Players poured 1.16 billion dollars into the Epic Games Store in 2025 (Epic Games, 2025 Year in Review), a 6 percent year-over-year rise that pushed the storefront past 317 million PC users. Monthly active users hit an all-time platform record of 78 million in December 2025 (Epic Games, 2025 Year in Review), even as total gameplay hours fell 14 percent. The standout line, though, was third-party spending: a record 400 million dollars, up 57 percent year over year (Epic Games, 2025 Year in Review). This analysis consolidates data from Epic Games’ 2024 and 2025 Year in Review reports, GameDev Reports, Backlinko, GamesRadar, the Fortnite Ecosystem review, Sacra, and 14 other primary and cross-referenced sources to map where the Epic Games Store actually stands in 2026.
TL;DR
- 317 million+ PC users reached the Epic Games Store during 2025, up from 295 million in 2024 (Epic Games, 2025 Year in Review).
- Peak MAU hit 78 million in December 2025, a platform record, +6% YoY (Epic Games via Shacknews).
- Player spending reached 1.16 billion dollars in 2025, +6% YoY (Epic Games via PC Gamer).
- Third-party spending set a record 400 million dollars, +57% YoY (Epic Games, 2025 Year in Review).
- Players claimed 662 million free game copies in 2025, an average redeemed value of 2,316 dollars per player (Epic Games via GAMES.GG).
- Only 16 to 18 percent of free-game claimers later buy games on Epic (Epic executive via GamesRadar).
- Total gameplay hours fell 14% to 6.65 billion, while third-party hours rose 4% to 2.78 billion (Epic Games via GameSpot).
- Cross-platform Epic accounts grew 8% to 972 million (Epic Games, 2025 Year in Review).
- The catalog surpassed 6,000 games from more than 3,000 developers (Epic Games via PC Gamer).
- Epic Games generated about 5.7 billion dollars in company-wide revenue in 2024 at a 22.5 billion dollar valuation (Sacra).
1. Users and reach
The Epic Games Store’s headline strength is breadth, not depth. Its installed base keeps climbing, but engagement has plateaued: total reach rose to 317 million PC users while the yearly average MAU actually slipped 1 percent, and average daily users fell 2 percent. The single record that held was December’s 78 million peak MAU (Epic Games, 2025 Year in Review), driven largely by holiday Fortnite spikes rather than storefront browsing. The seven-year MAU curve shows the pattern clearly: fast growth through 2023, then a flat band.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| PC users reached, 2025 | 317 million+ (up from 295M) | Epic Games via WCCFTech |
| Peak MAU, December 2025 | 78 million (+6% YoY, record) | Epic Games via Shacknews |
| Average MAU, 2025 | 67 million (-1% YoY) | Epic Games via Shacknews |
| Average DAU, 2025 | 31 million (-2% YoY) | Epic Games via Shacknews |
| Cross-platform Epic accounts | 972 million (+8% YoY) | Epic Games via WCCFTech |
| PC users reached, 2024 | 295 million | Game Developer |
| Peak MAU by year, 2019 to 2025 | 32M, 56M, 62M, 68M, 75M, 74M, 78M | Epic Games via Backlinko |
Outlier note: peak MAU has moved just 4 million in three years (74M to 78M), a sign the daily audience has saturated even as total accounts grow.
2. Player spending and the Steam gap
Spending tells a more optimistic story than engagement. Total player spend crossed 1 billion dollars for the first time in 2024 and kept climbing in 2025. The real acceleration is third-party: a record 400 million dollars, up 57 percent (Epic Games, 2025 Year in Review) after a rough 2024 when third-party sales via Epic Payments fell 18 percent. Even so, Epic’s own titles like Fortnite and Rocket League still supply the majority of store revenue, and the platform trails Valve badly on absolute dollars, as covered in our Steam statistics roundup.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total player spending, 2025 | 1.16 billion dollars (+6% YoY) | Epic Games via PC Gamer |
| Third-party spending, 2025 | 400 million dollars (+57% YoY, record) | Epic Games via WCCFTech |
| Third-party spend via independent payment systems | 35% of 3P spending | Epic Games via GameDev Reports |
| Player spending by year, 2019 to 2025 | 680M, 700M, 840M, 820M, 950M, 1.09B, 1.16B (dollars) | Epic Games via Backlinko |
| Third-party revenue via Epic Payments, 2024 | 255 million dollars (-18% YoY) | Neowin |
| First-party share of store revenue, 2024 | ~74 to 75% | TweakTown |
| Steam PC digital distribution share (est.) | ~74 to 75% | Cross-referenced market estimates |
Context: Epic’s low-single-digit share of third-party PC revenue is an estimate that varies by tracker; the direction, not the decimal, is what matters.
