Well, it’s that time of year again! The Epic Games Store has released a new Year in Review for 2023 so I thought I’d write an article discussing it as well as some other information about the Epic Games Store. I admit that I was debating with myself on whether or not to write this post due to a concern that the information may grow repetitive with regards to previous articles covering the Epic Game Store’s Year in Reviews but I was buoyed by some other information we received regarding the Epic Games Store and decided that it was still worth covering. Without further ado then, let’s take a look at how the Epic Games Store is continuing to flounder so many years after its release.
Let’s start, of course, by looking at the new Year in Review and comparing it to the last one. I also do want to commend Epic Games for, if nothing else, their courage for continuing to do these Year in Reviews even when the results are sure to generate unfavourable headlines like the one above. Let’s start by looking at the aspects that are more favourable to Epic. Total PC users of the Epic Games Store has continued to grow with 270 million compared to the 230 million of last year. Monthly active users has also grown from 68 million to 75 million and, as a whole, revenue is up (more on that later). Their social media presence has also grown with an increase of 100,000 followers on Instagram, 300,000 followers on Twitter and a remarkable 444,000 on TikTok, that last one being a growth of 148%!
However, as you might expect from my tone, this Year in Review isn’t all positive for Epic. In fact, I’d argue that this Year in Review might be even more concerning for the Epic Games Store than last year which is why I’m saying that it’s continuing to flounder. While total revenue for the Epic Games Store has grown remarkably, from $820 million to $950 million, we’ve also seen spending on third-party games fall from $355 million to $310 million. I pointed out last year how, while overall spending was down, growth in spending on third-party games is healthy for a store since it means releasing games on the store is more profitable for companies and encourages the release of their games on the launcher. A fall in spending on third-party is going to damage the stores appeal to third-party publishers, even if Epic themselves are doing better overall.
While this may sound bad, it’s actually worse when you consider other factors! In 2023, Epic Games launched two programs, Epic First Run and Now on Epic, which saw games released exclusively on the Epic Games Store and older games that had already been released on other stores releasing on the Epic Games Store respectively have their revenue sharing with Epic waived for the first six months, that resulted in an increase of games available on the Epic Games Store increasing from 1600 to 2900. If, even after all that, third-party spending has declined then it’s indicative that there’s some major issues regarding player spending. While not nearly as important as far as I’m concerned, I also noted that the number of free games being claimed has declined dramatically. Only 200 million games were claimed in 2019 although this is to be expected given the much smaller userbase of 108 million and that games were being offered less frequently but the games being claimed has fallen from a peak of 765 million claimed in 2021 despite the number of users continuing to increase. I’ve always been critical of the impact of their free games programme and I think this information is evident of that.
However, the Epic Games Store is making a move this year which is quite interesting and likely to shakeup future Year in Reviews. Given recent changes in EU law, Epic plan to release the Epic Games Store on iOS in Europe which will be managed by their Swedish division. Now, there’s numerous ways that this move can be handled with potential to synergise the store across multiple platforms but also the possibility that it will be as mismanaged and floundering as its PC incarnation. Many years later, the Epic Games Store remains underdeveloped and merely expanding to a new market isn’t going to fix the core issues preventing it from being a success.
Considering the issues Epic have had in the past year, it’s hard to imagine that they can find success without making some radical changes for the customer experience. While I commend Epic for continuing to release these Year in Reviews, the fact is that it’s merely further evidence of the Epic Games Store failing. Let me know your thoughts on why I believe that the Epic Games Store is continuing to flounder, what you yourself think of their Year in Review, what you think Epic needs to do to succeed, your thoughts on the Epic Games Store releasing for iOS and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.