No one can deny that the Epic Games Store is the place to go for free games, but according to one analyst, it might not be enough to keep EGS sustainable. It’s no secret that gamers can be a fickle bunch, and one thing is certain: launcher fatigue can set in. While numerous gaming apps have tried to unify the libraries they offer, many users still rely on the one they are most used to. That being said, the Steam rival has received its share of criticism since launching in 2018, and more than a few folks have questioned how successful its business model has been given its almost notorious reputation of weekly free game giveaways vs how many it actually sells.
Epic has been very public in that it is working on overhauling its launcher and working toward making changes to its storefront. It has also recently announced that its launcher now supports Linux; a similar move was made by NVIDIA with its GeForce NOW app this month. Meanwhile, the question arises on if these changes will be enough to help EGS gain a greater foothold in the gaming market. PC Gamer asked this of Emmanuel Rosier, the director of market intelligence at Newzoo, who said: “I don’t really see how they can turn it around, because Steam has become so inevitable”. As if to rub salt into the wound, “The Epic Games Store, they get players by giving free games, but people just go, they log in, they get the free games, they don’t even play them,” adds Rosier, who also compared gamers’ behavior to collectors who may not actually play with what they have collected.
Vice President and GM of EGS Martin Keely has since countered this claim by stating the Epic’s data tells a very different story. According to Keely, gamers spent over 2.78 billion hours playing 3rd party games on EGS in 2025, but then “spending on third-party PC games grew 57% to a record $400 million,” while also adding that the forthcoming changes are expected to drive even more growth.
Newzoo has published its own statement regarding the above and essentially is distancing itself from Rosier’s answer.
“Remarks about the Epic Games Store published in a recent PC Gamer interview were not supported by Newzoo data or analysis and did not take into account relevant public evidence. These remarks should not be treated as a Newzoo market assessment.”
– Newzoo
Discussion (12 replies)
Join Discussion →If Alan Wake 2 gets cheap enough ($10 or less), I'll pick it up on the EGS despite my distaste for Epic, Fortnite, Tim Sweeny, the whole shebang. I even went and downloaded the EGS app and sideloaded it onto my phone because I'm at work quite a bit and naturally cannot access Steam/EGS etc through the firewall, so for Steam I am almost always buying games off the app.
Well imagine my surprise when I learned the EGS app for Android *doesn't let you buy/add PC games, only mobile phone games* and I just gave up on EGS again.
In the year of our lord 2026, can EGS fucking do anything right?
Interesting
At the same time:
Take-away: Epic can’t even sell their own crap on EGS very well
I am curious what their burn rate is. Something tells me 400 million isnt a profit.
They are giving almost 90% back to the devs/publishers so under $50 million.
They are right for once. I don't even use them for free games.
To each its own but I can't remember the last time I bought a game on steam. IMO all game services are pretty much the same, not one is better than the other.
Then maybe you have stopped playing recent games? Because where else would you buy your games from? There's Fanatical and Humble Bundle if you want games cheaper than Steam but they will still be Steam keys.
GoG is an often overlooked option. I guarantee they'll have the latest Witcher title whenever that releases.
I've also used Green Man Gaming too on occasion.
Well yeah, considering GoG used to be internally known as CD Projekt Blue before they split off and became independent. But CDPR has always been committed to DRM-free gaming. I appreciated when they gave owners of Witcher 2 Steam versions a free copy of Witcher 2 on GOG. Wish they had done that with Witcher 3 as well, but I guess it was to be expected.
Do you mean bought games directly from/through Steam, getting a Steam key from elsewhere (like GMG or Humble or whatever), or from a competing storefront (like EGS and Origin and uPlay/Connect and all that)?
I only grab the free games from EGS because I already had an existing Epic account, and was already using the Epic launcher, before there even was an Epic Games Store, because I was messing around with Unreal Engine 4 dev stuff. Then when EGS first showed up, it was really only a place to buy assets for game development. Then there was an experiment: the game Shadow Complex (which was previously exclusive to Xbox 360) was ported to PC, and it was being offered for free to existing Epic users, exclusively on EGS. I thought this was weird but whatever, I was happy to have the game on PC finally, and to get it for free. I had no idea this was a test to expand EGS into an actual platform for selling video games from all publishers.
To this day I have never bought a game on EGS. I grab most of the free games but I never really use them. In some situations I've used a friend's Steam version of a game that I actually have on EGS. Sometimes I've bought a game on Steam I didn't know I already had on EGS. I don't even have the launcher installed on any of my PCs currently, I don't think. I always grab the free games through the website. I really only use Steam and GOG. Sometimes I'll double-dip between the two, but nowhere else. I just really don't see a reason to make purchases on EGS instead of elsewhere.
They are scum. Had an issue where a few years old Steam key I had missed failed to activate. Emailed them and they are like, contact the developers. We can't help you. I threatened them that I would no longer be their customer. They were like, whatever. Bunch of fat retards working in their customer service. Just yesterday, I claimed 22 previously unclaimed Steam keys from my Fanatical library since 2023. I forget or life gets hectic but a key is a key is a key. There is no way it shouldn't activate unless those GMG douches are reselling unclaimed keys.
Through any 3rd party key vendor I always use a virtual credit card. It protects me if the card gets compromised.. and you can reverse charges easier there too.
Woooooooooooooooooooow!!!