Video games news, releases, esports and culture — all the biggest gaming stories in one place.
Can the Epic Games Store turn things around? ‘I don’t see how they can recover at this point,’ says Newzoo analyst
Developed over time first seen 3 months ago
Epic Games has confirmed a planned overhaul of its digital storefront, promising a faster launcher, improved navigation, personalised recommendations and easier access to patch notes, as part of its long-running effort to compete with Steam on PC. However, industry analysts remain sceptical that interface improvements alone can meaningfully shift the competitive balance, arguing that Valve's lead has become too entrenched to challenge through such changes.
Emmanuel Rosier, director of market intelligence at Newzoo, said Steam's dominance now functions as a structural advantage rather than merely a product-quality edge, making it extremely difficult for any rival to reclaim significant market share. He noted that Epic's longstanding strategy of giving away free games to drive logins and engagement has done little to convert users into regular paying customers, with some analysts concluding that the Epic Games Store's position is now effectively unrecoverable regardless of the redesign.
- Sources
- 3
- Outlets
- 3
- Left · Centre · Right
- 0 · 0 · 0
In short
- Epic Games Store to get faster launcher and redesigned interface
- Analysts doubt this can close the gap with Steam
- Newzoo says Steam's dominance is now a structural, not just quality, edge
How this story developed
- 3 months ago Epic Games has confirmed plans to overhaul its digital storefront, promising a significantly faster launcher, improved navigation, personalised recommendations and easier access to patch notes.
- 3 months ago Epic Games has announced a planned overhaul of its digital storefront, promising a much faster launcher, better navigation, personalised recommendations and easier access to patch notes.
- 3 months ago Epic Games has confirmed a planned overhaul of its digital storefront, promising a faster launcher, improved navigation, personalised recommendations and easier access to patch notes, as part of its long-running effort to compete with Steam on PC.
- 3 months ago Epic Games has unveiled plans to modernise its digital storefront, promising a significantly faster launcher alongside improved navigation, personalised recommendations, and direct access to patch notes. However, industry analysts remain unconvinced this late-stage overhaul can reverse the company's competitive struggles.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Epic Games possesses enormous financial resources from Fortnite and is well-positioned to sustain a long-term competitive effort. Whilst Steam's network effects are significant, they are not immutable—genuinely superior product experience and compelling exclusive content can erode structural advantages, particularly among new players without entrenched library investment. The PC gaming market is large enough that meaningful share-shifting remains possible if Epic executes consistently.
The case against
Steam's dominance now functions as a self-reinforcing structural advantage rooted in nearly all PC gamers' established libraries, friends and communities, making network effects extraordinarily difficult to overcome through interface improvements alone. Epic's years of free-game giveaways have demonstrably failed to convert users into paying customers, whilst controversial exclusives have created consumer resentment rather than loyalty, suggesting that fundamental behavioural barriers cannot be solved by technical changes.
Explained simply
Epic Games runs its own online shop for PC games, the Epic Games Store, which competes with the much larger and long-established Steam, owned by Valve. Epic has just announced an overhaul aimed at making its store faster and easier to use, with better navigation, personalised suggestions and clearer update information. The move follows years of criticism that the platform has lagged behind rivals on basic features.
Epic's main tactic for winning users has been giving away free games regularly, which does bring people to log in and claim titles. Analysts who track the games industry, such as Newzoo, say this hasn't translated into people actually using the store day to day, since many gamers prefer to keep all their games in one library rather than split them across platforms.
The wider question is whether Steam's dominance in PC gaming has become too entrenched to challenge, regardless of what features a rival offers. This matters because a healthier level of competition between stores can affect prices, the cut developers pay on sales, and how much choice players have over where they buy and play games.