Epic Offered Sony $200 Million to Get PlayStation Games on PC

Since last year, Epic Games has been in a legal battle with Apple. When the case was argued in May, a lot of information came out during the trial; this includes Epic offering Sony millions to get first-party PlayStation games onto PC.

While this has news has been around since May, a lot of documents and information surfaced during the span of 21 days. But a new report from The Verge, which recaps some of the most interesting exhibits presented during the trial, shared a lot of interesting things from both parties involved in the case. According to a 222-page confidential document shared during the trial, the Fortnite developer offered Sony $200 million to get Sony to put at least four first-party games to PC.

The document notes Epic was waiting for a response from Sony and that the offer was “$200 MG + for 4-6 titles.” Unfortunately, there is not much information as to what the deal between Epic and Sony consisted of and whether or not an exclusivity deal was mentioned to have these PC ports available only on Epic Games Store.

But it is important to note that the PC versions of Days Gone and Horizon Zero Dawn were released on Epic’s digital storefront in addition to its competitor, Steam.

The document also states that Epic Games had individual tactics on trying to get Microsoft and Nintendo on the Epic Games Store, the latter which Epic described as a “moonshot.” The document states that Epic was in “opening conversations with Microsoft,” and Xbox boss Phil Spencer met with Valve CEO Gabe Newell “occasionally.” While another sub-bullet, which is likely referring to Xbox Game Pass for PC, was something “against what [Epic’s] doing.”

While the document does not provide too much firm information on what Epic Games discussed with these three gaming giants, Epic Games may have convinced Sony to move in a direction that would bring its first-party games to a PC gaming audience. Within the last year, Sony has made it clear this year that more of its first-party games will come to PC.

In an interview with GQ earlier this year, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan noted it was a “straightforward decision” to create more PC ports of its first-party titles. In May of this year, ahead of Sony’s Investor Relations Day, a presentation showed that “more PC releases [are] planned” and that the 2016 PS4 exclusive Uncharted IV: A Thief’s End may be the next game in PlayStation’s portfolio to arrive on PC.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.