Gears of War (video game)

Gears of War
Developer(s)	Epic Games[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Game Studios
Producer(s)	Rod Fergusson
Designer(s)	Cliff Bleszinski
Programmer(s)	Ray Davis
Artist(s)	Jeremiah O'Flaherty Chris Perna
Writer(s)	Susan O'Connor Eric Nylund
Composer(s)	Kevin Riepl
Series	Gears of War
Engine	Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s)	Xbox 360 Windows
Release	Xbox 360 NA: November 7, 2006 EU: November 17, 2006 AU: November 23, 2006 Windows NA: November 6, 2007 EU: November 9, 2007 AU: November 15, 2007
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Gears of War is a 2006 third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It is the first installment of the Gears of War series, and was initially released as an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 in November 2006. A Microsoft Windows version, developed in conjunction with People Can Fly, was released in November 2007. The game's main story, which can be played in single or co-operative play, focuses on a squad of troops who assist in completing a desperate, last-ditch attempt to end a war against a genocidal subterranean enemy, the Locust, and save the remaining human inhabitants of their planet Sera. The game's multiplayer mode allows up to eight players to control characters from one of the two factions in a variety of online game modes. Gameplay features players using cover and strategic fire in order to win battles.

The game was a commercial success, selling over three million copies within ten weeks of its launch. It became the fastest selling video game of 2006, the second-most played game over Xbox Live during 2007, and one of the best-selling Xbox 360 games. The game received universal acclaim for its gameplay and detailed visuals, and is considered to be one of the greatest video games ever made, winning over 30 "Game of the Year" awards in 2006 and helped popularize the use of a cover system. A remastered version, Gears of War, was developed primarily by The Coalition. Ultimate Edition was released for the Xbox One in August 2015, and for Microsoft Windows in March 2016.

Gears of War's success led to the development of a franchise, including four sequels: Gears of War 2 (2008), Gears of War 3 (2011), Gears of War 4 (2016), and Gears 5 (2019), and two prequels, Gears of War (2013) and Gears Tactics (2020). In addition, it has also spawned adaptations for books and comics, and a film based on the series is currently in development.

Gears of War is a third-person shooter that places emphasis on using cover to avoid taking damage while moving towards enemy forces. The game uses a number of weapons, but predominately featured is the Lancer Assault Rifle, which has a mounted chainsaw bayonet that can deal melee damage at close range. Playable characters can carry two primary weapons, grenades, and a smaller, secondary weapon such as the Snub Pistol. Weapons are reloaded with a tap of the RB button, and a second tap within a given time (active reload) rewards the player with a damage bonus. However, failing to perform the "Active Reload" correctly will cause the gun to become momentarily jammed while the player's character fixes it. When the player takes damage, the "Crimson Omen", a red cog representing the player's health gauge, will fade into the screen, becoming more defined with larger amounts of damage. The player can seek cover to recover their health, but if they take too much damage, they will become incapacitated. Once this occurs, a skull will fill the center void of the omen. The player can then be revived by a teammate, executed by an enemy, or remain incapacitated until they "bleed out", dying from blood loss.

The game features a five-act campaign that can be played alone or cooperatively with another player. The campaign focuses on COG Army soldiers Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago and their efforts in the Delta Squad to wipe out the Locust forces on their planet Sera. The player is joined by AI teammates that will help fight the Locust. Certain sections of the campaign feature two paths that can be taken as selected by the first player. If there is a second player, their character will automatically take the other. The campaign can be played at three difficulty settings in the first game. From easiest to hardest, these are "Casual", "Hardcore" and "Insane". The "Insane" difficulty is unlocked once the game is beaten on either the "Casual" or "Hardcore" difficulty.^[1]

Multiplayer Gears of War features up to four-on-four competitive gameplay, with teams representing the Gears or the Locust. Players must execute downed foes, otherwise these will revive after a time. In Assassination matches, the team's leader is the only one that can track the other team's leader and pick up new weapons, after which teammates can pick them up, with the goal to eliminate the foe's leader. An Xbox 360 patch added the "Annex" mode, which is similar to King of the Hill, in which players must try to control a shifting control point for a certain amount of time to win.^[2] The PC version of Gears introduced "King of the Hill", a mode not present in the Xbox 360 version, which uses a fixed control point but varies the conditions on which it is controlled.^[3]

Gears of War takes place on the planet Sera. A liquid called Imulsion became a highly valued power source after a scientist discovered how to use it, and the economic shockwave led to several wars between nations. The Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) originally existed only as an obscure world-government philosophy, but it evolved into a legitimate, though minor, political party during the 79-year-long Pendulum Wars. The soldiers of the COG are called "Gears". After "Emergence Day" (E-Day), when the Locust began their attack on humanity, the COG were the ones who took the necessary steps to ensure the survival of human civilization, instituting martial law and taking charge of the effort against the Locust. Fourteen years later, the COG is the only human government left on Sera. One year after E-Day, after losing multiple military battles to the Locust, the COG launched a Pyrrhic tactical and strategic campaign using the satellite-based weapon of mass destruction known as the "Hammer of Dawn" on human cities with extremely destructive results. The result gave the citizens of Sera three days to evacuate to the Jacinto Plateau, the only place Locust could not dig through, before going through with the attack.^[4]

The game primarily focuses on Marcus Fenix (John DiMaggio)^[5] and his comrades in Delta Squad: Dominic "Dom" Santiago (Carlos Ferro),^[6] Augustus Cole (Lester Speight),^[7] and Damon Baird (Fred Tatasciore).^[4] Side characters, such as Colonel Victor Hoffman, Private Anthony Carmine, Lieutenant Minh Young Kim, Lieutenant Anya Stroud, and an elderly Stranded man known as Chaps, also aid Delta Squad throughout the narrative. The game's main antagonist is General RAAM, a powerful leader of the Locust Horde's armed forces.

Players take control of Fenix in the campaign; while in co-op mode, the second player controls Santiago. All four Delta squad members are available for play during multiplayer games, along with Carmine, Kim, and Hoffman, in addition to various Locust characters.^[4]

The game's plot begins fourteen years after Emergence Day (E-Day), when the Locust Horde overran and killed many COG soldiers and civilians, declaring war against humanity.^[4] Marcus Fenix, a former COG soldier, is reinstated into the military after spending four years in prison for abandoning his military post in order to make a vain attempt to save his father, Adam Fenix. Dominic "Dom" Santiago, Marcus' best friend and fellow COG, successfully extracts Fenix from the prison, and takes him to meet Delta Squad.^[8] The group seeks to obtain the "resonator", a device that will map "The Hollow", the caverns which the Locust inhabit^[8][9] and later deploy the "Lightmass Bomb", which will destroy the heart of the Locust forces inside the Hollow. Fenix and his allies recover the device, but suffer multiple casualties in the process including Anthony Carmine and Squad leader Kim. Fleeing RAAM's forces, Fenix leads the remaining soldiers through the ruins of Ephyra to claim a "Junker" APC, drive to a mining facility, and finally into the planet's depths.^[4][8]

Delta Squad successfully detonates the resonator, but the device fails to map enough of the tunnel network. They discover a larger map of the network that originates from Fenix's old home, specifically his father's laboratory.^[8] The group ventures to the Fenix estate at East Barricade Academy, where Fenix originally attempted to rescue his father. When they arrive, Delta encounters heavy Locust resistance. After collecting the data, the group fights their way past Locust forces and boards a train carrying the Lightmass Bomb. Fenix and Santiago battle their way through the train, and are able to kill General RAAM, before uploading the data. Fully activated, the Lightmass Bomb launches into the Hollow, and eradicates the Locust tunnel networks.^[8] In the game's final sequence, Hoffman delivers a victory speech as the tunnels collapse and explode, whereupon the voice of the Locust Queen promises that the Locust will continue to fight onward, despite their losses.

