The Epic Games Store is a digital service that sells and distributes video games. It was created by Epic Games and started in December 2018 as a program for Windows and macOS computers, along with an online store. Versions for Android and iOS devices were added in August 2024, but the iOS version was only available to users in Europe. The store offers tools for managing friends lists, finding opponents for games, and other features. Epic Games plans to add more features in the future but will not include features like discussion boards or user reviews. Instead, it uses social media platforms for these purposes.
Epic Games began selling games online after the success of Fortnite, a game released in 2017. Epic distributed Fortnite through its own software to Windows and macOS users. In August 2017, Tim Sweeney, the founder and CEO of Epic Games, said that Steam, a major game store run by Valve, charged developers 30% of sales, which he called too high. He claimed that a store could be profitable with as low as an 8% charge. When the Epic Games Store launched, it charged developers 12% of sales and also removed a 5% fee for games made using Epic’s Unreal Engine.
To attract game developers and publishers, Epic offered them deals where their games would be exclusive to the Epic Games Store for a set period in exchange for guaranteed minimum income. Epic also gives users one or two free games each week to encourage more people to use the store. Some users have criticized Epic and the developers who choose exclusivity deals, saying these agreements divide the gaming market.
Storefront and software
The Epic Games Store is a place where players can buy games online or through the Epic Games launcher app. Both the website and the app let players purchase games, and the launcher app allows players to install and update their games.
Epic Games plans to offer some of its newer games only through its store. The company also plans to help developers by guaranteeing them money if they release their games exclusively on the Epic Games Store. If a game does not sell well, Epic will pay the difference. For other developers, Epic keeps 12% of the money from each sale, and the rest goes to the developer. For games made using the Unreal Engine, Epic does not charge the usual 5% fee for those sold on its store. After paying for services like content delivery, Epic’s profit is about 5% of the total money earned, and this could increase to 6–7% as the store grows. Starting in June 2025, Epic will not take any money from games that make less than $1 million in sales.
Epic planned to give away one free game every two weeks in 2019, and later increased this to one free game every week. If a free game had mature content that might be blocked by parental controls, Epic also offered a second free game without that rating. Epic said it would continue the free game program through 2021, 2022, and beyond. Over the first 18 months of the program, Epic gave away more than $2,000 worth of games, according to PCGamesN. Some free games were very popular. For example, in May 2020, more than 7 million new users claimed a free copy of Grand Theft Auto V, which temporarily crashed Epic’s servers. In January 2021, over 19 million users obtained a free copy of Star Wars Battlefront II, which also briefly crashed the game’s servers. Before 2020, Epic paid developers between $100,000 and $1 million to offer free games, and this cost about $0.50 to $5.00 per new user who tried the store. Epic also offers sales where it absorbs the discount. For example, its first store-wide sale in May 2019 gave players $10 off any game priced at $15 or more.
When the store first launched, it had few features, but Epic plans to add features similar to other digital stores. Eventually, the store will allow users to leave reviews, but developers can choose whether to let this feature be used to avoid fake reviews. Cloud saving was added in August 2019, and support for achievements and user modifications was added in July 2020. Full support for achievements was available by October 2021. The store will not include internal user forums, but users can report bugs through a ticket system. Developers can link to external forums like Reddit or Discord instead. A party chat system, similar to features in Discord, will be added in 2021 to let players chat with friends in supported games. In January 2020, the store added information from OpenCritic to help users see game reviews. In June 2022, the store added a review system that uses random polling to show users reviews, helping to stop fake reviews.
The store does not support virtual reality headsets, and it does not plan to include features like Steam’s trading cards. Cloud saving was first added for a few games in July 2019, but Epic plans to expand this after testing. In December 2019, developers could choose to add their own in-game store for microtransactions or other purchases, while still using the Epic Games Store.
Epic plans to expand its "Support a Creator" program, which it first used in Fortnite Battle Royale, to other games on the store. Players can choose to support a streamer or content creator by selecting them, and the streamer gets a small share of the money from purchases made through the store. In Fortnite, creators received about 5% of the value from microtransactions.
