Epic Games Store grew from 108M to 295M users, but third‑party revenue barely moved — proving giveaways trained users not to actually buy games. Is Xbox PC going down the same path?

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The Epic Games Store has seen a huge increase in users, growing from 108 million in 2019 to 295 million in 2024. However, revenue from third-party games only increased by 1.6% during that same time, according to a Reddit post. This is likely because Epic Games focused heavily on giving away free games, which attracted a large number of users who only logged in to claim those free games and didn’t make any purchases.

Despite criticism online, especially on Reddit, the Epic Games Store has seen significant growth in recent years. From 2019 to 2024, its user base increased by 173%, jumping from 108 million to over 295 million.

Despite a significant increase in users, Epic hasn’t seen a corresponding rise in revenue from game sales. Third-party game revenue only grew by 1.6% over the same period, indicating that while many people are using the platform, few are actually making purchases.

The Epic Game Store problem

The Epic Games Store is Epic’s attempt to compete with Steam, which is the most popular platform for buying PC games. Steam is favored by many players because it’s reliable and easy to use.

Steam didn’t always enjoy the success it has today. When it first came out in the early 2000s, people were very critical of it – but that’s a story for another time.

The Epic Games Store opened in 2018 with a strategy to compete with Steam. Initially, it tried to attract developers by offering them a larger share of the profits and securing exclusive game releases. However, this didn’t gain much traction with gamers, so Epic has shifted its focus, though it still offers developers a more favorable revenue split.

Epic focused on offering free games to attract people to its platform. While this successfully increased the number of users, it also meant many, including myself, would only visit the store to grab freebies and then leave, rather than browse or buy games.

It’s tempting to criticize Epic, but their platform was, and for a long time remained, noticeably less user-friendly than Steam. It originally lacked essential features, and although they’ve worked to improve it over the years, some users feel those changes came too late to make a real difference.

As a long-time gamer, it’s honestly frustrating to see how slowly the Epic Games Store has been adding basic features. They didn’t even have user reviews until 2022! Wishlists and achievements showed up in 2021, and it took until 2025 for gifting and messaging to finally return – they actually *removed* messaging four years prior! And that’s just scratching the surface; things like family sharing and mod support are still missing, and the list of what’s lacking really goes on and on.

Is this an Xbox PC problem as well?

The Epic Games Store and Xbox PC have some things in common – they both try to compete with Steam and both are missing some features Steam offers. However, that’s pretty much where their similarities stop.

It’s tempting to criticize Microsoft, but the Xbox app’s success isn’t about free games – it’s driven by subscriptions to Game Pass. PC Game Pass has grown by 45% in the last year, proving that people are actively choosing to pay for the service and consistently use it, rather than just downloading freebies and moving on.

Although this mainly concerns PC gaming on Xbox, console gamers in general are eager to spend money, particularly on shooting games. Despite PlayStation likely selling about three times more consoles than Xbox, Xbox players still purchase a significant amount of games, as detailed in this article.

Similar to Epic Games, Xbox is making significant investments in creating a unified experience across all its devices – including cloud, consoles, and PCs. Ultimately, Xbox aims to make future hardware feel less like a traditional console and more like a PC, combining games from both Xbox and Steam into a single library. This forward-looking approach is why I continue to choose Xbox, as it promises a more adaptable and open gaming experience compared to platforms that tend to repeat the same patterns with each new generation.

The future of PC gaming is Steam for now

PC gamers have been very happy with Steam for quite a while now. Steam’s focus on its users and reliable features have kept players loyal, which explains why Xbox and Epic are now concentrating on building their own separate platforms instead of trying to compete directly with it.

Xbox’s next consoles are planned to work with various game stores, like Steam and Epic. Epic, on the other hand, is taking a different approach by embracing things Steam doesn’t, such as games using NFTs, and openly encouraging the use of artificial intelligence in game creation. Epic’s CEO, Tim Sweeney, has also voiced criticism of Steam’s requirement for developers to reveal when they’re using AI.

As an analyst, I’ve been watching the relationship between Epic and Xbox closely, and it’s shifted significantly. Initially, it seemed like they were destined to be competitors, unable to share the same space. Now, I believe they can successfully coexist, and frankly, that’s a positive development. While I don’t anticipate either platform seriously challenging Steam’s dominance, they don’t *need* to. Success for them on PC doesn’t hinge on taking market share from Steam, just on establishing their own viable presence.

My own habits show how things stand with Epic Games Store. I still check it for free games, but I spend most of my time playing games I already own on Steam and Xbox, often completely forgetting about Epic. That doesn’t mean Epic is failing – it made over $1.09 billion in 2024. However, Steam earned $1.6 billion in just one month, December. Epic might not ever be as popular or well-regarded as Steam, and it doesn’t need to be to succeed.

For a lot of people, Epic is known as the place to get free games, not a place to actually *buy* games. Steam remains the go-to platform for purchases and playing, while Epic’s approach has resulted in growth that feels somewhat superficial. Whether you see this as a smart marketing tactic or a misstep, it’s clear that Epic has conditioned its users to rarely spend money.

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2026-01-18 23:16