The first concept for the game was conceived around the years 2000 and 2001 as Unreal Warfare, which was much closer to the multiplayer-driven Unreal series than the game that would eventually become Gears of War. The original concept for the game featured character classes and mechs, being played in a closed arena against other players or bots. The game was put on standby as Epic focused on the Unreal Tournament series, and when the team went back to it, the industry had shifted towards single-player games and the aim of the game was changed.^[10]

According to Rod Fergusson, the game was at one point intended to be a horror game influenced by Band of Brothers, Resident Evil 4 and Kill Switch. A romance subplot was considered for the game but was eventually dropped.^[11] In an interview with Cliff Bleszinski, lead developer for Epic Games, he cites three games that were the primary influences in the game's design, including the pacing and over-the-shoulder third-person perspective from Resident Evil 4 and the tactical-cover system from Kill Switch; Bleszinski also cited Bionic Commando's influence on the cover system, equating the actions of moving from cover to cover as similar to the action of swinging from platform to platform in the latter game.^[12] These design choices reflect themselves in the gameplay, as Gears of War focuses mainly on squad team-based and cover-dependent tactics with limited weapons rather than brute force. Bleszinski also cited the influence of The Legend of Zelda, including its storytelling and world-building elements, acquiring and mastering of tools, and underground environments.^[13] The game's title itself is a homage to Metal Gear, an early formative influence on Bleszinski.^[14] The total cost of development was $10 million, according to Epic's Mark Rein, and 20 to 30 people were involved with the development at any time.^[15] However, these figures do not include the proprietary Unreal Engine 3.^[15]

Gears of War was first shown as an unnamed exclusive for the Xbox 360 in a behind-closed-doors presentation by Epic Games at the 2005 Game Developers Conference.^[16] The demo was presented as a technology showcase for Unreal Engine 3 that would run on the Xenon processor at the center of the new Xbox. It showcased a group of human soldiers patrolling a city at night that fell under ambush. The demo was noted for its overall realism, suspense, and visual clarity, helping to reinforce the argument advanced by Epic Games' founder Tim Sweeney for Microsoft to double the memory in the Xbox 360 from the planned 256 MB to 512 MB. This decision that would ultimately cost Microsoft tens of millions of dollars and restrict the number of Xbox 360 consoles available at launch, but allowed Gears of War and many other Xbox 360 games to run at 720p resolution.^[16][17]

Gears of War lead designer Cliff Bleszinski said he hoped for the game to expand into graphic novels and eventually film.^[18] On November 21, 2006, Microsoft Corporate VP of Global Marketing and Interactive Entertainment Business Jeff Bell stated Gears of War is the first in a trilogy, through sequences on E-Day and the battle of Jacinto Plateau, as well as information on Adam Fenix and his research.^[19] Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein posted a message on the official Gears of War Internet forums, stating "It's not over until it is not fun anymore", and, in his view, Gears of War may become the next Halo series in terms of popularity.^[20]

The ending to Gears of War heavily suggested a sequel, and at the 2007 Game Developers Conference, Bleszinkski confirmed that Epic Games did "intend to do a sequel" to Gears of War.^[21] The game's sequel, Gears of War 2 was officially confirmed on February 20, 2008,^[22] and was released at midnight on November 7, 2008.^[22] On January 27, 2014 Microsoft announced that they have acquired all rights to the franchise from Epic Games and that Rod Fergusson had rejoined Microsoft Studios to lead development on future Gears of War games.^[23]

News of the franchise's future has emerged multiple times since the game's release. PC Gamer accidentally released an image in its 2006 holiday issue where Gears of War can be seen in a Games for Windows display, which led to suspicion that Gears of War would be released for the PC;^[24] however, the image was later stated to be a mock-up. Possible leaked pictures were released on February 13, 2007, leading to more suspicion of Gears on the PC. In an interview with Xbox fan site TeamXbox, Mark Rein stated that the game would eventually come to the PC; Epic was not currently ready to release it on that format, but the upcoming release of Unreal Tournament 3 was "helping (Epic) get optimization on the PC".^[25]

On July 11, 2007 at the E3 conference, it was revealed that Gears of War would indeed be released for Windows.^[26][27] New features include three new multi-player maps,^[3] an extension of five new single-player chapters to act five which describes events of Delta Squad escaping a giant Brumak between acts four and five^[3] (which Mark Rein claims is "about 20 percent extra" over the existing Xbox 360 content),^[28] new game modes, a game editor, and Games for Windows – Live support integrated into Unreal Engine 3. When asked about bringing the additional content to the Xbox 360 version, Mark Rein of Epic Games stated that "it is unlikely we will bring that content to 360". He then states, "Unfortunately the version it's built on is not really compatible with the 360 and so it would involve a massive patch, a patch larger than all five we've done so far, to Gears of War to do that."^[29] Additionally, the PC and Xbox 360 versions will not allow for cross-platform play; Cliff Bleszinski stated that "while this feature does add value, it just wasn't that desired nor worth the extra months of design and development time. We want Gears of War to be out this holiday on PC."^[3] This news angered many owners of Gears of War on the Xbox 360 due to the game no longer living up to its "Exclusively for the Xbox 360" title and not receiving the additional content.^[30] Mark Rein noted that despite their original label of the game as an Xbox 360 exclusive, Microsoft allowed them to develop the game as part of the Games for Windows moniker, as has been done previously with Halo 2.^[31]

A patch was released on November 28 to fix performance issues and also the Games for Windows – Live update issue.^[32] The patch was only released for American and Western European versions of the game; legitimate purchasers of the Eastern European and Russian versions were informed that "the game would continue to function without the patch" and never issued a corresponding version.^[33]

A macOS version was confirmed by Mark Rein at the end of E3, on the Game Head television program on July 14, 2007, along with Unreal Tournament 3, but no release time frame was specified. As of August 2014, nothing more has been mentioned.

In early 2009, an issue with a digital certificate, used to sign certain game-critical files as part of the anti-cheat mechanism, which expired on January 28, 2009, rendered the game unplayable without a temporary workaround of resetting the system clock to before the certificate expired. Initial information from sources led people to believe the issue was related to DRM within the game.^[34] Epic later acknowledged the problem, claiming it was not in relation to a form of DRM but instead to a form of Anti-Cheat, and notified end users that they "[were] working with Microsoft to get it resolved."^[35][36] This issue was corrected as of February 6, 2009 with a downloadable patch.^[37]

The music was composed by Kevin Riepl who has previously worked with Epic Games on the soundtracks for Unreal Tournament 2004 and Unreal Championship 2.^[38] Riepl began receiving early builds and cinematics about halfway through the development process, closely collaborating with the development team on the influence the music should have on the player and the story. The theme of 'Destroyed Beauty' that had inspired the game's visuals guided the music too, creating mood suited to a beautiful city in ruins and the emotional desperation of its inhabitants.^[38]

The score includes many mechanical percussive elements, altered samples of explosions, hits and impacts, and electric guitar stingers that punctuate the game's combat encounters. To complete the score these elements were combined with the organic sounds of a live orchestra. The orchestral score was orchestrated and conducted by Corey Status and performed by the Northwest Sinfonia orchestra.^[38] The title track was written and performed by thrash metal band Megadeth, with an instrumental version of the song being used for the soundtrack; a revised version with lyrics was featured on the band's 2007 album United Abominations. Megadeth performed the track live as headliners of Gigantour, a twenty-five stop metal tour sponsored by Microsoft as part of the promotion for the game.^[39]

A soundtrack was released on July 31, 2007 by Sumthing Else Music Works.^[40]

During a press conference at E3 2015, Microsoft announced a remaster of Gears of War entitled Gears of War. It brought about a number of improvements, including updates to the gameplay from later titles and enhanced graphics featuring remodeled characters, environmental assets and other stylistic changes.^[41] It was subsequently released worldwide for the Xbox One in North America and Asian-Pacific countries on August 25, 2015, and in Europe on August 28, and Microsoft Windows on March 1, 2016.