Epic announced that it would allow games with blockchain-based elements, like cryptocurrency or non-fungible tokens, which Valve (the company behind Steam) does not allow. However, each game must still be reviewed by Epic before being accepted onto the store.
History
Before the Epic Games Store was introduced, digital game distribution for personal computers happened mainly through platforms like Steam and GOG.com. Steam was the most popular, with about 75% of all digital game sales in 2013. The company that ran Steam, Valve, kept 30% of the money from each game sale, a percentage that other platforms, including GOG.com, and console and mobile stores also used. In August 2017, Epic Games' leader, Tim Sweeney, said that 30% was too high and suggested that Valve could still make money if it lowered its share to 8%.
In early December 2018, Epic Games announced a new digital store to compete with Steam. This store would take only 12% of sales, instead of Steam's 30%. Epic also said it would not use digital rights management (DRM) to restrict how games could be used. The store opened on December 6, 2018, during the Game Awards, with a small number of games and upcoming titles. It first supported macOS and Windows, later expanding to Android and other platforms. Epic plans to offer an Android storefront that avoids Google's Play Store, taking only a 12% cut instead of Google's 30%. While Apple's control over iOS currently prevents Epic from creating an app store for iPhones, experts believe Apple might change its policies if Google reduces its fees. Epic has asked Google to allow Fortnite to bypass Google's payment system for in-app purchases, but Google refused.
Before the store launched, its director of publishing strategy, Sergiy Galyonkin, had created Steam Spy, a website that collected data about Steam usage. He used this data to learn what developers wanted from Epic's store, such as fewer social features and simpler designs. The store's content was carefully chosen until Epic allowed self-publishing, which began in August 2021. Epic staff still review games for technical quality and to avoid poor-quality titles, but the process is less strict than console approvals. Epic does not plan to allow games with adult-only content.
In January 2019, Ubisoft announced it would sell some of its games, including Tom Clancy's The Division 2, through the Epic Games Store, in addition to its own Uplay platform. This made Ubisoft the first major publisher to use Epic's store. Ubisoft said the decision was part of a larger discussion about Steam's business model, which it called outdated. Later that month, Deep Silver announced that Metro Exodus would be exclusive to the Epic Games Store for one year at a lower price. Epic later partnered with companies like Private Division and Quantic Dream.
In December 2020, the Epic Games Store started offering non-game apps, such as Spotify, and said it would not take a share of Spotify's subscription fees. Other apps added included itch.io, iHeartRadio, Krita, and Brave.
In December 2022, Epic introduced "cabined accounts" for children. These accounts allow access to free games like Fortnite, Fall Guys, and Rocket League with limited features to keep children safe. Parents must approve purchases, and other parental controls are in place.
In March 2023, Epic added self-publishing to the store, similar to Steam Direct. Developers pay $100 to list their games. Epic reviews games to block inappropriate content and games without cross-platform support. In May, Epic launched a rewards program where users earn 5% of their purchases. In August 2023, Epic introduced a "First Run Program," offering developers a 6-month period with no revenue share for exclusive games. A "Now on Epic" program for previously released games was added in October 2023.
In August 2024, Epic launched its store for Android devices worldwide and for iOS devices in Europe. This followed the European Union's review of Apple's practices under the Digital Markets Act, which allowed alternative app stores in Europe. In January 2025, Epic began offering third-party games on mobile and made some games free for limited times. Because Apple restricts sales of iOS games through other stores, Epic said it would pay penalties for developers offering free or discounted games.
In April 2025, a judge ruled that Apple had broken the terms of a previous court order by limiting third-party app stores and collecting fees from them. The judge said Apple could no longer block third-party stores, charge fees, or use design features that discourage users from using them. Tim Sweeney said Epic would bring the store to iOS in the U.S. within a week. Epic also announced plans to let developers create their own web shops to avoid app store fees. On May 13, Epic temporarily increased its rewards program to 20% until August 31.
