The Epic Games Store won't be toppling Steam anytime soon, but the numbers shared by Epic in its Epic Games Store 2025 Year in Review blog post clearly show that the digital storefront is growing. The digital storefront best known for giving away free games also saw quite a few players doing more than just claiming a free title each week, spending more time and money in third-party titles.
2025 was a year of record-setting for the EGS, as player spending on third-party games grew by 57% compared to last year, reaching a record-high $400 million. Epic also added that the $400M number doesn't even include what players would've spent in third-party titles that process their own payments, like EA Sports FC 26, Marvel Rivals, Valorant, and Grand Theft Auto V.
Developers behind those games, and any other that has its own payment processing, receive 100% of the revenue made from those purchases. Which, frankly, is what you would expect, seeing as how Epic spent years in litigation against Apple over the issue of not being able to process its own payments in Fortnite.
Other record-setting numbers include the 2.78 billion hours players spent in third-party games through the Epic Games Store, an increase from 2024's 2.68 billion hours in third-party titles. That said, when looking at gameplay hours spent overall, players logged only 6.65 billion hours, a decline from 2024's 7.72 billion hours.
It also reached a record-setting high in monthly active users (MAU), hitting 78 million MAU on PC in December 2025. Overall, player spending was up by 6%, reaching $1.16 billion, up from 2024's $1.09 billion. There are now over 6,000 games available on the Epic Games Store for players to purchase.
When it comes to the Free Games Program, which seems to be driving a fair amount of engagement on the storefront, Epic gave away 100 games in 2025, with players claiming a total of 662 million copies. The value of the games claimed, in US dollars, totalled $2,316. The post also notes that the free games increased engagement in those titles on Steam, which feels like a nod towards a story from last month, where an indie publisher noted that having their game go free on the EGS was great advertising for Steam sales.
Lastly, the EGS grew from 2024's 295M users to a whopping 317 million users on PC. If you want to compare all of the EGS's numbers from 2024 to 2025, you can check out its 2024 report here.
As for what Epic has planned in 2026, the Fortnite company says it will focus on "delivering long-requested features and deeper platform improvements," specifically citing that the company is in the process of "rebuilding the underlying architecture of the Epic Games Store Launcher," with plans to ship these changes in Summer 2026.
The changes promise a more responsive launcher that feels "good to use," with better stability and faster load times. It also promises community spaces in the Epic Games Store and the enhancement of the EGS's social capabilities, even adding voice chat and game-independent parties. It'll also add cross-platform libraries between PC and mobile games, and the introduction of regional storefronts with localized discovery systems.
"In short: we're building a fairer, more open marketplace for players and developers," the blog post reads. "As we move into 2026, we remain committed to empowering developers and delivering the best possible experience for players, wherever they play."
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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