It’s time for the 2025 edition of the Epic Games Store Year in Review.
This year, the Epic Games Store saw player spending on third-party PC games grow 57% to an all-time record of $400 million.
Because developers who process their own in-game payments keep 100% of their revenue, this record spending doesn’t even include some of the biggest live service titles like Marvel Rivals, Valorant, and GTA V, as well as premium titles like EA Sports FC 26.
Another all-time Epic Games Store record: Players spent 2.78 billion hours in third-party games. 35% of those player hours were in third-party games where developers used their own payment solutions for in-app purchases.
Players are spending more time in third-party games, fueled by competitive pricing, free games on PC and mobile, and Epic Rewards. The continued focus on developer choice and
industry-leading revenue share is driving success for partners, and more great games for
players.
“The big takeaway from our year review is that we had all-time highs in third-party spending growth up 57% versus last year,” said Steve Allison, head of the Epic Games Store, in an interview with GamesBeat.
The third-party game sales were down about 18% last year, but it’s up 57% this year, and total spending on third-party games reached $400 million this year, he said.
“The way we do it here is when we look at that growth, we also have seen increased adoption of our policy where we allow any developer or publisher who’s set up to process their own payments for in-app purchases to do so if they choose,” Allison said. “And we saw that grow to 35% of player hours this year, and that’s up quite a bit since we introduced the policy in 2019. It was kind of hanging around the single digits, low double digits, like 12% all the way through about 2023.”
Now it’s had a substantial jump, he said, and the reason is probably an artifact of the changes the industry is going through.
“The need for people to find margin wherever they can. We’ve seen that on the rise of web shops too,” he said.
When developers choose to use their own payment systems on their games sold in the Epic Games Store, Epic gets zero from those sales, compared to the usual 12% it gets from selling through its payment system. That means the 57% growth figure is quite significant, Allison said, as it doesn’t include the sales by devs who use their own payment systems. That’s a “beautiful story,” he said.
Allison noted that Riot Games does that with Valorant sales, and GTA V and GTA Online also use their own payment systems on the Epic Games Store.
Epic’s own growth rate, therefore, is pretty impressive, Allison said. Time spent in Epic’s third-party games (which don’t include Epic’s first-party games like Fortnite or Rocket League) was close to three billion hours last year, up 4%.
Epic Games Store reached an all-time record of 78 million monthly active users on PC
On the Store, the store saw growing engagement and increased player spending across a more diverse partner catalogue. Players logged 6.65 billion total gameplay hours in 2025. While overall gameplay hours declined year over year, hours in third-party titles increased by 4%. PC players spent $1.16 billion on the Epic Games Store, up 6% year over year.
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.
“It’s cool for us to see that it brings the games back into the conversation,” Allison said. “[The free games program] has impact outside of the Epic Games Store, and I think it’s really good for developers, especially some of the smaller ones, to help players find and play some games that they might not have played otherwise.”
Epic Games Store continues to grow, surpassing 6,000 games with developers keeping
their first million dollars.
Epic reworked its revenue share model so developers can keep more of their revenue and
reinvest directly in their studios and projects. Started in June 2025, developers keep 100% of their first $1 million in annual net revenue per product, per year, before the standard 88/12 split applies.
Developers are also free to use their own payment systems inside their games and Epic takes zero revenue from those purchases. Additionally, participation in programs like Epic First Run and Launch Everywhere with Epic reached all-time highs, helping more developers earn more from every game sold.
The company also launched Epic Web Shops, enabling developers to build their own digital storefronts within the Epic ecosystem on PC and mobile. It’s a new way for developers to sell in-game content directly to players using Epic’s global distribution network and scaled ecommerce platform, even if their game isn’t in the Store.
Epic Web Shops are cross-platform webshops that developers can offer on PC and mobile.
Store improvements across PC and Mobile in 2025 – 100,000 gifts sent over the holidays
Last year, Epic launched a new Download Manager to make installing games faster and easier.
Epic also enhanced Search and Browse on the web and PC, making search and discovery
simpler. In November, the company brought Gifting on the Epic Games Store, enabling players to send games directly to friends and family. More than 100,000 gifts were sent over the holidays.
On mobile, Epic began supporting third-party titles, launched the Free Games program for the first time, and made the mobile Store quicker to open and to use.
And Epic also introduced the Epic Games App, the mobile companion experience, debuting with iOS in December before expanding to Android in January. The app lets players use their phone to secure their Epic Games Account using two-factor authentication and text chat across the Epic ecosystem. Alongside its rollout, we launched a new text chat experience, connecting players across Fortnite, Epic’s mobile apps and the Epic Games Launcher.
Text chat messages now sync across platforms and connect directly to Fortnite text chat, making it easier to stay connected wherever you play.
Epic has come a long way
He said the point isn’t really to dislodge Steam. He said he was proud that when the Epic Games Store started, Steam had around 67 million monthly active users in 2017.
“We were basically at zero,” he said. “We’re now at the level that they were from a user standpoint, and they’ve grown to about 140 million monthly active users. So the fact that we’ve entered the market and are competing, and PC gaming has grown tremendously.”
