Fortnite, Gears of War, Shadow Complex, Unreal, Infinity Blade, sound familiar? These famous games were designed by Epic Games, a company specializing in video games playable on PC, mobile and console. 

Since then, Epic Games has come a long way, becoming a unicorn valued at $31.5 billion by 2022. Focus on Epic Games and its games, which have generated millions of fans worldwide.

What is Epic Games?

Founded in 1991, Epic Games (formerly Epic MegaGames) is an American company and video game development studio based in North Carolina. 

Although the studio is 40% owned by Chinese giant Tencent, founder Tim Sweeney retains full control with 51% of the shares. Sony, meanwhile, holds a small 5.4% stake.

In response to the ultra-high performance of game design techniques, Epic Games has designed Unreal Engine technology to create realistic interactive experiences on PC, console and mobile devices. This technology also enables the creation of alternative and virtual realities.

The developer has made a name for itself in the world of video games with Gears of Wars, the Unreal series and Infinity Blade. More recently, games such as Batlle Breakers, Fortnite: Save the World, Battle Royale and Paragon have seen the light of day.

31.1 million daily active users on the Epic Game Store in 2021 - never before seen!

The Epic Game Store, developed by the company of the same name, is an online content distribution and rights management platform. Available since December 2018, it has welcomed more than 62 million monthly active users since its launch. As a result, it has been able to counter the hegemony of its main competitor in the same sector: Steam developed by the Valve company.

The Epic Game Store reached over 194 million PC users in 2021, an increase of 34 million over 2020.

Epic Games stated that "daily active users reached a peak of 31.1 million. Simultaneously connected users reached 13.2 million". In December 2021, 62 million monthly active users were recorded.

The main reason why the platform is so popular with users all over the world is that it offer its members one free game a week. As a reminder, in May 2020, the famous car racing game GTA V was offered free of charge on the Epic game Store platform. This title subsequently generated a surge in account creations on the latter (7 million players in just a few days). Today, no fewer than 500 million accounts have been created on Epic game Store.

Epic Games' resounding entry into the closed world of unicorns

Becoming a unicorn is no easy feat. It requires :

• transformative innovation 
• continuous improvement 
• a change of style thanks to technology 
• a focus on customer needs 
• be a private company not yet listed on the stock exchange
• be valued at over $10 billion.

The gamble paid off for Epic Games became a unicorn in 2018 and is now worth over $31.5 billion. This could not have been possible, but it was without counting on its innovative games, the appeal of its games via the Epic Game Store platform and its game design using Unreal Engine technology. Investment is no stranger to success either.

Apple-Epic Games legal battle

In August 2020, the unicorn criticized Apple for charging too high a rate when purchasing on the iTunes platform. This rate is 30% (abuse of dominant position).

To remedy this, Epic Games is offering its Apple players the option of no longer using the iTunes platform. Instead, players will be able to purchase virtual goods directly via the Epic Games service.

Apple has consequently banned from its devices (iPad and iPhone) all downloads of games related to Epic Games, including the renowned Fortnite, costing the unicorn a sizeable market share.

The two companies have been engaged in a legal battle ever since.

 Ironically, Wolfire Games, creator of the online store, has sued Valve, Steam's parent company and Epic Games' main competitor, in federal court for abuse of dominant position.

Epic Games' position in the world 

Epic Games subsidiaries and divisions have sprung up around the world. Such as :

• in Serbia and Slovakia 
• in Canada
• in the United Kingdom
• in Germany 
• in Japan, China and South Korea
• in Australia
• in Sweden and Finland
• in France 

The Epic Games phenomenon has spread beyond the U.S. borders, with an explosion in the number of users worldwide.

Investors' big bets on Epic Games

Investors have a lot to bet on the gaming company. Billions of dollars have been raised on the success of Fortnite and Unreal Engine.. The latter is used not only for video game design, but also for film and TV production.

Lately, investors' eyes have been on Epic Games' new goal: the Metaverse.

Tim Sweeney, CEO and founder of Epic Games said in a statement "We are grateful to our new and existing investors who support our vision for Epic and Metaverse. Their investments will help us accelerate our work around creating connected social experiences in Fortnite, Epic Online Services and Epic Games Store."