3. Engagement and time spent
Hours are where the 2025 report turned negative. Total gameplay hours dropped 14 percent to 6.65 billion (Epic Games, via GameSpot), a decline concentrated in first-party play as Fortnite hours normalized off prior peaks. The counterweight: third-party gameplay hours grew 4 percent, meaning players are increasingly using Epic to play games they did not get from Epic itself. That divergence between falling total time and rising third-party time is the clearest signal that the catalog strategy is slowly working.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total gameplay hours, 2025 | 6.65 billion (-14% YoY) | Epic Games via GameSpot |
| Third-party gameplay hours, 2025 | 2.78 billion (+4% YoY) | Epic Games via GameSpot |
| Total gameplay hours, 2024 | 7.72 billion (+10% YoY) | Epic Games (2024 Year in Review) |
| Peak DAU, 2024 | 37.2 million | Epic Games (2024 Year in Review) |
| Average DAU, 2024 | 32 million (+6% YoY) | Epic Games (2024 Year in Review) |
Outlier note: the 2024 total of 7.72 billion hours makes the 2025 drop steeper than it looks year to year.
4. The free-games engine
The weekly giveaway remains Epic’s signature acquisition tool, and the scale is enormous relative to its actual cost. Players claimed 662 million free copies in 2025, worth an average of 2,316 dollars in redeemed retail value per player (Epic Games, via GAMES.GG). The program is a discovery machine: more than 77 percent of the games set an all-time peak player record during their free week. But conversion is thin. An Epic executive conceded to GamesRadar that only 16 to 18 percent of claimers later buy anything on the store, defending it purely on cost per new user.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Free games offered, 2025 | 100 | Epic Games via PC Gamer |
| Free copies claimed, 2025 | 662 million | Epic Games via GAMES.GG |
| Average redeemed value per player, 2025 | 2,316 dollars | Epic Games via GAMES.GG |
| Average user rating of free titles | 78% | Epic Games via GameDev Reports |
| Free titles hitting all-time peak during giveaway week | 77%+ | Epic Games via GameDev Reports |
| Peak-concurrent lift on Steam during an EGS free week | +40% | Epic Games via GameDev Reports |
| Free-game claimers who later buy on EGS | 16 to 18% | Epic executive via GamesRadar |
| Free copies claimed, 2021 (calculated retail value) | 765 million (~18 billion dollars) | Tom’s Hardware |
Context: the 40 percent concurrent-player lift on Steam during Epic giveaways is a striking admission that free weeks benefit the whole PC ecosystem, not just Epic.
5. Developer economics and catalog
Epic competes on terms, not volume. Since June 2025 developers keep 100 percent of the first 1 million dollars in annual net revenue per product (Epic Games, revenue-share update), then move to an 88/12 split, versus Steam’s 70/30 baseline. The First Run program layers on 100 percent net revenue for six months of exclusivity. Yet the catalog is still small next to Steam’s, and Epic has largely stopped paid exclusives, instead claiming roughly 70 percent of major PC releases now appear on the store. For the broader supply picture, see our game development statistics roundup.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Games in catalog, end of 2025 | 6,000+ | Epic Games via PC Gamer |
| Developers on the store | 3,000+ | Epic Games via GameDev Reports |
| Standard revenue split (dev / Epic) | 88 / 12 | Epic Games |
| Revenue kept on first 1M dollars per product/year (from June 2025) | 100% | Epic Games |
| Epic First Run: net revenue kept, first 6 months exclusivity | 100% | Epic Games (First Run program) |
| Share of major PC releases available on EGS | ~70% | Epic Games via PC Gamer |
| Games released on EGS in 2024 / catalog then | 1,100 / 4,000 | Epic Games via GameDev Reports |
| Steam standard split (comparison) | 70 / 30 | Valve via TweakTown |
Outlier note: the catalog nearly doubled from 4,000 titles in 2024 to 6,000+ in 2025, the fastest catalog growth in the store’s history.
6. Launcher rebuild, mobile, and the Apple fight
The 2025 review doubled as a mea culpa on client performance. Epic’s rebuilt launcher (V2) targets a cold start 5 times faster and a tray-to-library restore 6.5 times faster (Epic Games, via PC Gamer), with a summer 2026 rollout. On mobile, Epic opened its EU store to third-party partners under the Digital Markets Act. The legal front stayed loud: after a 2025 US contempt finding zeroed Apple’s commission on external links, a December 2025 appeals ruling let Apple charge a reasonable fee again, and the Supreme Court took the case for its 2026 term (MacRumors).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Launcher V2 cold-start speed | 5x faster | Epic Games via GameDev Reports |
| Launcher V2 tray-to-library restore | 6.5x faster | Epic Games via PC Gamer |
| Launcher V2 / redesign rollout target | Summer 2026 | Epic Games via GameDev Reports |
| EGS mobile base split (Unreal royalties waived) | 88 / 12 | Epic Games |
| Fortnite return to US App Store | May 2025 | MacRumors |
| Apple external-link commission after Dec 2025 ruling | ”reasonable fee” (was 27%) | MacRumors |
| Apple v. Epic at Supreme Court | 2026 term (from Oct 2026) | TechCrunch |
Context: the 27 percent external-link fee that triggered the contempt finding is exactly what the December 2025 appeals court partially revived, so the number to watch is whatever the district court sets next.
