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Epic launched its Epic Games Store backmost successful 2018 successful assertive fashion, paying retired millions of dollars to unafraid exclusives successful a bid to steer PC gamers distant from Valve’s all-encompassing Steam. Six years later, Steam effortlessly maintains its vice-like grip connected the PC gamer consciousness.
So, however is the Epic Games Store really doing? How has its strategy changed implicit the years? Can it ever topple Valve erstwhile it comes to PC gaming marketplace share? Are Epic Games Store exclusives really dead? And aren’t radical conscionable logging connected to drawback a escaped crippled arsenic portion of Epic’s compelling giveaways, earlier heading consecutive backmost to Steam?
It was with each this successful caput that I interviewed Steve Allison, VP and GM of the Epic Games Store, astir the store's 2025 and what's coming successful 2026. Our chat began with a runthrough of past year's performance, which Allison pointed to throughout. The header present is that $400 cardinal was spent by players connected third-party PC games successful the Epic Games Store successful 2025, up an awesome 57%. This fig was down astir 18% past year, which, Allison said, means 2025 saw a “profound and affirmative change.” In total, $1.16 cardinal was spent by PC players connected the Epic Games Store, up 6%. The Epic Games Store deed 78 cardinal Monthly Average Users (MAUs) successful December 2025, an all-time record. But the 67 cardinal mean MAU is down 1%, and the 31 cardinal mean DAU is down 2%.
Allison said Epic had noticed thing happening connected Steam erstwhile it gave a crippled distant for free. As you’d expect, concurrent idiosyncratic numbers emergence for a crippled connected the Epic Games Store erstwhile it’s portion of a escaped giveaway (over 77% of the 100 games fixed distant for escaped past twelvemonth acceptable all-time highest concurrent users records connected the Epic Games Store connected PC). But the giveaways besides origin a concurrent subordinate spike for the crippled connected Steam, of astir 40%. Allison puts this down to Steam players who possibly already person the crippled successful their room and spot sum of it online due to the fact that it’s gone escaped connected the Epic Games Store, and their friends are talking astir it, truthful they reinstall and dip backmost in. Sometimes they conscionable bargain it connected Steam outright.
But Epic faces an uphill conflict here, mostly due to the fact that the Epic Games Store itself conscionable isn’t arsenic bully to usage arsenic Steam for a full clump of reasons. To combat this, Epic is rebuilding the store connected PC truthful the launcher is faster and doesn’t usage arsenic galore representation resources. “It should consciousness accelerated and snappy and conscionable beryllium what you expect, frankly,” Allison said. The caller and improved Epic Games Store should vessel by June.
Epic’s imaginativeness for the Epic Games Store — and its constituent of quality with Steam — is that it’s a multiplatform store. That means 1 store connected crossed PC, Mac, iOS, and Android, and adjacent different games. A large portion of this is dependable and substance for parties autarkic of games, a spot similar the console experience, but connected PC and mobile. As astir PC gamers know, assemblage is beauteous overmuch non-existent connected the Epic Games Store, and Allison acknowledged that. Forums are coming to the store, which sounds basal but has been successful the works for immoderate time. Expect Epic to marque immoderate sound astir forums successful the adjacent fewer weeks.
And past there’s Fortnite. The conflict royale behemoth. The everything game. Fortnite is cardinal to this Epic Games Store push. It plans to usage Fortnite to person PC gamers to get their games from the Epic Games Store alternatively than Steam. To bash that, it volition pat into the selling powerfulness of Fortnite, offering a Fortnite acquisition (a Fortnite cosmetic on with a matching quality avatar for their Epic relationship profile) with a acquisition of a game. Upcoming partners see Capcom, miHoYo, Pearl Abyss (Crimson Desert), S-Game, MintRocket, and Kakao Games, arsenic the archetypal to participate. Allison expects this to person a important interaction connected sales.
After moving done the stats, I asked Allison immoderate questions connected the details, immoderate caller Epic Games Store controversies (Alan Wake 2, for example!), and astir the maestro plan. Here’s the Q&A successful full:
IGN: The cognition online is that astir of your MAUs are utilizing the store to motorboat Fortnite, but you are suggesting that the stats antagonistic that perception. But however precisely so?
Steve Allison: Our mean monthly progressive users connected third-party exceeds our mean monthly progressive users connected Fortnite. Now a batch of those users — it depends connected however you specify monthly progressive users — but successful presumption of subordinate hours, yes, you're right. It's benignant of 60, 66, 33 oregon 65, 35. But successful presumption of MAU, shopping, looking astatine stuff, possibly making transactions for escaped games oregon whatever, the MAU is flipped successful the different direction. So we request to summation conversion done each the enactment that we're doing. That's what this is each about.
IGN: Similarly determination is that cognition online that radical emotion your escaped games program, they dip successful to drawback the escaped games and leave. You must've seen this cognition online. Are you seeing that shifting? Is determination thing successful the stats that suggests that?
Steve Allison: I deliberation the reply is, not wholly true, right? The mean conversion complaint for a caller subordinate that's acquired done the escaped games programme is astir 16-25%. Depends, but nary little than 16% implicit time. It's a beauteous precocious conversion complaint for scale. So that's 1 fact. The different is, you got to spell backmost to that 35% of subordinate hours coming from games utilizing their ain IAP (their ain outgo solutions for in-app purchases). We cognize anecdotally talking with Riot, talking with EA, the narration connected that walk is with the developer oregon the publisher. We don't spot it and they're spending with them comparatively astatine the expected complaint that they would assume. So there's much commerce coming done the store than that statement would imply.