Investors bet are betting a billion dollars to build the "Next Reality" Metaverse.

Lots of goals in sight...

Massive investments 

Epic Games' investors are numerous, and every one of them has participated in the round table and injected billions of dollars into the company's consecration as a unicorn. the company's consecration as a unicorn.

Project financiers include :

• Appaloosa
• Bailie Gifford
• Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC
• GIC
• Sony
• Kirkbi (from the group, Lego)
• KKR & Co 
• T. Rowe Price 
• PlayStation.

We won the bet! But the stakes were high. 

Spectacular fund-raising 

Epic Games has always been able to count on investors, and with good reason. Long before Fortnite, Epic Games was already a successful company thanks to Unreal Engine which has gone from strength to strength over the years. Fortnite was certainly Epic Games' crowning achievement.

Fundraising was necessary to promote the company to its current position. Among the billions of dollars raised from investors :

• 1.25 billion invested by KKR, Iconiq Capital and Smash Ventures in October 2018
• 750 million raised by various investors in 2020
• 1 billion in 2021 from investors including Appaloosa, Altimètre, Franklin Templeton, Luxor Capital and Sony ($200 million) 
• Sony, PlayStation and Kirkbi (home of Lego) invested $2 billion in April 2022.

According to a report by Invest game2020 was a record year in terms of fundraising, with a total of $5.9 billion.

This was Epic Games' biggest operation to date.

The record number of people playing online was broken during the lockdown. 

The planet has played!

Initial public offering 

Although not listed on the stock exchange, Epic Games often sees its name mentioned as a future IPO. Valued in April 2022 at nearly $32 billion, all eyes are on the video game developer.

According to Drake Star, two IPOs are expected: Epic Games and Discord. We'll keep an eye on these names...

A future in the age of technology 

Metavers are 3D virtual spaces. It enables users to socialize, play, work and carry out a variety of activities.

To further its ambitions in metavers, Epic Games has not hesitated to invest to invest millions of dollars in Hadean. Hadean is a British start-up with the potential to become THE reference infrastructure for powering to power metavers and digital immersive experiences for businesses for business, gaming, government and retail.

Hadean is Epic Games' metaverse tool. Fortnite being the company's reference metaverse.

Epic Games: key information

 4,500+ employees by 2022.

31.5 billion in April 2022.

Not currently listed on the stock exchange, although its listing is eagerly awaited.

Fortnite generated over $9 billion in its first two years. It's one of the most profitable video games of all time, propelling Epic Games into the stratosphere. If Epic Games has achieved this breakthrough in the world of video games, following in the footsteps of Microsoft, Nintendo, EA Games and Sony, it's thanks to Fortnite. thanks to Fortnite.

The company has since launched several projects has demonstrated its ambition to match Google's stature. However, the strategy employed by Epic Games to continue its vertiginous rise doesn't always please its competitors. The latter accuse the North Carolina-based company of killing off the competition, by taking 12% of sales revenues from the Epic Game store platform.

Epic Games has also reportedly signed exclusivity deals with high-profile games such as Borderlands 3, countering their appearance on Steam. Tim Sweeney admitted that he would review his strategy if the Steam platform conceded more advantages to game developers.

Epic Game's best strategy is to make new games available online for free every week.

This bait-and-switch strategy works. The free game grows the number of players who then promote it on various social media channels. Many players will want to try it out even if they become paying players.

Epic game also provides financial support for game development and marketing, to create high-performance games.

The company invests heavily in temporary game exclusives. Epic Games allows other game design studios selling their creations on Store to use the Unreal Engine.

The strategy used by Epic Game is promising for the future, but it should reconsider the one used against its competitors, which the latter consider to be "aggressive".

Later versions of the Unreal Engine and future Metaverses could work in Epic Games' favor.

"I see a bright future for the future of computing and its implications for games". 

Tim Sweeney

(Translate as: "I see a bright future for the future of computing and its implications for gaming")

"We're a company that's gone through many cycles and evolutions, and every time we have a major success, we double down and use the money from that to fund our initiatives and so forth".

Tim Sweeney 

(Translate as: "We are a company that has gone through many cycles and evolutions, and every time we have a major success, we double down and use the resulting money to fund our initiatives, etc.").