7. Company financials and the Fortnite creator economy
The storefront is one line in a much larger business. Epic Games generated roughly 5.7 billion dollars in company-wide revenue in 2024, at a 22.5 billion dollar valuation (Sacra) after Disney’s 1.5 billion dollar stake, down from a 31.5 billion peak in 2022. Fortnite still anchors everything, and its creator economy has become a second monetization engine: Epic paid creators 352 million dollars in 2024 (Fortnite Ecosystem 2024 Year in Review). That ties the store to the same engine powering Fortnite and to the broader Unreal toolchain we track in our game engine statistics.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Epic Games company revenue, 2024 | ~5.7 billion dollars (up ~10% YoY) | Sacra |
| Epic Games valuation (Disney stake, Feb 2024) | 22.5 billion dollars | Sacra |
| Epic Games valuation, April 2022 | 31.5 billion dollars | Sacra |
| Fortnite creator payouts, 2024 | 352 million dollars | Fortnite Ecosystem 2024 Year in Review |
| Fortnite creators, 2024 | 70,000 (up from 24,000) | Fortnite Ecosystem 2024 Year in Review |
| Creators earning over 10 million dollars, 2024 | 7 | PC Gamer |
Outlier note: creator content accounted for 36.5 percent of all Fortnite playtime in 2024, per the Fortnite Ecosystem review, a share that increasingly competes with the game’s own modes.
Summary: Epic Games Store by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| PC users reached, 2025 | 317 million+ | Epic Games via WCCFTech |
| Peak MAU, December 2025 | 78 million (+6% YoY) | Epic Games via Shacknews |
| Average MAU, 2025 | 67 million (-1% YoY) | Epic Games via Shacknews |
| Average DAU, 2025 | 31 million (-2% YoY) | Epic Games via Shacknews |
| Cross-platform Epic accounts | 972 million (+8% YoY) | Epic Games via WCCFTech |
| Total player spending, 2025 | 1.16 billion dollars (+6% YoY) | Epic Games via PC Gamer |
| Third-party spending, 2025 | 400 million dollars (+57% YoY) | Epic Games via WCCFTech |
| First-party share of revenue, 2024 | ~74 to 75% | TweakTown |
| Total gameplay hours, 2025 | 6.65 billion (-14% YoY) | Epic Games via GameSpot |
| Third-party gameplay hours, 2025 | 2.78 billion (+4% YoY) | Epic Games via GameSpot |
| Free games offered, 2025 | 100 | Epic Games via PC Gamer |
| Free copies claimed, 2025 | 662 million | Epic Games via GAMES.GG |
| Avg. redeemed value per player, 2025 | 2,316 dollars | Epic Games via GAMES.GG |
| Free-game claimers who later buy | 16 to 18% | Epic executive via GamesRadar |
| Catalog size, end of 2025 | 6,000+ games | Epic Games via PC Gamer |
| Developers on the store | 3,000+ | Epic Games via GameDev Reports |
| Standard revenue split (dev / Epic) | 88 / 12 | Epic Games |
| Epic Games company revenue, 2024 | ~5.7 billion dollars | Sacra |
| Epic Games valuation, 2024 | 22.5 billion dollars | Sacra |
| Fortnite creator payouts, 2024 | 352 million dollars | Fortnite Ecosystem 2024 Year in Review |
Methodology and Sources
Data was gathered by prioritizing Epic Games’ first-party Year in Review disclosures and court filings, then cross-referencing user, spending, and market-share figures against reputable trade press and aggregators that disclose their sourcing. Sources cited:
- Epic Games, Epic Games Store 2025 Year in Review (2026) - reported via WCCFTech, Shacknews, PC Gamer, GameSpot, and GameDev Reports
- Epic Games, Epic Games Store 2024 Year in Review / “2024 in Numbers” (2025) - via GameDev Reports and Game Developer
- Epic Games, free game claims report, 2025 - via GAMES.GG
- Backlinko, Epic Games Store User Statistics (2025) - historical user, MAU, spending, and free-games time series - link
- GamesRadar, Epic on free-game conversion (2024-2025) - link
- Neowin, Epic third-party revenue down 18% in 2024 (2025) - link
- TweakTown, first-party share of Epic revenue (2025) - link
- Epic Games, First Run program and revenue-share pages - First Run, revenue-share update
- Tom’s Hardware, 2021 free-games retail value (2022) - most recent available for that year - link
- MacRumors, Apple external-payment-links ruling, December 2025 - link
- TechCrunch, Apple v. Epic Supreme Court appeal (April 2026) - link
- Wikipedia, Epic Games v. Apple - legal timeline reference - link
- Sacra, Epic Games revenue, valuation and funding (2025) - link
- Epic Games / Fortnite, Fortnite Ecosystem 2024 Year in Review (2025) - via Esports Insider and PC Gamer
- Epic Games, launcher V2 performance figures - via PC Gamer
Data watch: The Epic Games Store Year in Review is an annual release; the 2026 edition covering full-year 2026 data is expected in early 2027, and the Fortnite Ecosystem 2025 Year in Review is due in early 2026. Sacra updates Epic’s private-company revenue and valuation estimates on a rolling basis, and the Apple v. Epic Supreme Court hearing is scheduled for the October 2026 term, so the developer-facing fee picture may shift again.
Last updated: July 14, 2026.
We review and update this page quarterly as new data is published.