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Epic Games Store hits $1.16B as third-party sales rise 57%

Epic Games Store generated $1.16B in revenue with third-party sales climbing 57% year-over-year, signaling continued structural gains against Steam's PC distribution dominance.

Epic Games Store Hits $1.16B, 3rd-Party Sales Up 57% [2026] - shattered.io
Epic Games Store Hits $1.16B, 3rd-Party Sales Up 57% [2026] - shattered.ioAI-generated

Patch notes

  • Epic Games Store recorded $1.16 billion in revenue in its latest reporting period

  • Third-party sales grew 57% year-over-year, excluding Fortnite and other first-party titles

  • Epic maintains an 88/12 developer revenue split, the storefront's primary commercial lever against Steam

  • Steam continues to account for the majority share of paid PC game transactions by third-party estimates

  • Sustained growth at the reported rate would narrow Steam's revenue lead on a dollar-volume basis

The Epic Games Store generated $1.16 billion in revenue with third-party sales climbing 57% year-over-year, according to operating figures tied to the storefront's most recent disclosure cycle.

What the headline figure covers

The $1.16 billion total reflects consumer spend across both Epic-published titles and games from third-party studios and publishers distributed through the storefront. The 57% growth isolates external catalog performance, excluding Epic's own portfolio led by Fortnite. That split matters for an industry reading the figures: first-party revenue swings with Fortnite's live-service cycle and can mask underlying platform health, while third-party numbers more directly measure whether the storefront is converting exclusivity deals, free-game promotions and its 88/12 developer revenue share into recurring purchase behavior.

Why the third-party rate is the operative number

Stripping Fortnite out of the headline moves the analysis from corporate-finance optics to platform economics. A storefront generating $1.16 billion in total consumer spend and growing its non-Epic catalog at a 57% clip indicates structural lift rather than a single-product windfall. Studios evaluating distribution decisions typically weigh catalog depth more heavily than flagship performance because catalog depth governs long-term discoverability, recurring install base and the cumulative funnel for sequels, expansions and DLC.

What changes for developers

The 88/12 revenue share remains the Epic Games Store's primary commercial lever versus Steam's revised tiered split, which adjusts rates above $10 million in gross sales. The arithmetic gap is concrete: an indie studio grossing $1 million retains $880,000 on Epic versus a lower net on Steam depending on tier placement and after deductions. The 57% third-party growth rate implies Epic is converting that commercial advantage into install-base expansion, lowering customer-acquisition risk for titles launched exclusively or preferentially on its platform. Smaller PC publishers operating on slim gross margins treat the difference between 70% and 88% net retention as the variable that funds a post-launch content patch or, on the downside, the gap that closes a studio.

Competitive context

Valve's Steam continues to account for the majority share of paid PC game transactions, with third-party trackers historically estimating roughly two-thirds of the segment by revenue. Epic's growth rate, sustained over multiple reporting periods, would compress that gap on a dollar-volume basis though not necessarily on a per-title count or on concurrent-user share. Concurrent-user data, wishlist conversion ratios and median revenue per title would provide sharper detail on whether the 57% increase reflects a handful of blockbuster launches or broad catalog uptake across hundreds of smaller SKUs.

What to watch next

The next decision point worth tracking is whether Epic's third-party growth holds when measured against the post-launch decay curve of major exclusives signed in earlier cycles. Studios negotiating platform terms should also monitor renewed disclosure on minimum-guarantee commitments and the size of Epic's first-party marketing co-investment pool, both of which shape the economics of choosing Epic as a lead storefront over a secondary launch partner.

via Google News - Epic Games Store Steam (Source)

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James Calloway

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Senior reporter covering business strategy at Game Dev Wire.

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