Steam vs Epic Games Store

FROM ITS LAUNCH in 2003, Valve’s Steam digital game store has had things pretty much its own way. In 2013 it held 75 percent of the market, and in 2017 represented 18 percent of global PC game sales. In 2019 it had 95 million active monthly users. It has branched out into game controllers, gaming boxes and even an operating system. If there was ever any doubt that PC gaming is huge, then Steam is all the evidence you need.

There have been competitors, of course. Who remembers Games For Windows Live? They have tended to be single-publisher stores, however, such as Ubisoft’s Uplay and EA’s Origin. It wasn’t