For developers, Steam and the Epic Games Store offer different revenue-share incentives, publishing workflows, and audience signals—not a reliable universal answer to which store will sell more copies. Steam’s standard share is 70%, with higher tiers on revenue above specified thresholds; Epic offers developers 100% of the first $1 million in qualifying net revenue per title per calendar year, then 88%. The right choice depends on the game’s own sales forecast, launch plans, store-specific work, and whether exclusivity makes sense.
At a glance
| Name | Best for | Key spec | Free plan / price | Platforms | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam | Developers who value Steamworks tools, community features, and a broad PC storefront presence | 70% baseline developer share; 75% on application revenue above $10 million and 80% above $50 million, per Valve | $100 per application; Valve says the fee is recoupable after $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue | Steam PC storefront; Steamworks also supports Steam Deck and other Steam hardware features | Nov 2026 |
| Epic Games Store | Developers whose qualifying title revenue benefits from Epic’s first-million terms, or who want Epic’s publishing and promotion tools | 100% of the first $1 million in qualifying net revenue per title per calendar year, then 88%, per Epic | $100 per title submission; Epic describes the fee as recoupable | Epic Games Store; the first-million calculation aggregates qualifying Epic-processed revenue across supported platforms and offers | Nov 2026 |
The revenue figures are not percentages of a game’s unadjusted sticker-price sales. Valve describes its net-revenue calculation as including adjustments such as returns, chargebacks, and taxes. Epic’s first-million offer applies to eligible net revenue processed through its payment system, and Epic’s FAQ describes title-level aggregation and possible prior recoupable obligations. The terms therefore need to be evaluated against each store’s stated revenue base, not a simple gross-sales estimate.
How do Steam and Epic calculate a developer’s revenue share?
Steam’s baseline is 70% for the developer, with higher tiers applying only to revenue beyond Valve’s thresholds. Epic’s offer is structured around a qualifying annual allowance for each title, after which its standard developer share is 88%.
Steam’s baseline and higher tiers
Valve’s higher tiers apply to revenue earned from October 1, 2018 onward. The developer share rises to 75% on the portion of an application’s revenue above $10 million and to 80% on the portion above $50 million. These are marginal thresholds: crossing $10 million does not retroactively turn the first $10 million into revenue shared at 75%, and crossing $50 million does not recalculate all earlier revenue at 80%. Valve’s 2025 developer year-in-review continues to refer to the 75% and 80% tiers.
Epic’s first-million policy
Epic’s first-million policy began June 1, 2025. Starting in 2026, the $1 million threshold resets on January 1 each year, regardless of the title’s release date. It applies per title, not per publisher, and the threshold combines qualifying Epic-processed revenue across supported platforms and offers; a PC and mobile version do not each receive an independent $1 million allowance. After the qualifying annual threshold, the developer share is 88%.
Why sticker-price math can mislead
A storefront’s share is only one input to proceeds. Refunds, chargebacks, taxes, discounts, payment processing, and a game’s own payment arrangements can affect the amount to which a share applies. Valve identifies returns, chargebacks, and taxes among its adjustments; Epic’s offer is tied to eligible net revenue processed through its payment system. Epic’s FAQ also notes title-level aggregation and possible prior recoupable obligations. A spreadsheet that multiplies list price by units sold and then by the headline percentage is therefore a rough scenario, not a forecast of a payout.
For a useful comparison, estimate each store’s qualifying net revenue using the assumptions appropriate to the game, then apply that store’s share to the relevant portions. Keep assumptions visible: likely discounting, refunds, taxes, revenue from different versions, and any Epic-processed offers. If the title is unlikely to approach the relevant threshold, the value of the headline tier may be less important than tools, audience fit, timing, and the labor required to support another storefront.
What do Steam and Epic charge to publish a game?
Both platforms describe a $100 per-title publishing or submission fee, but their stated recoupment terms differ. Steam specifies its trigger and release timing requirements; Epic says its submission fee is recoupable without establishing the same trigger in the cited terms.
Steam Direct fee and release timing
Steam Direct charges $100 per application. Valve says the fee is not refundable, but it can be recouped once the application reaches $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue. Steam’s onboarding process includes a 30-day wait after paying the app fee before an initial release, along with a requirement to make a publicly visible Coming Soon page available for at least two weeks. Developers should account for those steps in the release calendar rather than treating store approval as the only lead time.
Epic’s submission fee
Epic describes its $100 submission fee as recoupable. The available Epic terms do not establish that its recoupment threshold or process is identical to Steam’s, so do not apply Steam’s $1,000 adjusted-gross-revenue trigger to an Epic submission. Confirm the current terms in Epic’s Developer Portal before budgeting a launch.
These fees are per title, so a publisher planning multiple games should include them in a project-level launch budget. They are distinct from the ongoing revenue share and from the engineering or community work needed to maintain store builds.
Which developer tools and requirements matter most?