Microsoft produced a thirty-minute documentary, titled Gears of War: The Race to E3, that aired on MTV2 on May 19, 2006 to promote the game.^[42] The program was produced in a reality TV style and featured Cliff Bleszinski, Epic Games president Mike Capps, and producer Rod Fergusson in the weeks leading up to the Gears of War gameplay reveal at the Xbox Media Briefing at E3 2006. The program captures several stressful moments including Xbox executive Peter Moore's desire to remove the chainsaw rifle from the E3 demo days before the show. The chainsaw remained and after the demo was given Bill Gates confided to Cliff "I love that chainsaw."^[43]

The Gears of War television ad reveals Marcus Fenix alone in the ruined streets of Sera as he moves to avoid threats that appear throughout a dark and deserted city. The spot was widely praised and has been described as one of the most iconic game trailers of the 2000s.^[44] The spot, set to the Gary Jules' cover of "Mad World" and directed by Joseph Kosinski, is melancholy and reflective in tone and was a significant departure for videogame advertising at the time, especially a fast-paced shooter game.^[45] According to Kosinski, David Fincher was slated to direct the ad but had to drop out from a scheduling conflict, leading to Kosinski being brought on to direct.^[46] Visual effects company Digital Domain created the visuals inside the Unreal Engine 3 game engine, the same engine that powered Gears of War on the Xbox 360. While the spot was pre-rendered, the production method gave consumers an accurate preview of the game's textures and subtle facial expressions.

The popularity of the commercial built a bigger audience for "Mad World" which would reach the #1 spot on iTunes five years after it was initially recorded.^[47] The melody remains heavily associated with the Gears of War franchise and was later adopted into the soundtrack of Gears of War 3. Bleszinski said in 2015 that he chose the song as it was his "anthem" at the time to cope with the failure of his first marriage.^[48]

At the game's release, Epic Games released a "Limited Collectors Edition". Some of the notable differences are a steel case instead of the regular plastic case and an extra disc which contains artworks of environments and stages including Locust that did not made it to the game, and extra content and behind-the-scenes footage of the making of Gears of War. The disc also contains a time-lapse on the creation of the "Emergence" mural. The game's disc and case has a different cover and instead features the Omen background. Another of the Collector's Edition extras is a book titled Destroyed Beauty which illustrates the game's back-story and includes concepts, sketches, and descriptions of the game's characters. The Collector's Edition also includes the same instruction manual and 48-hour Xbox Live Gold trial as the regular game does.^[49]

Epic Games began working on new content for Gears of War in August 2006. The updates would remain free according to Epic Games president Mike Capps.^[50] The first of these updates was released over Xbox Live on January 9, 2007,^[51] with two new maps released the following day on January 10, 2007. The two maps reflected background scenes from the game's storyline, known as Raven Down and Old Bones, which depict Gears fighting Locust amidst the crash site of a King Raven chopper and a museum.^[52] Another update was released for Gears of War on January 22, 2007,^[53] which, according to Epic Games' Marc Rein, is said to fix some compatibility issues with the release of Gears of War in Japan, and that no game play or functionality features were changed.^[54]

On April 9, 2007, Epic Games released their third update, containing a new game mode titled Annex, which requires teams to capture and hold certain areas of each map, as well as additional gameplay tweaks and fixing up some glitches, bugs and exploits. The update was free of charge.^[55]

Epic Games initially said that four new maps would be released in conjunction with the third patch. However, due to disagreements between Microsoft and Epic Games, Epic decided instead to "put these maps on sale at a reasonable price then make them free a few months later," according to Mark Rein of Epic Games.^[56] The map pack, titled "Hidden Fronts", was released on Xbox Live Marketplace on May 3, 2007, and included the maps Bullet Marsh, Garden, Process, and Subway.^[57] Free downloads of these maps were made available on September 3, 2007, four months after their initial release.^[58]

A fourth update on June 14, 2007 added 250 additional Achievement points (bringing the total possible achievement points to 1250), in eight Achievements related to Annex mode and the maps from Hidden Fronts. Additionally, the update includes improvement of roadie run to keep the player from sticking to cover areas, and a patch to prevent the Annex clock from counting during connection errors. Other "housekeeping" issues were also addressed.^[59]

Reception

Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (360) 94%[60] (PC) 87%[61] Metacritic (360) 94/100[62] (PC) 87/100[63] Review scores Publication Score 1Up.com (360) A+[64] (PC) B−[65] AllGame (360) [66] Eurogamer (360) 8/10[67] (PC) 9/10[68] Game Informer (360) 9.5/10[70] GamePro (360) 4.75/5[69] GameSpot (360) 9.6/10[71] (PC) 9.0/10[72] GameSpy (360) 5/5[73] (PC) 4.5/5[74] GamesRadar+ (360) 10/10[77] GameTrailers (360) 9.1/10[75] (PC) 8.8/10[76] IGN (360) 9.4/10[78] (PC) 8.7/10[79] OXM (US) (360) 10/10[80]

Upon its release, Gears of War received universal acclaim from critics, maintaining an average review score of 93.97% at GameRankings and 94/100 at Metacritic. It was the second highest rated game of 2006 on both sites.^[81][82] Most reviewers praised the game for its concept visuals, presentation and sound. IGN's review of the game called it "the most gorgeous looking game on the Xbox 360" and that "the sound design is worthy of awards."^[78]

While the game received high praise, reviewers did point out that Gears of War did not offer anything significantly new in its core gameplay. Eurogamer's review of the game states: "let's not pretend that we're wallowing in the future of entertainment. What we have here is an extremely competent action game that's as polished and refined as it could be, and is therefore very enjoyable. But if Epic had applied the same widescreen scope and ambition to the gameplay as it did to the engine we'd be much more excited than we are."^[67] The game's story was noted for not being very deep, as GameSpot's review states "The lack of exposition feels like a missed opportunity to make the characters and the setting even more compelling."^[71]

The PC release of the game received similar praise as the 360 version, with reviewers noting various differences between the two versions. IGN commented that "The mouse and keyboard allow for more precise control, and the graphics have been improved as well;"^[79] however, 1UP stated that "the control scheme's a very central obstacle" to the game.^[65] GameSpot noted that the additional chapter felt out of place as "it changes things up a bit in ways that betray the difficulty progression of the game."^[72] Hyper's Cam Shea commends the game for its "visual, solid gameplay, killer multiplayer and reload mechanics". However, he criticised it for "potential frustration, pointless squad commands and chainsaw mechanics".^[83]

The Lancer weapon was later featured in an Electronic Gaming Monthly article that discusses its practicality and historical precedents. Keirsey criticized this weapon by noting that in real life, "chainsaws are heavy." He noted that the closest historical precedents are "medieval bludgeoning weapons".^[84]

Leading up to the game's release, Gears of War was one of the most anticipated games of 2006.^[85] The game premiered during the 2005 E3 show, and won, among others,^[86] several "Best 360 Game" awards, including from IGN,^[87] 1UP,^[88] and GameSpy.^[89] The game continued to win several awards at following 2006 E3 show prior to the game's release.^[90] These included the Game Critics Awards for "Best Console Game" and "Best Action Game",^[91] IGN's "Best 360 Action Game", "Best 360 Multiplayer Game", and "Best Overall Multiplayer Experience",^[92] and GameSpy's "Best Console Multiplayer", "Best Action Game", and "Xbox 360 Game of Show".^[93]

Upon release, Gears of War received numerous awards from many publications. IGN named Gears of War as the "Xbox 360 Game of the Year" among other awards.^[94] GameSpot named the game its "Game of the Year" as well as "Best Xbox 360 Game", among other accolades.^[95] Official Xbox Magazine named Gears of War as their "Xbox 360 Game of the Year".^[96] G4 TV during the 2007 G-Phoria awards, named Gears of War its "Game of the Year" in addition to other awards.^[97]

Gears of War won eight awards (out of ten nominations) at the 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards: "Overall Game of the Year", "Console Game of the Year", "Action/Adventure Game of the Year", and outstanding achievement in "Animation", "Art Direction", "Visual Engineering", "Online Gameplay", and "Character Performance - Male".^[98] The game received the awards of "Ultimate Game of the Year" and "Xbox Game of the Year" at the 2007 Golden Joystick Awards.^[99]