He noted that about 60% of Epic Games Store users use both it and Steam. He noted Steam has a catalog of 140,000 games and Epic has about 6,000.
“After you get past the top 1,200 games, you’re into the zone where none of those games is made more than $200. And so for developers who are smaller, where every dollar counts, this is a very meaningful change for them,” Allison said.
He noted that developers on the Epic Games Store get to keep all of their sales up to $1 million.
Rebuilding the storefront and what’s next for 2026
This year, Epic focused on delivering long-requested features and deeper platform
improvements.
The company is in the process of rebuilding the underlying architecture of the Epic Games Store Launcher and plan to ship improvements this summer. These changes will make the storefront on the launcher responsive and feel good to use, with fast load times and greater stability.
To create a better social experience for players, Epic is creating community spaces in the Epic Games Store and enhancing cross-platform text chat with features like avatars, player profiles and private messaging. These social capabilities will be extended to Epic Online Services, opening up text chat for other developers to include in their games later this year. In Q2, the firm will add voice chat and game independent parties to its social framework.
Epic is also launching an official program to help developers sell more games on the Epic
Games Store by leveraging the marketing power of Fortnite. Players who purchase participating games will get a Fortnite cosmetic along with a matching character avatar for their Epic account profile. This will be available in the first half of the year. Upcoming partners include Capcom, miHoYo, Pearl Abyss, S-Game, MintRocket, and Kakao Games, as the first to participate. The company will share more IP announcements in the coming months.
Going forward, the company has “started ripping out the architecture of the Epic Games launcher in November. We’re basically well underway there” with rebuilding the Epic Games Launcher, Allison said.
That should improve the store’s performance and speed. Epic plans to add more social features over time. The company launched forums for Fortnite, and it will leverage the power of Fortnite to market tihrd-party games on the store. Allison said the company will do about 40 partnerships with major games this year, starting with Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem.
In the fall, Epic is adding a cross-platform library for players across PC and mobile, and Epic is introducing regional storefronts with localized discovery.
On mobile, the company will roll out library management in Q2 so it’s easier to find the games you want to play. And it also plans to launch third-party APIs, and expand the Self-Publishing Tools to mobile partners this summer.
Epic’s Mission Continues
In short, Epic is building a fairer, more open marketplace for players and developers. In 2026, Epic said it remains committed to empowering developers and delivering the best possible experience for players, wherever they play.
Allison noted that Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), is not included in the Epic Games Store numbers.
As for the new regulations for game sales in the Japanese market, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has tweeted that Apple has been allowed to do anticompetitive things such as adding a fee for sales that developers get from selling in-app items via its direct-to-consumer stores in Japan, rather than through the Apple app store.
On that, Allison said, “I don’t think where things are going to land long term is where we’re at today, but we’re going to go out the door and continue to push on trying to work with Apple, work with the regulators there to make sure they get the feedback, especially from our developers who are on the store.”
It’s a work in progress, Allison said.
As for AI, Allison said the company does not require developers to report whether a game has or hasn’t been made with AI, as Valve does on Steam.
“We don’t require them to report on it, and I don’t expect that we will,” Allison said.
Epic Games Store 2025 Data and Stats Summary
Revenue and Engagement
● $400M spent by players on 3rd-party PC games in Epic Games Store (+57%)
● 2.78B Total Third-Party Gameplay Hours (+4%)
● $1.16B spent by PC players on the Epic Games Store (+6%)
● 6.65B Total Store Gameplay Hours (-14%)
● 972M Cross platform accounts (+8%)
● 317M+ Total PC players
● 78M MAU in December 2025, an all-time record (+6%)
● 67M Average MAU (-1%)
● 31M Average DAU (-2%)
Free Games
● 100 free games offered
● 662M free games claimed
● $2,316 in total value per player
● 78% average score across all free games
Social Media Engagement
● 6.2M Instagram followers – @epicgames
● 5.4M X followers – @epicgames
● 1.5M Facebook followers – @epicgames
● 1.5M TikTok followers – @epicgames
Top PC Games Titles in 2025
● Mythic:
○ Fortnite
○ Wuthering Waves
○ Honkai Star Rail
○ Rocket League
○ Genshin Impact
● Legendary:
○ EA SPORTS FCTM 26
○ Zenless Zone Zero
○ Grand Theft Auto V
○ Dead by Daylight
○ Infinity Nikki
● Epic:
○ Football Manager 2024
○ Alan Wake 2
○ EA Sports FC 25
○ Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
○ Hogwarts Legacy
○ Rainbow Six Siege
○ Dead Island 2
○ Borderlands 4
○ Red Dead Redemption 2
○ ARC Raiders
Anticipated Titles (used in infographic ONLY)
● Resident Evil Requiem
● Crimson Desert
● 7 Knights Re:BIRTH
● Screamer
● Control: Resonant
● Mongil: Star Dive
● End of Abyss
● Subnautica 2
● Chrono Odyssey
● Ember and Blade
● Lords of the Fallen 2
● Out of Words
● Tides of Annihilation
● 007: First Light
● Kingmakers
● LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
● Phantom Blade Zero
● REANIMAL
● JC: Toxic Commando
● Infinitesimals
*These numbers reflect consumer retail spend, inclusive of taxes.