40 percent of Epic Games Store users say they don't have Steam

Epic Games said during a GDC presentation today that there are now 85 million registered users of the Epic Games Store on PC—and, according to user surveys from August 2018 and January 2019, 40 percent of them report not having Steam.

Although Valve has not recently reported the total number of Steam accounts registered, in January, the company reported 90 million active Steam users.

According to the survey Epic performed, 68 percent of Epic store users don't use Steam "regularly," a figure that seems awfully high given Steam's decade-plus dominance of the platform. But the multiplatform Fortnite is the x-factor here: The slide also said that "more Epic PC users regularly play on consoles than on Steam." 

There are also roughly 55,000 registered Creators on the Epic Games Store, and 41 million players supporting them across all games, including Fortnite, and all platforms. 

Epic's presentation also reiterated what founder Tim Sweeney told us in an interview yesterday: That unlike the "anything goes" approach of Steam, Epic intends to curate what, and who, is on its store. 

"We can't accommodate everyone yet, sorry. We're working around the clock to be able to support more games," a later slide stated. "Epic Games Store will gradually open to more developers by the end of 2019. We welcome quality games and intend to prevent porn and asset-flips from ever hitting the store." 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.