Epic Games launched the Epic Games Store in 2018 to challenge Steam by Valve in the PC gaming market. Regular free game giveaways became a core part of its growth strategy and initially seemed effective. However, this approach failed to drive long-term engagement and strong sales, something even company employees acknowledge.
A report by Bloomberg about Epic’s collaboration with Disney cites two former employees who worked on the store. They claim that while free game promotions caused spikes in activity, users would soon return to Steam afterward.
Free offers are a strong early جذب tool, but the Epic Games Store still lags behind in features and social functionality. Many players also dislike switching between multiple launchers. The platform’s most loyal audience remains Fortnite players. Last year, spending on third-party games in the store reached around $400 million, significantly lower than Steam’s figures.
Valve’s platform continues to grow, recently hitting a record of 42,318,602 concurrent users on March 22. Its overall activity keeps rising with no signs of decline. According to Bloomberg, the Epic Games Store has about 78 million monthly active users, while Steam reaches similar numbers within just a few days.
Meanwhile, Epic Games and Disney are working on a major new project similar to ARC Raiders. Expectations are high, but insiders say early internal tests have received mixed feedback.
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