However, he still wants to increase his share in the niche.
In an interview with GamesIndustry, Epic Games Store General Manager Steve Allison explained this. According to him, from the very beginning, EGS didn't aim to surpass Steam, but was hoping for fair competition and relatively peaceful coexistence.
Allison added that EGS already boasts a significant audience—currently, the store attracts about 35-40% of all monthly active PC gamers. At the same time, it accounts for only 5-8% of user spending in the PC market.
In the future, EGS hopes to improve its revenue situation. Allison forecasts that over the next five years, the store has the potential to increase its monetary share in the market to 30%, 35%, or even 40%. To achieve this, among other things, it needs to upgrade its infrastructure, which currently does not fully satisfy gamers. For example, increasing the speed of game downloads. Among other planned updates are voice chat, player profiles, regional storefronts, and much more.
Allison also emphasized that EGS is not planning to stop offering free game giveaways. At least in the foreseeable future.
“Overall, I see our spending on giveaways as marketing expenses. The effect of giveaways in terms of attracting new users and retaining old ones is so significant that it would be very difficult to seriously discuss the idea of stopping them. We usually keep the budget somewhere in the range of 20 to 30 million dollars and conduct almost no other marketing campaigns,” concluded the EGS General Manager.