This past Thursday, developer Creative Assembly made its most recent game available for free on the Epic Games Store for 24 hours. Epic users could download A Total War Saga: Troy at no cost, unlocking the game permanently. Considering Total War: Troy is a $50 game, that's an outstanding deal. Apparently Epic users agree, because Creative Assembly has since confirmed that the game has been claimed by 7.5 million people.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Creative Assembly's Chief Product Officer Rob Bartholomew described how meaningful this kind of success is for the studio. He describes how the opportunity the free availability of Total War: Troy created means the studio will have more resources, and well also allow the studio to "push ourselves further, be more creative, make more Total War."
The agreement that Creative Assembly, as well as Total War publisher Sega, made with Epic will see Total War: Troy exclusive to the Epic Games Store for the next 12 months. Yet despite the game's astonishing success, Creative Assembly says that this is a one-time deal. Further, Creative Assembly will use the funds from the exclusivity deal on "expansive back-end infrastructure development" important for expanding to other storefronts.
There's no denying that 7.5 million people picking up Total War: Troy is likely a record-breaking number for the Total War franchise. But that doesn't necessarily convert well into actual players. Many Epic Games Store users simply log on and acquire whatever free game is currently available and then may never actually play them. Regardless, Epic being able to show that the Epic Games Store free game offerings have a reach of 7.5 million people is going to be very persuasive for future partnerships.
A Total War Saga: Troy is available now on PC.
Source: Eurogamer