In a recent interview published by GamesIndustry.biz, Steve Allison, General Manager of the Epic Games Store, openly admitted that Epic does not expect to ever surpass Steam, which is set to remain the leading platform for PC gaming.
Despite recent results showing a 57% increase in spending on third-party games and growth in monthly active users, Epic Games Store is still far behind Steam in terms of usage, total users, and market share. According to Allison, this gap is unlikely to close in the future.
“Steam is a huge part of the PC ecosystem,” Allison said. “It’s not going away. We’re not going to topple Steam.”
Epic Games Store Aims to Be a Strong Alternative
Epic Games is fully aware that beating Steam is not a realistic goal. As a result, the company is not focused on replacing Valve’s platform, but rather on offering a credible alternative for PC players.
From this perspective, Allison said Epic takes user criticism and feedback very seriously, acknowledging that many complaints are fair and useful.
“We get so much criticism. I hate reading it, but I also appreciate it. It’s not untrue,” he added. “We were building incredibly rapidly on top of a foundation that was originally designed just to support Fortnite and Paragon, and we’ve continued to build on a house of cards.”
Allison also admitted that the launcher is still slow and based on an old framework. The team continued improving and optimizing it until last October, when Epic made a major decision. “We decided in October last year to rip the whole foundation down and rebuild it.”
While improvements have already been made, Epic Games is now clear about its position. The goal is no longer to challenge Steam’s dominance, but to refine its own platform and grow as a solid second option in the PC gaming space.
In other news, Epic Games Store’s user base has surged 173% to 295 million in six years, but revenue has barely grown — up just 1.6%. Despite free game giveaways boosting sign-ups, most users aren’t spending money on the platform.
