The atmosphere around the Epic Games Store is as follows people love it for the free stuff but don’t use it for anything else. This is an accurate reading according to At Los Angeles Timeswho recently described a pattern of half-baked plans and rushed releases.
Its report cited two former Epic employees who claimed that players loved the Epic Games Store for free games, but immediately returned to Steam after claiming them. The result is an alternative to Valve’s PC gaming storefront that still struggles to compete meaningfully.
The company reported that it had 78 million monthly active users last year and earned $400 million from non-Epic games in 2025. Epic’s director of global communications, Liz Markman, told the Los Angles Weather that these measures were “below our growth expectations at launch”.
The company is now trying to consolidate its PC gaming showcase and mobile gaming app into a unified platform across different devices, but the ambition behind the plan has caught the attention of people who claim Epic has a tendency to rush things. According to the Los Angeles Timesthe company spent millions on contractors to launch the 2024 mobile game store app in just seven months.
Bloomberg recently reported that Epic is also working on a new pull shooter with Disney, part of a $1.5 billion partnership. Will this project be able to channel the success of Fortnite or be another victim of Epic’s many side quests, which include everything from purchasing Art station to buy then to sell Band camp?
To the extent that Epic succeeds or fails, it will be ordinary employees who suffer the consequences. Epic recently licensed more than 1,000 employees, including one who was terminally ill with brain cancerafter an unexpected arrival Fortnite engagement last year.