In addition, the characters within the game received additional awards. GameSpot gave their 2006 "Best New Character(s)" award to the Delta Squad of Gears of War.^[95] G4 TV named Marcus Fenix the "Best New Character" and gave Lester Speight's performance for "Augustus 'Cole Train' Cole" the award for "Best Voiceover". The game was given the Interactive Achievement Award for "Outstanding Character Performance – Male" for its voicework.^[98] The Berserkers were named as Official Xbox Magazine's "Enemy of the Year".^[100]

Guinness World Records awarded Gears of War with 5 world records in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. These records include, "First Console Game to Use the Unreal 3 Engine", "Fastest Selling Original Xbox 360 Game", and "First Music Single to Top the Chart After Promoting a Video Game" for the Gary Jules version of "Mad World", which was originally released in 2003, but topped the download charts in November 2006 after it was used as background music during the TV commercial for Gears of War.^[101]

Gears of War was a hit upon its release. On November 7, 2006—the day that it was released—it became the most popular game on the Xbox Live service, until the release of Halo 3, overtaking Halo 2 which had held the spot since its launch in November 2004.^[102] Gears was the second most-played game on the Xbox Live service throughout 2007.^[103] Gears of War sold one million copies in its first two weeks on sale making it the fastest-selling Xbox 360 game to date.^[104] By January 19, 2007, just ten weeks after its debut, over three million units of the game had been sold.^[105] It received a "Double Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),^[106] indicating sales of at least 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom.^[107] As of November 7, 2008, the game has sold 5.88 million copies worldwide.^[108] Gears of War was also the first Xbox or Xbox 360 game to sell out and reach the top ten charts in Japan.^[109]

In March 2007, New Line Cinema bought the rights to make a film adaptation, with Stuart Beattie writing the script along with Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey. In June 2008, Len Wiseman was confirmed to direct before dropping out in 2010.^[110] On October 5, 2016, The Coalition, the franchise's current developer, announced that the film rights shifted to Universal Studios and a new film was in development, unrelated to the previous New Line Cinema project.^[111]

Epic Games, Inc.

Headquarters in Cary, North Carolina, 2016
Formerly	Potomac Computer Systems (1991–1992) Epic MegaGames, Inc. (1992–1999)
Type	Private
Industry	Video games
Founded	1991; 35 years ago (1991) in Potomac, Maryland, US
Founder	Tim Sweeney
Headquarters	Cary, North Carolina , US
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Tim Sweeney (CEO) Kim Libreri (CTO) Mark Rein (VP) Adam Sussman (president) Charlie Wen (CCO)
Products	Unreal Engine Bink Video Epic Games Store Unreal series Gears of War series Fortnite
Owners	Tim Sweeney (51.4%) Tencent (40%) Sony (5.4%) Kirkbi A/S (3.2%)
Number of employees	4,000+ (2023[1])
Subsidiaries	See § Subsidiaries and divisions
Website	epicgames.com
Footnotes / references [2][3][4]

Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, Maryland. Following its first commercial video game release, ZZT (1991), the company became Epic MegaGames, Inc. in early 1992 and brought on Mark Rein, who has been its vice president since. After moving the headquarters to Cary in 1999, the studio changed its name to Epic Games.

Epic Games developed Unreal Engine, a commercially available game engine which also powers its internally developed video games like Fortnite and the Unreal, Gears of War, and Infinity Blade series. In 2014, Unreal Engine was named the "most successful videogame engine" by Guinness World Records.^[5]

Epic Games owns the game developers Psyonix, Mediatonic, and Harmonix, and operates studios in multiple locations around the world. While Sweeney remains the controlling shareholder, Tencent acquired a 48.4% outstanding stake, equating to 40% of total Epic, in the company in 2012, as part of an agreement aimed at moving Epic towards a games as a service model. Following the release of the popular Fortnite Battle Royale in 2017, the company gained additional investments that enabled it to expand its Unreal Engine offerings, establish esports events around Fortnite, and launch the Epic Games Store. As of April 2022, the company has a US$32 billion equity valuation.

On August 13, 2020, Epic released a version of Fortnite that included a permanent discount on V-bucks across all platforms (except iOS and Android devices) if they purchased directly through Epic, bypassing Apple and Google's storefronts. Both Apple and Google immediately delisted the game for violating the storefronts' terms of service by including their own storefront, which led Epic to file lawsuits against both companies the same day, accusing them of antitrust behavior in how they operate their app stores. While Apple was ultimately victorious in a bench trial in September 2021 and upheld through appeals, Google's actions were found to be monopolistic by a jury trial in December 2023.

Potomac Computer Systems was founded by Tim Sweeney in 1991.^[6] At the time, Sweeney was studying mechanical engineering and living in a dorm at the University of Maryland. He frequently visited his parents, who lived in nearby Potomac, Maryland, where his personal computer, used for both work and leisure, was situated.^[6] Out of this location, Sweeney started Potomac Computer Systems as a computer consulting business but later figured that it would be too much work he would have to put into keeping the business stable, and scrapped the idea.^[6]

After finishing his game ZZT, Sweeney opted to re-use the Potomac Computer Systems name to release the game to the public in January 1991.^[6][7] It was only with the unexpected success of ZZT, caused in most part by the easy modifiability of the game using Sweeney's custom ZZT-oop programming language,^[8] that made Sweeney consider turning Potomac Computer Systems into a video game company.^[6] ZZT was sold through bulletin board systems, while all orders were fulfilled by Sweeney's father, Paul Sweeney.^[9] The game sold several thousand copies as of May 2009, and Paul Sweeney still lived at the former Potomac Computer Systems address at the time, fulfilling all orders that eventually came by mail.^[6][9] The final copy of ZZT was shipped by Paul Sweeney in November 2013.^[9]

In early 1992, Sweeney found himself and his new-found video game company in a business where larger studios, such as Apogee Software and id Software, were dominant, and he had to find a more serious name for his.^[6] As such, Sweeney came up with "Epic MegaGames", a name which incorporated "Epic" and "Mega" to make it sound like it represented a fairly large company (such as Apogee Software), although he was its only employee.^[6] Sweeney soon underwent searching for a business partner, and eventually caught up with Mark Rein, who previously quit his job at id Software and moved to Toronto, Ontario.^[8][6] Rein worked remotely from Toronto, and primarily handled sales, marketing and publishing deals; business development that Sweeney found to have significantly contributed to the company's growth.^[6] Some time this season, the company soon had 20 employees consisting of programmers, artists, designers and composers.^[10] Among them was the 17-year old Cliff Bleszinski, who joined the company after submitting his game Dare to Dream to Sweeney.^[11] The following year, they had over 30 employees.^[12]

In 1996, Epic MegaGames produced a shareware isometric shooter called Fire Fight, developed by Polish studio Chaos Works. It was published by Electronic Arts.^[13] By 1997, Epic MegaGames had 50 people working for them worldwide.^[14] In 1998, Epic MegaGames released Unreal, a 3D first-person shooter co-developed with Digital Extremes, which expanded into a series of Unreal games. The company also began to license the core technology, the Unreal Engine, to other game developers.^[15]

In February 1999, Epic MegaGames announced that they had moved their headquarters to a new location in Cary, North Carolina, and would henceforth be known as simply Epic Games.^[16] Rein explained that "Unreal was first created by developers who were scattered across the world, eventually, the team came together to finish the game and that's when the real magic started. The move to North Carolina centralizes Epic, bringing all of the company's talented developers under one roof."^[16] Furthermore, Sweeney stated that the "Mega" part of the name was dropped because they no longer wanted to pretend to be a big company, as was the original intention of the name when it was a one-man team.^[6] The follow-up game, Unreal Tournament, shipped to critical acclaim the same year,^[17] at which point the studio had 13 employees.^[18]

