The Epic v. Apple lawsuit, which began this week, has given us an impressive collection of corporate documents that look like a box full of loot: in our October 25, 2019 review of business results and strategy, there is a section on the "Borderlands 3" deal, which disclosed that the loot shooter's six months of exclusivity, disclosing that Epic spent $115 million for the period.

This includes $15 million in marketing commitments, $20 million in uncollectible fees, and an $80 million minimum guarantee (an advance paid prior to the game's launch). "Borderlands 3" sold well enough to reach its guaranteed amount within two weeks. A graph of daily sales in the Epic store for the first 11 months shows a dramatic peak upon launch. Of the 1.56 million Borderlands players Epic acquired in the past two weeks, it appears that 53% were not repeat customers, but first-time users of the store.

Epic also bundled Borderlands 2, Pre-Sequel, and most DLC (except Commander Lilith & the Fight for Sanctuary, which was released after the collection was created) with the Handsome The document reveals that Epic paid $11 million for the free distribution of the Collection. This was roughly equivalent to the more than $11 million in giveaways Epic spent in the first nine months.

Among other facts brought to light by the trial are that Epic has spent at least $1 billion on exclusive content to date, that Tim Sweeney apologized to Ubisoft for the amount of fraud associated with "The Division 2" in Epic's store, that he confirmed the conference call setup and Otherwise, Fortnite kids might go crazy with court cases, etc.