IGN: This touches connected thing the Larian publishing manager was talking astir connected societal media recently, which is that giving everyone everything for escaped mightiness bump numbers but doesn't make a viable storefront from which to merchantability premium experiences. And I deliberation that's his point, the conversion not conscionable to play but to wage for caller games. But you are suggesting that possibly isn't the case?
Steve Allison: It's not the case. He was trying to framework Alan Wake successful that discourse and it's conscionable not true. Alan Wake sold truly good and Remedy's connection determination was on… we didn't speech to Remedy astir it. They did that connected their ain to marque definite that the satellite knew that wasn't true. Now, from a marketplace stock standpoint, we spot immoderate volatility there. So sometimes it'll beryllium arsenic tiny arsenic a percent oregon two, and sometimes it'll beryllium 25 up to 40% successful immoderate cases. So what we request to bash is found consistency and destruct volatility. So it's truly important for maine that we get to… if we get to 20, 25, 30% of stock predictably connected each simultaneous ships, we volition beryllium $2 cardinal successful third-party and that, including the radical utilizing IAP, right, truthful it'd beryllium more. So our extremity is truly to beryllium consistent. And truthful doing each the subordinate enactment that's expected of america is going to thrust conversion. And conscionable successful discourse of this conversation, that's 1 of the biggest things we request to bash successful bid to make that consistency.
IGN: Bringing up Alan Wake, 1 of the things that isn't successful your station is exclusives. Alan Wake excessively was a genuine exclusive. Are you inactive successful this game? Are they inactive invaluable for you? Is this thing we're inactive going to spot moving guardant oregon bash you instrumentality the presumption that really determination are amended ways for you to run the store than to person genuine exclusives successful the mode that Alan Wake 2 was?
Steve Allison: A mates things. So that was decidedly a strategy early. There's truthful galore releases connected PC and we could adhd a 1000 games and onslaught retired a 1000 times. So we focused connected the astir impactful contented we could onboard, erstwhile we had immoderate limitations connected however galore things we could bring connected board. It's truly important. We person 6,000 games connected the catalog now. We've done little than 150 deals for exclusives successful the past of the store. That's the archetypal constituent I would make. And 120 of those deals we did successful 2019. And past arsenic we moved into self-publishing, we've benignant of floated distant from that strategy.
In the lawsuit of Alan Wake, we besides person a third-party publishing squad that is portion of the store organization. We’ll money projects otherwise than those minimum guarantee-based deals. We'll money projects, we'll assistance them bring the games to marketplace crossed each platforms, but the PC SKUs volition beryllium exclusive successful that case. But we person eight, 9 titles that we're backing done Epic Games Publishing close now. Other than that, we haven't done a minimum guarantee-style woody successful astir 3 years. So our strategy shifted there. But if we money and people the title, the discourse is simply a batch antithetic than the speech that happens connected however we did things successful 2019. And we ain that. That was truly palmy for us. Things person changed and the publishing businesses, those games volition beryllium exclusive from the store.
IGN: It'd beryllium large to get immoderate penetration connected the semipermanent play here. You're up against Steam, which is simply a immense competitor, precise hard to shift, not conscionable successful presumption of the stats, but the mindset. And I've ever heard, not conscionable anecdotally but from Epic radical that the Epic Games Store is not profitable. Is the extremity to turn bigger than Steam? Is that really feasible? Are you profitable? Can you ever beryllium profitable successful this venture?
Steve Allison: So there's a mates ways of looking astatine it. When you speech astir Steam, you speech astir everything including their first-party games. If you speech astir the Epic Games Store, first-party positive third-party, and you conscionable recognition the store with 12% of the gross that comes from Epic's first-party games, which isn't however we bash accounting, but we sometimes bash these views internally, the store is walk interruption adjacent and reasonably, marginally profitable.
On the third-party broadside connected its ain successful isolation, close present we proceed to invest. We person a ton of enactment to do. We put successful these programs for developers. We volition proceed to put successful contented done publishing. And that concern is going to amusement up arsenic sunk costs. But it's each successful the discourse of scaling. But if we get to 25, 30% marketplace share, which is our plan… yes, if we bash specified a large occupation that we propulsion stock past Steam oregon whatever, I deliberation we'll beryllium ace happy. But our extremity isn't to creation connected apical of Steam's sedate oregon thing similar that. It's to found a accordant spot wherever developers tin expect to merchantability 25-30% of their games. That will, erstwhile we get there, we volition beryllium profitable successful third-party and we'll beryllium precise profitable with third-party positive first-party.
Third-party is wherever we're investing. We got to bash each this work. Remember besides it's similar 60% of our assemblage uses both. 40% doesn’t. There's a clump of that assemblage connected Steam that volition ne'er turn, but we proceed to get a cohort of players that are discovering PC gaming for the archetypal time. They're shifting from console. We're going to person antithetic diagnostic sets, antithetic accidental astir the multi-platform store. It's each astir establishing the accordant show of marketplace spending, similar 25-30% now. And if we stroke past that, we'll beryllium ace stoked, but erstwhile we get determination we'll beryllium successful bully shape.
IGN: So, conscionable to clarify, is the Epic Games Store profitable?
Steve Allison: First-party, precise profitable. First-party positive third-party, if you recognition the store 12% of first-party's gross similar it was a lawsuit connected the store, profitable… slightly.
Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].
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