Epic Games Korea, the Korean subsidiary of Epic Games, announced on the 28th an infographic announcing the 2021 performance of the Epic Games store.
According to the infographic, the total number of users on the Epic Games store is 194 million, an increase of 34 million from 160 million in 2020. The month with the highest monthly active users (MAU) was December with 62 million, which is 11% higher than the 2020 MAU peak of 56 million.
The cost of purchasing games for users has also increased. Users who spent $700 million in 2020 alone spent $840 million on game purchases, a 20% increase last year. The number of titles sold in the store was 917 as of December 2021, nearly doubling from 2020.
In 2021, a total of 89 games were provided for free on the Store. In terms of money, games worth 2,120 dollars (about 2.53 million Korean won) were provided. The total number of downloads of free games by users was over 765 million. 76 out of 89 games set the highest number of concurrent users on PC after being released for free on the Epic Games Store, an average of 13 times higher than previous records for each game.
This year, the Epic Games store plans to officially introduce a ‘self-publishing tool’ that allows developers and publishers to publish games directly. Epic Games successfully tested the self-publishing tool in August of last year, and through this, hundreds of new titles were released to the store. Developers and publishers are expected to be able to release games more smoothly and efficiently through the self-publishing tool, which will be released as a full version this year.
In addition, we plan to improve various functions related to library and game download for store users, strengthen player profiles, and continue to develop social functions such as voice chat within the platform. In addition, we plan to add and improve community functions, and improve launcher speed and performance, and again this year, free games will be provided every week.
Meanwhile, the Epic Games Store will hold a Lunar New Year sale event until February 10 to celebrate the Lunar New Year. More than 1,300 games and add-ons, from blockbuster games such as , , , and to indie games, at discounted prices can be seen
During the Lunar New Year sale, there is also an event where you can receive an Epic gift certificate of KRW 11,000 by subscribing to the e-mail/notification program that allows you to receive the latest information on the Epic Games store, such as the latest free games and sales news. Epic Gift Certificates are available to both new and existing subscribers, and can only be used once, without unlimited creation.
This week’s free game, , will be selected and provided free of charge until February 3rd. In the mechanical action game , players become a new human outerwear that appeared after the catastrophe of the collapse of the moon and fight for the survival of mankind at the forefront against the AI force Immortal that rebels against its creator, Human.
Park Seong-cheol, CEO of Epic Games Korea, said, “I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the many people who have supported the Epic Games Store for its remarkable growth over the past year.” We plan to release the ‘Self-Publishing Tool’ service, and we plan to do our best to become an Epic Games store for both users and developers, including adding and improving various functions for users. We ask for your interest and download for the sale event prepared for the Lunar New Year and this week’s free game .”
For more information about the 2021 performance infographic of the Epic Games Store, the Lunar New Year sale event, and the free game , please visit the Epic Games Store website.