Epic Games has shared an infographic that provides insight on how well its distribution platform has been faring against Steam and other major competitors. While the store still has a long way to go before it can stand toe to toe with its more mature and successful derivatives, it did manage to achieve some impressive metrics over the course of the previous year, such as a rising user base of more than 160 million customers.
“There are now over 160 million Epic Games Store PC users,” the company noted. “Daily active users are up 192% to 31.3 million daily active players, with a peak CCU 13 million concurrent players this year (up from 7M in 2019). Monthly active users in December rose from 32 million in 2019 to 56 million.”
“This surge in player growth has also led to an increase in purchasing and play time! In 2020, PC customers on the Epic Games Store spent over $700M of which third party games represented 37% at $265M. Last year, the Epic Games Store community played 70% more hours with a total playtime of 5.70 billion hours in 2020 compared to 3.35 billion hours in 2019.”
The Epic Games Store’s increasing popularity is likely owed to its weekly free games promotions, which even its staunchest critics can’t ignore. Epic revealed that it gave away 103 different titles in 2020, which would have normally cost users $2,407. Over 749 million copies of free games were ultimately served, and the company plans to continue its tradition of freebies all throughout 2021.
“We released 103 weekly free games which were a big part of the titles that made their way to the store,” Epic wrote. “[…] weekly free games are going to continue on the Epic Games Store in 2021!”
The company also teased a couple of additions and improvements that Epic Games Store users should be able to enjoy in 2021. These include wishlist tweaks, a social overhaul, achievements, player profiles, and the long-awaited shopping cart. It isn’t clear why the Epic Games Store launched without such an integral feature.
