The Epic Games Store carved out a big audience by offering developers a much larger revenue cut and giving away free games to users. Despite gaining nearly three hundred million accounts, it has not stopped Valve's Steam platform from also growing massively, regularly hitting tens of millions of concurrent users. A game developer recently explained this divide by comparing the two services, noting that Steam functions as a community hub while Epic remains just a digital storefront.
Adrian Chmielarz from The Astronauts said Steam feels like a home because it has user reviews, forums, and other social features that foster emotional investment. The Epic store lacks those community elements, making it just a place to buy things. This difference helps explain why many dedicated PC gamers strongly prefer keeping their libraries on Steam, viewing Epic exclusives as an inconvenient disruption. His own studio took an Epic exclusivity deal for funding but acknowledged the strategic trade-off.
Epic has slowly added features like a gifting option and cross-platform chat, but its pace of improvement has not closed the gap with Steam's extensive ecosystem. Valve continues refining its own platform, maintaining a lead in features that encourage users to spend time there beyond simple transactions. The situation illustrates how building a loyal user base requires more than just competitive pricing and free content.
Adrian Chmielarz from The Astronauts said Steam feels like a home because it has user reviews, forums, and other social features that foster emotional investment. The Epic store lacks those community elements, making it just a place to buy things. This difference helps explain why many dedicated PC gamers strongly prefer keeping their libraries on Steam, viewing Epic exclusives as an inconvenient disruption. His own studio took an Epic exclusivity deal for funding but acknowledged the strategic trade-off.
Epic has slowly added features like a gifting option and cross-platform chat, but its pace of improvement has not closed the gap with Steam's extensive ecosystem. Valve continues refining its own platform, maintaining a lead in features that encourage users to spend time there beyond simple transactions. The situation illustrates how building a loyal user base requires more than just competitive pricing and free content.