Steamworks offers a broad set of store, community, launch, and reporting features. Epic’s Developer Portal focuses on self-service management of listings and game operations, with Epic Online Services and engine integration available as additional options.
Steamworks: launch and community workflow
Steamworks documents features for wishlists and wishlist reporting, Coming Soon pages, Steam Playtest, keys, build processes, events, discounts, community hubs, and reviews. Developers can use these features to manage a game’s public presence and coordinate parts of its release workflow. The platform also includes capabilities such as cloud saves, achievements, Steam Input, and hardware support. Valve’s 2025 developer review describes a Sales Data API that provides revenue, units, wishlists, and key-activation information, as well as reporting for individual discounts.
The practical benefit is not just the number of tools on a checklist. A studio should ask which features fit its launch plan: for example, whether a playtest is part of development, whether community updates will be staffed, and whether discount reporting will help the team assess promotions. Tools that a small team does not have time to use may matter less than a simpler workflow it can reliably maintain.
Epic: listings, offers, and builds
Epic’s self-service tools let developers manage store pages, pricing, offers, builds, and updates. Epic also lists wishlists, achievements, promotions, Epic Online Services, and optional Unreal Engine integration among the available capabilities. Epic says the store accepts games made with other engines; Unreal Engine is not a publishing prerequisite.
For multiplayer titles, the platform requirements can have engineering consequences. Epic’s distribution FAQ states: “Multiplayer games must support crossplay across all PC stores.” For qualifying games that have achievements on other PC stores, Epic also requires the game’s Epic achievements. Teams deciding whether to support another storefront should estimate the work to implement and maintain these requirements, not just the time to upload a build.
Epic and Steam features should be compared against the game’s actual workflow: the staff available to maintain them, the launch schedule, the intended community plan, and any shared services already in use. The number of features alone does not establish which store will be easier or more effective for a particular team.
Which store has more reach for a PC game?
Published audience figures indicate substantial activity on both platforms, but they describe different populations and time periods. They cannot establish how many buyers an unreleased game will attract or provide a like-for-like market-share comparison.
| Figure | What it measures | Source and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Over 132 million monthly active users | Steam monthly active users | Steamworks marketing page; no measurement year stated on the page retrieved in 2026 |
| 42 million peak concurrent users | Steam users online at the peak | Valve’s 2026 report about 2025; peak concurrency is not monthly activity or game buyers |
| 76% aggregate developer revenue share | Revenue share paid across non-Valve games on Steam in 2025 | Valve’s 2026 report about 2025; an aggregate outcome, not the contractual rate for every developer or game |
| 78 million PC monthly active users | Epic PC monthly active users in December 2025 | Epic’s 2026 report about 2025; a record month, not the full-year average |
| 67 million average monthly active users | Epic PC monthly active users averaged across 2025 | Epic’s 2026 report about 2025 |
| 317 million-plus PC players | Epic’s total PC-player figure | Epic’s 2026 report about 2025; a different population measure from monthly active users |
| $400 million spent on third-party PC games, up 57% year over year | Epic-reported spending on third-party PC games in 2025 | Epic’s 2026 report about 2025; excludes some purchases for which developers process their own in-game payments |
| More than 6,000 games | Epic Games Store catalog size | Epic’s 2026 report about 2025; catalog size does not establish visibility for a new release |
The measures should stay in their lanes. Steam’s undated monthly-active-user figure should not be treated as a 2025 or 2026 count. Epic’s December 2025 record monthly-active figure is not its annual average, and its total PC-player count is not a monthly-active count. Nor should Valve’s peak concurrent figure be compared directly with Epic’s monthly active users. None predicts sales for a specific title.
The most useful reach question is not “Which account total is bigger?” but “How many likely buyers for this genre and price point can this release reach, and through what discovery path?” The published platform totals provide context, while genre-specific audience fit, visibility, community activity, and the game’s own marketing plan remain unknown from those totals alone.
Should a developer launch on Steam, Epic, or both?
For most developers, the decision is best treated as a title-specific operating and revenue model, not as a vote for one platform. If exclusivity is not part of the plan, compare the expected proceeds and workload of each eligible storefront and consider whether a nonexclusive launch preserves useful options.
Model proceeds, not just the headline share
Build a separate scenario for each store, using the game’s own estimates for units, price, discounts, refunds, and qualifying net revenue. Apply Steam’s tiers only to revenue beyond the relevant thresholds, and apply Epic’s annual per-title threshold only to eligible Epic-processed revenue. Make the year boundary visible in an Epic forecast because the allowance resets each January 1 starting in 2026. Do not assume every gross receipt qualifies for either platform’s favorable share.
Estimate the cost of operating another storefront
Account for build and update maintenance, customer-facing store content, achievements, multiplayer compatibility, and community operations. A multiplayer game’s cross-store support obligation and the achievement requirement for qualifying titles can add work beyond submitting a store page. Meanwhile, a studio that wants to run playtests, publish frequent events, or maintain community spaces should consider whether it has the capacity to use the relevant features consistently.
