Steam Vs. Epic

[nomad 6]

Steam and Epic are video game digital distribution service and storefront. Steam has 120 million users and Epic has more than 160 million users. I have accounts on both platforms, however, I use Epic more than Steam because Epic offers free games frequently.

[EmpireKicking 155]

• Free Games
• $10 coupons
• Better pricing in some regions
• Some people like the better cut to developers
• Some people like the more streamlined interface

So, some people do find value with the storefront. I wouldn't want to take that away from those gamers. The problem is that some gamers are fine taking what I value away from me.

I primarily use Steam because I value having all my games in one place. I've bought games on other storefronts, but I hardly play them as they are out of sight and out of mind. I don't even use many of Steam's other features.

 

I wish games would be released on more storefronts outside of Steam. That doesn't negatively affect me and benefits a lot of other gamers. Why wouldn't I support this? I want these games to have as much exposure as possible. I want as many people as possible to play some of these fantastic games. I want people to have the choice to buy these games on the storefront that best suits their needs.

 

Epic is doing the opposite of this and it has been horrible for PC gamers. It's created this weird form of tribalism within the community and it hasn't been healthy for it. I wish gamers would have shut down this behavior from the get-go. While we have since seen that Epic has been far from successful with this tactic, I think it has worked well enough to keep trying it.

[Uncrowned Guard 7]

I love Steam and mostly Steam's UI.  It is designed for large game libraries and as a PC gamer, it is very hard to avoid having a large game library after years.  Steam also seems to support cross store sales and games being listed all over the web, where Epic is focused on an exclusive store. 

 

Overall both are fine and I do enjoy seeing Epic push to help small devs with costs.  Although, I do wonder how much of their generosity is about helping devs and how much is building the largest PC game market for when Fortnite falls off and they can just return to normal industry profits.

[Smokey 9]

I love the free games they give away on Epic, but I do prefer Steam, seems like a much more robust and richer storefront, also more popular IMHO. 

 

[Heatman 4]

There's no way I would be interested in choosing either Epic over Steam or the other way around when I can actually have access to both of them. It's not like when you have an account on Steam, you won't be able to use Epic. This is why I make use of both of them and choose where to buy my games with a better offer. I don't need to say much about the free games you get from Epic. 

[nomad 6]

On 2/1/2023 at 11:26 AM, Heatman said:

There's no way I would be interested in choosing either Epic over Steam or the other way around when I can actually have access to both of them. It's not like when you have an account on Steam, you won't be able to use Epic. This is why I make use of both of them and choose where to buy my games with a better offer. I don't need to say much about the free games you get from Epic. 

You sound like me. There is no need to choose one, you can try both and play games available on these platforms. If you are buying games, having accounts on both platform will always put you in an advantageous position when it comes to make purchase decision.

[Heatman 4]

3 hours ago, nomad said:

You sound like me. There is no need to choose one, you can try both and play games available on these platforms. If you are buying games, having accounts on both platform will always put you in an advantageous position when it comes to make purchase decision.

Yeah, that's very correct. There are so many benefits that comes with making use of both of the platforms. Why do I have to cut myself short from where I could gain? 

[2TonWaffle 1]

Can't choose just one over the other, Epic provides free games every week which is pretty great. Taking that side Epic does provide a way to somewhat lock users into their store but, many like myself have a rather large library of games that sit there, not being installed and played. Do have complaints in which I would like to move my game files to another drive and Epic isn't optimized in a way to see that change without having to go through a lengthy verification or even if that works, you would have to reinstall the game.

 

With Steam, they've been in the game for much longer and have gone through those speedbumps. There is the benefit of being essentially, the world's game library and marketplace. The user experience is pretty good in my opinion. Is there room for improvement? Sure and the R&D for that has to be extremely difficult as you have to cater to a much wider audience. Unlike Epic, I do have a better experience for moving my files around and it's pretty quick to locate them and get playing.

[EmpireKicking 155]

On 1/10/2024 at 3:53 PM, 2TonWaffle said:

Can't choose just one over the other, Epic provides free games every week which is pretty great. Taking that side Epic does provide a way to somewhat lock users into their store but, many like myself have a rather large library of games that sit there, not being installed and played. Do have complaints in which I would like to move my game files to another drive and Epic isn't optimized in a way to see that change without having to go through a lengthy verification or even if that works, you would have to reinstall the game.

 

Same, My EPic library is getting bigger as I tend to add free games each week however they end up not being installed. The only games that I may have played on EPic are games that you do not or can't get via steam. 

[Shortie861 10]

I use both Steam and Epic games but will admit that I prefer Epic Games not only due to their free games but also because I just prefer their client as well.

 

It's not too often you can't find a game on Epic Games that is not available on Steam as well so I do like that you have that choice. 

[Ja sa bong 2]

Combing using both Steam and Epic will always be the best thing because you will end up enjoying both of their services. But if I must choose, I would probably stick with Epic Games because their games are cheaper and they have lots of free games.