Epic Games' planned overhaul of its digital storefront may not be enough to challenge Steam's long-established market position, according to industry analyst Emmanuel Rosier. Rosier, director of market intelligence at Newzoo, expressed skepticism about Epic's ability to recover its standing in the PC storefront market, citing Steam's overwhelming dominance.
Rosier explained that Epic's strategy of offering free games, while attracting users, has not fostered deep engagement. He noted that players often acquire these free titles without playing them, effectively treating it as a game collection rather than an active library. Furthermore, he suggested that these giveaways can sometimes inadvertently boost a game's sales on Steam, as players tend to consolidate their game libraries on a single platform. "I don't really see how they can turn that around because Steam has become so inevitable," Rosier told PC Gamer.
The analyst also pointed to Epic's broad approach in recent years, attempting to compete with Steam, Apple, and Google Play simultaneously. Rosier suggested this multi-front strategy may have depleted Epic's resources, making it difficult to win battles on all fronts. "The challenge I think Epic is facing is that they try to win everywhere in the past few years," he added. "They try to win against Steam, they try to win against Apple, against Google Play, and probably they run out of steam on where they cannot fight all these battles at the same time."
Despite his reservations about the Epic Games Store, Rosier expressed a more optimistic view of Epic's role as a game developer. He highlighted the continued focus on Fortnite as a significant positive, noting the game's success with crossover cosmetics featuring characters from other major franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac-Man, Kingdom Hearts, and Persona 5. "You can see they put a lot of thought in Fortnite right now," Rosier observed. "They are doing everything they can, and I think it's working better when you look at the state of Fortnite today compared to six months or one year ago."
However, when it comes to the Epic Games Store itself, Rosier's outlook remains cautious, indicating that a serious challenge to Steam's dominance as a storefront is increasingly unlikely. This assessment comes as Epic Games previously announced a partnership to have its storefront included on Xbox hardware.