Match the store to the launch calendar
Steam’s initial release process includes a 30-day wait after paying its app fee and a two-week public Coming Soon period. These requirements affect when a launch can be scheduled. Epic’s tools support self-service page, pricing, offer, build, and update management, but the available terms here do not provide a parallel minimum launch timeline. Check the current portal requirements for the planned release rather than assuming the calendars are interchangeable.
Use the game’s audience and marketing plan
Neither store’s total audience figure can tell a developer whether a specific game will sell better there. Consider genre, price, player acquisition channels, existing community, planned promotions, and the team’s ability to maintain visibility on each store. Epic reported $400 million of third-party PC-game spending in 2025, but that total is not a per-title sales estimate and excludes some developer-processed in-game purchases. Likewise, Steam’s reported aggregate 2025 share is descriptive of non-Valve game revenue across the platform rather than a promise about one game’s receipts.
A practical decision sheet should state the assumptions and uncertainties in plain language. If the sales forecast is highly uncertain, compare low, expected, and high scenarios rather than presenting one precise payout estimate. The result is a more useful planning tool than treating platform-level users or revenue-share percentages as an automatic answer.
Is Epic First Run worth six months of exclusivity?
Epic First Run can be attractive to an eligible title that values its six-month 100% revenue share and associated promotion, but exclusivity has an opportunity cost. Evaluate the additional share and promotional opportunity against the sales and timing that could be forgone by delaying a conventional Steam release.
First Run is optional and operates under PC-store exclusivity conditions. Its value depends on the title’s expected qualifying revenue during the period, its launch strategy, and the practical cost of postponing a release on another store. A stronger share does not by itself establish that total developer proceeds will be higher: the relevant question is how the exclusivity terms affect the game’s expected audience, timing, and sales across the period under consideration.
Before opting in, read the current eligibility and distribution terms carefully. Epic’s FAQ describes some first-party direct distribution and conditions for certain third-party keyless sales, but that is not an unrestricted right to launch conventionally on Steam during an exclusivity period. Treat any exception as a specific rule to verify against the actual agreement, not as a general workaround.
What is separate from the storefront revenue share?
Some Epic terms address Unreal Engine royalties independently of the store’s developer share. For qualifying Unreal Engine purchases through the Epic Games Store that Epic processes, Epic describes an engine-royalty waiver; its FAQ says that this does not exempt in-app purchases or transactions processed by another payment provider on that basis.
This distinction matters when a team compares projected proceeds. The store’s revenue split, an engine royalty, and the payment route for an in-game transaction are different questions. Do not treat a storefront share as a blanket waiver of other contractual obligations, and check the applicable engine and distribution terms for the title’s particular transaction types.
How should a studio make the final decision?
Choose based on the game’s forecast, obligations, and launch plan—not a platform-wide user count or a universal claim that one store converts better. The official figures help define terms and context, but no official aggregate statistic answers which store would sell more copies of an unreleased game.
- Write down the revenue assumptions. Estimate price, likely discounting, refunds, taxes, and the share of revenue that qualifies under each platform’s rules. Keep gross sales separate from net-revenue assumptions.
- Apply the correct share structure. Model Steam’s higher shares only on the revenue above its thresholds. For Epic, model its per-title annual threshold, reset date, supported-platform aggregation, and eligible payment basis.
- Check eligibility and obligations. Confirm the publishing fee and current store terms, then identify whether crossplay, achievements, exclusivity, or payment processing changes the work or economics.
- Budget time as well as money. Include Steam’s stated release lead-in and the people needed to maintain builds, store content, promotions, community work, and player-facing requirements.
- Compare plausible launch paths. Consider one-store, simultaneous nonexclusive, or staged approaches only where the applicable agreements and schedule allow them. For each, state what evidence is known and what remains an assumption.
This process makes the choice auditable: a studio can revise its forecast without pretending that a published audience number guarantees demand. It also highlights when the store decision is less important than the game’s marketing reach, community, or operational capacity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Epic First Run allow sales outside the Epic Games Store during exclusivity?
Epic’s FAQ describes limited cases for first-party direct distribution and for some third-party keyless sales. Those exceptions have conditions and should not be read as permission for a normal concurrent Steam launch; the agreement for the specific title controls.
Does Epic’s Unreal Engine royalty waiver cover every in-game purchase?
No. Epic describes the waiver for qualifying Unreal Engine store purchases that Epic processes. Its FAQ excludes in-app purchases and transactions processed by another payment provider from that waiver basis.
Does Epic’s $100 submission fee use Steam’s $1,000 recoupment trigger?
Epic describes its fee as recoupable, but the cited Epic terms do not establish that Steam’s stated $1,000 adjusted-gross-revenue trigger applies. Check the current Epic Developer Portal terms for the specific recoupment process.