The company launched the Make Something Unreal competition in 2004, aiming to reward video game developers who create mods using the Unreal game engine. Tripwire Interactive won US$80,000 in cash and computer hardware prizes over the course of the contest in the first contest in 2004.^[19][20]

Around 2006, the personal computer video game market was struggling with copyright infringement in the form of software piracy, and it became difficult to make single-player games, elements that had been part of Epic's business model to that point. The company decided to shift focus into developing console systems, a move which Sweeney called the start of the third major iteration of the company, "Epic 3.0".^[21] In 2006, Epic released the Xbox 360 shooter Gears of War, which became a commercial success for the company, grossing about $100 million off a $12 million budget.^[22][21] A year later, the company released Unreal Tournament 3 for PC and acquired a majority share in People Can Fly.^[23][24]

In 2008, Epic Games released Gears of War 2,^[25] selling over three million copies within the first month of its release.^[26]

Epic Games released on September 1, 2010 Epic Citadel as a tech demo to demonstrate the Unreal Engine 3 running on Apple iOS, within Adobe Flash Player Stage3D and using HTML5 WebGL technologies. It was also released for Android on January 29, 2013. Epic Games worked on an iOS game, Infinity Blade,^[27] which was released on December 9, 2010.^[28] The third game in the series, Gears of War 3, came out in 2011.^[29]

In 2011, Epic's subsidiary Titan Studios was dissolved.^[30] At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, Epic Games announced their new game Fortnite.^[31]

In June 2012, Epic announced that it was opening up a new studio, Epic Baltimore, made up of members of 38 Studios' Big Huge Games.^[32] Epic Baltimore was renamed to Impossible Studios in August 2012.^[33] However, the studio ended up closing its doors in February 2013.^[34][35]

Epic fully acquired People Can Fly in August 2012, rebranding them as Epic Games Poland in November 2013 as they began work on Fortnite alongside Epic.^[36] Epic alongside People Can Fly made one last game in the Gears of War series that served as a prequel to the other games, Gears of War: Judgement, which was released in 2013. At this point, Epic had considered developing a fourth main title for Gears of War, but estimated that its budget would be at least $100 million.^[22] Additionally, they had suggested the idea of a multiplayer-only version of Gears of War that featured improved versions of maps based on user feedback, similar to the concept behind Unreal Tournament, but Microsoft rejected this idea. Epic recognized the troubles of being held to the business objectives of a publisher and began to shift the company again.^[21]

File:GitHub OctoTales - Epic Games.webm Coupled with their desire to move away from being beholden to a publisher, Epic Games observed that the video game industry was shifting to a games-as-a-service model (GaaS). Sweeney stated, "There was an increasing realization that the old model wasn't working anymore and that the new model was looking increasingly like the way to go."^[21] In an attempt to gain more GaaS experience, they made an agreement with Chinese Tencent, who had several games under their banner (including Riot Games' League of Legends) operating successfully as games as a service.^[37] In exchange for Tencent's help, Tencent acquired approximately 48.4% of Epic then issued share capital, equating to 40% of total Epic – inclusive of both stock and employee stock options, for $330 million in June 2012. Tencent Holdings has the right to nominate directors to the board of Epic Games and thus counts as an associate of the Group.^[3] However, Sweeney stated that Tencent otherwise has very little control on the creative output of Epic Games.^[21] Sweeney considered the partial acquisition by Tencent as the start of "Epic 4.0", the fourth major iteration of the company, allowing the company to be more agile in the video game marketplace.^[21][38]

Around this point, Epic had about 200 employees.^[21] A number of high-profile staff left the company months after the Tencent deal was announced for various reasons. Some notable departures included:^[39]

• Cliff Bleszinski, then the design director, announced he was leaving Epic Games in October 2012 after 20 years with the company. His official reason was "It's time for a much-needed break".^[40] Bleszinski later stated that he had become "jaded" about the gaming industry in the lead-up to Tencent's involvement. After Tencent's investment, Bleszinski attempted to renegotiate his contract but failed to come to terms, making him think about retirement instead. He opted to stop coming to work, spending his time at his beach house, eventually leading Sweeney to come down and have a heart-to-heart discussion with Bleszinski on the new direction Epic was going, and asking him to make a firm decision regarding his commitment to Epic. Bleszinski opted to write his resignation letter the next day.^[41] After about two years, Bleszinski started Boss Key Productions in 2014.^{[citation needed]}
• President Mike Capps announced his retirement in December 2012, and cited as reasons the birth of a baby boy he was having with his wife and his plans to be a stay-at-home dad.^[42] He subsequently announced quitting his advisory role as well as his affiliation with the company in March 2013.^[43]
• Rod Fergusson, who had been a lead developer for the Gears of War series, left Epic in August 2012. Fergusson stated that he had seen the direction that the Tencent acquisition would have taken the company, and was not interested in the free-to-play style of games but instead wanted to continue developing a "AAA, big-narrative, big-story, big-impact game".^[44] Fergusson briefly joined Irrational Games, owned by 2K Games, to help complete BioShock Infinite. While there, Fergusson talked with 2K about potentially continuing the Gears of War series, leading to talks between 2K Games, Epic, and Microsoft.^[21] As a result, Microsoft acquired the rights to Gears of War on January 27, 2014, eventually assigned those to Microsoft Game Studios; Fergusson moved to Black Tusk Studios, owned by Microsoft Game Studios, to take on lead development for a new Gears title, with the studio being rebranded as The Coalition. The first game since the acquisition, Gears of War 4, was released in October 2016.^[45][46]
• Adrian Chmielarz, the founder of People Can Fly, who joined Epic when his studio was acquired earlier in 2012, decided to leave after Tencent's acquisition, stating that he and other former People Can Fly members did not believe the free-to-play games as a service direction fit their own personal vision or direction they wanted to go. Chmielarz and these others left Epic in late 2012 to form The Astronauts.^[41]
• Lee Perry, a lead designer on both Unreal and Gears of War series, felt that Epic has started to grow too large to maintain a role as an eccentric game developer. Coupled with the studio's need for more management to support the games as a service model, Perry felt that their creative freedom would become limited. He and five other senior people left Epic to form a new studio, Bitmonster.^[41]

Epic continued its goal to deliver games as a service following these departures. Fortnite was to serve as their testbed for living games, but with the shifts in staff, and its engine from Unreal Engine 3 to 4, its release suffered some setbacks. Epic started additional projects; the free-to-play and community-developed Unreal Tournament, first announced in 2014,^[47][48] and the free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game Paragon, launched in 2016 for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4.^[49] Epic also released a remastered version of Shadow Complex for newer consoles and computers in 2015,^[50][51] and their first foray into virtual reality with the release of Robo Recall for the Oculus Rift.^[52][53]

The investment infusion from Tencent allowed Epic Games to relicense the Unreal Engine 4 engine in March 2015 to be free for all users to develop with, with Epic taking 5% royalties on games developed with the engine.^[54]

In June 2015, Epic agreed to allow Epic Games Poland's departure from the company and sold its shares in the studio; the studio reverted to their former name, People Can Fly. The Bulletstorm IP was retained by People Can Fly who has since launched a remastered version called Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition on April 7, 2017, published by Gearbox Software.^[55][56]

By July 2017, Fortnite was finally in a state for public play.^[57] Epic launched the title through a paid early access then, with a full free-to-play release expected in 2018.^[58] Following on the popularity of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, a battle royale game released earlier in 2017, Epic developed a variant of Fortnite called Fortnite Battle Royale, which was released in September 2017^[59] as a free-to-play title across computer, console, and mobile platforms. Fortnite Battle Royale quickly gained an audience, amassing over 125 million players by May 2018 with estimates of having earned over $1 billion by July 2018 through microtransactions, including its battle pass system. Epic Games, which had been valued at around $825 million at the time of Tencent's acquisition, was estimated to be worth $4.5 billion in July 2018 due to Fortnite Battle Royale, and expected to surpass $8.5 billion by the end of 2018 with projected growth of the game.^[60] Player count continued to expand when Epic broke new ground by convincing Sony to change its stance on cross-platform play allowing players on any device to compete with each other in Fortnite Battle Royale.^[61] Fortnite has drawn nearly 250 million players as of March 2019.^[62]

