kingsley (who is also literally a knight in real life) confirmed (via Gamesindustry.biz) they accepted an exclusivity deal from Epic for Zombie Army 4, and that it was for a nice chunk of money.


“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,” Jason said. “All credit to them, it’s fantastic, and we’ll take some of their money, thank you very much.”

While Steam has remained the dominant platform for PC gaming, Jason said their decision to go with Epic was a “pure business case.”

“I think partly it’s also a bit of a kick up the backside for anybody whenever a new [competitor] comes into the marketplace,” he added. “It makes you reflect. I mean, developers turn up with a brilliant game and… it makes you focus on your game as well. It’s exactly the same for multinationals.”

Kingsley didn’t share actual numbers, but he teased the number Epic offered was quite nice. “[…] it’s a really nice bonus for us. I was quite impressed by the numbers they offered,” he said. Kingsley also added this was part of an “attractive package” they offered, and that Epic was “keen to help support the game.”

Zombie Army 4: Dead War is launching in early 2020 for PC (via the Epic Games Store), PS4, and Xbox One.

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