The developers behind Super Meat Boy Forever have talked up why the game is a timed-exclusive to the Epic Games Store, for PC.

Sep 07, 2019  Super Meat Boy Forever is one of many indie games on PC that will be temporarily exclusive to the Epic Games Store. During the recent PAX West 2019, Super Meat Boy Forever creator Tommy Refenes. Metro is far from the first exclusive the Epic Games Store has locked down since its launch last December, with other big-name games like Hades, Ashen, and Super Meat Boy Forever also confined to. Jan 10, 2020  Within months, the Epic Games Store started picking up a handful of notable PC exclusivity deals for games like Borderlands 3, World War Z.

“They told me they want Super Meat Boy Forever on the Epic Games Store but it would be a year exclusive. At first, I was kind of like ‘oh…okay.’,” Tommy Refenes, Super Meat Boy Forever co-creator said in an interview with Destructoid at this year’s PAX West.

“Then they said they would guarantee our sales. Even then, I’m kind of like ‘I don’t even know what to ask for. So, run the numbers and tell me what you would offer.’ They did, and I was like ‘Yes!’ It was a total no-brainer,” he added. “After I got the numbers, the level of fear of not launching on Steam for PC was immediately alleviated.”

Refenes added a bit more to the conversation, noting their sales being guaranteed is a big deal.

“That’s huge. That’s huge for anyone in any industry to be like ‘when you get done with your work, you’re definitely going to make this much.’ I don’t know who wouldn’t take that deal,” he added.

In regards to Steam, Refenes said “I feel like people are going to buy games on PC because that’s what we’ve done. Steam is a way to buy games, but it’s not the only place that sells them and it’s not the only place that’s successful.”

Super Meat Boy Forever is planned for a release on Windows PC (via Steam, Epic Games Store), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Team Meat’s Super Meat Boy Forever re-emerged during the Kinda Funny Games Showcase and has a release date… sort of. It actually has a release month of April 2019. There’s a nifty trailer to check out, which showcases all kinds of gameplay, from bosses and platforming to level design. A lot of the more torturous elements should be familiar to veterans of the first game.

During The Game Awards, we learned that the auto-running platformer will be available on the newly launched Epic Games Store. So what gives? According to creator Tommy Refenes on the game’s official Discord (as per PC Gamer), “Super Meat Boy [Forever] is coming to Steam April 2020, a year after it launches.” Refenes feels it was “desperately needed to get Steam to give a s**t.”

“I understand people don’t like change but… the end result of this will mean better games for people,” he said. “It may be more launchers [for players], sure, but a small price to play for a developer community that doesn’t feel like they have one choice on PC. I would have put it on [the Epic Store] eventually anyway and I’m glad to make it exclusive.”

As such, it’s easy to see why the Epic Games Store is appealing to developers, since they pocket 88 percent of the revenue. While the store suffers from a currently limited selection and lack of region pricing, the backing of Epic Games and appealing terms for developers could lead to quick improvements.

Along with PC, Super Meat Boy Forever is also coming to Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.