Epic Games Company History Timeline
1991 Potomac Computer Systems forms Tim Sweeney forms Potomac Computer Systems and releases ZZT.
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.
1994 Jazz Jackrabbit released
In 1996, Epic MegaGames produced a shareware isometric shooter called Fire Fight, developed by Polish studio Chaos Works.
1998 Unreal releases Epic MegaGames releases 3D first-person shooter Unreal, which is co-developed with Digital Extremes and published by GT Interactive.
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.
1999 Unreal Tournament releases
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.
2006 Gears of War releases
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". The suit alleged that Epic Games was "sabotaging" Unreal Engine 3 licensees.
In 2008, Epic Games released Gears of War 2, selling over three million copies within the first month of its release.
In 2008, Epic acquired Utah based Chair Entertainment, developer of Undertow.
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.
Summer 2009 saw the launch of Chair's Shadow Complex, an adventure game inspired by the Metroid series.
2010 Infinity Blade releases
2011 Bulletstorm releases Bulletstorm, developed by People Can Fly and Epic Games, is published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC. People Can Fly goes on to work on Gears of War: Judgment.
2011 Fortnite announced Epic Games reveals Fortnite, a multiplayer survival game inspired by an internal game jam.
In June 2012, Epic announced that it is opening up a new studio, Epic Baltimore, made up of members of 38 Studios' Big Huge Games.
Epic Baltimore was renamed to Impossible Studios in August 2012.
2012 Tencent buys 40 percent of Epic
2012 - Present Epic 4.0 Epic 4.0 is a seismic shift in the company’s path, which redirects it from console games back to the PC. It’s a shift brought on by Sweeney’s recognition of the power of digital distribution and games as services.
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.
The final copy of ZZT was shipped by Paul Sweeney in November 2013.
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.
2014 Fortnite goes free-to-play
2014 Epic sells Gears Microsoft acquires the Gears of War IP, opens a new studio and starts work on a new game in the franchise.
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.
2015 Unreal Engine goes free
2015 Paragon announced Epic Games announces a third-person MOBA called Paragon.
Epic also released a remastered version of Shadow Complex for newer consoles and computers in 2015, and their first foray into virtual reality with the release of Robo Recall for the Oculus Rift.
2016 McClaren Auto announces plan to use Unreal Engine to design and sell supercars
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.
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 as a free-to-play title across computer, console, and mobile platforms.
In January 2018, it was announced that Epic had acquired Cloudgine, a developer of cloud-based gaming software.
With the investment, Epic Games was estimated to have a nearly $15 billion valuation in October 2018.
Epic launched the title through a paid early access then, with a full free-to-play release expected in 2018.
Epic launched a $100 million prize pool in February 2019 for Fortnite-related esports activities that it plans to run from 2019 onward.
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.
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.
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.
Epic unveiled its MetaHuman Creator project in February 2021.
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.
Epic released the initial beta version of RealityScan, a mobile app that uses the tools from Capturing Reality and Quixel, in April 2022.
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Epic Games Similar Companies
| Company Name | Founded Date | Revenue | Employee Size | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bungie | 1991 | $2.7M | 901 | 59 |
| Electronic Arts | 1982 | $7.0B | 9,800 | 87 |
| 2k | - | $7.5M | 3,000 | 76 |
| Take-Two Interactive Software | 1993 | $3.5B | 6,495 | 44 |
| Daybreak Game | 2015 | $25.0M | 450 | - |
| Perpetual Entertainment | 2002 | $13.0M | 7,500 | - |
| Saber Interactive | 2001 | $20.0M | 1,543 | 4 |
| SEGA | 1940 | $1.9B | 3,238 | 26 |
| ArenaNet | 2000 | $111.0M | 400 | 43 |
| Insomniac Games | 1994 | $17.5M | 401 | - |
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Epic Games may also be known as or be related to Epic Games, Epic Games Inc., Epic Games, Inc. and Potomac Computer Systems (1991–1992) Epic MegaGames, Inc. (1992–1999).