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PayPalEpic Games have release their 2025 Year in Review for the Epic Games Store, and they appear to be doing doing quite well compared to previous years. Be sure to check out our guide to play titles from Epic Games Store on SteamOS / Linux.
For 2025 they're reporting 317 million total PC users, with a 67 million average for monthly active users (-1%) and 31 million average daily active users (-2%).
Epic has a lot of cash thanks to the success of Fortnite, and they've been burning through it to get people into using their store along with giving out all those free games (100 given away free in 2025). So third-party PC game revenue is essential if they want the store to actually succeed and it appears they are starting to turn things around.
Epic reported $1.16 billion spent by PC players (+6%), with $400 million (+57%) spent on third-party PC games in the store. If we go back and compare to previous years for third-party game spending:
- 2025: $400 million
- 2024: $255 million
- 2023: $310 million
- 2022: $355 million
- 2021: $300 million
- 2020: $265 million
- 2019: $251 million
So not only have they turned that number around but it was clearly their best year yet for it.
An interesting point mentioned by Epic is how their free game giveaways can actually help Steam releases too.
The Free Games Program also continued to drive discovery and engagement. In 2025, players claimed 662 million titles through the program. Over 77% of games set an all-time peak CCU record on the Store during the week of their free offer. This delivered a measurable halo effect across the broader PC ecosystem, including a 40% lift in Steam CCU while the title was free on the Epic Games Store.
This halo effect they mentioned was backed up by New Blood Interactive CEO Dave Oshry, who mentioned on X/Twitter back in January how "Blood West was free on EGS over the holidays and sold like 200% more on Steam that day".
Epic Game Store actually saw a decrease in hours spent gaming at 6.65 billion (-14%), with time spent in third-party games at 2.78 billion (+4) so players are spending more but overall gaming on it less.
The Epic Games Store itself is also set to expand with new social experiences and community spaces, along with enhancements planned to their cross-platform text chat with features like avatars, player profiles, and private messaging. They're also planning to add a "cross-platform library for players across PC and mobile, and we’re introducing regional storefronts with localized discovery" along with improvements on mobile too.
On top of that they're going to launch a new "official program to help developers sell more games on the Epic Games Store by leveraging the marketing power of Fortnite". They said players who buy specific games will "get a Fortnite cosmetic along with a matching character avatar for their Epic account profile".
See more in the Epic Games blog post.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I still don't trust that clown Sweeney.
This delivered a measurable halo effect across the broader PC ecosystem, including a 40% lift in Steam CCU while the title was free on the Epic Games Store.Been there, done that. Tried a freebie game on EGS and liked it, but I wanted the DLC too. Went ahead and bought the whole kit - but on Steam of course!
scorp10n2000 4 hours ago
I only buy games on Steam and GOG.
williamjcm 3 hours ago
Last edited by williamjcm on 4 Feb 2026 at 1:25 pm UTC
Quoting: williamjcmThe reason the third-party sale numbers increased by that much is because they now include VAT, while previous years didn't include it to my knowledge.That makes no sense, where in the world do we have 57% VAT?
Arehandoro 3 hours ago
Quoting: scorp10n2000Why would anyone want to buy games on Un-Epic (shit)Store? 🤔UnEpic however is a great Metroidvania parody (although the humour is very teenager-stoner like 😅)
I only buy games on Steam and GOG.
I also buy only on Steam and GOG.
Technically they take 12% - so 48 million would be the maximum. But they don't charge for the first million at all. And then they have that reward system as well where you get money back for your next purchase. Wasn't that like 20%?
How much money have they lost running the store this year?
Quoting: ArehandoroUnEpic however is a great Metroidvania parody (although the humour is very teenager-stoner like 😅)I was about to post the same. And the humor is what makes it so fun. 😄
QuadrantThree 2 hours ago
Quoting: kuhpunktI'd be curious how much of those $400 million even ended up in Epic's pockets.A sizable portion of it is probably from Unreal Engine. UE5 is currently the industry standard game engine, being used by both indie and AAA. Unfortunately, UE5 being the popular engine also means more money goes to Tim Sweeney.
Technically they take 12% - so 48 million would be the maximum. But they don't charge for the first million at all. And then they have that reward system as well where you get money back for your next purchase. Wasn't that like 20%?
How much money have they lost running the store this year?
Quoting: QuadrantThreeA sizable portion of it is probably from Unreal Engine. UE5 is currently the industry standard game engine, being used by both indie and AAA. Unfortunately, UE5 being the popular engine also means more money goes to Tim Sweeney.It's just the third party purchases from the store - licensing fees for the engine would be extra.
I am glad Epic is doing better. More competition means that Steam (and GOG) won't be able to sit around.
Now, I'm not saying everyone should start buying on Epic - you do you - but clearly enough people are buying that Epic isn't failing, and that IMHO is a good thing.
williamjcm 36 minutes ago
Quoting: EgonautI mean, it would still have increased compared to the previous year, just *much less* than what Epic's claiming. For example, if we assume that everyone on the EGS paid a 20% VAT, then the "before VAT" spending would have been around 333M$, which would seem much less impressive.Quoting: williamjcmThe reason the third-party sale numbers increased by that much is because they now include VAT, while previous years didn't include it to my knowledge.That makes no sense, where in the world do we have 57% VAT?
Quoting: williamjcmNot everyone pays a VAT and the largest gaming market outside of China is the USA.. the USA alone is the largest market by a long shot compared to any country that pays a VAT.Quoting: EgonautI mean, it would still have increased compared to the previous year, just *much less* than what Epic's claiming. For example, if we assume that everyone on the EGS paid a 20% VAT, then the "before VAT" spending would have been around 333M$, which would seem much less impressive.Quoting: williamjcmThe reason the third-party sale numbers increased by that much is because they now include VAT, while previous years didn't include it to my knowledge.That makes no sense, where in the world do we have 57% VAT?
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