Fortnite's commercial success enabled Epic to make several changes to its other product offerings. In July 2018, it reduced the revenue cut that it took for assets sold on the Unreal Engine Marketplace from 30% to 12%.^[63] Epic launched the Epic Games Store digital storefront to compete with services like Steam and GOG.com, not only taking a 12% cut of revenue compared to the industry standard of 30%, but also eliminated the 5% cut for games using the Unreal engine sold via the storefront.^[64] However the company also refocused its development efforts to provide more support for Unreal and Fortnite by ending support for Paragon^[65] and Unreal Tournament.^[66]

The financial success of Fortnite brought additional investment into Epic Games. Epic Games was one of eleven companies selected to be part of the Disney Accelerator program in 2017, providing Epic equity investment and access to some of Disney's executives, and potential opportunity to work with Disney in the future. Disney had selected both Epic and aXiomatic as potential leads in the growing esports arena.^[67]

Epic's has used its windfall to support its products. In January 2019, following a dispute between Improbable and Unity Technologies over changes to the acceptable uses of the Unity game engine, Epic announced it was partnering with Improbable to launch a $25 million fund to help bring developers they believe affected by these changes towards solutions that are more open and would have fewer service compatibilities.^[68] Epic launched a $100 million prize pool in February 2019 for Fortnite-related esports activities that it plans to run from 2019 onward.^[69] To expand its esports initiatives, Epic Games hired Nate Nanzer from Blizzard Entertainment and their commissioner of the Overwatch League in May 2019.^[70] At the 2019 Game Developers Conference, Epic announced it was launching a $100 million MegaGrants initiative, allowing anyone to apply for up to $500,000 in funding to support game development using the Unreal Engine or for any project, even if not directly games-related, that would benefit the Unreal Engine.^[71] One of the first major funded entities under this was the Blender Foundation in July 2019, having received $1.2 million from the MegaGrants funding, to help them to improve and professionalize their Blender tools for 3D art creation.^[72]

Epic Games was given the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Special Award in June 2019 for its past and continuing developments for the Unreal Engine,^[73] a software which also earned it the Engineering Excellence Award from the Hollywood Professional Association.^[74]

Epic announced in March 2020 it was establishing a new multi-platform publishing label, Epic Games Publishing. Alongside this, the label had announced three deals with developers Remedy Entertainment, Playdead and GenDesign in which Epic would fully fund development and publishing (including employee salaries, quality assurance, localization, and marketing) of one or more games from each studio, but leaving full creative control and IP rights to the studio, and sharing profits, following Epic's recouping of its investment, 50/50 with the studio.^[75][76] The company expanded their publishing options in October 2021 with Spry Fox and Eyes Out.^[77]

Unreal Engine 5 was announced on May 13, 2020, with plans for an early 2022 release. Alongside this announcement, Epic released its Epic Online Services, a free SDK toolset for online matchmaking and other similar cross-platform play support features based on Fortnite. Epic further waived all Unreal license fees retroactively for games up through the first $1 million in revenue, regardless of how they were published, retroactively starting from January 1, 2020.^[78]

Bloomberg reported that Epic was nearing a $17 billion valuation in June 2020 once it had completed a new $750 million investing round from its previous investors and newcomings T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Baillie Gifford.^[79] The company partnered with Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. to acquire distribution rights for Inception, Batman Begins and The Prestige as part of "Movie Nite" on Fortnite's "Party Royale" island. The film live streams were based on a user's country.^[80]

Across July and August, Epic raised an additional $1.78 billion in capital investment, bringing the company's post-money equity valuation to $17.3 billion.^[81][82] This included a $250 million investment from Sony, approximately a 1.4% stake in the company. The deal continues the two companies' technology collaboration after they had worked together on the development of Unreal Engine 5, but does not commit Epic to any exclusivity to the Sony PlayStation platform.^[83][84] Sweeney said that Sony had started talking with Epic about investing following the demonstration of the Unreal Engine 5 in May 2020.^[85]

Epic purchased Cary Towne Center in Cary, North Carolina, in January 2021, which had been scheduled to be closed and demolished after 2020, to be their new headquarters and campus, with the conversion to be complete by 2024.^[86]

Epic unveiled its MetaHuman Creator project in February 2021. Based on the technology from 3Lateral, Cubic Motion, and Quixel, the MetaHuman Creator is a browser-based application to allow game developers to create realistic human characters within a short amount of time starting from various presets, and then can be exported as pre-made models and animation files ready for use in Unreal Engine.^[87]

Epic announced a partnership with Cesium in March 2021 to bring its 3D geospatial data as a free add-on into the Unreal Engine.^[88]

In April 2021, Epic completed another $1 billion round of funding to support the company's "long-term vision for the metaverse", putting the company's valuation at $28.7 billion. The round of funding included another $200 million strategic investment from Sony.^[89][90] Sweeney remains the controlling shareholder with these additional investments.^[89]

The Information reported that Epic Games was launching a new scripted entertainment division in October 2021, bringing on three former executives from Lucasfilm to manage it, with initial plans for a Fortnite film.^[91]

In February 2022 Epic Games announced that at least half a billion accounts have been created on its platform.^[92]

Epic released the initial beta version of RealityScan, a mobile app that uses the tools from Capturing Reality and Quixel, in April 2022. RealityScan allows users to create 3D models that can be imported into Sketchfab using photos taken by the user.^[93]

Epic received another $1 billion each from Sony and from Kirkbi, the parent company of The Lego Group, in April 2022 for continued support of building out Epic's metaverse.^[94] These investments gave Kirkbi 3% ownership and increased Sony's to 4.9%.^[95] With these investments, Epic had an estimated valuation of $32 billion.^[96] Epic and Lego also announced their partnership to build a child-friendly space in the metaverse that same month.^[97]

The company announced in September 2023 that it was laying off 870 employees, along with divesting in Bandcamp to Songtradr and spinning off SuperAwesome into its own company. Sweeney said this move was needed to rein in spending, and did not anticipate there would be further layoffs in the future.^[98] Mediatonic reported a significant number of layoffs from their team, but remained part of Epic.^[99]

In 2008, Epic acquired Utah based Chair Entertainment, developer of Undertow.^[100][101] Summer 2009 saw the launch of Chair's Shadow Complex, an adventure game inspired by the Metroid series.^[102]

Epic announced in October 2018 that it had acquired $1.25 billion in investment from seven firms: KKR, ICONIQ Capital, Smash Ventures, aXiomatic, Vulcan Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The firms join Tencent, Disney, and Endeavor as minority shareholders in Epic.^[103][104] With the investment, Epic Games was estimated to have a nearly $15 billion valuation in October 2018.^[105]

Besides expanding support for Fortnite and the Epic Games Store, these investments allowed Epic to acquire additional firms. In January 2018, it was announced that Epic had acquired Cloudgine, a developer of cloud-based gaming software.^[106] The company also announced the acquisition of Kamu, a firm that offered anti-cheat software called Easy Anti-Cheat, in October 2018.^[107][108] A year later, in January 2019, Epic acquired 3Lateral and Agog Labs. 3Lateral is known for its "digital human" creations, using a combination of digital technology, motion capture, and other tools to create photo-realistic human subjects in real-time. Epic plans to add some of 3Lateral's features to the Unreal Engine.^[109] Agog had developed SkookumScript, a platform for scripting events in video games; on the announcement of this acquisition, Agog stated they will stop the development of SkookumScript to work more on Unreal Engine scripting support.^[110]

Epic acquired Psyonix, the developer of Rocket League, in May 2019. Epic and Psyonix have had a past history, as Psyonix was originally founded a few miles from Epic's headquarters and had contributed to Epic's Unreal Tournament.^[111][112] Besides ongoing support for Rocket League, Psyonix developed an arcade-style car racing game inside of Fortnite, named Rocket Racing, which was added in December 2023.^[113]