Reception
The Epic Games Store was introduced shortly after Valve changed how it shared revenue from game sales on Steam. Under the new model, Valve would take 25% of sales if a game earned more than ten million US dollars, and 20% if it earned over fifty million US dollars. Many independent game developers worried that this change would benefit larger companies more than smaller ones. When the Epic Games Store was announced, some journalists believed it could challenge Steam’s current system. Some developers and publishers decided to release games only on the Epic Games Store or to make them available there first before other platforms. Valve’s leader, Gabe Newell, said competition was good for everyone, but he noted that the competition was difficult in the short term.
In its first year, 2019, the Epic Games Store had 108 million customers and made over 680 million US dollars in sales, with 251 million US dollars coming from games made by other companies. Ninety percent of sales from these games were from titles that were only available on the Epic Games Store for a limited time. Epic said sales were 60% higher than expected. In 2020, the store reached 160 million players, with 31 million active daily users and over 700 million US dollars in sales, including 265 million US dollars from third-party games. Data from Simon Carless in 2021 showed that only one game, Satisfactory, and another, Dauntless, made more money for Epic than the cost of their exclusivity deals.
By 2023, the Epic Games Store had generated 950 million US dollars in revenue and had 270 million users. To compete with Steam, Epic often made games available only on its store for six months or a year before other platforms. Epic’s leader, Tim Sweeney, said this was the only way to challenge Steam’s dominance. He added that if Valve lowered its 30% revenue share, Epic would stop seeking exclusivity deals. Otherwise, Epic would continue accepting exclusivity offers from developers and publishers.
Some players were upset about these exclusivity deals, as they created conflicts similar to those seen with timed exclusivity on consoles. For example, Metro Exodus, originally planned for Steam, was made exclusive to the Epic Games Store for a year before appearing on Steam. Players criticized this decision, and some gave the game poor reviews on Steam. The publisher, Deep Silver, said the exclusivity decision was made by its parent company, Koch Media. Later, players praised Metro Exodus on Steam after it became available there, as the Epic Games Store did not have user reviews at the time.
Another example was Phoenix Point, a game developed by Julian Gollop, the lead designer of X-COM. The game was crowdfunded, with players able to redeem keys on Steam or GOG. In 2019, Gollop announced that Phoenix Point would be exclusive to the Epic Games Store for a year. Backers would receive keys for Steam or GOG after the exclusivity period ended and get free downloadable content for the first year. Gollop said the exclusivity deal helped his team finish the game. However, some backers were angry, believing Gollop changed the game’s direction to secure investment. Gollop denied this and offered refunds to those who wanted them.
Glumberland, the developers of Ooblets, announced in late 2019 that the game would be exclusive to the Epic Games Store. They said Epic’s financial support would help the studio stay afloat until release and give them a better share of revenue. Glumberland’s leader, Ben Wasser, joked about critics of exclusivity deals, calling them “immature, toxic gamers.” However, this comment led to thousands of hostile messages, including threats, from players. Wasser later clarified that the studio needed Epic’s support, not that they wanted to ignore the gaming community. Sweeney, Epic’s leader, said the backlash against Ooblets showed a growing trend of spreading false information and harassing developers. He added that Epic is working to help those targeted by such behavior.
More issues arose when Unfold Games, developers of Darq, said they would not release their game on the Epic Games Store. Darq was originally planned for Steam, and Unfold said they had raised funds based on this plan. Epic offered to fund Darq if the game was exclusive to the Epic Games Store for a year. Unfold refused, explaining that their marketing relied heavily on Steam and that many players had added the game to their Steam wishlists. As a result, Darq was released without digital rights management on Steam and GOG. Some journalists worried that Epic’s focus on exclusivity might hurt its goals.
After complaints from players and developers about exclusivity deals, Steve Allison, who leads Epic’s storefront division, said the company did not want to cause problems in the gaming community. He promised to avoid large exclusivity deals close to a game’s release and to respect what players want. Epic also said it would cover refund costs for backers of Shenmue III and any future crowdfunded games with exclusivity deals.
In April 2021, during the Epic Games v. Apple lawsuit, Apple claimed the Epic Games Store was losing money and likely would not be profitable until 2027. This claim was based on financial information from Epic’s management, and Apple said Epic needed to ensure revenue from its other products.