Epic Games started 2025 by starting the Launch Everywhere With Epic program, which will benefit game developers who use the Unreal Engine. The catch is that the companies must release their new Unreal Engine game on the Epic Games Store on launch day. According to an official blog post, this new program only includes games launched from 2025 onwards. Unreal Engine games that fit the criteria will get a royalty rate reduction from 5 percent to 3.5 percent.
The Launch Everywhere With Epic program is another move by Epic Games to entice developers to use their store. It also works for games already participating in the Epic First Run program, where developers make their new releases exclusive to the store for six months. Not only that, but this royalty reduction will even apply to all platforms and stores, including consoles. That means if a developer makes very popular games available on all platforms, they will pocket much more of their revenue since they won’t have to pay the full price of Unreal Engine royalties.
Note that developers must pay the full royalty rate if they release their Unreal Engine game on another PC or Android store but do not make it available on the Epic Games Store for the corresponding platform. However, Epic Games is currently waiving the requirement to ship the new game on the iOS platform. This is due to Apple’s Core Technology Fee on apps that sell their product in competing stores. Should Apple remove this fee in the future, Epic Games will give the Launch Everywhere With Epic program participants around four months of warning.
While many companies have published their games simultaneously on Epic Games Store and Steam, some big-name developers haven’t done so, such as Bandai Namco. With the Launch Everywhere With Epic program, Epic Games wants to make its store more enticing to both developers and players. Perhaps this program may even incentivize day-one PC ports for games that are made using Unreal Engine.
