CARY, N.C. — The Epic Games Store has experienced a remarkable ascent, with its user base swelling from 108 million in 2019 to an impressive 295 million in 2024. However, alongside this growth in users, the platform’s revenue from third-party games increased by only 1.6%, raising concerns about how much of its new audience is engaging with the store beyond simply claiming free games.
Epic’s strategy of giving away free titles has attracted many players, fostering a culture where users log into the platform predominantly to collect freebies rather than to make purchases. This has become a focal point of discussion among gamers, particularly on social media, as the disparity between user growth and actual spending has become glaringly apparent.
Launched in 2018, the Epic Games Store aimed to rival Steam, Valve’s longstanding PC gaming platform. While Steam has established itself with a reliable user interface and a myriad of features, Epic initially struggled to match that level of engagement. To entice developers, Epic offered a more favorable revenue distribution and exclusivity deals for certain titles, but this strategy has not fully resonated with players.
Although Epic has made strides to enhance the user experience—introducing features such as game reviews, wish lists, and achievements—many argue that it remains behind Steam in terms of overall functionality. The addition of basic features only in the last few years illustrates the challenges Epic faces in converting its user base into paying customers.
Comparatively, Xbox’s PC game service has adopted a different approach by focusing heavily on Game Pass subscriptions, yielding a robust 45% growth in this segment year-over-year. This difference in strategy highlights Xbox’s success in fostering a committed community willing to invest in their gaming experience, unlike the trend observed on the Epic Games Store.
While gamers often view Epic as a platform primarily for obtaining free titles, the Xbox ecosystem is working toward creating a diverse gaming environment across cloud and console. Xbox’s integration of multiple storefronts seeks to provide users with a seamless experience, contrasting starkly with Epic’s struggles to create similar engagement.
Despite these challenges, Epic has not been entirely unsuccessful. It reported revenue of over $1 billion in 2024, marking a significant achievement in its relatively short existence. However, it still lags behind Steam, which generated $1.6 billion in revenue in December alone.
As gamers continue to assess the landscape of digital gaming platforms, the Epic Games Store has carved out a niche that appears to be primarily about free game distribution. While few anticipate Epic will supplant Steam in popularity, its existence demonstrates a shift in consumer behavior and preferences in the gaming market.
Ultimately, the contrasting paths of Epic and Xbox serve as a study in how different strategies can yield varying results in user engagement and revenue generation. For many gamers, Epic remains primarily a “free game launcher,” while Steam continues to thrive as the favored marketplace for buying and playing games. Whether viewed as a clever marketing tactic or a sign of a failing strategy, Epic’s approach has, at the very least, shaped consumer expectations in the digital game marketplace.