- This marks an increase of 34 million users from the end of 2020
- Players have spent more than $840 million on games
- Epic promises many improvements in 2022
The Epic Games Store marks a significant growth compared to 2020, with its 194 million players spending more than 6 billion hours in-game.
Epic Breaks Its Own Records
Over the past few years, Epic Games has undoubtedly become one of the largest gaming distributors worldwide, with titles such as Fortnite launching the platform’s popularity sky-high. More and more PC users use the Epic Store daily, and this trend of growth continues to grow each year.
The platform now hosts over 194 million PC users, an increase of 34 million from the end of 2020, according to Epic’s year-in-review post released on January 27. The platform host titles like the ever-popular Fortnite, as well as games like Rocket League, GTA V, and even titles like Genshin Impact, which was one of the most lucrative mobile games of 2021. It is estimated these 194 million users have spent more than 6.2 billion hours playing these and other games in 2021 alone.
Perhaps due to the global pandemic and the fact many people were forced to stay at home and find other means of entertainment, gaming and esports grew immensely in popularity. This seems to be supported by the fact that 34 million more PC users used the Epic Store, compared to 2020.
Epic’s Success in Numbers
Daily active users peaked at 31.1 million, and peak concurrent users reached 13.2 million. This trend was kept throughout the year. For example, December’s monthly active users peaked at 62 million users, which is an 11% increase from the 2020s’ 56 million.
Naturally, with an increase in users, comes an increase in profit. According to Epic Games, users spent more than $840 million on the platform throughout 2021, which is a sum 20% larger than 2020. The Epic Store currently hosts more than 900 titles, a number over twice as large than 2020. Third-party games represented 36% of all sales with more than $300 million in player spending. This marks a 12% increase from 2020.
It also has to be noted that Epic Games gave away 89 games this year, with 765 million games getting claimed by players. Of those 89 games, 76 broke peak concurrent user records. Epic has said it will continue to give out free games in 2022, a strategy that has proved to be winning in its marketing model.
Epic will also be making some changes to libraries and downloading management. In the future, players will be able to prioritize the downloading of selected games, much like they can in Steam. The company will also work on social features including voice on the platform with game agnostic parties. Users can also expect to be able to give Ratings and Polls. Epic is also planning to implement Game Hubs, where players can stay up to date on game updates and news from publishers.
With these, and many more changes promised by Epic Games, it is safe to say 2022 will be another successful year for the company.
