Why Esports Teams Are Betting Big on Chess?
Epic Games' PC game sales have surpassed $1 billion, marking a significant milestone for the platform. We also examine why top esports organizations are signing chess grandmasters and report on a new esports tournament for an anime-inspired game. All this and more in today’s Pixel P&L.
Epic Games Store Reports $1.09 Billion in PC Sales in 2024
Epic Games Store reported $1.09 billion in PC game sales in 2024, with $255 million spent on third-party titles, according to its Year in Review report. The platform’s PC user base grew to 295 million, up 25 million from 2023, while Epic cross-platform accounts increased by 94 million to 898 million.
Player engagement surged, with 2.68 billion hours spent on third-party games. The platform also expanded its game catalog by 1,100 titles, aided by self-publishing tools. The Free Games Program remained a major draw, with 89 free games claimed 595 million times.
Looking ahead to 2025, Epic plans to enhance its mobile store with self-publishing tools and expanded app features. Upcoming PC releases include Splitgate 2, Borderlands 4, and Killing Floor 3. The company aims to further challenge Steam’s dominance, despite most PC gamers favoring Valve’s platform.
🧐 On Our Radar
Why Are Esports Orgs Making Unlikely Investments in Chess?
Multiple top esports organizations are making strategic moves into chess, signing elite grandmasters ahead of the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025. Team Falcons has added Hikaru Nakamura, while Aurora Gaming signed Ian Nepomniachtchi, marking its first foray into chess. Meanwhile, Team Liquid secured Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, and other teams, including Team Vitality, Gen.G, LGD Gaming, and All Gamers Global, have also snapped up top talent like Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Arjun Erigaisi, Ding Liren, and Volodar Murzin.
This surge in signings follows chess's inclusion in the EWC, thanks to a partnership between Chess.com and the Esports World Cup Foundation in December 2024. The EWC Club Championship, which distributes a $20 million prize pool, incentivizes teams to compete across multiple titles with chess now being a valuable addition to their portfolios.
With clubs competing for a top-eight finish across different games to qualify for the lucrative payouts, it’s no surprise that esports teams are securing the biggest chess names. This could mark the beginning of chess’s deeper integration into the esports ecosystem.
Quick Bytes
Hit Anime-Inspired Game Solo Leveling: ARISE Gets Its Own Esports Championship
Netmarble is expanding its footprint in competitive gaming with the launch of the Solo Leveling: ARISE Championship 2025, the first global esports tournament for its anime-inspired action RPG. The event features a 20 million KRW ($15,000) prize pool, culminating in an April 12 LAN final at IVEX STUDIO in Gwangmyeong, South Korea. Since its May 2024 release, Solo Leveling: ARISE has surpassed 50 million downloads, fueled by the popularity of its source material and a gacha-based RPG model akin to Genshin Impact.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Hits 2 Million Sales in Two Weeks
The medieval RPG, which launched February 4, also saw peak Steam concurrent players exceed 250,000. Parent company Embracer hailed its “initial success,” marking a strong performance across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
💡Did You Know
Before the PlayStation, and even before Sony’s ill-fated partnership with Nintendo, the company experimented with gaming in the 1970s. A prototype console, simply labeled “Prototype TV Game Machine,” was developed using cards/cartridges instead of discs or tapes.
Little is known about its functionality, but the design featured red (こたえ/Kotae, or “ANSWER”) and blue (すすめ/Susume, or “PROCEED”) buttons, suggesting an interactive, choice-based system rather than traditional controller inputs. A large side wheel hints at a scrolling or selection mechanism, possibly for navigating menus or gameplay elements.
The machine resurfaced in a 2004-2005 Tokyo exhibition, with limited details even from Sony’s own archives. Lacking a Sony logo, it likely never progressed beyond the prototype stage. Had this console been released, gaming history might have unfolded very differently.
📜Quote of the Day
“Direct action is not always the best way. It is a far greater victory to make another see through your eyes than to close theirs forever.”
Kreia, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
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