Update 23/01/2026: Believe it or not, this whole ordeal spiralled into a larger conversation, where Epic Games chief executive officer Tim Sweeney got involved, taking jabs at Steam and Gabe Newell, and ended with Remedy Games defending Epic and the Epic Games Store. You can read the full story here.
Original Story:
New Blood Interactive co-founder and chief executive officer Dave Oshry has made a name for himself, not just as the head of the indie publisher, but on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), where he often shares his thoughts and sometimes industry insights. Today, we have the latter, as Oshry revealed the latest example of how much people hate using the Epic Games Store and would much rather use Steam.
In response to a meme video about how players would rather pay for a game on Steam than grab it for free off the Epic Games Store, Oshry offered a real-life example of the scenario the meme was poking fun at.
Blood West is an indie first-person shooter published by New Blood Interactive, and it was also one of the games that was given away for free on the Epic Games Store during Epic's annual holiday giveaway period, where it gives away one free game per day leading up to the new year. Blood West was free for December 20, 2025, and by the time the giveaway promotion had ended, it was one of the 20 games that contributed to Epic saving players from spending $550 if they wanted to purchase all 20 games at their full, non-sale price.
(Speaking of free games on the Epic Games Store, as a quick aside, you can currently get Styx: Master of Shadows and Styx: Shards of Darkness for free on the store.)
But that doesn't matter to players, because they're not using the Epic Games Store anyway. They're using Steam, and when given the chance to buy a game on sale on Steam or get it for free on the Epic Games Store, they'd rather buy it on Steam.
"Blood West was free on EGS over the holidays and sold like 200% more on Steam that day," Oshry wrote in response to the meme post. "I used to think EGS was a Marketing Black Hole but turns out having your game be free on Epic is great advertising for Steam sales!"
Oshry continued to explain that when a game is made free on the Epic Games Store, Epic offers developers a lump-sum royalty payment for the period it's available for free, all of which went directly to Blood West's developer, Hyperstrange.
"New Blood doesn't get any royalties from EGS we let Hyperstrange take 100% of that - so they got the $$$ bag for the free giveaway, are putting that money into developing the new DLC and we got more Steam sales too," Oshry said. In response to another user, Oshry revealed he had conducted an interview earlier in the day, where he said, "Epic could give devs 100% of sales and it doesn't mean shit if there's no sales lol. WHAT'S 100% OF $0."
Back in December, while Epic was in the middle of its end-of-year giveaways, The Astronauts founder Adrian Chmielarz put it bluntly, and perhaps best: "EGS is a shop, and Steam is a community." Oshry's example today is just the latest to make it clear that players are choosing to stick with their communities.
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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