Epic acquired the Twinmotion visualization tool used in architectural design in May 2019 from Abvent, and which they plan to expand and incorporate into their Unreal Engine offerings.^[114][115] Epic acquired Life on Air, the developers behind Houseparty, a social networking service, in June 2019. The monetary terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.^[116] Epic later shuttered Houseparty's app in October 2021, though the team behind it was continuing to develop social apps for Epic's platforms.^[117]

In November 2019, Epic acquired Quixel, the world's largest photogrammetry asset library which makes 3D models of objects based on real-world high-definition photography. Epic plans to open Quixel's existing library of models to users of Unreal Engine, while the Quixel staff will continue to build out its assets within Epic.^[118][119] The company acquired Cubic Motion, a studio that provides highly detailed digital facial animations for both films and video games, in March 2020.^[120]

Epic acquired SuperAwesome, a firm that has developed services to support children-safe games and services around games, in September 2020, as to incorporate these elements more into Epic's portfolio and to offer to other developers, particularly for games built around Epic's vision of metaverse games.^[121][122]

Epic acquired the digital facial animation firm Hyprsense in November 2020.^[123]

In January 2021, Epic acquired RAD Game Tools, a company that makes a variety of middleware solutions for video game development which Epic plans to incorporate into the Unreal Engine. RAD's tools will still remain available outside of Unreal as well.^[124]

In March 2021, Epic announced it was acquiring the Tonic Games Group, which includes developers Mediatonic and Fortitude Games. Mediatonic's Fall Guys, a major success during 2020, would remain available on Steam while Epic would help to bring it to additional platforms.^[125] Epic buying Tonic Games Group falls under the company's broader plans of creating its own metaverse.^[126] Additionally in March, Epic acquired Capturing Reality, the developers of RealityCapture, a photogrammetry suite that can create 3D models from numerous photographs. Epic plans to integrate RealityCapture into the Unreal Engine.^[127]

Epic Games acquired ArtStation, a professional artists' marketplace, in April 2021. As part of the acquisition, ArtStation members would gain access to Epic's tools and support such as the Unreal Engine, while the ArtStation marketplace will reduce its take on purchases from 30% to 12%.^[128] In July 2021, Epic acquired Sketchfab, a marketplace for 3D models. As with ArtStation, the acquisition allowed Sketchfab to reduce its pricing structure, lowering its revenue cut on purchases to 12% and making their Sketchfab Plus level of membership free.^[129]

In November 2021, Epic Games acquired Harmonix, a music game developer, for undisclosed terms.^[130] Harmonix continued to support their existing games including Rock Band 4 and Fuser while building out Fortnite's musical experiences, adding a Fortnite Festival mode that mimics the note-matching gameplay of Rock Band in December 2023,^[113] and Epic's larger metaverse plans,^[131]

Epic acquired the indie music platform Bandcamp in March 2022. Bandcamp was expected to remain independently operated under Epic while gaining the benefits of Epic's backend services.^[132][133] In April 2023, Epic acquired Brazilian studio Aquiris and changed its name to Epic Games Brasil, with the intention to be used in Fortnite.^[134] In September 2023, Epic sold Bandcamp to music licensing company Songtradr.

Epic Games is known for games such as ZZT developed by founder Tim Sweeney, various shareware titles including Jazz Jackrabbit and Epic Pinball, the Unreal video game series, which is used as a showcase for its Unreal Engine, the Gears of War series which is now owned by The Coalition and Xbox Game Studios, Infinity Blade, Shadow Complex, Bulletstorm, and Fortnite.^{[citation needed]}

Epic is the proprietor of five successful game engines in the video game industry. Each Unreal Engine has a complete feature set of graphical rendering, sound processing, and physics that can be widely adapted to fit the specific needs of a game developer that does not want to code their own engine from scratch. The five engines Epic has created are Unreal Engine 1, Unreal Engine 2 (including its 2.5 and 2.X releases), Unreal Engine 3, Unreal Engine 4 and Unreal Engine 5. Epic also provides support to the Unreal marketplace, a digital storefront for creators to sell Unreal assets to other developers. Further, since 2019, Epic has provided support for filmmakers which have utilized the Unreal Engine to create virtual sets for productions such as The Mandalorian,^[135] and will be backing major animated feature film production using Unreal, starting with Gilgamesh with studios Hook Up, DuermeVela and FilmSharks.^[136]

Epic announced its own Epic Games Store, an open digital storefront for games, on December 4, 2018, which launched a few days later with The Game Awards 2018 presentation. Differing from Valve's Steam storefront, which takes 30% of revenues (30/70 revenue-sharing agreement) from the sale of a game, the Epic Game Store will take 12%, as well as foregoing the 5% for games developed in the Unreal Engine, anticipating that these lower revenue-sharing agreements will draw developers to it.^[137][138]

Epic Online Services is a free SDK based on Epic's Fortnite code that allows developers to implement cross-platform play features in their games, including matchmaking, friends lists, leaderboards, and achievements, with support for Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android systems. It was first released for all in May 2020.^[78] Support for anti-cheat and voice chat was added in June 2021.^[139]

Other productivity products include ArtStation, Sketchfab, Twinmotion, RealityCapture, RealityScan and Quixel. Epic and Autodesk partnered in September 2022, making Twinmotion available to Revit subscribers.^[140]

The MetaHuman Creator is a project based on technology from three companies acquired by Epic—3Lateral, Cubic Motion, and Quixel—to allow developers to quickly create realistic human characters that can then be exported for use within Unreal.^[141] Through partnership with Cesium, Epic plans to offer a free plugin to provide 3D geospatial data for Unreal users, allowing them to recreate any part of the mapped surface of Earth.^[142] Epic will include RealityCapture, a product it acquired with its acquisition of Capturing Reality that can generate 3D models of any object from a collection of photographs taken of it from multiple angles,^[143] and the various middleware tools offered by Epic Game Tools.

On July 19, 2007, Canadian game studio Silicon Knights sued Epic Games for failure to "provide a working game engine", causing the Ontario-based game developer to "experience considerable losses".^[163] The suit alleged that Epic Games was "sabotaging" Unreal Engine 3 licensees. Epic's licensing document stated that a working version of the engine would be available within six months of the Xbox 360 developer kits being released. Silicon Knights claimed that Epic missed this deadline and that when a working version of the engine was eventually released, the documentation was insufficient. The game studio also claimed Epic had withheld vital improvements to the game engine, claiming they were game-specific, while also using licensing fees to fund the development of its own titles rather than the engine itself.^[164]

In August 2007, Epic Games counter-sued Silicon Knights, alleging the studio was aware when it signed on that certain features of Unreal Engine 3 were still in development and that components would continue to be developed and added as Epic completed work on Gears of War. Therefore, in a statement, Epic said that "SK knew when it committed to the licensing agreement that Unreal Engine 3 may not meet its requirements and may not be modified to meet them".^[165] Additionally, the counter-suit claimed that Silicon Knights had "made unauthorized use of Epic's Licensed Technology" and had "infringed and otherwise violated Epic's intellectual property rights, including Epic's copyrighted works, trade secrets, know how and confidential information" by incorporating Unreal Engine 3 code into its own engine, the Silicon Knights Engine.^[165] Furthermore, Epic asserted the Canadian developer broke the contract when it employed this derivative work in an internal title and a second game with Sega,^[166] a partnership for which it never received a license fee.^[167]

On May 30, 2012, Epic Games defeated Silicon Knights' lawsuit and won its counter-suit for $4.45 million on grounds of copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, and breach of contract,^[168] an injury award that was later doubled due to prejudgment interest, attorneys' fees and costs.^[169] Consistent with Epic's counterclaims, the presiding judge, James C. Dever III, stated that Silicon Knights had "deliberately and repeatedly copied thousands of lines of Epic Games' copyrighted code, and then attempted to conceal its wrongdoing by removing Epic Games' copyright notices and by disguising Epic Games' copyrighted code as Silicon Knights' own".^[169] Dever stated that evidence against Silicon Knights was "overwhelming", as it not only copied functional code but also "non-functional, internal comments Epic Games' programmers had left for themselves".^[169]

