Last May, Epic Games announced a new revenue share plan that would see third-party developers get the first $1 million in sales through the Epic Games Store each year, before reverting to the platform’s standard 88%/12% cut. While it’s a compelling incentive for many developers, it hasn’t been a financial boon for Epic.
The company isn’t losing money when it comes to its storefront. However, Epic Games Store vice president and general manager Steve Allison admits the profit margin on third-party games is “low” and hard to maintain.
Speaking to Polygon in a video interview, Allison explained, “It is hard. It is low margin. Like, no bullshit, you know? You can do the math. It’s low margin. But when you look at the totality of the picture, it works.”
The totality of the picture in question is the overall money spent on the Epic Games Store, on both first- and third-party games. Epic’s first-party games include behemoths like Fortnite and Rocket League, which make up more than half of the annual spend from PC players on the Epic Games Store.
In the storefront’s 2025 Year in Review, Epic Games reported $1.16 billion in spending by PC players. Of that, $400 million is attributed to third-party sales (up from $255 million in 2024). While that $400 million is a substantial increase year-over-year, there is also some important context missing. After hitting a high of $355 million in 2022, third-party spending declined in the Epic Games Store over the next two years. So while 57% year-over-year growth from 2024 is impressive, $400 million actually only represents a 12% growth over 2022’s spending. And that $400 million figure is before Epic pays out the amounts earned by third-party developers and money spent on the free game program.
“[Third-party revenue will] look negative, but I like to look at it as most people look at Steam — as a combined first- and third-party revenue,” Allison said. “And if you just take our first-party revenue, and you just attribute 12% that we earn [on third-party titles], the store is already — even with all this stuff — marginally profitable now.”
While it’s only “marginally profitable” at this point, Allison expects the Epic Games Store to reach 20-25% of the PC market share, though he didn’t specify a timeframe for that goal. To get there, though, the store needs to grow.
“If you look at it as a third-party only, we continue to invest in growth and player success and the free games program, which is basically our marketing budget,” Allison said. “It’s a period of investment in scale.”
While that investment might cut into the company’s third-party profits in the short term, there’s no way for Epic Games Store to reach the 20-25% PC market share if it’s not investing in longer-term growth. That’s why, even though its paying handsomely for it, the free games program is a win for Epic.
It’s unclear how long this period of investment in scale will last — or if it will ultimately be a success. However, Epic Games has a lot in store for its storefront launcher in 2026. From an upgraded launcher experience to an abundance of games offering Fortnite cosmetics as pre-order bonuses, Epic’s focus on growing its store is evident.
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