As a result, on November 7, 2012, Silicon Knights was directed by the court to destroy all game code derived from Unreal Engine 3, all information from licensee-restricted areas of Epic's Unreal Engine documentation website, and to permit Epic Games access to the company's servers and other devices to ensure these items have been removed. In addition, the studio was instructed to recall and destroy all unsold retail copies of games built with Unreal Engine 3 code, including Too Human, X-Men Destiny, The Sandman, The Box/Ritualyst, and Siren in the Maelstrom (the latter three titles were projects never released, or even officially announced).^[170]

On May 16, 2014, Silicon Knights filed for bankruptcy and a Certificate of Appointment was issued by the office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, with Collins Barrow Toronto Limited being appointed as trustee in bankruptcy.^[171]

Since as early as 2017, Tim Sweeney had questioned the need for digital storefronts like Valve's Steam, Apple's iOS App Store, and Google Play, to take a 30% revenue sharing cut, and argued that when accounting for current rates of content distribution and other factors needed, a revenue cut of 8% should be sufficient to run any digital storefront profitably.^[172] When Epic brought Fortnite Battle Royale to mobile devices, the company initially offered a sideloaded package for Android systems to bypass the Google Play store, but eventually also made it a store app.^{[173][174][175]}

On August 13, 2020, Epic Games updated Fortnite across all platforms, including the iOS and Android versions, to reduce the price of "V-Bucks" (the in-game currency) by 20% if they purchased directly from Epic. For iOS and Android users, if they purchased through the Apple or Google storefront, they were not given this discount, as Epic said they could not extend the discount due to the 30% revenue cut taken by Apple and Google.^[176] Within hours, both Apple and Google had removed Fortnite from their storefronts stating the means of bypassing their payment systems violated the terms of service.^[177][178] Epic immediately filed separate lawsuits against Apple and Google for antitrust and anticompetitive behavior in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.^[179] Epic did not seek monetary damages in either case but instead was "seeking injunctive relief to allow fair competition in these two key markets that directly affect hundreds of millions of consumers and tens of thousands, if not more, of third-party app developers."^[180] In comments on social media the next day, Sweeney said that they undertook the actions as "we're fighting for the freedom of people who bought smartphones to install apps from sources of their choosing, the freedom for creators of apps to distribute them as they choose, and the freedom of both groups to do business directly. The primary opposing argument is: 'Smartphone markers [sic] can do whatever they want.' This is an awful notion. We all have rights, and we need to fight to defend our rights against whoever would deny them."^[181]

Apple responded to the lawsuit that it would terminate Epic's developer accounts by August 28, 2020, leading Epic to file a motion for a preliminary injunction to force Apple to return Fortnite to the App Store and prevent them from terminating Epic's developer accounts, as the latter action would leave Epic unable to update the Unreal Engine for any changes to iOS or macOS and leave developers that relied on Unreal at risk.^[182][183] The court granted the preliminary injunction against Apple from terminating the developer accounts as Epic had shown "potential significant damage to both the Unreal Engine platform itself, and to the gaming industry generally", but refused to grant the injunction related to Fortnite as "The current predicament appears of [Epic's] own making."^[184] In September 2020, Epic Games, together with thirteen other companies, launched the Coalition for App Fairness, which aimed for better conditions for the inclusion of apps into app stores.^[185]

U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued her first ruling on Epic Games v. Apple on September 10, 2021.^[186] Rogers found in favor of Apple on nine of ten counts brought up against them in the case, including Epic's charges related to Apple's 30% revenue cut and Apple's prohibition against third-party marketplaces on the iOS environment.^[187] Rogers did rule against Apple on the final charge related to anti-steering provisions, and issued a permanent injunction that, in 90 days from the ruling, blocked Apple from preventing developers from linking app users to other storefronts from within apps to complete purchases or from collecting information within an app, such as an email, to notify users of these storefronts.^[188][189] Rogers' ruling was upheld at the Ninth Circuit on appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear the case, leaving Rogers' order against Apple in place.^[190]

Google initially sought to negotiate with Epic but later filed their own countersuit against Epic for breach of contract. The Google case was set as a jury trial, held in November and December 2023. Prior to this, other groups had filed their own lawsuits against Google for similar reasons as Epic, including a coalition of states and the Match Group, but these were settled just ahead of the trial.^[191][192] The jury found for Epic on all claims made, determining that Google maintained a monopoly on the Android marketplace by how it managed the Play Store and used its leverage as a big tech firm to make deal with partners, including some deals made as a result of the earlier settlements. A second phase of this trial to determine remedies is scheduled to occur in January 2024.^[193]

In December 2022, Epic Games was fined a combined $520 million after the Federal Trade Commission accused the company of separate accounts related to Fortnite, one for violating COPPA related to children's privacy by collecting personal data without parent or guardian consent, exposing children and teens to potential harassment, and a second related to misleading users into making unwanted purchases while playing the game.^{[194][195][196][197]} Epic Games said "No developer creates a game with the intention of ending up here. The laws have not changed, but their application has evolved and long-standing industry practices are no longer enough. We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players. Over the past few years, we've been making changes to ensure our ecosystem meets the expectations of our players and regulators, which we hope will be a helpful guide for others in our industry."^[198]

Since the partial investment by the Chinese company Tencent, some consumers have become wary of Epic Games' reliability and use of their data, particularly in relationship with the Epic Games Store. These concerns have been connected to broader issues of general distrust of the Chinese government and Chinese corporations among some Western video game players. Epic has stated that Tencent does not have access to any of this private data nor provides this to the Chinese government.^[199][200]

In late March 2020, accusations began circulating on social media that the Epic Games social networking app Houseparty led to other services such as Netflix and Spotify being hacked. However, both Epic and Life on Air claimed this was a smear campaign against its product and offered a $1 million bounty for anyone able to substantiate their claim.^{[201][202][203]}

• Keighley, Geoffrey. "Blinded By Reality: The True Story Behind the Creation of Unreal". http://www.gamespot.com/features/makeunreal/. 
• Berardini, César A. (June 30, 2005). "Everything You Wanted to Know About Unreal". http://features.teamxbox.com/xbox/1199/Everything-You-Wanted-to-Know-About-Unreal/p1/. 
• Porter, Will (October 26, 2007). "The Epic tradition". https://www.gamesradar.com/the-epic-tradition/. 
• Blancato, Joe (May 13, 2008). "Epic's Rainmakers". http://v1.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/issues/issue_149/4896-Epic-s-Rainmakers. 
• Edwards, Benj (May 25, 2009). "From The Past To The Future: Tim Sweeney Talks". https://gamasutra.com/view/feature/132426/from_the_past_to_the_future_tim_.php. 
• Totilo, Stephen (December 7, 2011). "The Quiet Tinkerer Who Makes Games Beautiful Finally Gets His Due". https://kotaku.com/the-quiet-tinkerer-who-makes-games-beautiful-finally-ge-5865951. 
• Plante, Chris (April 2, 2012). "Better with age: A history of Epic Games". https://www.polygon.com/2012/10/1/3438196/better-with-age-a-history-of-epic-games. 
• Freeman, Will (August 12, 2013). "Development Legends: An Unreal tale". https://www.mcvuk.com/development-legends-an-unreal-tale/. 
• Crecente, Brian (May 1, 2016). "Their future is Epic: The evolution of a gaming giant". https://www.polygon.com/a/epic-4-0. 
• Huddleston, Tom Jr. (August 9, 2018). "'Fortnite' launched battle royale a year ago today – here's how the company behind the billion-dollar game was founded by a college kid". https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/12/epic-games-company-behind-fortnite-was-founded-by-a-college-kid.html. 
• Griffith, Erin (August 25, 2020). "To Fight Apple and Google's Grip, Fortnite Creator Mounts a Crusade". https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/technology/fortnite-creator-tim-sweeney-apple-google.html. 

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